Home > Letters to CR

John Vest On Comics Being Too Darn Expensive… Or Not
posted August 7, 2008
 

I was thinking about that piece and the letters that followed a few months ago after a visit to my comic shop yesterday afternoon. I picked up three new comics, a volume of titles that is unusual for me these days. The books I plunked down $9.00 for were Criminal, Tor, and Army@Love -- three comics I couldn't imagine collecting in a different format.

Army@Love almost seems like a weird throwback and more modern than modern at the same time. It reminds me of the kind of comic Rip Off might have published twenty years ago.

I never paid much attention to Joe Kubert's comics when I was a kid. I love the way comics look on newsprint, but Kubert's art I think actually comes off better on the card stock covers and the new kind of interior paper. His writing also has a real aged maturity and the look and feel of the comic really pull you in. It's like a little art object.

And Criminal speaks for itself.

Most comics do seem too expensive, but the really good ones can feel worth the cost. These title make you grateful that actual comic book comics still exist.