Here’s another entertaining internet feud that we sadly don’t have time to jump into, but Johanna has the short version. Basically, writer Dan Slott goes on the Demonoid message board and asks people to stop downloading his comics. (Demonoid is a popular bitorrent tracker site.) Slott’s own 3 gigs of DOWNLOADS from Demonoid is then held against him, and a lengthy thread at Johanna’s site begins with Slott chiming in regularly.
Like we said, we haven’t read anything but Johanna’s first post so we won’t chime in except to say that we only download comics when we have an emergency research situation, because WE DETEST READING COMICS ON SCREEN. You people who do like it are foreign to us, and we have finally found the line that makes us old geezers.
“WE DETEST READING COMICS ON SCREEN.”
Ditto. Give me a paper comic in my hands and a cat in my lap, and I’m happy. But then, I’m 44 years old and obviously a dinosaur.
That was me. Only my last name is anonymous.
I only download comics to sample them, most likely, if I like what I read, I will then buy the comic in question. If I hate it, well, then I’m glad I didn’t waste my money. It’s similar to reading comics in the shop (which my LCS let’s me do since they know me and trust that I’ll buy what I like).
Slott would be better off asking Marvel to:
A. speed up their entry into the digital comics field.
B. revisit their trade pricing strategy. When you have the choice of an 8 issue TPB from DC for $15 (Teen Titans), or a 7 issue TPB from Marvel for $20 (She-Hulk), well, my decision is made for me.
If you have a big enough (higher resolution) screen reading comics on the screen is actually quite enjoyable.
This is how I read 99% of the comics that I read to my 5 yr old son.
It lets me zoom, it slows me down to his pace. I also bring them up on the TV to let my 2 yr old daughter look at them.
Admittedly we are a fairly progressive digital family (my son could type his name and password and navigate Nickelodeon before he could write it).
I would LOVE for a good digital solution for comics.
Being in my 50s and having to wear special STRONG reading glasses just to work on my computer, I will NOT read any more comics on the computer than I have to (i.e. web-only comics). I much prefer print comics, even if I do have to sometimes take off my bifocals and hold the pages up almost to my nose sometimes. Getting older is a bitch.
no way will i read comics on a computer. i spend enough time on one between work and at home.
‘sides, it makes my skin and eyes get too dry if i sit in front of a monitor for hours at a time.
Geezer lines:
No computer use at all.
Computer used to write email and maybe visit the occasional website.
Computer used like a typewriter for creative purposes.
Reads websites, blogs, newsgroups, and posts to same.
Creatively uses the Internet for legal and illegal activities.
So, to reiterate the ironic bullet points: a creator chastises fans for downloading his comics, yet he himself has a large download library of other people’s comics. Spry blogger then notes the irony, and creates more irony by defining herself as a geezer because she prefers to not read downloaded comics online.
Me? I haven’t taken the trouble to download comics, but if they are easy to access, I’ll look at them. I’m that little kid who used to sneak into the adult section at the library to go look at the 741.5s.