Decompression and rising prices killing GOOD comics?

So this morning I got into a text discussion with a friend about whether or not to download upcoming new pilots for the fall season and whether or not this was frowned upon. We both agreed that this was okay, since they'll be on network TV (free TV) and I'll probably watch them in their full HD presentation anyway.

He however disagreed with the fact that I download comics now. If I fall in love with a story, I will purchase it (and spare no expense, since I own ABSOLUTE EDITIONS of my favorite books, etc).

For the purpose of this article, he said that since a book that he had been reading was now being cancelled so he was down about it and I figured he felt that it was partly due to the downloaders. I can't argue that probably had something to do with it, but with the push to digital, this was an inevitable reality...here are two more...

Yes, I will start with the movement to decompressed stories, limiting what your dollar amounts to. This had also led to people waiting until a book hits trade paperback status, which means it could already be cancelled before they ever read it.  The argument here is that by decompressing a story, you fail to hook your customer, and in essence, lose readers before you establish an audience that will petition for saving your title. 

If you continue to get bored with a book, in today's comic world, you also start placing your hard earned dollars to only those books that keep you entertained, because you have to be smart with your money.

Which is point #2. You see, when comics started the decompression act, they were still 1.99-2.50 a piece, and now they are somewhere in the 2.99-3.99 range, or 7.99 in extreme cases for one book. That's four books then, two or one now. You also are receiving twenty pages of book now instead of the old school 22, which may not seem like a lot, but the books didn't get smaller, they filled them with more ads. So they are making the money off the consumer, and the advertiser. This is how they male money, obviously, but I'd love to see a breakdown of where the publication costs / creative fees are for my favorite books, especially now. Sure, some artists are worth more, but there's another problem that isn't seen by the reader's eye.

The artists, as they move to digital artpads to quickly transfer the files rather than mailing them (which has led to numerous thieves over the years), the artists have no supplemental income, and thus charge more for their original drawings. I'm making an assumption, here, of course, though I guess I could ask Ryan Stegman or Brett Booth, two industry vets that I've known for years that would probably give me a straight answer.

Anyway, it isn't Bendis that is destroying comics (he is a cog in the machine and not THE machine), but these two items together...less substance for your money AND more money for the substance has probably turned more people off reading comics, thus causing cancellations, than downloading the books.

I'd like to hear a rebuttal to this statement. Again, downloading will have SOME negative effect on the industry, but not enough to cause the cancellation of "beloved titles..."

Finally, if Marvel and DC really wanted to save their titles, they'd make more mention of how close they were to being cancelled on social network sights, and give fans a chance to drudge up more readers...just a thought, though I guess it WOULD scare creative teams.

Til next time,

Potsy
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