At the very least, there are more $2.99 this month than previous months. Even if the .1 plan will encourage hardcore buyers to get an extra issue of whatever a month.
The reality of the sales figures is that the $3.99 price tag has reduced overall sales, which is basic economics. However, it usually hasn't wiped out the Top 10-20 sellers as much as it has hobbled a lot of books that sold below the Top 50. There is almost no such thing as a "modest hit" at Marvel anymore. Anything that debuts below the Top 50 usually is gone from the Top 100 like a stone within 5-12 months. And even some books that have high debuts don't stick around if they're not one of THE important books. AVENGERS ACADEMY actually had a great debut, but is slipping back to where AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE was, after 3 years.
In terms of direct revenue, no, dropping prices on the top sellers is bad strategy. But if you want readers to give those B and C list titles a try, it makes sense. Since those top books, like AVENGERS, NEW AVENGERS, SECRET AVENGERS, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, THOR, CAPTAIN AMERICA, etc. are "top books", that means more people buy them. Even with the price jump, most fans CONTINUED to buy them. Only because they have a budget, and now those comics cost 33% more, they have to trim elsewhere. Thus, they may drop those one or two titles they were getting out of being a completist, and maybe not be so eager to try anything new.
Picture this situation. Say a fan allots $20 to spent a week on comic books. Say for the sake of argument that he has a deal at a shop to save 10% after $15 of comics. Thus, with $2.99 prices, he could buy about 7 comics for $20. Suddenly, 4 of those 7 comics increase their price to $3.99. Now, those same 7 comics would cost said fan $24-$25. The fan has a choice. He can take the extra cash out of another budget, or he can drop 1-2 comics to make up the cost. Ideally, those would be the books that are worse in quality. In reality, those are likely the books that are "less important". Trust me, I stuck around NEW AVENGERS far too long because of that desire. And with every $4 debut that comes around, the harder it gets to try anything new. Thus, Marvel has a situation where their big books have bled readers, but everything that isn't big has a harder time keeping them, or dies out of the gate. Now, multiply this formula about 300,000 times, which is the latest estimate of the overall regular comic audience. Plus, throw in the fact that wholesale costs for retailers have also jumped, so they do much the same. If they order 45 copies of NEW AVENGERS because they can sell 45 copies, and then those 45 copies cost another 33%, they will still buy 45 copies...but they may make up the budget by gambling less on anything they don't think will be big, like, say, YOUNG ALLIES. Or ordering less of those small books, like NOVA (whose sales were stable for 12 months at no less than 26k, and then after the $3.99 bonanza, suddenly dropped steadily to 19k with no end in sight). I haven't taken one business class, yet the knowledge of this dynamic makes me more aware than Marvel's top sales men. It's a bit sad.
When asked why the prices have to be where they are, usually the answer is that Marvel has to pay top rate for the top talent. However, said top talent is only able to deliver the sales that they do because many of those comics are $3.99. The reality is that Marvel, and DC, are selling more comics at higher prices to fewer customers. Modest estimates claim the regular comic buying audience has shrunk about 10% over the past four years or so, and I'd guess it's higher than that. It"s an untenable situation, which is why you see Marvel at least going through the motions of price cutting, and exploring digital options. Their moves are not as drastic as DC's, but their sales are better.
