Also I hope IDW follow up with "Paperino e il ritorno di Reginella" in a future issue (for the selfish reason that I haven't read the sequel )
After the first story, there are three more Reginella stories by Cimino/Cavazzano, plus one less good story written by Cimino but drawn by someone else. I've read all four of the Cimino/Cavazzano stories. My personal favorite is probably "The Marriage of Reginella". In terms of page count--"The Return" would have to be divided into two parts (40 pages), and "The Marriage" would just squeak in if divided in two (63 pages) with the new issue size.
I think it's going to be really interesting to see how Reginella part 1 comes across in English. From the discussion on an earlier forum, I gather that the Italian original script has romantic flourishes that don't make it into other localizations. For instance, IIRC, the text of Donald's speech in the final panel, which is quite flowery in Italian, in a way that would just sound overblown if translated fairly literally into some other languages, but which the Italian readers report to be poetic and moving in the original.
I still can't understand how the hell are comics so expensive in the USA
Have you ever touched one of this US comics journal? Very high quality of the paper (not too thick but very plastic, I do not know if it is the right word that I am using here, but I guess you get what I mean). And the quality of the print is very good too. I think that the paper format is the main reason. In Europe we use that kind of paper for hardcover cover books that we are happy to pay dozens of euros.
Then you must also consider the difference in the cost of living, at least between the US and southern European countries. If you give a look on the inducks to the price of Dutch disney comics you will also find a significant difference in the prize compared to Italy, Greece, or even France.
As a rule of thumb, American floppy paper is generally on the same level of Italian, but Italian editions of american comics cost much more: the average American comic book printed in Italian floppies costs 0,06$\page. the average American comic book printed in American floppies costs 0,16$\page.
It's MORE THAN TWICE the cost per page! It's completely ridiculous to blame it on the paper quality. And the Cost of Living in Italy is actually 15% higher than in USA. And I did count the AD pages in the average, so the price-per-comic-page is actually HIGHER!(in Italy there are 2-to-4 ADs for book, but the books are generally 48 or 72 pages long...)
Must be noted IDW Duck Avenger costs 0,08$\page and with (next to?) no ADs-
And while the paper for IDW's Duck Avenger IS very high quality(well, I've had the chance to try only DA#0, DA#1 I sold even before I managed to read it- oh, yeah, I own a comic book shop in Italy. Might be of value mention that for context.), that's not true for most DC\Marvel\Images comics. They aren't much(or any) better than most Italian prints, and generally aren't any better at presenting the art.
Last, Italy sells WAAAAAY less copies. Getting some thousands of readers is a GIGANTIC SUCCESS... so "bulk discounts" are out.
(Obviously, I'm comparing only American-style floppy books- different format have different numbers and not really relevant to this.)
So, yeah- I have no idea how the hell american floppy prices are so goddamn HIGH. I have a question, though: do Americans pay VAT on comics? Italians don't
I wouldnt say it has anything to do with quality of paper but with number of buyers. Tell me if you know how many copies does your average superman or spidey or mickey sell in US? Because in europe comics sell a lot of copies, I wouldnt be surprised if topolino goes for 100k copies in italy and surrounding countries where it is also sold in kiosks and newsstands in cities near italian border. And its a weekly. I know for a fact that every bonelli comic (most popular comics in my country) sells at least 25k copies in italy alone plus they are also sold in surrounding countries. Alan Ford sells at least 40k copies in croatia alone and it is also sold in slovenia, bosnia, serbia, montenegro and macedonia. It can sell 100k copies not even taking into account how much it sells in italy, its home country. That is why they can have monthlies with hundred pages for only couple euros, because A LOT of people buy them. I live in a 5mile long town with maybe 40 kiosks spread around it and each has a bunch of comics, so when new asterix or lucky luke comes out, boom its sold out in couple of days and they are not nearly as popular as bonelli or alan ford which is a cult here. We also had for many decades our version of wdcs, it was called mikijev zabavnik, you can see some pictures of it in gottfredson books extras, EVERY kid in the 20mil people country had it and I mean every and it was sold every wednesday, so thats a bunch of copies right there. I think thats the key, high circulation and demand which enables so much more content for much less money. Plus there are no ads in these comics except maybe on last page but thats it, a thought came to my mind about DC looney tunes, 40 page book with 20 pages of ads. Plus there is one more fact, european comics are paperbacks, much more sturdy and resilient, you dont have to fear damaging them like you do with american comics. I have a bunch of them thrown around in my closet, 30 years old, near mint with no extra care at all while every american mickey and wdcs I have came to me from shops with those white tears on corners of spines and white spots and tiny tears along the spine. I think american comics should be made with better covers, for example we had about 30 issues of amazing spiderman released in 90s and it had thick, glossy covers like a paperback but it was stapled, voila- a perfect comic, I had those too, practicaly mint after two decades in the closet under a bunch of stuff
That's why I explicitly stated I was referring to Floppy-type Comic Books: they are a very specific fragments of the market.
The highest selling comics of that style make at best something like 20k copies, but the average is more around 3-5k copies. In Italy.
In the USA, they are INSTANT CANCELLATION numbers: Marvel generally cancels anything lower than 25k copies and DC isn't much different. "Safe numbers" are over 40k. Big sellers go well above 100k.
IIRC, "low expectations" books like IDW's Disney books make similar numbers to Italy, from 5k to 20k.
But even 100k is not so much seeing as US is practically bigger then europe(I dont count russia in) and in europe disney sells milions. I think problem is in america comics became a niche market, someone said how they are not sold at supermarkets and news stands and kiosks like they used to be, mostly just comic shops now. Also I had no idea italy has american format comics, can you name a few? Is it translations of american hero comics or?
In the USA, they are INSTANT CANCELLATION numbers: Marvel generally cancels anything lower than 25k copies and DC isn't much different. "Safe numbers" are over 40k. Big sellers go well above 100k.
IIRC, "low expectations" books like IDW's Disney books make similar numbers to Italy, from 5k to 20k.
That's not true. looking at the ICv2 sales estimates Marvel got lots of titles lower that 25k (superheroes and not). The Disney titels have struggled to even get on the top 300 lists the last months, with Uncle Scrooge as the only IDW one on the list in December with a sales estimate at 4638.
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This topic suddenly got all about the price. I'm less concerned with that, more with what stories to get. I was hoping for a couple of 48 page extended Mickey issues so we could get the last story with Eurasia and still have space for edtiorial pages and ads. But if they plan to reduce the number of pages that seems unlikely. (for some reason US #5 and #6 actually had 48 pages)
"do Americans pay VAT on comics?" There is no VAT in the USA!
State "sales tax" is added at the time of sale - ranging from 0% in Oregon, and a few other states, up to 7.5% next door in California. The most prevalent sales tax is 6%, so a book @ $3.99 actually costs $4.23 !
Cover pricing is what "the market will bear" with many titles each month, and few comic shops.
Subscription mail order services discount new issues from 10% to 40%. Local store subscriptions are discounted less, from no discount up to maybe 20%.
"do Americans pay VAT on comics?" There is no VAT in the USA!
State "sales tax" is added at the time of sale - ranging from 0% in Oregon, and a few other states, up to 7.5% next door in California. The most prevalent sales tax is 6%, so a book @ $3.99 actually costs $4.23 !
Cover pricing is what "the market will bear" with many titles each month, and few comic shops.
Subscription mail order services discount new issues from 10% to 40%. Local store subscriptions are discounted less, from no discount up to maybe 20%.
I've been paying 9% in California for the last 2 years. And before that, it was 8% for several years. So, a $3.99 comic book costs $4.35. But that's better than buying them from Europe and paying postage and VAT, or buying them from a comic shop in Europe, and paying the added price for the shop owner to get his profit.
[...] or buying them from a comic shop in Europe, and paying the added price for th shop owner to get his profit.
I live in Norway and pay NOK 34 for all $3.99 comics I pre-order and NOK 25 for all $2.99 comics. That's about the same price if you convert the currency. The few "floppies" my local comic shop put up on the shelves (they mostly just sell trades and hardcovers) are priced a little bit higher, but not much.
Compared to the Norwegian comics (the weekly Donald Duck is NOK 45.90) with bad paper, mostly less interesting stories and without proper lettering I think the American comics are cheap.
I ordered mine off uk shops on ebay uk and they are mostly 1/4 more expensive than in us. It is actually cheaper for me to order a dozen from usa (mycomicshop or whatever) and have a bad luck of customs charging me fees up to 1/4 of a price I payed for comics and shipping then it is to order them from europe.
slight off topic, I just got wdcs 75th anniversary special(the 6 dollars one) and its a paperback, i thought it was a regular comic, how about other specials and longer comics, christmas parade and halloween hex and duck avenger, are they regular comics or also paperbacks
slight off topic, I just got wdcs 75th anniversary special(the 6 dollars one) and its a paperback, i thought it was a regular comic, how about other specials and longer comics, christmas parade and halloween hex and duck avenger, are they regular comics or also paperbacks
The Christmas Parade and Magic Kingdom Comics have the same paperback binding as the 75th Anniverscary special, while the Duck Avenger comics and Giant Halloween Hex are stapled like the regular titles.
its a shame they didnt simply staple it, it hurts my eyes trying to read stuff near the spine. Its good to know, thank you, probably gonna collect duck avenger, today I got in the mail wdcs#728, first story I read with him
Really happy that Reginella will be making her English debut soon! I'm looking forward to picking up that issue (and Duck Avenger, which I am also enjoying)