The iPad costs too much? Compared to what?

One of the ongoing shibboleths coming out about the iPad, with prominent examples coming from Dirk Deppey, is that it won’t change the game for comics because the iPad costs too much.

To which we have to ask: compared to what?

Let’s take a simple example: Marvel’s Siege crossover event. If you wanted the entire thing and were to pay full retail for the comics, at $2.99 an issue you’re going to spend $100 or so on the full thing.

Now’s let’s assume the digital version of a series at 99 cents an issue. You end up with a savings of $60 over the life of the crossover series.

Or put it this way: If you normally buy an average of $30 of comics a week at a store, and you replace half of them with digital versions of the same books that cost 25% of their paper counterparts, you’re going to save over $560 in a year. That’s the price of a low-end iPad, plus tax and shipping.

I know a lot of people who would take that deal.