Comments on: Steal this Thursday

By: books with instant download

books with instant download — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 22:01:26 +0000

books with instant download…

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By: SomeGuy

SomeGuy — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 13:54:51 +0000

There’s room for both paper and digital downloads. Just because music is available for download doesn’t mean CD sales have dried up. Some people still want the jewel case, CD w/art, and a paper insert. Some of us just want the music and prefer not having to store more crap in our living rooms. I’m one of the latter. Heck, I’ve even stopped making DVD purchases except for on rare occasion, and even then it generally has to be under $10 or I won’t buy it.

Comics publishers have to face the facts: prices are high, production costs are going up, and the market is hurting. The reason we see so many #1 issues and crossovers is because those books boost sales, at least, for a time. Then sales drop off, sometimes alarmingly quick. Just look at sales numbers over at CBR.

There’s an audience out there that will read comics if they’re not $3 or more a book and they don’t have to drive out of their way to some dark (some), intimidating (to some) comic shop. Let’s not forget that many areas don’t have comic shops. Some shops are an hour or more away. What about those readers? Sure, there’s online retailers, but shipping is also getting increasingly expensive. Even with the discounts online, unless you buy a bulk of books, it’s just not saving you any money. Comics are meant to be read. So why not seek out other methods of distribution? There will ALWAYS be a market for the paper products. But seriously, in today’s comics where stories are in many cases written in arcs, or “written for the trade” I see the future of comics leading down the path to paper trades and hardcover collections, and monthly downloads. Now I prefer reading paper copies, but if I can get half off or more ($.99 per download, ala iTunes) then I’ll gladly go digital because I want to read stories. Monitors are becoming cheaper and of higher quality all the time. The time is coming when we’re going to see a major shift and I don’t believe it’s very far away.

And by the way, Drive Thru Comics is too high, IMO. I’ll pass. Pullbox Online is the best I’ve seen so far, but the major publishers are missing at the moment.

By: CapVsBats

CapVsBats — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 13:34:29 +0000

@Jimmie Robinson – can you explain the strip-mined allusion?

By: Jimmie Robinson

Jimmie Robinson — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 02:52:52 +0000

In a perfect world… I’d rather have BOTH. I wouldn’t want an “either / or” situation.

But in the world of reality…. paper is so expensive that those who DO support it are being strip-mined to hold up a huge chunk of the industry.

By: Christine

Christine — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 20:28:10 +0000

i read lots of comics that are made to for the web but over all i am not a fan a reading full comics online or downloading them. i like to be able to see the full page layouts and spreads that are truncated by screen size and resolution. i also worry about color reproduction (mac vs pc they still have color and contrast issues)

i like to experience things in the medium that they were meant to be seen in.

By: Brian Belanger

Brian Belanger — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 11:38:15 +0000

I like reading BRIEF comics on-screen; every day I read DOONESBURY and THE DEVIL’S PANTIES; and Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays I read the latest one-page installment of GIRL GENIUS. That’s it. When the collections for these strips come out I buy them to have the hard copy to read again and again. Reading more than a page or two at a time online drives me crazy!

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 11:11:28 +0000

I’ve bought a few digital comics, mostly b/c i wanted to try the series and either hadn’t seen it in real life, or didn’t want to risk a full 3 bucks on it. I prefer CBRs to PDFs, but prefer reading a physical book to digital.

By: The Beat

The Beat — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 07:22:24 +0000

I’ll be honest, Kristy, once in a while i have to do some research and it’s simply more practical to download a comic. For me that’s an emergency.

By: Christopher Moonlight

Christopher Moonlight — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 06:40:27 +0000

When all the pooters wiped out by the pulse, I’ll still be able to read me papers. There still might be some around, to be dug up in a thousand years.

By: Kristy Valenti

Kristy Valenti — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 00:15:50 +0000

I’m not trying to be a jerk, but what exactly is a comic-book “emergency”?

By: SporksOnTheInside

SporksOnTheInside — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 23:42:12 +0000

The huge advantage that comics always has had going for them is that they were fun little self-contained stories that were dirt cheap and available everywhere. Now they are arguably none of those things. I think that can be reclaimed somewhat with downloadable comics.

The thing is that people want to bitch and moan about online piracy, but in a lot of cases it is the audiences now having the power to create the way they want their product. The companies only need to wise up and figure out a way to meet that demand instead of lashing out at their own customers because they are afraid to make that leap.

By: Giancarlo Roman

Giancarlo Roman — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 22:06:16 +0000

Is this poll biased? There´s no way to know the profiles of the people voting. What´s the age/economic range of the people voting? Obviously, there are a lot of factors to consider. It´s a really interesting concept though.

By: JMCampbell

JMCampbell — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 21:55:50 +0000

Wow, that’s some happenstance. You start this poll, I just started a series of interviews with Digital Comics Groups on my podcast, Comics Radar. I interviewed Steve Wieck, from DriveTHru Comics. I personally think digital comics are a completely different beast. They’re going to appeal to a different audience. But for me, who just wants to read a good story, I’ll jump on digital downloads in an instant, especially once they make me a handy portable reader, and to be honest, my moto q is just about a perfect reader for me, except when they have the huge splashes. give me something like this, just about the size of a digest graphic novel, and I’m set to go.

If you want to listen to the interview, and get a couple discounts codes to try out Drivethru Comics, go to http://comicsradar.com/archives/61

By: Jason Borlinghaus

Jason Borlinghaus — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 21:15:37 +0000

Maybe I am just being nostalgic in my old age (33!) but I prefer paper. If I had to resort to staring at my computer screen to read a comic book (which would be akin to just surfing the web), I might as well switch to more engaging computer viewable content, such as watching DVDs or playing video games.

However, I must admit that the price point is getting ludicrous. Supposedly, it is due in part to the better paper and better printing, but quite frankly I didn’t mind the regular newsprint back we had back in the dim past of 1985.

By: DrObviousSo

DrObviousSo — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 21:07:29 +0000

Bill, you should check out the Flashback offerings. They are in the same aspect ratio as a computer monitor, very much unlike normal comics. It makes a world of difference.