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Having high priced old stuff is odd, certainly - given that they make zero money from them now, the publishers that is, as compared to retailers, so it could be part of appeasement of the latter.
And you are right about the prices now, even getting them shipped across the planet you can get stuff for $1 each or less from places like Mile High Comics.
Actual comic shops that price your garden variety back issue in the USA at cover price or even 2/3 of cover price (or equivalent ratio in other countries) will never sell most of them either
It is interesting how other media companies use georestrictions, but they won't. e.g. to sell to countries that don't have comic shops.
The 2.99 to 3.99 jump is the strangest thing. Presumably they are going on the psychological theory of the .99 so 3.25 or 3.35 or whatever doesn't matter. Might have got away with it better in stages, with pricing variety.
Given that webshops will have no problem with .15 or 3.19 or whatever pricing and I am also pretty sure that comic book employees can still handle the concepts of 20c 25c, 50c and do the change thing it is rather strange.
Colouring of course has made quantum leaps via technology - but with computer assistance, so presumably is not too much different in cost to cover price ratio than it used to be, or it wouldn't happen. Pencillers and inkers still do the same thing, if with different tools, and actually have more work to do with the padding that you mention, and writers and letterers less.
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