As a sign of how old I am, my first comic book that I purchased with my own money was
Crisis on Infinite Earths for $0.75, 30 years ago. I bought it from Yunkee, because I was drawn to the many characters in the books. I believe the
Crisis #3
was on newsstand at that time period, so I was actually missing issue
#2 for a while (but obviously I've tracked down the missing issue at a
comic book store - Sierra Comics and Books in Clovis, California). I
have very fond memories of the series, read #5 in the bathtub (to this
day, the comic has water damage), blown away by the death of Supergirl,
followed by the death of Flash (Barry Allen). Wow, this was amazing
comic-changing stuff! There was no internet, there was no Previews;
the only way to find out what was happening was to visit a newsstand
(because the comic book store was usually too far for me).
Having said all that, and excuse me if you think I do not understand the
digital age (because I will agree with you), but selling a digital
collection of
Crisis for $19.99 is way, way too much.
The digital collection came out this week, February 3rd, 2015,
previously you had to purchase each issue individually, priced at $1.99
each. In both cases, you're going to spend around $20 to $24 to get the
entire story... which I think is just too much.
I understand the real cost is the content, but I will argue with you
that after 30 years, believe me when I tell you that DC Comics have
already made their money on these comics, whether it is through various
printings or different formats or licensing it to foreign countries.
I've personally contributed over $200 to DC, just in the
Crisis line...
I know that kids these days probably have more money than when I was a
young - but the entry way for me into comics were the fact that it was
inexpensive. Comics were still under $1 for most newsprints and it was
affordable for me. Current pricing for most new books ($2.99 or $3.99),
I think is just too much money. While there is really no way to
reduce the cost of the flimsies, due to the rising cost of paper and
ink, I believe they should focus to digital. Make digital the entry
point by reducing the price to 99 cents or lower. From my personal
experience, the flimsies were usually an entry point for me - if I enjoy
a series, I'll end up buying more books from the same creators or
getting the deluxe hardcover down the road.
Look, I'm not negative on all things digital, here are some companies that are doing it right:
All new Marvel Comics comes with digital codes.
Buying CDs/Vinyls from Amazon will also grant you digital version.*
Buying new Bluray, I usually prefer to get the "Ultraviolet" version.
At the end of the day, my point is that I just don't see the value of
paying $20 for bits and bytes, especially when you get none of the
benefits of print (lending, re-selling, showing it off...) The
tradeoff is, of course, is convenience, portability, and updateable (for
example, they raised the resolution on old Comixology comics and
updated typos or initial errors). Since there's virtually no cost to
digital, I believe this is the perfect opportunity is to get fans into
comics by making that affordable (especially for really old titles)...
and they'll be hooked in and will buy more of your books in the long
run.
* Limited to certain record labels. And oddly enough, when Amazon
bought the popular digital comics retailer, Comixology, they made it
worst by removing in-app purchasing from iTunes. They basically lost a
bunch of digital comic fans overnight.
CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS HC (Dec 1998) 
ALTIVERSE (May 2005)
BLACK WIDOW (09 Jul 2021)
