Comic Value Part I

The price of comics remained 10 cents from 1933 until 1961 but the size decreased. After this size and price were more and more often adjusted resulting in reduced value for the comic buyer's pennies. For example here is the size and price for Detective Comics from 1937 to 1973:
  

issue #	size	price	value in
			pages/cent
1-75	68 page	10 cents	6.8
76-89	60 page	10 cents	6.0
90-176	52 page	10 cents	5.2
177-211	44 page	10 cents	4.4
212-297	36 page	10 cents	3.6
298-387	36 page	12 cents	3.0
388-413	36 page	15 cents	2.4
414-424	52 page	25 cents	2.1
425-437	36 page	20 cents	1.8

So by 1973 the value had dropped by 75%, from 6.8 pages/cent to 1.8 pages/cent. The current value for Detective Comics is .12 pages/cent, a further reduction of 93% from 1973. Over the life of Detective Comics value has dropped 98%.

Using the US inflation rate from the first issue of Detective Comics in March 1937 to today of 1450% would give a comic value of .48 pages/cent, four times its real value of .12. So comics have inflated at four times the general inflation rate over that period. Or, to put it another way, comics have lost four times as much value as the average American good.

That's value as quantity. Value as quality is another post. Here are some DC Annuals from the sixties - when value was 3 pages/cent.

Batman Annual 6 - Winter 1963-64

Superman Annual 8 - Winter 1963-64

Flash 160 (80 Page Giant 21) - April-May 1966

 Flash Annual 1 - 1963