Bought an iPad. So long, paper comics. Options

[Fred Lang]

Wow.

I've had my iPad for two days now, and I've had the best comics reading experience I've ever had.

I've found issues that sold out at my local comics store because they didn't stock enough.

I've found books that my local comics store wouldn't stock because they didn't have enough shelf space.

I've found fill-in issues that would cost me $5-8 for $1.99, so I finally get to read what happened in the issues I missed.

I can search by writer, artist, story arc, character, imprint and company. (Found some great Stuart Immonen books I didn't even know he did--bought 'em.)

The "pages" are super bright, crisp and exciting to read, the digital screen bringing a larger-than-life appeal to the comics page. Beautiful.

Today, I'm gonna hunt through the digital indy books that I have never heard of and buy a few of those. I'd have never found them in my local store.

This is the future of comics.


The final straw was DC Comics' announcement that it'll release digital comics on the same day those comics hit print in the next few months. That sealed it for me. The other companies, I imagine, will have to do the same to keep up. Heck, I've already bought more comics in the last day than I've bought in the last four weeks. It's a win-win for all parties involved. Competition will eventually bring lower prices, but I'm content to show the companies that there is a market for digital comics by paying the current prices.

I've had pals who bemoan digital comics, citing the feel of paper, the smell of the book, the entire tactile experience. These mean nearly nothing to me. A comic book isn't some collectible thing to me. It's an experience--a story. That's where the power is. Divorcing the "thing" from the "experience" via digital comics will reveal the difference in comic book fans--are you a collector of stuff, or are you a reader of stories? I'm interested to see how this progresses.

Super giant A+, both thumbs and big toes up for digital comics.

Back to reading...!

[Cary]

Fred, I completely agree sir. As someone who had to divest myself of 30 years worth of comics that I had collected and lugged all over the United States with me as I moved, joined the Navy, moved, got out of the Navy, and then started my diving career...it was hard. What finally did it for me was coming to the point where I realized I could keep these books that I haven't pulled out and actually READ in decades, or I could sell them at a HUGE profit and put the money I got from them into actually MAKING comics. In the end there was no real decision at all, and since then I've found myself to be far happier with the comics I do buy, because I read them and then give them to kids who will enjoy them. (Except with The BOYS. I think I'd be in trouble for giving those to a kid!)

Now, since I've bought my iPad...comics are fun again because the collector thing doesn't exist. I can just sit back and enjoy the story without worrying about damaging the pages or getting it into a bag quick enough. I also don't have to worry about an ex wife stealing them.

[LurkD]

Now, since I've bought my iPad...comics are fun again because the collector thing doesn't exist. I can just sit back and enjoy the story without worrying about damaging the pages or getting it into a bag quick enough. I also don't have to worry about an ex wife stealing them.

So now that you don't have any house ads to direct you to other titles, or ads for movies you might want to see, or anything else that grownups traditionally read* comics for, you can treat comics like the disposable entertainment they were, and were intended to be, when you were a kid?











*This is the past tense, pronounced 'red.'

[Cary]

So now that you don't have any house ads to direct you to other titles, or ads for movies you might want to see, or anything else that grownups traditionally read* comics for, you can treat comics like the disposable entertainment they were, and were intended to be, when you were a kid?

I'm not sure that I'll ever consider them disposable entertainment, but I do look at them differently too. I don't have a fit when my 10 month old jumps in the middle of my reading stack and wrinkles a couple of covers, you know? For me, that's a HUGE step from the collector I used to be! I guess you could say I have mellowed with age.