People Seem Really Excited About This Digital Comics Stuff

Augie got the comic book retail world into an uproar a few months back, and now it's Andrew Wheeler's turn with a well written and even more well thought out commentary on digital comics, Rantz Hoseley's new Longbox project and the potential extinction a good number of brick and mortar comic book stores most likely face in the near future.

Of course, most longtime readers of Nerd Dads and/or KFR already know my feelings on the subject, but Wheeler says it all again, with much prettier wordplay and a better choice of accompanying graphics. I'm not quite convinced that 99 cents an issue is really the sweet spot, but I'm probably very wrong and I'm as intrigued as Wheeler is by Longbox's vague but mentioned "bulk pricing" model. There is no doubt in my mind that I would happily pay, say, $25 a month for Marvel's entire 40-50ish title output.

But enough of that - let's take a look at Wheeler's take on...Marvel's current digital publishing initiative.

Marvel and DC have come up with some really inane solutions to the challenge of comics’ dwindling marketplace - apparently ending Spider-Man’s marriage was going to save the whole industry - but digital distribution has always been the sensible option that they were too big and too creaky to properly pursue, which is why it takes a fresh-faced third party like Longbox to get the revolution started.

I haven’t forgotten that Marvel has its own digital comics offering. It isn’t good. It only allows you to buy the right to access the comics on the site, and what’s on the site is not up-to-date. The ‘newest comics’ section currently boasts Son of Hulk #2 (first published just under a year ago) Annihilation: Nova #2 (from 2006) and Psi-Force #7 (from 1986). It’s a pathetic offering, because it’s completely dissociated from the publisher’s current output. If I wanted to find out what the fuss about Captain America #600 was all about, the most recent issue I’d be able to read is from two years ago. This is not an alternative distribution channel. This is a supplement for the ever-decreasing number of people with the will and the time to go to a comic shop.

If Marvel or DC is worried that putting their current comics online will increase the risks of piracy, someone needs to tell them that this particular horse-faced space-god has already bolted. Music, movies, books and TV are all digital now, and the digital releases go on sale the same day as the store releases. The time when a publisher might have claimed they were being innovative by adopting a synchronous digital distribution strategy has long passed. Now it’s merely ‘the least they should be doing’ - and still they’re not doing it. I’d try to second guess the reasons for their laggardly approach, but I can’t get into the mindset. It’s like trying to see through the eyes of a dodo.

Makes sense to me, and pretty much dovetails directly with my own views over the last few years. Read the rest of the commentary here, especially if you work for one of the big publishers and have a say in this area.