April 15th, 2008
In researching a slightly more serious piece I stumbled across this highly interesting examination of the price of comic books over the years. This isn’t about the investment price of older comics, but the cover price of new comics and how, since the early ’60s, that price has shot up some 2,400 percent. It’s a very nice little disquisition that uses The Amazing Spider-Man to examine a bit of market failure (or maybe I should say, counter-intuitive market behavior):
Except for the boom years in the early 1990s, the title’s popularity has actually waned. That this hasn’t caused a drop in prices seems to defy economic logic. Even the dramatic plummet in demand for Spider-Man from 1994 to present day has been accompanied by more than a doubling in monthly prices from $1.25 to $2.99. What gives?
The answer the writer gives has to do with the the Federal Reserve and I may very well be wrong, but I get the sense that there’s a gold-standard subtext in there somewhere. Whatever the case, it’s a fun read.
In other comic book news, I did a little piece on the Jerry Siegel Superman decision last week that some of you might be interested in. It’s a really fascinating bit of IP jurisprudence.
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