New Comic Heroes is out- and now unpackaged, lacking any huge cardboard sleeves or cracker-tat keyrings/ magnets/ Marvel-branded butt plugs. Wasn't it £8 back in the day? It's a tenner now, anyway. Yep- a tenner.
Plus points include thickness (they've shoved the 'Sidekick' freebie comic into the mag proper, where it uses up 30 or so extra pages at the back), and lack of DC novelty gonks. Minus points include it being a tenner.
I have no idea how much (if any) 2000AD or UK-related content there is, as I couldn't get past it being a tenner. There is a feature on what looks like "best Spider-Man team-ups"- which could actually just be an overview of Marvel's 'Marvel Team-Up featuring Spider-Man and...', which ran for much of my early comic-collecting life, and was always ignored as "not important", but which now looks to have been a lot of fun, but as my wallet was screaming for me to put the magazine down and back the fuck away, I didn't spend long looking.
Also, I really don't like the design or overall "look and feel"- as it reminds me of all those "POW! BAM! SMASH!" TV graphics they use when The News covers comics for some reason. And it's a tenner.
SBT
Ten British pounds stirling? :o
Last issue of Comic Heroes ever, I fear.
DROKK! I'll have a look tomorrow and unless it has a decent amount inside by 2000 AD creators, then I'm out.
£10 they're having a laugh :o
At least now I'll be able to flick through before buying (although at that price, it's bloody unlikely)
QuoteIt's a tenner now, anyway. Yep- a tenner.
Bloody hell... I don't buy magazines but I assume this is very expensive?
By contrast, the new Bill Bryson hardback is £9 in Tesco at the moment...
How much?!
£10
The only mags I buy are 3D graphicsy-type stuff, and pretty rarely at that - they come in at around the 6 quid mark - I can't see many takers at a tenner.
I double checked today, just in case I'd led you all astray with the US pricing or something... but no, it's ten English pounds (minus one penny, obv). Again, I didn't open it up, as I'm afraid at that price, it's just too much for my pocket.
SBT
£9.99 rather than £10?
Well, that makes all the difference - that means it's well within my budget now.
:lol:
Seven quid gets you two paperbacks in Tesco - though admittedly most people won't want to own 2 Dan Brown/Andy McNab masterpieces in the span of their lifetime. But they do Clive Cussler books, too, if you fancy some pulp racism.
A tenner is probably about right for a hobby magazine, and it's such a niche hobby (comics) that the chain stores like WH Smith have probably stuck their hands in right up to the elbow to charge the publisher protection fees a small voluntary contribution to maintain the magazine's presence on the shelves where it can be found and not chucked on a shelf in the basement behind a locked door with a sign on it that reads Beware Of The Leopard. All the same, most that can afford that amount probably have tablets or know how to use a pc and can get exactly the same articles for free via content farms like Zergnet or Comics Alliance.
Well, this is the thing: magazines are expensive to produce. Readership levels fall, but the cost of commissioning new content doesn't. Comic Heroes also seems to have less repurposed content than in the old days, and yet hasn't removed a ton of pages. Yet it's a very niche publication—and be mindful that the more popular titles in that area (such as the bigger-selling computer mags) are anything from a fiver to eight quid these days.
Still, if you have an iPad, that provides a cheaper alternative. Individual issues are on sale for £4.99, and the annual sub is £18.99—i.e. cheaper than buying two paper issues. The app itself is run of the mill (a DRM-encrusted PDF viewer), but at least you're saving money AND paying the publisher. Going the content-farm direction's only going to kill mags in the long run, and it's definitely been in part responsible for the death of one niche title I used to co-edit.
(Note that if you're not an iPad owner, there are alternative similarly affordable digital options, such as Zinio (http://gb.zinio.com/www/browse/product.jsp?rf=sch&productId=500618910).)
I flicked through the issue at Smiths and there was just enough from 2000 AD creators inside to validate my £9.99.