Dark Avengers #5

One thing we haven't talked about much at the ol' Comic of the Day blog is the price of comics.

For a while now, a regular comic book in the U.S. has cost $2.99 (with a lot of fluctuation for specials, annuals, etc.). But in recent months, several Marvel comics jumped to $3.99, and it looks like the entire industry isn't far behind.

So I can't help but wonder - is there a breaking point? When I started reading comics, they had just switched over from 10 cents to 12 cents - which sounds laughable now, I realize.

I have distinct memories of walking into a newsstand to pick up the latest comics, seeing the latest issue of Iron Man (#15, I think), and being shocked to see that the price had jumped to 15 cents! Outraged, I almost stopped buying comics on the spot. Lots of fans did stop buying at that point. After a minute or so, I overcame my outrage and picked up the comics I wanted.

From that point, price increases almost became a yearly event, as comics jumped to 20 cents, then a quarter, and up and up until we reach the stunning sum of four bucks for a comic.

Since they're staggering the increase, starting with the best-selling titles, I wonder if, once again, we're about to lose a large number of fans who are turned off by the large jump in price.

I know I've cut back my buying over the years - where once I bought almost everything (super-hero) on the stands, now I pick and choose a lot more, and where I once would continue to buy a comic I had been collecting for years, figuring it would eventually get turned over to a good writer or artist, now I find I have no patience for comics that aren't entertaining, and several titles I collect are on the brink of being dropped (I'm looking at you, Amazing Spider-Man).

Which brings us the Dark Avengers. It has two terrific creators on it - Brian Bendis, who's one of Marvel's best writers, and Mike Dedato, one of its best artists. It also carries a price tag of $3.99. So is it worth it?

For the art, yes. Deodato has amazing skill with detail and expression. His closeups of Norman Osborn move beyond art to the realm of acting - you can feel the emotions Osborn is "selling" during a TV interview - it's very impressive.

For the story (at least for this issue), it's not worth the extra cost. It's a well-crafted issue, as Osborn uses clever lies to wiggle out of a Public Relations corner, but we already know he's a lying weasel - do we need so many pages devoted to showing him telling more lies?

We do get some insight on some of the Dark Avenger team members, including some moments with the until-now-largely-ignored Marvel Boy. He has some revelations that are almost laughable, but should pay off in an interesting way.

But again, we have a comic that contains (so far) no sympathetic characters, and no one to root for. It's an interesting experiment, but not much more than that.

Next issue promises a lot more action, and a focus on Marvel Boy - but this book is hanging by a thread. Five months in and I don't care about any of the characters. That's not the way to build a following - especially at these prices.

Grade: C+