New Valiants cheap printing quality?

[MoonChild]

Alot of people keep mentioning "card stock". What comics (aside from the independently published books) are using card stock? It's not going to happen. And honestly, I don't want "card stock".

VEI are Independent aren't they

[Newton]

The paper weight didn't bother me for the most part. I did notice a weird stickiness on my books almost as if they were varnished and were exposed to heat.

[400yrs]

Alot of people keep mentioning "card stock". What comics (aside from the independently published books) are using card stock? It's not going to happen. And honestly, I don't want "card stock".

VEI are Independent aren't they

No. I'm talking about small press books or self published stuff. In todays market those are the only places you find card stock and usually blank interior covers. Ie cheap looking comics.

[BugsySig]

Alot of people keep mentioning "card stock". What comics (aside from the independently published books) are using card stock? It's not going to happen. And honestly, I don't want "card stock".

VEI are Independent aren't they

No. I'm talking about small press books or self published stuff. In todays market those are the only places you find card stock and usually blank interior covers. Ie cheap looking comics.

Lets remember that these books thus far have a print run between 35-45k. That's a lot more than 99% of independantly published books. So they have to pay for more printing material. Considering Marvel is switching to "self-cover" I can't blame VEI for their choices as of now.

[MarrowMan]

I'm surprised it wasn't printed in Canada. look at the masthead at the beginning or end of most comics, and that's what you'll see.

[kevinbastos]

I'm surprised it wasn't printed in Canada. look at the masthead at the beginning or end of most comics, and that's what you'll see.

(Scoff...) Canadians. Geez.

[jmatt]

I'm surprised it wasn't printed in Canada. look at the masthead at the beginning or end of most comics, and that's what you'll see.

Tis true.

And as far as "cardstock", that was simply used as a metaphor for "heavier, thicker cover material".

[Aram]

I'm really "cheap" when it comes to spending money and even I can't seriously I can't see the issues with the 3.99 price.

I b*tch*d and moaned about the price of Valiant's the first time around. They were almost DOUBLE what Marvel and DC Were!

Now look at Inflation, Minimum Wage and the cost of food and Gas($4+ West Coast still).

Valiant Comics cover prices now are right in line in comparrison with the old ones, much cheaper in fact.

The only reason it feels bad is because the "lower-middleclass" income earners and higher of the "99%" are being squeezed by non-rising wages and continuing inflation. essentially becoming "poorer" every year", even if they are making 200k per year!

Whereas the Lowest income people at minimum wage are seeing things change more slowly or not at all for them because minimum wage tends to jump in spurts with inflation.

Rich get richer, middle get poorer and the poor stay poor but get cheap luxery items like big hd tvs and dvds. (Wonder why the "99%" is so upset? )

[MoonChild]

A slitghtly thicker paper for such quality books at this price is not too much to ask for imo

[arghh!]

Well my Harbinger 1:50 came in damaged. It had a folded over corner on the front, spine ticks, and the cover was dented like it had something set on it in several places. My XO was not perfect but this one is bad. On the plus side the1:20 is really in nice shape.

[MoonChild]

The 1:20 covers have all been the best thus far anyway Especially Harby, that should have been the Reg Cover, so Iconic & representative of the original.

[StarBrand]

Alright, this is really starting to hit home for me. It's a sad day when companies start using cheap paper on the covers. Disney seems to be driving it, and they're pressured by owners of their stock to make as much profit as possible. Valiant and other such companies that aren't publicly traded have no such pressures. Yes, there's the pressure to survive and make a profit, like with any company, but I think Valiant made a mistake using cheap paper on the cover of Harbinger 1, and any other cover they're planning to do this with. They should reconsider, and go for quality in this instance. I love this relaunch, but this is a big strike against the new Valiant in my book unless they put an immediate stop to this nonsense of crap cover quality. I can understand variants as a business move, but this is a called third strike. Please change this poor decision on cover paper, Valiant.

[Aram]

Alright, this is really starting to hit home for me. It's a sad day when companies start using cheap paper on the covers. Disney seems to be driving it, and they're pressured by owners of their stock to make as much profit as possible. Valiant and other such companies that aren't publicly traded have no such pressures. Yes, there's the pressure to survive and make a profit, like with any company, but I think Valiant made a mistake using cheap paper on the cover of Harbinger 1, and any other cover they're planning to do this with. They should reconsider, and go for quality in this instance. I love this relaunch, but this is a big strike against the new Valiant in my book unless they put an immediate stop to this nonsense of crap cover quality. I can understand variants as a business move, but this is a called third strike. Please change this poor decision on cover paper, Valiant.

3rd? what were the other 2?

I'm sure they are pretty upset at all the damages and are doing everything in their power to get this fixed for following issues.

If there is anything VEI has shown me, it is that they are commited to quality in all areas. I'm sure they had no idea these print quality issues would happen.

[StarBrand]

Alright, this is really starting to hit home for me. It's a sad day when companies start using cheap paper on the covers. Disney seems to be driving it, and they're pressured by owners of their stock to make as much profit as possible. Valiant and other such companies that aren't publicly traded have no such pressures. Yes, there's the pressure to survive and make a profit, like with any company, but I think Valiant made a mistake using cheap paper on the cover of Harbinger 1, and any other cover they're planning to do this with. They should reconsider, and go for quality in this instance. I love this relaunch, but this is a big strike against the new Valiant in my book unless they put an immediate stop to this nonsense of crap cover quality. I can understand variants as a business move, but this is a called third strike. Please change this poor decision on cover paper, Valiant.

3rd? what were the other 2?

I'm sure they are pretty upset at all the damages and are doing everything in their power to get this fixed for following issues.

If there is anything VEI has shown me, it is that they are commited to quality in all areas. I'm sure they had no idea these print quality issues would happen.

It's the equivalent of a called third strike, from where I stand.

[tchalla8]

Alright, this is really starting to hit home for me. It's a sad day when companies start using cheap paper on the covers. Disney seems to be driving it, and they're pressured by owners of their stock to make as much profit as possible. Valiant and other such companies that aren't publicly traded have no such pressures. Yes, there's the pressure to survive and make a profit, like with any company, but I think Valiant made a mistake using cheap paper on the cover of Harbinger 1, and any other cover they're planning to do this with. They should reconsider, and go for quality in this instance. I love this relaunch, but this is a big strike against the new Valiant in my book unless they put an immediate stop to this nonsense of crap cover quality. I can understand variants as a business move, but this is a called third strike. Please change this poor decision on cover paper, Valiant.

I don't understand the furor over this. There are two camps. Speculators and readers. And certainly many of us fall into both. I buy the Regular cover book to read, and although I prefer a NM book, there's no real speculator value to that cover or the Pullbox Variant for that matter, so if the condition of the book doesn't hold up, so what? I paid $3.99 for a great story not lovely paper quality. And if you don't like the condition of the 1:20 or 1:50 books that are available to you out there don't pay the premium price. So you've lost nothing. I think we're overreacting to this.

[BruceReville]

And if you don't like the condition of the 1:20 or 1:50 books that are available to you out there don't pay the premium price. You've lost nothing.

What if you pre-ordered it - paid the premium price - received it and it was in less than desirable condition (Which is seeming to be the case) and the chance of replacement is very low. Especially with someone like Paradise who is a dealer on this board and pre-ordered alot of these premium books for board members and may be left with having to ship out low quality copies for those on here who were expecting better?

[MoonChild]

I'd say most of us are collector's and want quality copies for our collections and to have something of an investment for down the road. Us that do that usually buy more than one copy, one to read n keep, the other(s) to use as INVESTMENTS. We believe in the product, that's why we invest in it. These covers are a real bummer for a collector like myself who expects nothing short of NM at the time of a BRAND NEW, Off the shelf purchase.

[etos45]

I'd say most of us are collector's and want quality copies for our collections and to have something of an investment for down the road. Us that do that usually buy more than one copy, one to read n keep, the other(s) to use as INVESTMENTS. We believe in the product, that's why we invest in it. These covers are a real bummer for a collector like myself who expects nothing short of NM at the time of a BRAND NEW, Off the shelf purchase.

This.

I would add that for me, I'm mostly just on the "collector" side of this, because I never seem to be able to bring myself to sell comics when they gain in value. Regardless, if I'm paying full price for a new comic and I'm not careless with my comics, then I expect it to be in new looking condition.

[vikingspawn]

What if the Valiant "month 3" books are already being printed with the same paper?

[BruceReville]

What if the Valiant "month 3" books are already being printed with the same paper?

If it is a standard contract then it could be for the next 6 months to a year on that type of paper

[maraxusofkeld]

For $4 a comic book with 22 pages, the freaking paper stock should be awesome.

This is not a cheap comic book. We should be getting cardstock covers for $4.

This is exactly why comic is readership is down, how can a young kid afford $4 a comic. They can spend $40 and buy a video game to play for weeks/months.

[BruceReville]

For $4 a comic book with 22 pages, the freaking paper stock should be awesome.

This is not a cheap comic book. We should be getting cardstock covers for $4.

This is exactly why comic is readership is down, how can a young kid afford $4 a comic. They can spend $40 and buy a video game to play for weeks/months.

If that is the case then VEI is alienating its young readership because that IS how much their standard comic is.

[Aram]

For $4 a comic book with 22 pages, the freaking paper stock should be awesome.

This is not a cheap comic book. We should be getting cardstock covers for $4.

This is exactly why comic is readership is down, how can a young kid afford $4 a comic. They can spend $40 and buy a video game to play for weeks/months.

If that is the case then VEI is alienating its young readership because that IS how much their standard comic is.

I personally have not seen a "kid" buy a comic in probably 6 to 7 years. I'm sure it happens, I just haven't seen it in a while when I've been in stores.

I'd guess that maybe 90% or more of comic buyers today are "kids" that collected comics 10 or more years ago. I think that's why the market is so small now.

Video games are considered "expensive" now by most people, but they are essentially the same price they were in the 80's. if you consider inflation, that would make them 50-60% cheaper now!

Of course a "kid" nowadays growing up with media overload and internet access would want video games over comics if they had to pick between a stack of 12 comics that would last them a few hours or a new Mario or Pokemon that promises 80+ hours of entertainment.

I think the kids raised in the internet generation (after 1995) in a broad generalization... usually just can not focus or appreciate something like a comic because they expect non stop multiple sources of information coming at them on a video screen and therefor I also think that they usually don't appreciate art or reading books in general.

[BruceReville]

Problem is - for the industry to survive we need the kids to come in and buy - us older collectors won't be around forever

[Zaphod]

Being Canadian, I don't have a lot of sympathy for you Yanks. We've been paying this much for comics forever.

That said, I won't be able to stick with a 3.99 price point for more than a few months, I hope they lower their prices but that might make me not Valiants target audience.