Comic prices and inflation. How do they compare?

kevf · Post by **kevf** » 23 Jan 2007, 12:40

Totally apropos of nothing, just me procrastinating when I should be writing, this question struck me:

How do the prices of comics compare with inflation? Have they gone up more over the years or less?

I'm looking at some Beanos off my shelves here:

This week's Beano - 85p
2005 - 75p
2001 - 60p
1999 - 52p
1996 - 42p
1991 - 28p
1987 - 20p
1980 - 8p
1974 - 3p
1968 - 4d
1960 - 2d
1938 - 2d

Obviously between 1938 and 1960 it's pretty inflation proof (was that typical?). But what about since? Any economists out there?

Kev F

Peter Gray · Post by **Peter Gray** » 23 Jan 2007, 13:25

I remember the 10p...12p...14p...16p...18p...Beano my era..

reker1701 · Post by **reker1701** » 23 Jan 2007, 13:45

Hi Kevf (Accountant not economist, so I am probably wrong!)

I too remember the 8p to 14p Beano's, have never looked at Comic Inflation before but here goes

Beano Price 1938 2d, at 4% Inflation (on average) each year it should only be 27 - 28p

Beano Price 1974 3p, at 4% Inflation (on average) each year it should only be a fraction over 10p, not 75p.

Beano Comic Inflation, to get from 3p to the 2005 price of 75p runs (on average) at just under 11% a year.

I had a quick look at 2000ad as well, starting price of 8p, current price of ?1.75. Guess the inflation figure............. 11.5%

I'd love that sort of pay rise!

reker1701

Cap Haggis · Post by **Cap Haggis** » 23 Jan 2007, 14:35

Would you not have to factor in on top of basic inflation, increased prices in natural resources outwith inflation (kiv that not all items will rise in line with average inflation - especially in the 70s) such as printers ink (oil) paper, staples, wages, VAT costs where applicable plus the increase in cost of living and in the individual copy costs from falling sales etc may put prices up - or are they all just greedy sods ? lol

Lew Stringer · Post by **Lew Stringer** » 23 Jan 2007, 15:05

Cap Haggis wrote:Would you not have to factor in on top of basic inflation, increased prices in natural resources outwith inflation (kiv that not all items will rise in line with average inflation - especially in the 70s) such as printers ink (oil) paper, staples, wages, VAT costs where applicable plus the increase in cost of living and in the individual copy costs from falling sales etc may put prices up - or are they all just greedy sods ? lol

Let's also remember that most comics have more pages today than they did 40 years ago, and that they're all full colour now and on better paper stock.

Taking the Beano as an example: in 1967 it had 16 pages (only 4 in full colour), printed on newsprint, and cost 3d. Today it has 32 pages, all in full colour, on glossy pages for 85p.

I imagine comics have increased in excess of inflation but the package itself is far slicker than it used to be.

Lew

reker1701 · Post by **reker1701** » 23 Jan 2007, 15:32

I think as the people reading the publications have had their expectations increased as to the quality of what they can buy with their money so the price has risen accordingly when publishers meet that demand.

I only did the average as a bit of fun but once you look at the increases in the price of the recources to make the publication, raw materials, Utility costs and the like the rate of inflation doesn't look too high. The RPI allows for some of these increases but not all.

Also there probably is a bit of profiteering in there, they are running a business, I am happy to pay what I am at the moment for my 2000AD and Judge Dredd, but I do miss the old paper comics.

reker1701

Lew Stringer · Post by **Lew Stringer** » 23 Jan 2007, 15:39

reker1701 wrote:
Also there probably is a bit of profiteering in there

Naturally. Also worth remembering that it now costs publishers thousands to simply stock a title on the shelves of WH Smith, Asda, etc. (As I understand it, they pay more if the comics are at the front, which explains why staff are always fiddling around with magazine displays when people like me put the titles we're in at the front.

)

Lew

kevf · Post by **kevf** » 23 Jan 2007, 21:13

I'd be the last to brand publishers as thieves, having been on the other side of the fence myself. And I realise the demand for full colour, high page count, glossy comics means we're not comparing like with like.

That said, newspapers haven't gone up as much as comics, indeed an ever-increasing number of them are available free. And what about those TV and girly chat mags that seem to cost next to nothing. How do they do it?

And why am I not getting on with the bloody script I'm supposed to be finishing?

Knowsnowt · Post by **Knowsnowt** » 23 Jan 2007, 22:29

kevf wrote: And why am I not getting on with the bloody script I'm supposed to be finishing?

The more time you have on your hands, the more you can post on these forums.

Post by **AndyB** » 24 Jan 2007, 00:19

The other issue is that sales used to be higher, and the fixed cost was spread across more copies in the past.

If your sales fall by 75%, your fixed costs don't. They stay the same, and they have to be spread across far fewer copies than before, and the price has to go up.

kevf · Post by **kevf** » 25 Jan 2007, 10:27

To follow up my own question, we just chatted about this at lunch and worked out that my parents house cost ?8000 in 1968 and is now worth about ?350,000, which is an increase of 4375%, whereas the Beano went up in the same period from 2p (4 old d) to 85p, which is an increase of only 4250%.

Ergo The Beano has not gone up in price as much as houses have. QED.

However, if one calculates 4 old d as 1.66p, then The Beano has in fact gone up by 4819%, which is more than house prices have.

There, that helped didn't it.

PS: Got that writing finished. Maybe this sort of thing is good for you.

Steve Bright · Post by **Steve Bright** » 25 Jan 2007, 11:38

Interesting extrapolation of statistics, Kev, but it relies on the presumption that all rises in house prices fall into line with the ratio you apply to your parents' abode, and ignores the significant contributing factor affecting its current value of the plaque over the front door reading 'Kev F Lived Here'

QODD

DJDogfart · Post by **DJDogfart** » 26 Jan 2007, 15:19

kevf wrote: And what about those TV and girly chat mags that seem to cost next to nothing. How do they do it?

It is also worth remembering that these publications mentioned have copius advertisments within their pages, and the low prices help them to sell like very hot cakes.

I wonder how advertising has changed the production profit margins of comics, the first Beanos had hardly any adverts, indeed untill Fleetway started using their back pages for full colour adverts in the 70's you didn't see much in the way of ads in comics.... A case in point has to be the Annuals, which as far as I know untill the Monster munch and stamp collecting ads that were on the back of some early 80's annuals from the Fleetway stables, there was none in the Annuals, and there's still none in The Beano Book etc.

Lew Stringer · Post by **Lew Stringer** » 26 Jan 2007, 15:56

It's good to see ads in comics IMHO. For one thing they bring revenue into the comic, and for another they reflect the times (or at least reflect the tastes of kids of each decade). It's also interesting to see how design changes, as the ads often reflect contemporary design standards. (I think many of today's ads are too cluttered personally. The direct approach of sixties ad design, bold and clear, carried a clearer "voice" I think.)

There are more ads in comics now on the run-up to Christmas, but other than that there seem to be about 2 or 3 pages usually.

Lew

Lew Stringer · Post by **Lew Stringer** » 26 Jan 2007, 16:27

DJDogfart wrote:A case in point has to be the Annuals, which as far as I know untill the Monster munch and stamp collecting ads that were on the back of some early 80's annuals from the Fleetway stables, there was none in the Annuals, and there's still none in The Beano Book etc.

The old pre-Fleetway (Amalgamated Press) annuals often carried ads on the back cover. Two examples: the first Film Fun Annual (1938) had a full colour ad on the back for Lin-Can Victoria Plums and Atora Beef Suet, and the 1950's Radio Fun annuals had ads on the back for Cocoa.

Lew

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