James Deckert of Collectors Pair-of-Dice in Salina, Kansas saw our article on the DC Archives price promotion (see 'DC To Offer Batman Archives #1 at $19.95'), and sent us this comment on DC's strategy of publishing Archives only in hardcover format.

 

I don't know what focus groups and surveys Mr. Wayne has been conducting, but in a town of 40,000 I had three different people this past Saturday, at different times, bemoaning the cost of DC's Archives and how they would buy them if they were cheaper or in a paperback format.  They were much more interested in cost than the high quality paper (etc.) which the original comic wasn't designed for anyway.

 

I carry a large number of DC Archives (31 are on my shelf now) and they mostly sit on the shelf looking pretty.

 

I would like to personally own many more of the Archives but even with the discount I get, I still can't afford to buy all of them I want.

 

An average Archives volume costs $5 per reprinted issue (at 22 pages each), which is higher than the cost of most new comics.  Most people treat Archives as supplemental reading.  It's in addition to the new comics purchase.  However, by the time new comics have been bought, few people have $50 left over and so skip them or spend the money on cheaper new comics or TPBs.