Digital Comics

If all you do is read the headline and the excerpt, I want you to remember this phrase: "Digital is the new Direct Market." Not "digital is the new newsstand". Direct Market. Let me explain with some history.

[Yesterday Diamond announced their plan to team with iVerse to offer digital comics downloads for sale in comics shops. Gievn the hot button nature of this discussion, and the big picture nature of the announcement, Dave Bowen, Diamond's Director of Digital Distribution, was eager to talk to us to explain more about it. This is a long interview, but Bowen goes into welcome detail on the thinking behind and motivation for this plan. Short version: retailers deserve to be brought into the process.]

Bam, the other shoe has dropped: as long anticipated, Diamond is starting a program to offer digital comics sales. Comics will be offered day-and-date exclusively through participating retailers -- with a 30-day exclusive for these stores. Products offered include regular downloads for $1.99 with "Digital Plus" comics -- extras offered with a print purchase -- for $.99, all in hopes of becoming a revenue stream for stores and publishers alike.

Apple's app stores -- the middleman of all middlemen -- have been the target of a stampede of old media magazines, newspapers, books and comics as the vehicle for sales in the new digital era. But several recent moves make it clear that Apple isn't in this game as a helping hand for anyone. Or, to put it in a more neutral light, Apple is a PARTNER, not a platform. The uh-oh feeling started yesterday when it was revealed that Apple had rejected Sony's e-reader app. This app like the Kindle, Nook, and other "storefronts" sent buyers to a website where they could make purchases without incurring Apple's 30% fee.

Problem solved! ComiXology, the leading digital comics provider, is going to let brick and mortar comics shops set up affiliate storefronts on their sites, building on comiXology's existing programs for retailers, such as digital pull lists and so on. Prominent retailer Chris Powell explains, “Having seen comiXology’s Retailer Tools and Pull List services, we trust comiXology’s technology to help us thrive in a market where customers are interested in both print and digital comics.  ComiXology will help us provide the one-stop shopping that customers are looking for.  Digital comics can be a great tool for reaching out to new or lapsed customers, and retailers should not be afraid of this new format.  Instead, they should look for ways to make the digital format complement their existing print business."

As more folks start off their year with funding announcements, Graphicly has just announced that they have received $3 million in VC via various...

A minor market segment, these box sets offer what most fans are clamoring for: ownership of the actual file instead of an app, affordable comics (even at $50, the per-comic cost is usually below twenty-five cents), and extras which turns these collections into electronic omnibuses. However, due to sticker shock, and the experience of reading these comics on a horizontal screen, many fans have been reluctant to purchase these collections. Which means that now, as the digital marketplace transitions to apps and browser-based readers, these older CD- and DVD-ROM collections are being sold at clearance prices. So, dear readers, in these challenging economic times, we offer you this bargain bin listing of select titles found on Amazon.com. We make no money from directing you to these forgotten gems, and, as with anything on the web, caveat lector et emptor.

It's strange, I suppose, to find a show so entrenched in geek culture as CES almost completely devoid of comics influence, only to discover a porn show roughly three miles away swimming in the stuff.

Over at the CO2 blog, Gerry Giovinco suggests that in all the app madness, we're missing something petty obvious:

Speaking of digital, which we were, and of those -- and there are many -- who think giving 30 percent of most everything to mega-middleman Apple is not a good thing, Warren Ellis points us towards the Not .99 Method whereby you can sell comics for devices at any price you wish and not share a penny with ANY middleman.

Over at his forum, 2010 bestseller Mark Millar urges us to put the brakes on for downloadable comics. This despite his WANTED topping comiXology's sales list. I'll take the liberty of posting his objections in full since what he has to say is pretty important:

Long-running comics publisher Archie is taking the plunge to become the first comics publisher to put its entire line for sale in print and digital at the same time, it's been announced on their blog. DC announced day and date with BATMAN BEYOND last week, but this is the first time a publisher has made the whole line available. The policy goes into effect on April 1, and will include KEVIN KELLER #1, starring the popular gay character.