Riddle Me This: How Long Does It Take You To Read A Comic?
For the past several years the price of comics has been seen as one of the biggest hurdles for attracting new regular comics readers. With $3 to $4 becoming the norm, lapsed readers remember the “good old days” when comics were $1/75 cents/65 cents or even less, while many new readers are hesitant to invest (for lack of a better word) that amount of money for something that’s perceived as a quick read.
With paper costs increasing and print distribution dwindling, it’s no wonder that prices are going up. The only only way to lower those costs seems to be to eliminate those expenses, and many point to digital as the perfect avenue for that. Not only do you not have any printing or shipping costs but digital distribution has the opportunity to reach those that are unwilling or unable to set foot in a comic shop.
Digital or not, comics still have to face the increased scrutiny that customers have toward the cost of their purchases, especially those that are considered luxuries. While three or four dollars may not seem like a lot, the claim is often heard “Why should I pay that much for only a couple of minutes entertainment?” Is this true? Are comics such quick, disposable reads that they don’t warrant even a couple of dollars? How long does it take to read a comic nowadays anyway?
Batman's had enough, from Batman #6. Art by Greg Capullo
To test this out I brought out my old stopwatch (well, my cell phone) and timed myself as I read some of this past week’s comics. The four I timed myself on were Marvel’s Winter Soldier #2 and Daredevil #9, Image’s Glory #23 and DC’s Batman #6, all of which selling for $2.99. After getting all cozy in bed with them, I read through each and noted my time. Suffice it to say, I was surprised. Winter Soldier clocked in at 4 minutes, 21 seconds; Daredevil was 4 minutes, 40 seconds; Glory was 6 minutes, 25 seconds and Batman was only 3 minutes and 38 seconds.
Generally speaking, I’m a pretty fast reader. I will fully admit that when the discussion of price vs time to read a comic came up I found some people’s estimates of how long it took them to read one high. I’ll also say that as someone who tends to favor story more than art I don’t dwell too long on a splash page or action sequences and that may be a flaw of mine. That having been said, that’s still pretty fast for someone to burn through $12 worth of reading material. An interesting note is that all of the books had 20 story pages, with the exception of Glory which had 24 (but also no adds, like the other three). Batman, the low man on the totem pole, is a book filled with a climactic fight scene and lots of big panels and gorgeous Greg Capullo art work. Glory, upon leafing through it again, seems a touch denser than the other three.
Does the quickness of the read detract from my enjoyment of the books in question? No, not at all. I love Snyder and Capullo’s Batman and am happy to buy it, but there is a part of me that wonders “It’s a little less money to get it in the trade, what if I just waited until then and spread out the reading experience?” I don’t think I’d do that, but it’s a thought (and one I’m having with more frequency).
One of the arguments about digital has also been the price point, especially in light of the lessened printing and shipping costs. With that in mind, many people have said that same-price digital for the print copy isn’t something they’re willing to pay (and digital cheaper than print is a price structure prose fiction and the music industry have already adopted). If the only option for cheaper comics is digital, is going as cheap as possible necessary given how fast a read comics can be? How important is it make sure that perceived value matches what people are actually paying for it, especially when time to read a comic versus its cost is weighed against things like books, movies and TV shows? Are those even fair comparisons?
So riddle me this, PoP!ulation: Does the amount of time it takes you read a comic affect your enjoyment at all?
Filed Under: Riddle Me This
It absolutely does (or rather, did), and was a major factor in what drove me to stop buying comics some years back. With my very limited budget, I had to cut some things out. I broke it down to the “movie index”.
Going out to the theater is $8 (hah! if I’m lucky) for about two hours of entertainment. To me, $4/hour is a bit high, however when you take into consideration the added enjoyment of going out with some friends/family, the experience of it all increases that entertainment quite a bit.
So, to answer the original question, it takes me about 10 minutes to read a comic. Even if it took me 15 minutes, comics would have to be a dollar to reach the movie index. Maybe it makes me a shitty fan, but I have a very hard time justifying that kind of costs. Maybe if I were the type who frequently goes back and reads old issues, but I’m not.
It usually only takes me 5-10 minutes to get through a book, thats if I really like the art. Spending 15-20 bucks a week for maybe 45 minutes of enjoyment is what caused me to became a trade person. I do enjoy the physical book but I can not justify an extra 100 dollars a month just to get a couple hours of enjoyment.
If these books were 10-15 minutes each for 4 bucks I would be someone okay with this, but currently the price keeps me out of the hobby.
The length really doesn’t affect my enjoyment. It might make my bank account sad, but I’ve noticed I enjoy it the same amount no matter what. I’ve noticed I average somewhere around 10 minutes a comic. If I feel like I’m going through too quickly, I might go back and appreciate the art a bit more.
I never thought about the price with the time it takes to read a comic. It takes me 5 to 8 minutes to get through a comic but I also will dwell on the art a lot too. I’m fine with prices how they are now, I’d be happier if they went down, and I’d be pissed if they go up.
I have started to read trades though to the comics I have just gotten interested in or have had to miss due to travels. but I still love the comics.
My issue is I hate reading anything that’s digital (when it comes to books and comics). I am the kind of person who loves to own their books and feel the pages in my hands. I also know how easy it is to lose everything you have that is digital, I don’t have any of my pictures or video from my first deployment, and I had them on the computer and two externals, now they’re destroyed. My point is I love knowing that what I am reading is mine and I can go back and read it again and again.
Same here. While I understand the pro’s of switching to digital and even agree to an extent, I still prefer to have the physical copy. Maybe that’s the artist in me, I can analyze the art more closely with the book in my hand.
Have you read digital comics on an iPad? I’m sorry, but your argument for art analysis fails up against an iPad. The SINGLE biggest weakness of an iPad is not being able to view a two-page spread all at once at full size. But anything else you can look at in just as much detail and afford just as much scrutiny.
Granted, I have not. But I’m not going to buy a $500 device just to read comics.
A hard-copy book can JUST as easily be lost or destroyed as a digital copy. Mind you, the likelihood with digital is that you’d lose everything at once, but still. It doesn’t really make any individual item that much safer.
I’ve never timed myself reading a book, but I’d estimate between 5-10 minutes. I DO notice that it takes me longer to read an Indy book like Spawn than it does most main stream titles.
Which might bring up another interesting question.. do Indy comics typically hold more content than the Big Two? And if they do, why? Is there a bigger expectation that mainstream books will be more like an action movie whereas Indy’s have the expectation to be more cerebral?
I think the reason why indie comics have more in them is because they might be pressured to put more in their books to draw more attention from the readers.
I have also noticed this too but not with indie and mainstream comics, but rather old comics and the new ones of the same characters. I have a lot of old X-Men from the 80′s and 90′s and it takes me 10 minutes to read them, but my new X-Men from the last 5 years takes me 5 minutes. It seems like there is a lot less writing in the newer ones than there were in the older ones. I don’t know if it’s like this for all main stream comics, I was always a Marvel fan but only of the last 5 years a DC and indie fan, minus Spawn, I always loved him.
You’ll actually find that with all comics back in the day. That was just the style of writing at the time. Back then, I think writers crafted their work in the same mindframe of a novelist, where they had to create an entire scene with their words.
Nowadays, the artists have been given the responsibility of setting moods and making the story flow with cues from the writer.
Example of an 80′s comic:
“Batman entered the small apartment through the window. Winter just set in, which made Bruce all the more glad he were his thermal suit today. The place hasn’t been kept up with in years, and each floorboard croaked under the weight of his boots. It actually reminded him of simpler times and the summer visits to grandma. And while he knew he should be focused at the task at hand and finding clues, he couldn’t help but question having that burrito for lunch..”
Example of today’s comic:
*Scene* – Batman enters small apartment through window. Snow on his shoulders.
Panel 2 – *Creeeek* sound effect as he steps to the floor.
Panel 3 – *Poot!* sound effect from his posterior
LOL
It takes me 5-10 minutes to read a comic with the occasional exception. I’m fine with that though. If I enjoy the book I don’t care if it was a quick read. I feel like I got my money’s worth.
Ah well, my disposable income that could’ve gone to a cable TV bill, or cigarettes or alcohol goes towards comics. I’d rather pay $4 for an excellent 10-minute comic reading experience, rather than $9-$13 for the average crappy movie that’s all filler. To each their own.
The problem with this argument is that comics provide a fairly unique experience and as such have value far beyond the ten minutes it takes to read them.
Comics are a serial media form and in many cases tell the story of age old characters existing in shared universes.
If you spend $10 for an hour and a half in a movie theater, sure, if that movie was good you’ll be talking about it to your friends for a while thereafter, but give it a month. You’re done.
The $4 you spend on 10 minutes with a comic book this week, however? Add next month’s ten minutes to that, and the month after that, and the month after that. Not to mention the books that come out on the other three weeks of the month that may have some involvement. Not to mention the anticipation in between issues. Your experience with that comic is RARELY an isolated event and therefore you can’t boil it down to a simple stop watch reading.
I think the bigger issue with comics and their pricing is that we’re getting old. WE remember them being a dollar, and we want that back. We’re getting the same amount of entertainment at four dollars as we were at one. Well guess what… when I started reading comics and they were a dollar an issue, gas was a dollar a gallon. Now comics hover between 3 and 4 dollars each, and gas is $3.49 around me. So maybe comics don’t seem like the bargain they once were, but their markup is nothing SO drastic as we perhaps perceive it to be.
I miss gas being a dollar a gallon. I used to fill up my tank for less than $10.. *sigh*
That is a valid point though. As well the number of times we’ve read a book that we love. I’m sure we all have a favorite story that we’ve read multiple times.