The Price of a Comic

 

To me, the inherent value of a comic book is twenty-five cents. That price was the face value of a comic book for just a couple of years in the mid-1970s; for most of the history of comics the price of a new comic book was either less than or more than a quarter. Comics were 10 cents each at the dawn of the history of comics, and these days it's a considerable challenge to find one for sale priced less than $3.99.

I'll date myself by confessing that I started buying comics off the newsstand as they were transitioning from 12 cents to 15 cents. I definitely noticed the difference as to how many comics I could purchase with my one dollar weekly allowance!

Of all the prices through the decades, 35 cents struck me as the oddest cover price for a comic book and I'm glad that phase did not last long. I was a big fan of Dollar Comics in the 1970s, long before one dollar became the standard price of standard-sized comics.

I kind of like this new t-shirt design that showcases different prices that appeared on comic covers!