Comics UK

Plug I do remember, and I didn't like the glossy paper. Maybe it's just me. There's just something about comics on glossy paper that doesn't seem right.

But surely if it was printed on cheaper paper and with less colour they could sell it more cheaply? I'm not suggesting they would do this for one moment, I'm just saying it wouldn't be impossible. I don't understand why comics have become so much more expensive, comparatively. Is it just lower circu...

Some of the best UK comics ever produced have been glossy: Mickey Mouse Weekly, Eagle, TV21, Countdown, the early issues of Wham!... Interesting point. I didn't read any of those, I think I'm just a little too young. As you say, Private Eye is still on newsprint and it's £1.50, which is still highe...

Good point, Kid.

And Andy, I stand corrected on both points, it seems! I really thought the digital Dandy was more expensive than that. Perhaps I'm going senile.

Andy, you appear to be a DC Thomson company man, so I apologise for any toe-treading I may be guilty of regarding greed, etc. It may also be the case that I don't know what I'm talking about, but I suppose I'm just arguing for the time-honoured economic model of pile-em-high-sell-em-cheap, and sugge...

I guess what I'm getting at is that if a comic was cheap enough then it might sell in the kind of numbers that would make it profitable. Maybe. Just maybe. Who knows? What I'm pretty certain of is that comics are too expensive, but I acept that what I'm suggesting is far less likely to happen than s...

...and profit? Maybe they were just greedy.

Not quite sure what you're trying to say. Yes, I remember Classics, but although it was printed on cheap paper and non-colour, it still, as you say, had a high price tag; so it doesn't really fit the model I was talking about. Ah, you've edited! Yes, the plastic tat thing is a curse. But The Phoenix...

I agree, Kid, I think there's a very good argument. I'm not convinced kids give a monkeys about glossy pages and full colour. I've argued this before on here, but I personally prefer the cheaper paper, there's something about it. I used to love the old Radio Times, it was never the same when it wnet...

The point is, something like 50p-80p is what a kids' comic should cost these days, if their price increase was only due to inflation. That's a LOT less than the £2-£3 price tag we're seeing.

Yes, they are. I've had this conversation on here once before and I remember someone arguing about it, but it seems to me irrefutable:- Comics used to cost the same as a chocolate bar. How much is an average snack-size chocolate bar these days, about 50p?

We often talk about the decline of comics on this forum but if I go into Smiths these days the shelves are crammed with comics. Beano and Dandy are surely on the decline (or gone), but there are more comics on the shelf now than when I was young - it's just the titles and tastes have changed - more...

But haven't you ever felt a bit let down when you find out, say, a stand-up you admire doesn't write their own material?

philcom55 wrote:In some ways I've always thought of drawing comics as a kind of performance art so that, like musicians, actors or comedians, it doesn't really matter whether they write their own material or not.

Another very interesting point, Phil. I've never thought of it like that before.

Well, I don't think that anyone would ever dispute the fact that most (if not all) comics at various times were, to some degree or other, formulaic and relied on a pun to wrap things up. Bax and Law (new series, BBC 1 at 9 tonight) were amongst the cream of the crop when it came to the best that co...