One of the key problems I had during the UK's comics mini-boom of the late 80s / early 90s was affordability. I was either on minimum wage or no wage at the time, and (just to provide an example slice), this was the theoretical shopping list for November 1990:
Progs #703-706
Crisis #52
Revolver #5
JD Megazine #1.02
2000 AD Winter Special #3
Rogue Trooper Annual
Strip #20
Best of 2000 AD Monthly #62
Deadline #24
Is that why the boom busted? Too many titles aimed at too many thin wallets?
Hmmm. I think it did have a bearing. That and, as far as the American market was concerned, a penchant for all different types of covers that ramped up the cost even further.
The speculator bubble didn't help. Some of the Marvel titles in particular were going for insane prices as demand was pushed up by 'investors' rather than fans. Claremont and Lee's X-men 1 with its multiple covers was a prime example.
There's still a bit of a problem with that today. Case in point was Dawn of X which not only included an insane number of titles at scatty prices (ramped up by the crap exchange rate) but also bi-monthly schedules. That wouldn't be a problem if the quality of writing and art stood up to scrutiny.
I do wonder how the comics market will fare when we get out of lockdown. Several months without overpriced, mediocrity coupled with a potential recession?
Well around this time I was on the dole but about to start work in a few months. The dole was like a fortune AND when I started working it was a fortune to me. BUT I had to split that between UK Comics (I got almost all of this at the time), more and more US comics - as has been mentioned. Drinking more - 'cos I had more money and records and my Uncle no longer paid for me to go the football, which was getting more expensive too as I recall, though nothing like these days.
So even as I got more income that was split across life and suspect that was the same for a lot at that time? Its possible the bigger issue was more increased distractions as the target audience got older and into more things, rather than limited budget. But I'm guessing there.
Increasingly, I think part of the problem was that a lot of what was around was just a bit shit. The 2000 AD specials just became a dumping ground for crap. It's no wonder they died. (The monthlies were better, but so much of the really good stuff had been mined that by the time they went full colour, it was only a matter of time before they were canned.)