Superman

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Just been reading this:

www.amazon.co.uk/Superman-Last-Son-Krypton-Comics/dp/1401237797/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1373284480&sr=8-4&keywords=geoff+johns+superman

Bought it mainly because Richard Donnor had a hand in writing it and it's very good, so good I'm even thinking of buying the next one in the series. Thing is though, a quick look in the front cover shows that this book is made up from several different comics spread through at least 3 different titles. The next trade paper back in the series is the same, including bits from Superman's friend Jimmy Olsen, Action comics and a couple of specials.

Which raises the question of how anyone is supposed to follow these stories if they just buy the comics? Are you expected to buy everything DC publishes? Do they put a note in each issue telling you which comic to buy next? Either way it sounds like a nightmare, I bet this puts a lot of newbies off.

[MacNimon]

I know exactly what you mean!

It's really frustrating, isn't it? It's practically impossible these days just to pick up an issue (of anything!) and just be able to enjoy it on its own merits...everything always seems to be part of an on-going, interconnected story spread across multiple titles. It's impossible to even try to follow a single title because the you often only get part of a story which, of course, makes it not worth following!

Way back in the day, this could be excusable because the prices of comics were dirt cheap, and you could afford multiple issues each and every week making it easy to follow such storylines (even the American imports were cheap). But nowadays they're generally in the region of £3 per issue which I think is extortionate, no way could you try to follow stories like these without having very deep pockets.

It's all marketing though, isn't it? But my idea of marketing would be a return to cheap b&w newsprint quality paper cheaply reprinting stories at a price easily affordable to kids pocket money without bursting the bank...

[llllllll]

I agree, if you want to get kids into comics they have to be affordable. WHSmith have started selling some Marvel titles, but the cost is ridiculous for the size. We keep hearing how comcis sales are drying up, but the only response seems to be limited edition covers and insanely complicated crossover 'events'. With the current crop of superhero movies around now should be a bumper time for comics.

If these prices continue we could be seeing the final days of printed comic. The Dandy has already gone online only and Amazon sell Kindle versions of just about every TPB. Prehaps the days of printing comics and shipping them around the country/world is coming to an end. From a financial and environmental point of view it makes sense, but comics lose something in the electronic format .

[MacNimon]

Like you say, this is exactly the time companies should be trying to cash in with maximum publicity and blitz newsagents around the country with cheap comics. If it doesn't work, then at least they've tried...and it's better than just trying to keep fleecing an ageing reader base who have already been hooked for years.

If we can get a quality daily newspaper (the i paper) for 20p each day - of course it's subsidised by the Independent - then surely publishing companies should be able to bring out cheap comics on similar quality paper? And if they reprint material rather than create new stuff, that would be the equivalent of a subsidy...if the prices of comics in general in the late 70s were, say, 10p then price the new ones accordingly, adjusted only for inflation.

When I was a boy, my pocket money could easily buy several titles a week, every week, and still have money left over for other stuff...that's what they need to get back to...value for money.

[MacNimon]

I've been looking at this subject again recently. It hasn't been easy as I've had to get information from various sites (some years out of date) to compile a list of Superman books/TPBs - such as the one discussed here - and to put them in chronological order. Many of these titles are now out of print though and currently unavailable in any format, and even at that it looks like there are significant gaps in the issues which have been reprinted in TPB format. Some of the original issues have never been reprinted at all, as far as I can tell.

In a nutshell, all that is currently in print from the late 80s and 90s as far as I can tell is 8 Volumes of The Man Of Steel and the issues surrounding the death of Superman.

A little bit of fine-tuning is required, but look for a comprehensive list from the mid-80s reboot though to the early 2000s soon.