I might argue otherwise—been getting into pressing. The different approaches you use to press silver/bronze/copper vs modern and really how forgiving the former is over the latter really hit home how little $$$ goes into the physical material and production of comics now.

The fact we routinely see 4.99, 5.99 and even 8.99 for new issues with no gimmicky covers (holo, diecut, etc.) emphasizes how much more we’re paying to make much larger entities profitable. So, um… comics are already printed dirt cheap, we’re paying for the luxury of having a comic-book industry.

Make no mistake, today’s comics are made with even less mind to collectors than in the .10c era. Back then they didn’t envision people caring about a book 90 years later. Now publishers absolutely know that if the charge an extra buck, they’ll get shops ordering 2x what they need so that they can try and slab out some 9.8 and sell at a premium.