Wanting to buy the graphic novel on the never-ending war in Lebanon, ' Waltz with Bashir', I rummaged my mouse through amazon.com to discover some good things about online buying and some nasty truths about graphic novels.
Book buying on the net has come a long way since I bought my first book on rediff in 1998. The book 'Kotler on Marketing' was delivered from Shankars in Bangalore with a nice pyramidal bookmark . It was a no-frills experience- some discount, a 3-day delivery promise and no status-of-order check. Have since bought many more books - the experience is better now except that there's no discount and delivery takes 15-20 days but you can track the order on the cell phone. Would rather have the discount and 3 day delivery without the SOD check. Better than rediff is the buying experience on Amazon, one for its reviews- and two for the near-brick&mortar-purchase experience. The best is its trademarked feature 'Look Inside' which actually opens the books pages for a sneak peek at the index, prologue, first chapters and epilogue for a quick browse before buying. A bookstore experience, but without the 'butt-brush' factor. Albiris, on the other hand, is a store with terrific choice- the same book is available in hardcover to paperback , signed copies to pre-owned to first editions at varying price points. Sometimes the first quoted price is a 10th of the last copy. Becasue whats the point of buying online if you can't get the browse experience and the discount ?
Now to Waltz with Bashir.
Why are the graphic novels as expensive as they are.
The DVD of '300' - based on the spartan-persian war can be had at Rs.400 , the book is Rs.500 but its graphic novel is twice that at Rs.950. Try Agatha Christie's novels - most cost close to Rs.300 today while the graphic novels cost Rs.650 upwards. This is one mystery even she wouldn't be able to solve!
I grew up on comics - ( no ipod, playstation , gameboys , computers ,multiplexes , DVD players and cellphones in those days. A weekly movie meant a trek to the open-air movie theatre in the army unit with a dress code- tie, shoes and full sleeve shirts !) So my companions were comics - Amar chitra kathas, indrajal and diamond comics, commandos ,tintin and asterix alongwith the daily newspaper episodes of Tarzan, Woody Allen ,Bo peep, Calvin , Garfield , Mutt&Jeff , Bringing up father and later the Mad magazines of which I have a huge set. The most expensive amongst the lot were Herge's Tintin and Asterix at near Rs.75, quite reasonable even almost 5 times the price of an ACK then .Even the graphic novels of David Copperfield or Three Musketeers were quite easy on the wallet. IN the pricing hierarchy, their book-versions were always much more expensive.
Things have been turned on their head.
Suddenly, a graphic novel is the most expensive version of the story. An animated movie like Persepolis or Waltz with Bashir has DVD versions at Rs.400 but graphic novel versions are 25% more expensive. My experience with print tells me it costs probably much lesser to make a comic than a book.
Is it the target groups propensity to buy, then? An Asterix costs under Rs.700 now, so assuming people are ready to spend that much for a comic, shouldn't a graphic 'novel' cost more?
Is that why it sits smugly in that high price range?
Some graphic novels are too shallow- no plot, too many characters, some erratic strokes and colors and an unfinished agenda- prompting a sequel ! Scam absolutely, if there was one.
Finally,is it that the audience seeks multiple experiences around the same story? So, will Harry Potter book and movie versions follow with a graphic novel version ? Now that the Potter theme park is launching in December this year.
Is the reader of the book , the viewer of the movie and the player of the game the same ?
And will he pay another 1000 bucks for the graphic novel ?
Maybe .
Can't figure why.
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