Comics are expensive now. They have gotten shorter, usually 22 pages of story, and sell for $2.99 - $3.99. Back when I was a single man and at my height of comic reading, I would routinely spend around $150-$200 on comics a month for about 80 books. If you pre-order them online or tell your local comic shop that you read something regularly, you can usually get a discount on the paper ones. I don't think this discounting exists in the digital landscape.
The collected trades seem like a much better deal.
Based on dollars per enjoyment minute, comics are up there.