Loonie Np 02052007The mighty Canadian Loonie continues its assault on the now-dinky American Dollar :

After sinking steadily for most of the year, the U.S. greenback hit a record low against the euro and declined against the yen yesterday. But nothing hits closer to home, literally, than seeing it fall to a 31-year low against the Canadian loonie, so nicknamed for the bird pictured on its coin. The dollar’s slide is affecting every corner of American life, from corporate earnings to vacation plans. But more disturbingly, it also has the potential to punish the very mortgage holders that the Federal Reserve intended to help with its aggressive interest rate cut last week.


While we don’t understand this kind of money talk, Don MacPherson has more on how this affects outtmost favorite people…COMIC BOOK PEOPLE.:

Eye on Comics inquired with major U.S. publishers about the discrepancy. Image Comics executive director Eric Stephenson said the company is aware of the issue.

“We’ve been reviewing pricing on a quarterly basis, but I think we’re going to address this fairly shortly,” he said.

A Marvel spokesperson issued a similar statement.

“We’re working on adjustments now that should take effect in a few weeks,” said Marvel sales co-ordinator Arune Singh. Exactly what kind of pricing change might arise on the covers of Marvel and Image titles was not made clear.

A DC spokesman declined to comment, stating the company didn’t want to issue a statement regarding pricing at this time. Each spokesperson was asked how a Canadian price is determined, but none offered a response on that issue.


Much more in the link, including how it affects Canadian creators. We canonly say that the Canadians have once again shown themselves to be the most sensible people on earth by heartily embracing the one dollar coin, even though it has a picture of a bird with a name synonymous with insanity on it. That is practical!

9 COMMENTS

  1. As a suggestion, how about if the comic companies just print an American price on the comics, and let the Canadian retailer figure out the exchange rate at the time of sale? Then we Canadians know we are getting a fair price.

    When I buy comic material online from a US retailer, they just charge me the US cover price and the credit card company determines the currency exchange rate based on that day’s rates.

  2. Thanks again for the link, Heidi. I’ve updated the followup article with comments from Canadian artist Stuart Immonen as well.

    Alan wrote:
    As a suggestion, how about if the comic companies just print an American price on the comics, and let the Canadian retailer figure out the exchange rate at the time of sale? Then we Canadians know we are getting a fair price.

    Many publishers already do this. Dark Horse’s direct-market comics, as well as many releases from smaller publishers such as IDW and Slave Labor, carry only the U.S. price. The same holds true for Dark Horse and Image’s trade paperbacks.

  3. Some retailers prefer there be a Canadian price. People see the one price and assume that’s it, then are disappointed when it gets run up at a higher price because of the exchange (plus sales tax). Even if they know it’s the US price, they have to figure out the math in their head about what the book is going to roughly cost them. Some customers prefer a firm price that they know they can buy the book at. Especially if they are on a budget.

  4. Jamie wrote:
    Some retailers prefer there be a Canadian price. People see the one price and assume that’s it, then are disappointed when it gets run up at a higher price because of the exchange (plus sales tax).,/I>

    That’s a valid point, but I think the concern right now is that several publishers aren’t bothering to revise those Cdn prices when the markets merit it. Right now, the Canadian and U.S. price should be the same, and comics aren’t printed so far in advance so as to leave the Cdn price static for months at a time or even more than a year (which is what we’ve seen from DC and Marvel).

  5. Trade paperbacks are the real issue. Criminal Vol. 1 published by Marvel’s Icon imprint not long ago is $14.99 US and $24.00 Canadian. I mean, pardon the pun but it’s fucking criminal to charge the Canadian price.

  6. Marvel seems to be the worst offender in the different pricing based on the completely unscientific research I’ve done browsing the comic and bookstore shelves. One of the Civil War trade paperbacks lists a Canadian cover price of double the US cover price. It’s on one of the main books, and I think it’s listed at $19.99 US and $40 Cdn. That’s insane – the book came out this year and the loonie already had a healthy value against the greenback before its recent rise to parity. Needless to say, there is no way I’m paying that price.

    Some comic retailers in Toronto are offering books for US cover or at a discount, but the big Canadian book chains like Indigo aren’t budging on the price.

Comments are closed.