The Great Statistical Purchasing Analysis of 2009!

In lieu of new reviews this week, due to the lazy brilliance of the holiday “skip week” imposed on us, I thought I’d take this opportunity to update you on my annual Statistical Purchasing Analysis for 2009. C’mon, I know there are some statistics nerds out there who like to quote percentages and rattle off facts during meetings as much as I do. Really, you know this is going to be exciting.

In order to maintain my own sanity (please, you don’t need to argue this point), I decided to simplify things significantly this year. Rather than delving deep into categories and qualitatively analyzing genre, format, and publisher, not to mention including purchasing intentions and ultimate disposition of the books, this is simply a quantifiable list of metrics with some brief commentary.

Assuming I move forward with this easily tracked format, I’ll have three data sets at the end of 2010; and what’s the rule? That’s right – Mr. Embry, my high school stats teacher, said that “three points make a trend.” I managed to catch that even while staring at Gretchen (who looked vaguely like Whitney Port from The Hills and used to wear frilly low cut tank tops on hot days, sans bra, offering some nice perky side boob), so in the future expect to see some fancy charts and shit instead of this droll sea of text – since we’re all visual learners around here.

SINGLE ISSUES SUMMARY
Total Purchased: 193 (259 in 2008, -25%)
Total Cost: $682 ($777 in 2008, -12%)
Avg. Items/Week: 3.71 (4.98 in 2008, -25%)
Avg. Cost/Week: $13.12 ($14.94 in 2008, -12%)

TRADES/GN SUMMARY
Total Purchased: 26 (55 in 2008, -53%)
Total Cost: $521 ($1,200 in 2008, -57%)
Avg. Items/Week: .50 (1.06 in 2008, -53%)
Avg. Cost/Week: $10.02 ($23.08 in 2008, -57%)

COMBINED UNITS SUMMARY
Total Purchased: 219 (314 in 2008, -30%)
Total Cost: $1,203 ($1,977 in 2008, -39%)
Avg. Items/Week: 4.21 (6.04 in 2008, -30%)
Avg. Cost/Week: $23.13 ($38.02 in 2008, -39%)

* So yeah, the bottom line is that I bought less and spent less across all categories. Not surprising considering the greater economic conditions, but also the results of last year’s analysis told me that I was buying tons of stuff that I didn’t like and ended up giving away or selling. I made a conscious effort to still be an adventurous consumer, wanting to stay abreast of what’s out there, but also a bit more informed and selective in the process.

* Purchasing of single issues was down, about 25% or so, but interestingly enough the total cost of these items was not reduced proportionally, at only about a 12% reduction. I can easily attribute this to the average price point of single issues increasing. I didn’t track this specifically, but it’s obvious just by taking a look at the titles on the stands (and more selectively, those I buy), that the majority of them are no longer $2.99, but range from $3.50 to $3.99.

* I realize that business models change, inflation, recession, etc., but consider it a lesson learned; you can gouge me on one title for more money, but I just end up buying fewer titles overall, so best case scenario – it’s a wash, worst case scenario – the publisher/distributor/LCS actually lose money with a price hike, not to mention alienating the audience. Conventional wisdom would suggest that the reverse was true as well. Let’s say for example, that every title was lowered to $2.00. I’d probably be spending twice what I do now, simply because I’d subconsciously feel like I was “getting a deal” and be more willing to experiment on marginal titles since it would be perceived as a “low risk” purchase.

* As for weekly run rates on single issues, I’d been buying on average about 5 titles per week in 2008, and that was down in 2009 to roughly 3¾. Consistent with that, and the disproportional effect on cost, I’d been averaging a spend of about $14.94 weekly, which was down to $13.12 this year. That’s not terribly significant, other than to harp on the point that it represents a 12% drop in expenses, even though the total amount of raw items I was buying was reduced double that amount at approximately 25%.

* In terms of pure change, trades and graphic novels witnessed the biggest reduction. As for volume, I purchased 53% fewer items in this category. That’s a big drop to me, half. I bought fewer than half the bookshelf ready publications than I had the previous year. On average, I picked up one trade or GN per week in 2008, and that slipped to an average of .5 per week, or one every two weeks, which is a little easier to process in the real world.

* As for cost on trades and graphic novels, this was, not surprisingly, the bulk of the year’s savings as well. Cost was actually down 57% here and looking at the pure dollars it feels substantial. Instead of spending $1,200 (2008), it was down to about $521. Weekly run rates on trades and graphic novels were consistent with this drop, averaging about $10 per week, rather than the weekly average of $23 I’d spent the previous year.

* I’m generalizing here, but I think in most cases, this was me upgrading to a better/collected format on titles I’d already purchased in single issues, rather than totally “unknown” material I might be taking a chance on. It certainly felt like I was doing that and not just picking up some random OGN with unfamiliar creators and saying “oh, this looks cool, I’ll buy it!” If I didn’t previously consume the content, if there wasn’t a creative team I was at least familiar with, or if a book did not have some type of recommendation from a trusted source, then it probably didn’t get purchased as easily as it would have been in the past.

* Overall, the total volume of physical items I purchased (combining both categories) was down by about 30% and the associated total cost was reduced by almost 40%. That’s probably a direct result of purchasing significantly fewer trades and GN’s, which typically average a much higher price point than their floppy counterparts. Unlike single issues, there’s also an extremely wide range of pricing on trades and graphic novels. I could spend $100 on an oversized hardcover book, but it would only count as one item in the tracking system or, conversely, buy two $14.99 trades which would double the volume, but only bump the total spend by $30. Either scenario is capable of skewing the metrics a bit, tipping the scales back and forth between total number of raw units and relative cost.

* Converting these volume reductions to bottom line monetary impact, I ended up saving $774 as compared to the previous year. At first, I felt disappointed about not getting to read as much as I might have in the past, subscribing to the theory that “you don’t know what you don’t know,” and heaven forbid I missed something. Would I have enjoyed some of those books I didn’t get to try? Sure, maybe a couple. Would they have stayed in my collection long term? My purchasing analysis from last year suggests no, aside from a momentary diversion, they would have been consumed, disposed of, and ultimately forgotten as pop culture detritus. Did I miss out on some critically praised gem? I doubt it. The items I did go after, as I said, were recommendations from a wide array of trusted sources. Taking all of these factors into consideration, the savings and process this year feel like a win.

The Great Statistical Purchasing Analysis of 2010!

This is the third sequential year that I’ve attempted some form of statistical analysis on my comic book purchasing habits, and it seems very clear that a multi-point trend may be developing. In short, I am spending significantly less money and bringing home fewer and fewer books with each passing year. This is true in a year over year comparison, but even more dramatic when looking at the numbers on a two year cycle. Before I dive into my own thoughts and analysis, I’ll just present the raw data for you to absorb. I seem to be technically incapable of converting an MS Excel chart into a jpg or gif file to drop into Blogger (blame it on MS Office 2007), so in lieu of the slick graphs I built, here’s a cold boring look at the three years worth of data I’ve compiled so far:

2008
Total Purchased: 259 (Singles): 55 (Trades): 314 (Total)
Total Spend: $777 (Singles): $1,200 (Trades): $1,977 (Total)
Weekly Item Avg: 4.98 (Singles): 1.06 (Trades): 6.04 (Total)
Weekly Spend Avg: $14.94 (Singles): $23.08 (Trades): $38.02 (Total)

2009
Total Purchased: 197 (Singles): 26 (Trades): 223 (Total)
Total Spend: $697 (Singles): $521 (Trades): $1,218 (Total)
Weekly Item Avg: 3.79 (Singles): .50 (Trades): 4.29 (Total)
Weekly Spend Avg: $13.40 (Singles): $10.02 (Trades): $23.42 (Total)

2010
Total Purchased: 169 (Singles): 18 (Trades): 187 (Total)
Total Spend: $616 (Singles): $413 (Trades): $1,029 (Total)
Weekly Item Avg: 3.25 (Singles): .35 (Trades): 3.60 (Total)
Weekly Spend Avg: $11.85 (Singles): $7.94 (Trades): $19.79 (Total)

Since comics still seem intent on working in a weekly publication cycle, I’m always drawn to the weekly end of the purchasing trends. As you can see in terms of plain volume, rounding to the nearest whole book, I was essentially purchasing 5 floppies and 1 TPB or GN per week in 2008. That number dropped to 4 floppies per week and 1 TPB or GN every two weeks in 2009. At the end of 2010, the data shows that I’m now buying on average just 3 singles per week, with 1 TPB or GN every three weeks, which was barely enough material for me to highlight a deserving Graphic Novel of the Month as was the custom at 13 Minutes. In fact, if readers look closely, there’s a month or two that I basically skipped because I didn’t think anything I bought was good enough to showcase.

In terms of dollars and cents, from 2009 to 2010, I went from spending approximately $13/week to $12/week on floppies, just a 12% decline. For TPB and GN activity from 2009 to 2010, the average spend went from $10/week to $8/week, showing a 21% drop. One of the interesting observations about this is that the rate of decline between floppies and their overall price is not decreasing at a proportional rate because the average price point on singles is increasing over time. In 2008, the average price point was an even $3, in 2009 it rose to $3.53, and in 2010 it was $3.65. In the span of just two years, that’s an average jump in price of 22% on the single issue titles I buy. Basically, this is the result of many $2.99 titles becoming $3.99 titles from The Big Two, and some assorted second tier publishers coming in at other assorted price points like $3.50 or $3.95.

For me, the most startling way to look at this data is to examine the longest term possible and compare total spend weekly and annually from 2008 when I started tracking it directly to 2010. It’s an aside, but I wish I’d captured 2007 data, because I know for a fact I spent WAY MORE money on comics that year based on my income level and it probably would have been the peak purchasing year. Sheesh, it was the year I dropped $1,400 alone on an original page of Paul Pope art from his DC Solo short “Teenage Sidekick” that won the Eisner Award. But, let’s work with the numbers I DO have. For all intents and purposes, this two year comparison from ’08 to ‘10 shows a 50% reduction in total purchasing habits across the board. Half! In 2008, I spent about $2,000 total on comics, or about $40 per week. In 2010, I spent a total of about $1,000 on comics, or about $20 per week. Those numbers are scary if that’s any representation of my age group and/or demographic and their declining interest based on everything from macro-economic factors to the intrinsic quality and perceived value of the material being published.

You know me, I like to make bold predictions based solely on pattern recognition. So if we project that two year cycle all the way out, it means that in 2012, I’ll be spending $500 a year on comics, or about $10/week on average. In 2014, it will be $250 per year and just $5 per week (which should get me about one book by then). In 2016, it would yield $125 per year and $3 per week. If you run this forecasting model to exhaustion on the two year cycle, in the year 2026, I will spend just $3 on comics for the entire year. At today’s prices, which obviously will not hold, that would be just one single floppy all year long! I’ll be 52 years old in 2026 by the way; will we even have dead tree style books by then? Won’t there just be some ocular implant that I beam the data directly onto from the central cortex? The only thing I am certain of is that time will tell if this trend holds or if it is an anomalous blip when shown in a longer term context.

For now, it’s got me a little worried that my interest in comics is generally waning. I could easily blame it on the financial drain of the economy or the prioritization of kids and not having as much discretionary income to dispose of on fast fiction. But deep down I know it’s probably an equally robust mixture of those financial concerns along with the perceived value in the quality of the product, not to mention my admittedly highly subjective taste. You can just go down the line and start wiping out major portions of the potential market share and “spendable” product. For example, I’m not buying any of the plethora of Green Lantern titles, woosh – gone, or any Batman titles, woosh – gone, or any Superman titles, woosh – gone, or any Avengers titles, woosh – gone, or any Spider-Man titles, woosh – gone, or any Hellboy or BPRD titles, etc., etc., etc. I’m not loyal to any company or property or single character; if anything, I’m loyal to some creators.

Brian Wood writes something? I’m there. Warren Ellis writes something? I’m there. JH Williams III draws something? I’m there. Nathan Fox draws something? I’m there. Paul Pope decides to bust out a new project? I’m so there! But the general shift in the industry is that creators don’t seem to be staying for long runs on any properties. Brian Wood cranking out 72 issues of DMZ is an anomaly. Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca being on 30+ issues of Invincible Iron Man uninterrupted is an anomaly. How often does someone like Paul Pope actually put out an original project? Let’s see, Battling Boy was announced as early as San Diego Comic-Con 2007 and still isn’t out. Many of the creators I like are so specialized that they don’t even work on regular ongoing titles, but are more in the niche special project category or engaged in limited runs, stuff like J3 on Batwoman, or Morrison & Quitely on All-Star Superman, or the sporadic Rafael Grampa project, whether an OGN like Mesmo Delivery or a small slice of an anthology like his recent Wolverine story in Strange Tales.

That type of interest on my part doesn’t bode well for regular sustainable readership of an ongoing monthly title. I’m not saying I’m done with comics. I love comics. But I’m finding far fewer instances of interest for me personally. I’m finding far fewer books that I subjectively deem worthy of spending my money on. I’m finding far fewer books that I buy being retained in the collection long term. I’m finding far fewer that are nuanced enough to go back to for multiple readings, thus finding less perceived inherent value. I’m finding far fewer single creators that I trust enough to follow with a completist mentality. I seldom find an attractive convergence of something “special” like, say, Warren Ellis and John Cassaday on Planetary that draws me in. It seems, for now, that the empirical data certainly supports what my gut’s been telling me for a while, that there’s a general sentiment of majority disinterest. Yet I want to be interested, so long live the minority.

The Great Statistical Purchasing Analysis of 2013!

Welcome to the 6th consecutive year that I’ve tracked my comic book purchasing and provided some commentary about the data. I still enjoy analyzing the information because I’m fascinated by patterns and playing with statistics, but I do fear that it’s becoming less meaningful because a couple of key factors are skewing the numbers away from being a truly accurate snapshot of what I actually consume. Nevertheless, I’ll present the data, make some basic observations, and walk you through what’s skewing the metrics. Remember that this is a purchasing analysis, meaning that it represents only my out of pocket expenses, not the total quantity of what I consumed, so it does not take into account comp copies (which I did a better job of tracking in tandem this year). In short, there was significant change this year! Instead of a declining trend across all categories, there was a pronounced uptick in one. I’ll start where I always do, with the TOTAL QUANTITY of SINGLE ISSUES purchased from 2008 to 2013.

2008: 259

2009: 197
2010: 169
2011: 125
2012: 143
2013: 285

While I still feel like I’m becoming less interested in the vast majority of what’s currently being published (*cough* Marvel! DC! *cough*), and there are fewer creators I feel a sense of consumer loyalty to, this year’s number actually suggests the exact opposite. For the first time since I started tracking, there’s not only a huge year to year leap of 99% from 2012 to 2013, but also a 10% bump from 2008 to 2013. That means this is the most SINGLE ISSUES I’ve ever purchased since I started tracking the data, and almost exactly doubles the year to year quantity. Let’s figure out why... While I did quit buying Marvel and DC Comics that weren’t classified as creator-owned about 18 months ago, those were replaced by a healthy crop of creator-owned comics, mostly from Image Comics. There is also a financial causality which explains this chart-busting phenomenon, which we’ll get into below. Here are SINGLE ISSUES tracked by TOTAL DOLLARS SPENT.

2008: $777

2009: $697
2010: $616
2011: $458
2012: $455
2013: $383

This is huge. Although the total volume of floppies was up 99%, the TOTAL DOLLARS SPENT was actually down from 2012 to 2013 by 16%, with an overall decrease from 2008 to 2013 of 51%. So, I’m buying more than I ever have, yet spending less than half of what I should based on the most comparable quantity recorded. This wildly disproportionate decrease in dollars spent vis-à-vis total single issues purchased is attributable to one single factor. For the full calendar year, I received a very deep discount from my retail sponsor Yesteryear Comics. On those review books, I was spending much less than cover price, which allowed me to reallocate those savings to additional purchased material. An interesting aside here is to work out what the average price per floppy was under this paradigm. It means that on average, I only spent $1.34 per single issue. This is down from an average floppy price of $3.66 in 2011 (which was pre-discount), and $3.18 in 2012 (when my discount kicked in toward the middle of the year and began to draw the average down, despite most comics moving toward the $3.99 vs. $2.99 price point). Moving on, since comics are periodicals and the weekly sales pattern is endemic to the business model, I like to look at my purchasing habits on a weekly basis as a meaningful metric. Here is the AVERAGE QUANTITY of SINGLE ISSUES purchased per week over the period.

2008: 4.98

2009: 3.79
2010: 3.25
2011: 2.40
2012: 2.75
2013: 5.48

On average, I bought 5 total SINGLE ISSUES per week in 2013, a 99% increase from 2012 to 2013, and an overall statistical nudge of 10% over the tracked period from 2008 to 2013, which is in perfect parity with the increase in single issues. We can also take a look at AVERAGE DOLLARS SPENT per week on SINGLE ISSUES.

2008: $14.94

2009: $13.40
2010: $11.85
2011: $08.81
2012: $8.75
2013: $7.37

In 2008, I’d spend approximately $15 per week on SINGLE ISSUES, and by 2013 I’m spending around $7 on average, which is a drop of 51%. In terms of year to year fluctuation, this is a 16% decline from 2012 to 2013. Moving on to the GRAPHIC NOVELS AND/OR TRADE PAPERBACKS AND/OR COLLECTED EDITIONS AND/OR WHATEVER YOU WANT TO CALL THEM BUT YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN category, I tracked all of the metrics in the same manner. Here is the TOTAL QUANTITY of TRADES/OGN purchased.

2008: 55

2009: 26
2010: 18
2011: 12
2012: 07
2013: 03

This is a 57% decline from 2012 to 2013, with a drastic decrease of 95% from 2008 to 2013. I know this looks dismal, but keep in mind that these metrics are for books purchased, not consumed. You’ll definitely get tired of hearing me make that distinction. This doesn’t represent what I actually read, only what I actually paid for. What’s interesting is that this number should really have been zeroed out completely, but I bought these 3 anomalies simply because I had pull quotes on them and wasn’t able to get comps otherwise. Since I obsessively try to track down and own all of my pull quote books to serve my fragile ego, this necessitated purchases. I actually read TONS of books in the TPB/OGN format this year, but I’ll save the comps discussion for its own new section down below. For now, let’s move on to look at TOTAL DOLLARS SPENT on TRADES/OGN.

2008: $1,200

2009: $521
2010: $413
2011: $103
2012: $78
2013: $38
 
From 2012 to 2013, this is a 51% decrease, with a staggering 97% decline from 2008 to 2013. So, it cost me $38 to satisfy my ego and hunt down 3 books that I had pull quotes on, which I wasn’t able to get comp’d for whatever reason. Let that be a lesson to you, kids. $38 is the price of fame in the glamorous world of comic book reviewing. Let’s now look at a weekly breakdown, starting off with the AVERAGE QUANTITY of TRADES/OGN purchased on a weekly basis.

2008: 1.06

2009: .50
2010: .35
2011: .23
2012: .13
2013: .06

That’s a 54% drop from 2012 to 2013, and a 94% drop from 2008 to 2013. While I was neatly buying 1 full OGN/TPB on average when this all began, now that the number has slipped so low in subsequent years that it’s basically become a meaningless metric on a weekly basis. In terms of AVERAGE DOLLARS SPENT on TRADES/OGN per week, the numbers shake out like this.

2008: $23.08

2009: $10.02
2010: $7.94
2011: $1.98
2012: $1.50
2013: $0.73

As you can see, this is a continued decline of 51% from 2012 to 2013, and an overall 97% whack from 2008 to 2013. So, if you spread that $38 out over the whole year, it averages less than 3 George Washington-head quarters a week. Lastly, and mostly for kicks, we can look at combined units for both floppies and collected editions, that’s all “things” qualifying as comics. Here’s the overall TOTAL UNITS PURCHASED.

2008: 314

2009: 223
2010: 187
2011: 137
2012: 150
2013: 288

That’s an increase of 92% from 2012 to 2013, and an overall 8% drop from 2008 to 2013. So, while the total quantity of single issues purchased in 2013 was able to eclipse the original 2008 number, since I didn’t purchase any OGN/TPB in significant quantities to complement that, the overall total units tracked still didn’t reach 2008 levels. In terms of TOTAL DOLLARS SPENT on TOTAL UNITS, it looks like this.

2008: $1,977

2009: $1,218
2010: $1,029
2011: $561
2012: $533
2013: $421

This equates to a 21% decline from 2012 to 2013, with a 79% overall drop from 2008 to 2013. I went from spending nearly $2,000 on comics 6 years ago, to just over $400 this year. Add it all up and *cringe* it looks like I spent about $5,739 on comics in the last 6 years. That’s an annual average of $957. To run things out, as for AVERAGE TOTAL UNITS purchased per week…

2008: 6.04

2009: 4.29
2010: 3.60
2011: 2.63
2012: 2.88
2013: 5.54

This means that I went from purchasing 6 total “things” that could be classified as comics per week (whether singles or trades) in 2008, down to a low of about 2 and a half in 2011, and now back up to about 5 and a half in 2013 . Those metrics represent a jump of 92% from 2012 to 2013, with an overall drop of 8% from 2008 to 2013. Lastly, we can also look at AVERAGE DOLLARS SPENT per week as applied to TOTAL UNITS.

2008: $38.02

2009: $23.42
2010: $19.79
2011: $10.79
2012: $10.25
2013: $8.10

This is a pretty tangible real-world metric that seems to ring true based on my perception of what I actually do in the LCS on a weekly basis. It means that in 2008, I was basically dropping $40 per week, and now I’m only dropping less than $10 per week on average. This comes out to a 21% decline from 2012 to 2013, with a 77% decrease from 2008 to 2013. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That has traditionally been the end of my purchasing analysis for the year. What these numbers don’t factor in are comps. Thirteen Minutes has flourished in the last couple of years and the number of comp copies I receive has increased dramatically. When you combine print copies comp’d for review purposes (the majority at roughly 75%) and their digital counterparts (the minority at roughly 25%), the quantity of what I actually read and consumed skyrockets. Not only does the total volume of material increase, but the corresponding dollar amounts are astronomical were I in a position where I actually had to pay full retail. I did a much more thorough job of tracking these numbers this year, primarily out of curiosity, which has allowed me to add this new ancillary category. While it’s still outside the scope of a “purchasing analysis” since they didn’t represent any out of pocket expense, it speaks volumes about was actually consumed, and makes me feel like a pretty lucky guy to basically receive a bunch of free material.

TOTAL SINGLES COMP’D 2013: 220

TOTAL RETAIL VALUE COMPS: $809

TOTAL OGN/TPB COMP’D 2013: 31

TOTAL RETAIL VALUE COMPS: $494

TOTAL UNITS COMP’D 2013: 251

TOTAL RETAIL VALUE COMPS: $1,303

Yet another factor is the flat-out TON of Amazon credit I accumulate and burn up on comics, with no out of pocket expenses incurred or applicable for a purchasing analysis. I also did a better job of tracking the Amazon credit this year.

TOTAL OGN/TPB AMAZON COMPS 2013: 53

TOTAL RETAUL VALUE AMAZON COMPS: $768

Add that to our comp totals and I consumed a grand total of 304 additional books with no out of pocket expense, with a total retail value of $2,071. Questions? Comments? Did you like the additional comp category? Can you stand the mighty power of the numerical analysis? Did all of this transparency change your life? Shall I keep going next year?

The Great Statistical Purchasing Analysis of 2011!

Welcome to the 4th consecutive year that I’ve tracked my comic book purchasing habits and provided some commentary about the data. Essentially, the trend formally established last year appears to be continuing. Yes, my high school stats teacher, Mr. Embry, was right, “three points make a trend,” he said, while I was staring at a girl named Gretchen who looked vaguely like Whitney Port and used to wear frilly low cut tank tops, sans bra, that revealed oh so much that was taut and perky and, wait... what was I saying...? Oh. Yeah… In short, I’m buying fewer books across the board and spending significantly less money.

I attribute this primarily to two factors. One, I moved from a 10+ year career at a high-paying job in Corporate America to a small non-profit organization (during that same time period, I also had two kids!) and thus have less discretionary income for my hobbies. Yeah, “I’m all groweds up,” as Trent would say. I gave up collecting and racing BMWs long ago, as well as my voracious film appetite. It was not uncommon for me to burn up a set of $800 tires on any given weekend when I had them slapped on a ’95 M3 at the track, nor was it uncommon for me to literally spend all weekend watching back to back to back new releases in the theatre and hitting the town with a certain circle of friends. Heck, a little known fact is that one of my first writing gigs, like ever, was writing movie reviews, not comic book reviews. But, I digress.

The second factor leading to my declining purchasing habits is that I perceive less value remaining for me personally in the majority of products I come into contact with. Not the medium itself, but what the medium is predominantly producing. And despite objective price points, a lot of consumer purchasing habits are driven by perceived value. It doesn’t matter if something is $5 or $50, people will/won’t buy an object simply based on whether or not they subjectively feel they’re getting their money’s worth in terms of enjoyment. There are fewer titles I’m willing to adventurously try or habitually spend money on because price points on the upswing are intersecting with enjoyment on the downswing. There are fewer creators I feel any die hard sense of loyalty to. Sure, they do exist, but I feel like the pool is dwindling rather than growing. Sure, new creators get on my radar that I become a fan of, but trust me when I say that I’m either shedding books, or not bothering to try new ones after a casual flip test, at a faster rate than I’m sticking. I want to point out that there are obviously some amazing exceptions out there that I love, it’s not all doom and gloom. But, the bottom line is that if I don’t feel I’m enjoying a title or creator, really enjoying them fully – writing and art consistently firing on all cylinders in a confluence of substance and style more than the sum of its parts, high expectations indeed – then I’m just not going to spend any money. I used to try first arcs of many new books, now I try first issues.

Well, with all of the usual blah-bitty-blah out of the way, let’s just dive in… I’ll start with the TOTAL QUANTITY of SINGLE ISSUES purchased from 2008 to 2011.

2008: 259
2009: 197
2010: 169
2011: 125

This is a substantial decrease of 26% from 2010 to 2011, and a whopping 52% decrease from 2008 to 2011. I’m basically buying half of the floppies I was just 4 years ago. Looking at the same category of SINGLE ISSUES in terms of TOTAL DOLLARS SPENT, the results are as follows.

2008: $777
2009: $697
2010: $616
2011: $458

This also represents a 26% decrease from 2010 to 2011, and a 41% decrease from 2008 to 2011. You’ll notice that this is a disproportionate decrease in dollars spent compared to titles purchased over the longer 4-year period. That’s due to the fact that during the last couple of years, the average price point per item went up from somewhere around $3 to somewhere closer to $4 on so many titles. Since comics are periodicals and the weekly sales pattern and subsequent news cycle is endemic to the paradigm, I like to look at my purchasing habits on a weekly basis as a meaningful statistic as well. Here is the AVERAGE QUANTITY of SINGLE ISSUES purchased per week over the period.

2008: 4.98
2009: 3.79
2010: 3.25
2011: 2.40

Basically, I would buy about 5 singles per week on average in 2008, and that’s slowly declined to about 2 per week on average, if you round to the nearest whole book. It’s roughly a 30% drop from 2010 to 2011, and a 60% drop from 2008 to 2011. We can also take a look at AVERAGE DOLLARS SPENT per week on SINGLE ISSUES.

2008: $14.94
2009: $13.40
2010: $11.85
2011: $8.81

In 2008, I’d spent approximately $15 per week on SINGLE ISSUES, and by 2011 I’ve dropped into single digits, spending just under $9 per week on average, rounding to the nearest dollar. That’s a 25% drop from 2010 to 2011, with a 40% drop from 2008 to 2011. Moving on to the GRAPHIC NOVELS AND/OR TRADE PAPERBACKS category, I tracked all of the metrics in the same manner. First, here is the TOTAL QUANTITY of TRADES/OGN purchased.

2008: 55
2009: 26
2010: 18
2011: 12

This is a 30% drop from 2010 to 2011, with a sharp decrease of 78% from 2008 to 2011. Now, keep in mind that these metrics are for books purchased, not consumed. I would guesstimate that I actually read just as many trades or graphic novels as I have in previous years, likely more, but the catch is that I didn’t pay for them. As Thirteen Minutes has flourished, and I’ve picked up writing gigs at other venues, the number of comp copies I receive has increased dramatically. I don’t track that number, but just off the top of my head I can think of at least 2 to 3 dozen books that I received for free for review purposes this year, directly from creators, publishers, etc. that would tend to skew this metric. It’s hard to know to what degree this skew is in effect, because some of these comp copies acquired are ones that I would have bought anyway, but that’s certainly not the case for all of them. So, just keep that in mind. My perception is that I think the trend holds though, that there are probably fewer books in this category that I would have willingly spent the money on, but I can’t back that claim up with metrics. Let’s move on to look at TOTAL DOLLARS SPENT on TRADES/OGN.

2008: $1,200
2009: $521
2010: $413
2011: $103

From 2010 to 2011 alone, this is a 75% decrease, with a staggering 91% decline from 2008 to 2011. I’ve nothing more to add here other than the fact that this year’s $103 really doesn’t reflect my reading habits very accurately in terms of what I consumed. As I mentioned, I received tons of comp copies from all over the place, and I also ended up with a ton of Amazon credit that I burned up on trades/OGN, but those “sales” transactions weren’t tracked here because they never represented an actual out of pocket expense. And this is a purchasing analysis, not a reading analysis per se, hence their exclusion.

The average price point is also out of whack for this category this year, but I can explain that one. One thing that might jump out at you statistical nerds is that if I spent just $103 on 12 trades/graphic novels, then the average price point only amounts to $8.58. What kind of trades and graphic novels only cost $8 you might ask? The kind that are on sale for up to 80% off at the BORDERS LIQUIDATION SALES! Many of the books in this category were runs of Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys, Pluto, Monster, or other manga that I sampled, which I ended up picking up for around $2 in some cases, and those purchases severely skewed the metrics. Let’s look at the weekly averages in this category, starting off with the AVERAGE QUANTITY of TRADES/OGN purchased on a weekly basis.

2008: 1.06
2009: .50
2010: .35
2011: .23

That’s a 34% drop from 2010 to 2011, and a 78% drop from 2008 to 2011. It’s still staggering to me that I was basically buying 1 full-on trade/OGN per week in 2008. Now that the number has slipped to .23 per week, it’s almost a meaningless and insignificant entry on a weekly basis, but it does equate to about 1 per month, if we looked at it that way. In terms of AVERAGE DOLLARS SPENT on TRADES/OGN per week, the numbers shake out like this.

2008: $23.08
2009: $10.02
2010: $7.94
2011: $1.98

As you can see, this is a pretty serious decline of 75% from 2010 to 2011, and 91% from 2008 to 2011, but there are some extenuating factors previously explained that would tend to position this as being a little less bleak than the raw data might lead you to believe. Lastly, and mostly for kicks, we can look at combined units for both floppies and collected editions. Here’s the overall TOTAL UNITS PURCHASED.

2008: 314
2009: 223
2010: 187
2011: 137

So, I went from buying 314 total objects that qualify as “comics” in 2008, to just 137 in 2011. That’s a 27% decrease from 2010 to 2011, and a substantial 56% drop from 2008 to 2011, meaning that I’m essentially buying less than half of the comics I did just 4 years ago. That’s a pretty powerful bottom line statement, all things considered. In terms of TOTAL DOLLARS SPENT on TOTAL UNITS, it looks like this.

2008: $1,977
2009: $1,218
2010: $1,029
2011: $561

That equates to a 45% decline from 2010 to 2011, with a 72% overall drop from 2008 to 2011. The numbers sound big, don’t they? I went from spending nearly $2,000 on comics 4 years ago, to spending in the $500 range this year. Add it all up and *cringe* it looks like I spent about $4,785 on comics in the last 4 years. Shhh! Don’t tell my better half! As for AVERAGE TOTAL UNITS purchased per week…

2008: 6.04
2009: 4.29
2010: 3.60
2011: 2.63

This means that I went from purchasing 6 total “things” that could be classified as comics per week (whether singles or trades) in 2008, to not quite 3 in 2011. Those metrics represent a 27% decline from 2010 to 2011, with a 56% drop overall from 2008 to 2011. Lastly, we can also look at AVERAGE DOLLARS SPENT per week as applied to TOTAL UNITS.

2008: $38.02
2009: $23.42
2010: $19.79
2011: $10.79

This is another pretty straightforward metric that seems to ring true based on my perceptions of what I actually do in the LCS on a weekly basis. It means that in 2008, I was basically dropping $40 per week, and now I’m only dropping about $10 per week on average. This comes out to a 45% drop from 2010 to 2011, with a 72% decrease from 2008 to 2011. That feels like what actually occurs for sure. I usually buy 2 or 3 singles per week, breaking a $20 bill in the process and hoping I have enough left for lunch, and then getting comp copies of a bunch of other stuff from generous creators and publishers.

Questions? Thoughts? Would you like to see me continue this analysis next year or is the writing on the wall at this point? Will all the categories ultimately bottom out at zero?! Should I scrap this ongoing project or hold out hope that one day the numbers will increase? Let me know!

The Great Statistical Purchasing Analysis of 2014!

Welcome to the 7th consecutive year that I’ve tracked my comic book purchasing stats and provided some commentary about the data. I still enjoy analyzing the information because I’m fascinated by patterns and playing with statistics, but as usual I’ll be issuing some qualifiers that explain what’s skewing the metrics. The most basic thing to remember is that this is a purchasing analysis, meaning that it represents only my out of pocket expenses, not the total quantity of what I consumed, so it does not take into account comp copies (which I will also provide some data on). With that said, it’s on to the show. First up, here’s the TOTAL QUANTITY of SINGLE ISSUES purchased:

2008: 259

2009: 197

2010: 169

2011: 125

2012: 143

2013: 285

2014: 323

This is the third year in a row that saw an increase in singles purchased after several years of declining numbers. This is the most SINGLE ISSUES I’ve ever purchased since I started tracking the data, with an uptick of 13% year over year. I basically quit buying Marvel and DC Comics a couple years ago, but those were replaced by a healthy crop of creator-owned material. There’s also a financial causality which explains this phenomenon, namely a huge discount from my LCS sponsor, which I’ll get into below. For now, here’s the TOTAL DOLLARS SPENT on SINGLE ISSUES:

2008: $777

2009: $697

2010: $616

2011: $458

2012: $455

2013: $383
2014: $378

Although the total volume of floppies continues to rise, the TOTAL DOLLARS SPENT was actually down slightly by a little over 1%. I’m buying more than I ever have, yet spending roughly a third of what I should be based on average cover price. This wildly disproportionate decrease in dollars spent vis-à-vis total single issues purchased is attributable to a full calendar year receiving a very deep discount from my retail sponsor Yesteryear Comics. On those review books, I was spending way less than cover price, which allowed me to reallocate the savings to additional material. An interesting aside here is to work out what the average price per floppy was under this paradigm. On average, I only spent $1.17 per single issue. Moving on, since comics are periodicals and the weekly sales pattern is endemic to the business model, I like to look at my purchasing habits on a weekly basis as a meaningful metric. Here is the AVERAGE QUANTITY of SINGLE ISSUES purchased per week:

2008: 4.98

2009: 3.79

2010: 3.25

2011: 2.40

2012: 2.75

2013: 5.48

2014: 6.21

I bought about 6 total SINGLE ISSUES per week in 2014, with a 13% increase year to year. We can also take a look at AVERAGE DOLLARS SPENT per week on SINGLE ISSUES:

2008: $14.94

2009: $13.40

2010: $11.85

2011: $8.81
2012: $8.75

2013: $7.37

2014: $7.27

In 2008, I’d spend approximately $15 per week on SINGLE ISSUES, and by 2014 I’m spending around $7 on average, which is a drop of 51% over the full term. Moving on to the GRAPHIC NOVELS AND/OR TRADE PAPERBACKS AND/OR COLLECTED EDITIONS AND/OR WHATEVER YOU WANT TO CALL THEM BUT YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN category, I tracked all of the metrics in the same manner. Here is the TOTAL QUANTITY of TRADES/OGN purchased:

2008: 55

2009: 26

2010: 18

2011: 12

2012: 07

2013: 03

2014: 03

I know this looks dismal, but the thing is I didn’t really need to buy any. Keep in mind that these metrics are for books purchased, not consumed. You’ll definitely get tired of hearing me make that distinction. This doesn’t represent what I actually read, only what I paid for. Through comp copies and Amazon credit, I read tons of TPBs and OGNs, but never tracked them in this category because there was no out of pocket expense. I only bought these three anomalies because I had pull quotes on them and wasn’t able to get copies otherwise. I obsessively try to own all of my pull quote books because I still get a kick out of seeing my name in lights. Let’s look at TOTAL DOLLARS SPENT on TRADES/OGN:

2008: $1,200

2009: $521

2010: $413

2011: $103

2012: $78

2013: $38

2014: $40

This number continues to nearly flatline. It cost me $40 to satisfy my ego and hunt down those three books that I had pull quotes on. Let that be a lesson to you, kids. $40 is the price of fame in the glamorous world of comic book reviewing. The only notable metric here is the huge decline of 97% over the full term from 2008 to 20014. Let’s now look at a weekly breakdown, starting off with the AVERAGE QUANTITY of TRADES/OGN purchased on a weekly basis:

2008: 1.06

2009: .50

2010: .35

2011: .23

2012: .13

2013: .06

2014: .06

While I was neatly buying 1 full OGN/TPB on average when this all began, now that the number has slipped so low in subsequent years, it’s basically become a meaningless metric at a weekly interval. In terms of AVERAGE DOLLARS SPENT on TRADES/OGN per week, the numbers shake out like this:

2008: $23.08

2009: $10.02

2010: $7.94

2011: $1.98

2012: $1.50

2013: $0.73

2014: $0.77

At this point, basically a meaningless metric as well since the total volume of TPB/OGN purchased is trending toward zero. Lastly, and mostly for kicks, we can look at combined units for both floppies and collected editions, that’s all “things” qualifying as comics. Here’s the overall TOTAL UNITS PURCHASED:

2008: 314

2009: 223

2010: 187

2011: 137

2012: 150

2013: 288

2014: 326

That’s an increase of 13% from 2013 to 2014. The consistent trend to note here is still that the total volume is up, while total dollars spent continues to go down as seen in this next category. In terms of TOTAL DOLLARS SPENT on TOTAL UNITS, it looks like this:

2008: $1,977

2009: $1,218

2010: $1,029

2011: $561

2012: $533

2013: $421

2014: $418

This is a 79% drop over the full term from 2008 to 2014. I went from spending nearly $2,000 on comics 6 years ago, to just over $400 this year (though I was actually consuming more than ever!). Add it all up and *cringe* it looks like I spent about $6,157 on comics in the last 7 years. To run things out, here’s the AVERAGE TOTAL UNITS purchased per week:

2008: 6.04

2009: 4.29

2010: 3.60

2011: 2.63

2012: 2.88

2013: 5.54

2014: 6.27

This means that I went from purchasing 6 total “things” that could be classified as comics per week (whether singles or trades) in 2008, down to a low of about 2 and a half in 2011, and now back up to about 6 and a quarter in 2014. Lastly, we can also look at AVERAGE DOLLARS SPENT per week as applied to TOTAL UNITS:

2008: $38.02

2009: $23.42

2010: $19.79

2011: $10.79

2012: $10.25

2013: $8.10

2014: $8.04

This is a pretty tangible real-world metric that seems to ring true based on my perception of what I actually do in the LCS on a weekly basis. It means that in 2008, I was basically dropping $40 per week, and now I’m only dropping less than $10 per week on average.

*************

That’s traditionally been the end of my purchasing analysis for the year. These numbers don’t factor in comps. Thirteen Minutes has flourished in the last few years and the number of comp copies I receive has increased dramatically. Now, I feel a little guilty about no longer having the time to review every single book I receive, as was once my promise, but they’re sitting here nonetheless and got tracked. It’s getting to the point where I’m almost more interested in this section of the analysis because the numbers are just staggering, totally eclipsing what I spend. The quantity of what I actually read skyrocketed, and the associated dollar amounts if I had to pay full retail are insane. While it’s still outside the scope of a “purchasing analysis” since there’s no out of pocket expense, it speaks volumes about was actually consumed, and makes me feel like a pretty lucky guy to have access to a bunch of free material (It’s how reviewers get “paid” after all!).

TOTAL QUANTITY COMPS - SINGLES

2013: 220

2014: 935 

TOTAL RETAIL VALUE COMPS - SINGLES

2013: $809

2014: $3,779

TOTAL QUANTITY COMPS - TPB/OGN

2013: 84

2014: 170

TOTAL RETAIL VALUE COMPS - TPB/OGN

2013: $1,262

2014: $3,606

TOTAL UNITS - COMPS

2013: 304

2014: 1,105

This number was up 263%!

TOTAL UNITS RETAIL VALUE - COMPS

2013: $2,071

2014: $7,385
This number was up 257%!

The Great Statistical Purchasing Analysis of 2012!

Welcome to the 5th consecutive year that I’ve tracked my comic book purchasing and provided some commentary about the data. I still enjoy analyzing the information because I’m fascinated by patterns and the way the numbers change over time, but I do fear that it’s becoming less meaningful because a variety of factors are skewing the numbers away from being a truly accurate snapshot of what I actually consume. Nevertheless, I’ll present the data, make some basic numerical observations, and try to walk you through what’s skewing the metrics. In short, remember that this is a purchasing analysis, meaning that it represents only my out of pocket expenses, not the total quantity of what I consumed, meaning that it does not take into account comp copies.

Essentially, this dynamic is still in play: I perceive less value remaining for me with the vast majority of what’s currently being published, and I have less discretionary income available to throw at comics, thus there are fewer titles I’m willing to adventurously plunk down money on for a single time or to habitually spend money on in a sustained fashion. Price points holistically on the upswing are intersecting with enjoyment on the downswing, coupled with fewer creators I feel any personal sense of loyalty to. With those caveats aside, let’s just dive in… I’ll start with the TOTAL QUANTITY of SINGLE ISSUES purchased from 2008 to 2012.

2008: 259

2009: 197
2010: 169
2011: 125
2012: 143

For the first time in 5 years, there’s a year to year uptick of 14% from 2011 to 2012, yet still a whopping 45% decrease from 2008 to 2012. I’m buying nearly half of the floppies I was just 5 years ago. While I quit buying Marvel and DC books that weren’t creator-owned halfway through the year, those were essentially replaced by a new crop of creator-owned Dark Horse and Image Comics. Wild Card: what this 143 number doesn’t factor in are the comp copies I received, which I actually tried to keep track of for the first time this year. When you combine print copies comp’d for review purposes (the majority at roughly 90%) and their digital counterparts (the minority at roughly 10%), that’s another 113 singles consumed, which would be a big number to tack on if they’d been paid for, pushing the number up to 256, extremely close to the original baseline of 259 in 2008. Looking at the same category of SINGLE ISSUES in terms of TOTAL DOLLARS SPENT, the results are as follows.

2008: $777

2009: $697
2010: $616
2011: $458
2012: $455

This is interesting – even though total volume of floppies was up 14%, the TOTAL DOLLARS SPENT was down from 2011 to 2012 by just a hair, at .007%, with an overall decrease from 2008 to 2012 of 41%. This disproportionate decrease in dollars spent vis-à-vis total single issues purchased is something I attribute to one single factor. Starting in the middle of the year, I began receiving a VERY deep discount from my new LCS sponsor Yesteryear Comics. On those review books, this meant I was spending 40% less than cover price on average, but still consuming roughly the same quantity of material. That’s something that’s likely to continue and will drastically skew the numbers if run out and applied to an entire year of purchases in 2013. You could also try to factor in my 113 comps just for kicks. If you affix an average price of $3.50 per item (which is a guesstimate because the price point on the indie portion dances around), that’s another $396 worth of material consumed – but again, not purchased. That would actually push the total up to $851 if it were added, well beyond the initial baseline of $777 in 2008. Moving on, since comics are periodicals and the weekly sales pattern is endemic to the business paradigm, I like to look at my purchasing habits on a weekly basis as a meaningful metric as well. Here is the AVERAGE QUANTITY of SINGLE ISSUES purchased per week over the period.

2008: 4.98

2009: 3.79
2010: 3.25
2011: 2.40
2012: 2.75

Basically, I would buy about 5 SINGLE ISSUES per week on average in 2008, and that’s slowly declined to about 2¾  per week on average today. While it’s a 15% increase from 2011 to 2012, it’s an overall 45% drop from 2008 to 2012. We can also take a look at AVERAGE DOLLARS SPENT per week on SINGLE ISSUES.

2008: $14.94

2009: $13.40
2010: $11.85
2011: $8.81
2012: $8.75

In 2008, I’d spend approximately $15 per week on SINGLE ISSUES, and by 2011 and 2012 I’ve dropped into single digits, spending just under $9 per week on average. That’s a barely noticeable 6 cents, or a .007% drop from 2011 to 2012, with a 41% drop from 2008 to 2012. Moving on to the GRAPHIC NOVELS AND/OR TRADE PAPERBACKS AND/OR COLLECTED EDITIONS AND/OR WHATEVER YOU WANT TO CALL THEM BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN category, I tracked all of the metrics in the same manner. First, here is the TOTAL QUANTITY of TRADES/OGN purchased.

2008: 55

2009: 26
2010: 18
2011: 12
2012: 07

This is a 42% drop from 2011 to 2012, with a drastic decrease of 87% from 2008 to 2012. Now, keep in mind that these metrics are for books purchased, not consumed. You’ll definitely get tired of hearing me make that distinction by the time we’re through. Thirteen Minutes has flourished in the last couple of years and the number of comp copies I receive has increased dramatically. Another factor is the sheer amount of Amazon credit I accumulate. I’ve tried to do a better job of tracking the combination of review comps and comics via credit I received this year. By my count, one way or another, I acquired, with no out of pocket costs applicable for a purchasing analysis, at least 64 additional TRADES/OGN, which would obviously push the total number of items consumed in this category way up to 71 if we added it, blowing past the initial baseline of 55 in 2008. Let’s move on to look at TOTAL DOLLARS SPENT on TRADES/OGN.

2008: $1,200

2009: $521
2010: $413
2011: $103
2012: $78

From 2011 to 2012, this is a 24% decrease, with a staggering 94% decline from 2008 to 2012. I’ve nothing more to add here other than emphasizing that this year’s $78 in no way reflects my reading habits accurately in terms of what I actually consumed. As I mentioned, I received tons of comp copies from all over the place, and I also ended up with a ton of Amazon credit that I burned up on TRADES/OGN, but those “sales” transactions weren’t included here as gross purchases because they didn’t represent any net monetary cost to me as an actual out of pocket expense. This becomes harder to calculate, but just for kicks, even if you figure for the ease of computation that average price print on one of these items is just $20 (it’s probably higher), that’s an additional $1,280 (on my 64 comps mentioned above) worth of TRADES/OGN actually consumed, which would more than double the initial 2008 baseline to $2,480. But, repeat after me, this is a purchasing analysis, not an analysis of raw consumables, hence their exclusion and heavy caveat. Let’s look at the weekly averages in this category, starting off with the AVERAGE QUANTITY of TRADES/OGN purchased on a weekly basis.

2008: 1.06

2009: .50
2010: .35
2011: .23
2012: .13

That’s a 43% drop from 2011 to 2012, and an 88% drop from 2008 to 2012. It’s still staggering to me that I was basically buying 1 full-on TRADE/OGN per week in 2008. Now that the number has slipped to .13 per week, it’s almost a meaningless and insignificant entry in and of itself, but it does equate to about 1 every 8 weeks, if we sliced it that way. In terms of AVERAGE DOLLARS SPENT on TRADES/OGN per week, the numbers shake out like this.

2008: $23.08

2009: $10.02
2010: $7.94
2011: $1.98
2012: $1.50

As you can see, this is a continued decline of 24% from 2011 to 2012, and an overall 94% whack from 2008 to 2012. Lastly, and mostly for kicks, we can look at combined units for both floppies and collected editions, that’s all “things” qualifying as “comics.” Here’s the overall TOTAL UNITS PURCHASED.

2008: 314

2009: 223
2010: 187
2011: 137
2012: 150

That’s an uptick of 9% from 2011 to 2012, and a substantial 52% drop from 2008 to 2012, meaning that I’m essentially buying half of the comics I did 5 years ago. That’s a pretty powerful bottom line statement, all things considered. In terms of TOTAL DOLLARS SPENT on TOTAL UNITS, it looks like this.

2008: $1,977

2009: $1,218
2010: $1,029
2011: $561
2012: $533

This equates to a 5% decline from 2011 to 2012, with a 73% overall drop from 2008 to 2012. I went from spending nearly $2,000 on comics 5 years ago, to spending just a quarter of that, in the $500 range this year. Add it all up and *cringe* it looks like I spent about $5,318 on comics in the last 5 years. Sheesh! That’s a used car. However, yet another way to look at this is that if you offset that 2012 cost by what I was paid for various freelance gigs, I’m coming out way ahead, totally in the black with the “job” part of comics paying for the “hobby” part of comics, and then some. But that’s sort of an abstract correlation to be making that’s outside the scope of these proceedings. To begin summarizing, yet another way to look at the big picture is that if you factor in the 113 singles and 64 trades I was comp’d on and project the dollar amounts out, reality today is that I’m actually SPENDING WAY LESS, but CONSUMING WAY MORE, which is a hard combination to beat. In short, if you put aside inherent artistic quality and just look at it purely financially, COMICS WIN. That’s the key message to take away from this year’s analysis. To run things out, as for AVERAGE TOTAL UNITS purchased per week…

2008: 6.04

2009: 4.29
2010: 3.60
2011: 2.63
2012: 2.88

This means that I went from purchasing 6 total “things” that could be classified as comics per week (whether singles or trades) in 2008, to not quite 3 in 2012. Those metrics represent a small uptick of 10% from 2011 to 2012, with a 52% drop overall from 2008 to 2012. Lastly, we can also look at AVERAGE DOLLARS SPENT per week as applied to TOTAL UNITS.

2008: $38.02

2009: $23.42
2010: $19.79
2011: $10.79
2012: $10.25

This is another pretty straightforward metric that seems to ring true based on my perception of what I actually do in the LCS on a weekly basis. It means that in 2008, I was basically dropping $40 per week, and now I’m only dropping about $10 per week on average. This comes out to a 5% decline from 2011 to 2012, with a 73% decrease from 2008 to 2012. That feels like what actually occurs for sure. I usually buy 2 or 3 singles per week. Questions? Comments? Can you stand the mighty power of the numerical excitement!? Shall I keep going next year?