Ugly American: Decisions, Decisions!

After sifting through this month's Previews...I might be done with Marvel Comics, and I hate that. I hate that I'm even forced to consider it, because I love Marvel Comics, and I'm not a quitter, and I don't want to be 'That Guy'.

This all started when I zipped to the Marvel section of Previews, looking for the new X-Factor book. Layla MIller is my favorite character in comics, so first I needed to confirm her presence or absence in the new line-up. She is absent. That's not a good start.

Then I needed to confirm that Peter David was scripting, and he is. I don't even remember who the penciller is, because it doesn't matter. If I can tolerate PAD X-Factor scripts rendered by Larry Stroman, then I can tolerate anything. So Peter is in, and that's critical, because at this point X-Factor to me kinda IS Peter David.

They've titled the new rendition "All New X-Factor"
, which I loathe. This musical adjective game Marvel likes to play is silly. lazy, random, and ultimately destructive. When a dozen different titles juggle a dozen different adjectives, those adjectives stop creating distinctions and start creating chaos.

Five years from now when everything a customer wants to read has worn an Uncanny, an Amazing, and an All New on its masthead, who will remember which is which? How will that customer find what they're looking for in a sea of spines at their local comic shop? It's just bad business. Such a practice is marketing suicide...and any college intern could tell you that. How do they not know this?

That wasn't the deal-breaker, though. All New X-Factor is priced at $3.99, so even if it did have Layla Miller in it, I'm out. I'm just out. That makes me sad, because I would dearly love to support a Peter David title, even though in this case it looks like he's going for the tedious and played out "corporations are bad" bit. I trust that he'd handle it with some degree of subtlety and humor, and that would probably take some of the gag reflex away from the southpaw medicine. But I won't be around to find out, because I'm not spending $3.99 on a Marvel comic. That's been the law, at least for me.

Trouble with that is, there isn't much left at the House of Ideas for $2.99, and what's left is not long for the world. Marvel just doesn't believe in titles running longer than two years. Here's your list of regular Marvel books at the $2.99 price tag in this month's Previews:

Avengers A.I.
Daredevil
Deadpool
Superior Foes of Spider-Man
Thunderbolts
X-Men: Legacy
Young Avengers


There were a handful of other odd items in there for $3 as well, like the all-ages books, some clearance items they found lying in a warehouse, and the Daredevil Dark Nights mini. But we're down to about a half dozen titles, none of them will be around in their present form a year from now, and when they do come back? They'll be $3.99, just like the All New X-Factor.

So that's it. The rubicon has presented itself, and now I must decide if I'll cross. There will be no more $2.99 Marvel books soon - do I re-write my laws and fudge a little, do I simply admit defeat and just buy anything in direct defiance of all that I hold true and dear...or do I say good-bye to Marvel Comics?

It's a complicated beast, and it probably has more to do with petty psychology as it does economics. I'll let you in on a little secret: the #1 thing preventing me from kicking Marvel to the curb is the fact that I self-identify as a "comics guy", and I don't think you can be a "comics guy" and not have some intimate contact with Marvel. They're too big, and too important.

Some of my readers will reject that notion, and God bless you all. There's more to comics than superheroes, for sure. I'm not suggesting that avoiding Marvel eliminates you from being a fan of comics. That's just silly.

What I'm saying is....this is so bizarre...comics are kind of My Thing. I write a column about them. I did a weekly podcast about them for more than five years, and still crank one out occasionally because I love it, and because I just can't stay away. On my days off, I'm researching and reading and buying comics for my side business, which is selling comics. That "side business" makes my life possible, by the way. Without it, there's no way I make ends meet. In a very real way, comics are my life.

So the idea that I might simply ignore the medium's (for better or worse) dominant entity...how can I do that? How can I do that and still be a Comics Guy?

I suppose one answer is that I can re-define myself. I don't have to be a Comics Guy. Some people might call that growth, actually. I call it a heinous fate worse than death, but I'm admittedly prone to hyperbole. Maybe it's not as bad as all that, and maybe I'm already there and just not ready to admit it to myself? The last Marvel event that I read front-to-back was Civil War. That was what, 7 years ago?

Amazing Spider-Man flipped over to $3.99 in the summer of 2010. Can you really be a Comics Guy and abandon Spider-Man for three years? The $3.99 price point has chased me out of nearly everything - I've never read an issue of Hickman's Avengers. I've been priced out of most X-Men titles for years. I don't know...maybe I'm already that "out of the loop" character I'm afraid of becoming.

So what to do? I've been partially in the loop via my public library. Most Marvel titles are available to me for free shortly after they hit the stands. I've been able to keep my thumb on the pulse of Superior Spider-Man and
Thor: God of Thunder in that way. I could expand that program. Somehow that just doesn't feel right. I'm not truly current, (should that really matter?) and why should I have to go through the extra hoops and waiting because Marvel's pricing sucks? Seems more fitting to just leave it alone.

Honestly, there is such a wealth of material out there already published, I could probably happily just explore back issues and collected material and never run out undiscovered gems. I've never read the Legion Great Darkness Saga, for crying out loud. I have hundreds of gaps like that. I could just do that and not even worry about new issues, from any publisher.

But again, there's that identity thing again. Ever listen to a podcast and the host or supposed "expert" guest wants to opine about comics, but openly admits they haven't picked up a book in years? Fair or not, those people have no credibility with me. You left. You don't know. You can choose to spend your money how you want, and you can leave the fold any time you want. But your words have no credence unless you're in the muck with me. That's what I'm considering becoming - a guy with no comics credence. Insert shudder here.

Maybe it is time to wave the white flag on price. Prices do rise over time, I'm not oblivious to that. I think the price of comics has risen in a manner that's completely out-of-whack with general inflation and in a completely irresponsible and arbitrary manner, is the thing.

How do I know that, you ask? I can prove to you that comics don't need to be $3.99 rather easily. If Bryan K Vaughan can make money with Saga at $2.99, and Robert Kirkman can make money with Walking Dead at $2.99, then Marvel absolutely, positively, 1000% does NOT need a $4 price tag to make money with their comics. It should be noted that Robert Kirkman sleeps on a bed of money, and none of it comes from his television deal. He uses the TV money to construct his 1:1 scale replica of Castle Greyskull in the back yard. It should also be noted that Kirkman and Vaughan's $2.99 comics show something unique in the industry called "growth", while the $3.99 material always suffers standard (or worse) attrition. I don't think that's a coincidence.

But maybe that doesn't matter. The $3.99 price point may be arbitrary, unnecessary, and destructive, but the fact of the matter is that common sense failed and short-term greed won. Maybe it's time to just own the defeat and buy whatever Marvel books I like as budget permits. I would really like to be current with Superior Spider-Man. I would like to be reading Jason Aaron's material, and Jonathan Hickman's new stuff.

The downside there, is that my limited budget means adding those grossly expensive and double-shipped Marvel books will inevitably result in my dropping books from other, more responsible publishers. Does that sound like a good result? It feels like there is no winning here, no matter what path I take.

I sincerely don't know what path I'm going to take. All I know is that the decision is no longer a thought experiment. $2.99 is going away, here in the Marvel NOW!

So I'll ask you, dear reader...what shall I do?