Aaron D. Neufeld

Aaron D. Neufeld- BLOG #42- ‘Comic Books’

I used to be a big comic book reader. Ever since I was a little kid, I was reading comic books. Then during my junior high years, I continued purchasing comics on my own, with my own money. I kept on buying through my high school years as well before finally giving up shortly before college due to the price changes.

Remember when comics used to be 25 cents? Back in middle school when I really got into it, I was paying about $2.25 per comic. As the years went one, prices slowly crept up to $2.50 and then to $2.99. Nearing the end of high school, I realized with such high prices, I couldn’t really afford these comics anymore so I stopped all-together. Not only were the prices on the rise, but the content was diminishing. There were less pages of content, and more pages of advertisements. And I wasn’t the only one dropping comics. Old-timers stopped a while back when comics were in their prime. Comic sales were dropping over time.

Today, comics are available for purchase online. The comic sites have a few pages as previews for each comic, allowing the reader to get a taste and then want to buy the “e-comic.” Online comics are also cheaper, perhaps the comic book industry’s way of trying to get readers back and targeting today’s children, teens and possibly even adults. However, with comics online, just like music and films, there is illegal downloading. I think the comic industry on paper will disappear soon enough and then it will be interesting to see if they will last on the web.