8 Ways DC And Marvel Make It Impossible For Fans To Read Their Comics

Nov 22, 2017 November 22nd, 2017

1. Everything Is Just Way Too Expensive

I mean, you all had to know this was coming, right? Given the history of the medium and all?

It may be hard to believe now, but comic books were originally created as a cheap means of entertainment for people from working class backgrounds to enjoy. They were cheap. Dirt cheap. And they provided a great means of escape away from the movie theatre and other novels of the day. During the World War II, their cheapness (and relative popularity) saw them used as a means of propaganda, spawning heroes like Captain America and seeing characters like Superman and Batman take on the Nazis home and away. They were incredibly popular, so much so that, during the fifties, there was a genuine scare regarding their content and the influence they had on younger readers.

Still, they persisted, and flourished into one of the most iconic fictional mediums of the 20th century. Today, superheroes are the most high-profile denizens of pop-culture, boasting a multi-million dollar pull on screen and off. Their off-screen exploits however, are nowhere near as accessible, and it's because things just keep on getting more expensive... somehow. Like, genuinely, how does this keep happening?

A single issue of a comic book today will set you back between $2.99 or $4.99, and collected editions can fetch anywhere up to $100 depending on the amount of issues included. It has, in no small way, never been more expensive to be a comic book fan than it is today.

It's an incredibly difficult hobby to maintain, and the thought of seeing young fans wandering into a comic book shop only to find out they can't afford to read their favourite heroes on paper genuinely makes me feel sick. Sure, there are other mediums in which to enjoy the exploits of Spider-Man et al., but even today there's something indelibly magical about comic books as an art-form. To deprive people of the opportunity to explore that is, without doubt, the biggest failure of the medium's history. That's where your sales fall. That's where you lose your readers. It's not complicated.

Do you struggle to keep up with Marvel and DC? Or do you not get the fuss? Sound off in the comments below and, before you do, be sure to thwip on over to our Twitter and give us a big ol' follow while you're at it.

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Ewan Paterson

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.

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