I recently posted on the price of comics and graphic novels in Australia and what it might mean for Australian comic retailers. But as I was in looking at Australian comics recently I was struck by the cost of Australian comics as compared now to American comics (we don't get particularly many European comics in Australia and if we do I don't know where they are).
With the Australian dollar pushing close to parity with the American greenback (as of 26 September 2010 it was hovering around US 96c) Australian comics are now cheaper to buy in hard copy than American comics, which makes them a bit more of an attractive purchase. Depending on the title Australian comics run from about $4-$8 with the average round about $5-$6. For example the anthology Fist Full of Comics #3 was five dollars, and Andrei Buters' Dead by 30 was four dollars, whereas Mark Miller's Nemesis cost $6, and Brian Bendis' Scarlet set me back $8.
Mind you not all Oz comics are as well produced as the American titles. In fact few are, and the overwhelming majority are black-and-white. Similarly not all or all are in the standard comic size. Many are in an A5 format i.e.:A4 paper folded in half. That's not a problem for me as long as I'm getting value for money which can come in a variety of guises.
So does this relative cheapness of product translate into more sales for producers of Australian comics? I doubt it. As I speculated in my previous post on the price of comics in Australia, with the advent of digital comics less people may be coming into comic shops themselves and thus less people seeing Australian comics on the shelves.
For all intents and purposes Australia doesn't have a comics 'industry'. No one makes a living out of comics in Australia. Okay, there maybe a couple, and I mean only a couple, of exceptions to the rule such as Ben Templesmith. Therefore it's not likely that physical sales of Australian comics are going to take that much of a hit. I would argue that most sales for them would come at the annual conventions such as Supanova.
What does this mean for producers of Australian comics if Australian retailers no longer but find it viable to stock American (or any) comics?
Embrace digital. I think there's no other way to go but for Australian comic producers to throw their hat into the ring. Eliminating printing and distribution costs brings the price down, allows the comics to go full colour and be produced in proper comic size(if desired), and get exposure to an international audience. And now's the time to do it.
If American digital comics are retailing at between $.99-$2.99 then Australian comics can do exactly the same with less overheads. Just imagine 1000 downloads per month at two dollars each. I'll do the sums for you. That's $2000 a month or $500 a week. It's not a fortune but it's certainly enough. Heck you could even live on that, frugally at any rate.
The great thing about Australian comics is they have a wide diversity of styles both in art and writing and there's no barriers to putting out a comic apart from the monetary side of things. This diversity should be on show to the rest of the world and with the advent of digital may well engender an actual Australian comics industry.
I'd certainly love to know if any Australian comic producer is considering or has already done this. Let me know in the comments.
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