Digital Comics

Publisher of the Year candidate Drawn & Quarterly has finally broken the seal on literary comics going digital with a two book deal with Kobo Vox which will see Chester Brown's LOUIS RIEL and PAYING FOR IT released. According to associate publisher Peggy Burns, the deal is non-exclusive, and next year will see more titles and platforms for D&Q. Literary comics publishers Fantagraphics and D&Q are along the last holdouts among publishers going digital -- partially due to their authors' ambivalence (or dislike) of the platform -- so even this tiny toe-dipping into the digital world represents a big step forward. In this case, Chester Brown actually encouraged the move -- and it doesn't hurt that Kobo is, like D&Q, a Canadian company.

Dave Castelnuovo had a few words about the state of digital comics and the old arguments are coming up again. Pricing, retailing and formatting are still points of contention. The interesting dynamic here is the extent to which retailers are driving the digital process. Yes, this sounds backwards, but publishers have been bending over backwards trying not to upset the retailers since the dawn of digital. I'm sure there are a lot of retailers who don't feel that way, but I've had multiple publishers tell me they were holding back progress to pacify the retail channel for years.

by Dave Castelnuovo-- Just like the Arab Spring that changed much of the Middle East, It seems like Arkham Spring is upon us and will soon change the comics industry. Tensions are finally coming to a head as the comic industry continues to transition to the digital era. Creators are starting to speak out more about their potential opportunities in digital and are questioning why the industry is holding onto old practices that are preventing their comic from being accepted by more people. A good example of this comes from writer and illustrator Brian Wood in his blog post “The Digital Question Mark”. In it I think he presents a solid case as to why this dance between publishers and retailers is screwing up opportunities to give his book the best possible chance of success. It doesn’t matter whether the industry will eventually get to cheaper digital content in the next couple years, his book will be canceled unless readers buy it today. He has a good plan for making this happen but politics are getting in the way.

Well now, comiXology took one step toward becoming the next Diamond as IDW is now powering its stores via comiXology. IDW, always considered one of the most aggressive companies in terms of digital, also announced they will be fully day and date —at full cover price. IDW had formerly used iVerse to power their standalone stores for series like GI Joe, Transformers and Ben Templesmith, so this is quite a switch.

Over at CBR, Kiel Phigley had a chat with John Rood, DC's Executive VP-Sales, Marketing and Business Development, about DC's digital sales and it's worth taking a closer look at. The biggest question, which is still utterly unanswered, is how many copies these digital comics are selling. The second biggest question is where these sales are coming from and Rood does get into that, just a little:

Eddie Campbell's long out of print DAPPER JOHN has been released as an iPad app, he writes:

As the fallout from the Dark Horse digital initiative continues to blow like a glowing cloud over the internet, one other digital initiative has been trashed pretty thoroughly by a bunch of retailers in public and private: comiXology's digital storefronts. The rollout of terms was poorly handled and pissed off a lot of retailers with fears that it was just a front for comiXology to get their customer information. Perhaps in light of this, comiXology has just made a lengthy release about the program's first few months with news that money has been paid out early and at a lower minimum payment. Also a new TOS perhaps more to the liking of retailers will be released, along with other improvements. And the retailers that did use it have called it a big success. 100 stores -- listed below -- are taking part in the program. So -- consider this a new sales pitch: "Take a look at me now."

Responding to last week's Dark Horse vs the retailers controversy over the price of Dark Horse's simultaneous digital release, writer Brian Wood has summed up the very hard rock and very rocky hard place that we all find ourselves in. While acknowledging that no one wants to see their local comics shop go under, he says for creators, it is a rough time with big question marks everywhere:

Evidently, due to some misunderstandings, Dark Horse CEO Mike Richardson has released a statement regarding the publisher's imminent switch to simultaneous print and digital release: digital comics will be priced at $2.99 for the first month, dropping to the standard price of $1.99 after that. You can read the statement below. While it's obvious that keeping DH's retail partners from mutiny is part of these decisions -- DH also has a jacked-up digital price for a one month window -- it presupposes that the print and digital audiences are the same. There isn't really any evidence that this is the case right now. However, in the short term, digital sales will continue to be seen as a direct competitor to print. Like we said, we understand the concerns on both sides.

DC isn't the only publisher betting big on the new generation of tablets -- IDW has made more than 30 of their GNs available for the NOOK, including Darwyn Cooke's Parker adaptations, and works by Joe Hill, Max Brooks, Anne Rice, and Eric Shanower. Unlike DC's exclusive with Amazon, this doesn't seem to have pissed off any retail partners...yet.

Marvel has updated its iOS app with a bunch of new features -- however, the App store tells me that you will have to restore all your purchases after the upgrade. The new features sounds worth it, however. What could go wrong? To entice you, Marvel is running a big sale on stuff like SCHISM, ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN, and other recent releases. That's a nice way to get people up to speed with the current goings-on for future print or digital purchases.

In the latest announcement of its kind, Dark Horse announced today that as of December 14, 2011 it will be releasing all its comics simultaneously in both digital and print. (Remember, just say no to the "day and date" phrase.) Over at Robot 6, Brigid Alverson did a little digging and found out this simultaneous release extends to original graphic novels and trade editions, with a price point from $2.99 to $7.99.