Digital Comics...When & Why I Buy Them

I have to say, I really enjoy reading comics on my tablet.  With that said, I'm pretty choosey about what I purchase.  Not necessarily because of the content, I like reading a variety of books, but moreso because of cost.

I generally will not pay more than $1.99 for a single issue, and even then it has to be something I really want.  However, if I can get a digital book for $.99, then I'm willing to snag a bunch.  I know that debate rages about the price of digital books, and I don't pretend to know all of the costs involved with digital, but I do know what the value is to me.

If I shell out $3.99 for a physical comic book, I own something.  If I resell it I'm probably not going to make a profit, but I am probably able to get something for it.  I can't do that with a digital book.  What happens if the company I bought the digital book from goes under, and I suffer a data loss?  I'm now out that money, whereas with a physical book once I have it I have it, barring something like a basement flood or fire I'm not going to lose them; and even if I do, I have insurance on my physical books, you can't do that with digital.

That is why I will not spend $3.99 on a digital comic book that takes me 5 minutes to read.  However, there are times when I am willing to spend that much or more, and I wish that more of these collections existed.

While browsing around on the Comixology app on my tablet, I happened across an X-Men/Spider-Man digital pack for $5.99 that was over 150 pages, containing team-ups of Marvel's merry mutants and their friendly neighborhood arachnid from various comics over the years.  Now this is exactly the kind of initiative that can be done easily in the digital comics world. I mean, you made the money on the content the first time around, why not offer it in a bundle like this to entice readers to try out something they haven't read before?  In fact, this was created to promote a (then) upcoming crossover between the two teams, that's great marketing!

I would love to see more stuff like this...why not put Bloodties together in a digital pack for $5 as marketing for the upcoming Avengers vs X-Men?  Or in the lead up to the Galactus-Asgard snorefest war put out a bundle of cosmic Thor stories, such as his battles against the Celestials, Ego the Living Planet, etc.  Marvel has made their money already with these stories, so why not use them as gravy to marketing upcoming events?

Really my only beefs about the X-Men/Spider-Man bundle was one of the stories within ended on a cliffhanger and the resolution wasn't included.  My other beef was that I already owned 4 of the issues in the pack, and there was no way to read what issues were included before purchasing.  Fix that little mistake and I'd be very satisfied.

Feel free to steal this idea Marvel, DC, any comic company that wants my money!

Reading GIT Corp on Android

I've posted before about reading comics on a tablet, and how the Asus EEE Pad is perfect for digital comics. The aspect ratio is pretty much perfect for a comic book page, they don't fit as nicely on an iPad's screen.

I've also made mention of the GIT Corp DVD collections that Marvel put out some years ago. Before Marvel created their online subscripton service, they were licensing their books to GIT Corp to create DVD's containing entire runs of books like Amazing Spider-Man, the Avengers, the Hulk, etc, stretching from their inceptions in the 60's until a cut-off in the early to mid 2000's (when the discs came out). At the time they were a tremendous deal, between $40 and $60 for 40 years of comics. Some of the collections are hard to find now and as a result very expensive, but I have collected almost all of them.

I never cared for reading comics on my desktop computer, so I didn't read the GIT Corp collections as much as I wanted to. When I got my tablet, I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to start reading them more. The question was, what app would be best to read them on?

The books are PDFs, and there are a number of PDF viewers available in the Android market. The trick is, most of these readers display a MARVEL watermark on the books, which can be read through but is annoying.

After some trial and error I finally found an app, for free no less, called Perfect Viewer, that lets me view my GIT Corp comics without the Marvel watermark.

GIT Corp comics are a little different than current digital comics; the GIT Corp comics are all 2-page spreads (think of a comic book opened up and laid flat on a scanner...since that's what they are!), meaning that they read a little bit small even when the tablet is horizontal. However, Perfect Viewer will let you invert the comics and then zoom in so you can view one (comic) page at a time, you just need to swipe across. This lets you read the GIT Corp comics like current digital comics, very easy to read!

You'll need to download the PDF plugin for Perfect Viewer, but it's also free so that's no big deal. For all my fellow Androids out there, here is a link to the Android Market where you can download the viewer! https://market.android.com/search?q=perfect+viewer&c=apps

More Digital Musings

I've been reading, and researching, more on digital comics over the last few days, and while I still like my idea of a digital download code being standard with the print version of the comic, I have to wonder how the Netflix model would work with comics.

For anyone unfamiliar, Netflix charges you $8/month and lets you then stream as much of their content as you like.  They rotate through what is available and what isn't, but I've seen a fair amount that interests me and I just signed up for a free trial last week.

So could a NetComics fly?  Marvel does, or did, I'm not sure, have their own digital subscription service that let you pay a monthly fee to read their digital content, but I've always felt that initiative suffered due to the rather random assortment of books available.  When it comes to the older books, don't put up a random smattering of titles, at least do it by story arcs.  The titles available were pretty random, without much rhyme or reason to which books were available.  I'd rather see more complete listings rotated on a monthly basis than random books here and there.

I'd like to be able to use an app like Comixology to pay a monthly fee, and I can read as much or as little of what is available as I want.  Give me an option to pay to download the comic to my hard drive, or to order a print copy.  This way readers can sample a wider variety of titles than they might normally and could lead them to purchasing more titles.

I love my print comics, but I am really enjoying reading digital comics on my tablet as well, but the current digital model exactly having me rushing to purchase digital comics.

Asus and DigitalComics

Recently for my birthday (and Christmas) my wife got me a tablet.  I have been wanting a tablet for quite some time, but she's always told me that I couldn't get one, which of course didn't stop me from doing a lot of research on the cheapies out there.  Anyway, she surprised me with an Asus EEE Transformer, with the help of my buddy who owns a computer store, and I absolutely love it.

One of the primary reasons I wanted a tablet was to read digital comics.  I love my hard copies and don't intend to stop collecting them, but I have all these Git Corp collections that I want to read, and I hate reading digital comics at my computer desk.  I want to relax on the couch or lounge in bed, like I do with a physical comic.  I was looking into cheapie tablets for this purpose, and was about to launch into serious research on the Amazon Kind Fire before I got my Asus.

Fortunately for me, my Asus is good for a lot more than just reading comics.  However, if reading comics will be a priority if you get a tablet, the 10.1 inch model is perfect perusing your favourite titles.  The dimensions of the screen are better suited to a comic than an iPad, as a page fits perfectly on the screen.  When I get to a two-page spread, I just tilt the screen and everything fits.  While there is a zoom option I find that I don't really need it, I can read everything quite easily.

Now if only somebody would create an App that would let me play VS system on my tablet...a touch screen computer for a card game would be pretty darn awesome.

Let's Get Digital

I came to the computer today planning to write an entry about how the major comic companies should be letting someone who buys a physical print copy of a comic access to download it as a digital comic for free.

Then Comics Alliance posted that Marvel has announced they are doing just that.

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/11/10/marvel-comics-ultimate-digital-download-codes/

Now, they are not doing it for every comic they publish, for now it is just the Ultimate line.  However, this is a really big step towards where I think digital needs to go.  I am not willing to pay the same amount for a digital copy and a print copy, as digital copies are one hard drive failure away from being lost, which is far more likely to happen than a flood or fire destroying my print comics.  However, I absolutely love reading comics on my Android tablet (Asus EEE Transformer ftw!).

This is the perfect solution for me.  I still buy my physical comics, can hold them in my hands, but if I'm away from home I don't have to haul my comics along with me (risking damaging them in my travel bag even though they are bagged and boarded). 

I don't think that polybagging every comic sold is going to be an option, but for now to get the ball rolling it's acceptable.  If I'm on the fence about picking up a book not being able to flip through it can be a deal breaker.  It does remove the "this is not a library" problem though I suppose, but realistically polybagging the books is an extra cost Marvel is going to want to eliminate.

My first thought was have a code you can scan with your device to get the book, but then someone could just scan it on their phone in the store and in effect "steal" the digital copy.  Maybe each store is given a list of codes for the comics they ordered, and they give them out upon purchase?  The bonus there could be is that after say, 2-3 months, the store could sell the upload codes separate from what are now back issues, which would be a nice show of support for the stores.  I can see problems with that system too, but I'm sure something can be worked out.

I do wish that digital titles were priced at $.99, as I would end up giving Marvel more money every month than I do know, as I would buy some titles digitally and others in print form (though I'd hope for the free download of that comic as well, as I've suggested).  I can see how that might be a concern to the brick and mortar stores though, as that price would cause some people to switch entirely.

Still, good start Marvel!