By Bruce Lidl The digital comics landscape has settled down significantly in recent months. Since Amazon’s acquisition of ComiXology in April 2014, it has become essentially the de facto standard for digital comics and now distributes just about every publisher around. Unless a real industry-wide Netflix-type subscription model ever takes off, it is hard to see […]
Archie Joins the Humble Bundle Bandwagon; Image Scores with 2nd Bundle
By Bruce Lidl Following immediately on the conclusion of the second Image Comics Humble Bundle, Archie Comics has joined the Humble Bundle comics movement with its first release. Humble Bundles are curated collections of digital comics available under a “pay what you want” revenue model. Customers can choose their payment amount for the basic pack, […]
ImageExpo 2015 in Depth
By Bruce Lidl As has become a tradition at Image Comic’s semi-annual event, the announcements of upcoming titles came fast and furious today at ImageExpo. After a suitably rousing “state of the company” presentation by Image publisher Eric Stephenson, the stage at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center saw a procession of comic luminaries hyping new […]
Jimmie Robinson on Five Weapons, the Convention Craze and Digital Challenges
By Bruce Lidl The Sacramento Wizard World convention was an opportunity for comic fans in Northern California to gather and celebrate their passions with other fans and celebrities. It was also a chance for Jimmie Robinson, a veteran Bay Area comic book creator (and frequent commentator at The Beat) to meet his readers and spread […]
Bandette’s Coover and Tobin Talk about Digital Comics Going into Print [Interview]
One of the real breakout comics of 2013 was Bandette, from the husband and wife team Colleen Coover and Paul Tobin. A digital comic that is creator-owned and sold by Monkeybrain for only 99¢, the tale of young Parisian cat-thief Bandette and her team of accessories has been a hit both creatively and commercially. Awarded […]
Top Shelf’s Chris Ross on DRM-Free Graphic Novels and Print-Digital Bundles [Interview]
By Bruce Lidl Indie comics publisher Top Shelf announced yesterday that they will be selling a selection of their digital titles, without any DRM copy protection technology. Joining Image in the trend away from DRM on comics, Top Shelf will now offer eleven graphic novels from their own website in a variety of open formats, […]
Image Expo: Digital Remaining DRM-Free
by Bruce Lidl Last week’s 2014 edition of the ImageExpo has generated a large amount of coverage for both new title announcements, and for the dearth of diversity among the presented creators. From a practical standpoint, Image Publisher Eric Stephenson and Business Development Head Ron Richards clearly got their money’s worth of publicity from the […]