Tuesday, July 30, 2024

From David Campiti's Glass House Graphics: 2024 Professional Comic Book Page Rates

 


 Comics rep David Campiti has written this on his Glass House Graphics page:

"Folks have been asking us about professional comic book page rates in 2024.

"While there is no standard, there are A, B, and C level companies whose rates are what you'd expect.

"Marvel/DC, sometimes Dark Horse, and a few others pay mainstream rates of $80.00 - $200.00/pg for full scripts; $180 - $350/pg for pencils; $80 to $160 for inks; $25 or better for letters; $80 - $160 for colors. Covers rate-and-a-half plus $50. (Top-line artists earn more for covers and interiors.).

"B-level publishers will pay perhaps half of that.

"C-level publishers will pay bargain basement rates that won't earn anyone a living.

"Sadly, rates overall have NOT INCREASED in 30 years and, in fact, factoring in inflation it's paying maybe 50% of what the earning power could buy in, say, 1995. What's more, a few years back Marvel LOWERED its rates on some artists by as much as 30%.

"(One real example: A penciller I know who started at Marvel in 1995 at $190/pg has a current rate there at $180/pg.) Even worse, if they had just paid cost-of-living adjustments on his $190/pg rate, he should be at roughly $390/pg now. Instead, lowering it to $180 in current dollars is like paying him less than 90 bucks a page in '95 dollars.)

"Yes, the market was in far better shape three decades ago. But we had 12 distributors and more than 8,000 comic shops then. We now have two or three distributors and roughly 1,200 comics shops. Sales/publishing profits have similarly deflated.

"I've been repping artists for more than 30 years, so I'm familiar with the numbers."


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