Drawing the Line at $7.99

Marvel has resolicited their Young Allies/Spider-Girl/Avengers Academy crossover "Arcade: Death Game" as the 80-page "Avengers Academy Giant-Size" #1. As someone who subscribed to (but sadly has not read the last few issues of) Young Allies and reads Avengers Academy, and as someone who likes Arcade a whole lot, I'm kind of looking forward to this. I admit, I was a little taken aback at the price tag: $7.99 is a little steep for a single comic; I've bought digest-trades for that price. But considering that it was originally a 3-issue miniseries, at Marvel's current pricing, it's actually like getting one issue free.

But the press release also includes this curious jab at DC's reduced page counts: "That’s the size of FOUR of our competitor’s books!" It's true; with DC's comics now clocking in at 20 instead of 22 pages, an 80-page issue is indeed the size of four regular DC Comics. It is, however, only the size of one of DC's 80-Page Giants. And looking at the last two of DC's 80-page giants ("Superman 80-Page Giant 2011" and "Batman 80-Page Giant 2010"), I see that they were priced at $5.99.

So I guess it's more like, "That's the size of FOUR of our competitor's regular books, at a price that's ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT of their comparably-sized books." But I guess that's not quite as punchy for the press release.