The Wait is Almost Over

So the wait is almost over, but the debate and controversy has just begun. When I entered into the comic book retail business six years ago, digital comics were already a reality. Comic books had tried to make the leap to digital format a number of times on different platforms and formats. In the 1990s, you had versions of Spider-man and the X-men on the PC and Mac with voice-overs by Stan Lee. By the early 2000s, Napster-like websites had popped up that scanned comic books. The initial arguments from scanners were that many of the comics scanned were not available in reprinted collected editions and long out of print. Some scanners defended their actions by saying that they were helping expand comic book readership because people got interested in comics reading older comics and went to comic book stores to buy the newer comics. A lot of these claims seemed hollow when scans started popping up for new comics. Many times the scanned comics appeared so quickly after the Wednesday release date that it seemed like the scanners may actually work in the industry (retailer, printer, or distributor).

Unlike Napster, the comic book industry did not initially aggressively defend their copyrights like the music industry. The comic industry didn’t see a huge drop-off in sales like the music industry due to illegal downloads though. The difference between listening to music and viewing comics has always been the killer app. People listen to their music in different ways. They listen to it in their home and their cars. They carry their music around with them with “boom boxes” or headphones. The difference is the media that music was transported on. Vinyl records, 8-tracks, cassette tapes, compact discs are all media that have been used, so digital delivery was just an evolutionary step. MP3 players initially and then the popularity of the Ipod coupled with the Itunes music store were the killer app for the music industry to go digital.

Comic books have always been printed on paper. They are naturally a visual media. If you saw Ivan Reis’ 4 page gatefold splash page in the middle of Blackest Night #8, Ben Caldwell’s Wonder Woman story in Wednesday Comics or Frank Cho’s 6 page gatefold cover of Ultimate Comics New Ultimates #1, it is hard to deny that these images would easily be captured or translated on a computer screen of any size. Comics printed on paper are still the most portable and readable method to read comics. All of that could change with the Ipad. The Ipad addresses most of the major complaints that users have of current digital readers. The Ipad is roughly the size of a comic book. The Ipad is color. The orientation of the Ipad can change. The Ipad is lightweight. The Ipad has a relatively long battery life. The Ipad won’t burn your lap when reading it on the toilet. The Ipad has a build in distribution method for content called Bookshelf which is similar to Itunes, but for books instead of music. The promise of digital delivery of comic books to a mass market is exciting for small press publishers. Bookshelf has listed comic books and graphic novels as a major category. In a time when some comic stores are tightening their belts on Indy comic book purchases and getting an Indy comic book distributed through the primary national comic book distributor, Diamond Comics, has become increasingly difficult, Bookshelf offers a great opportunity for small independent publishers to get their work into the hands of the public in the same way that Itunes allowed Indy bands to distribute their music.

For the major comic book companies, just publishing digital copies of their comics on the Ipad would be a mistake and a waste of this new technology. Both DC and Marvel tried their hand at Motion Comics, a mix between traditional comic books and traditional animation. Most of them resembled Japanese Anime. They didn’t seem to have a game changing effect that some in the industry had hoped. The Ipad offers ability to do so much more combining video, animation, sound and image to make something truly worthy of the technology. Action sequences that actually play out the action in the form of animated clips. “Avengers Assemble!” sound clips played when the panel displays the entire Avengers team. Letters to the editor could be read by and responded to by the editor in a video. The editor-in-chief of the respective company could update comic fans on the state of their universes in video commentaries. Page by page “director’s cut” commentary could be added by writers, artists, inkers, colorists and letterists to give insight into the creation of the comic. The possibilities are endless and would make it more than the digital delivery of the comic. The Ipad hasn’t even reached the hands of its customers and some of these potential customers are declaring that $1.99 per issue is too much for a comic that is lacking traditional printing and distribution costs. Some of these “potential customers” are also the same people who would download scanned comic files for free claiming comics cost too much, so I take some of their comments with a grain of salt. Fans of this website will understand that the cost of a producing a comic is much more than simply printing and distribution costs. You have to be able to pay the talented folks who create the comics. If you cut the cost of their salaries too much, then the talented folks will find work in other industries. The best way to combat the people who say comics should be cheaper and the scanners who already are illegally creating digital content and distributing it for free is to create new content that can’t be easily replicated, that people are willing to pay a premium for, and harnesses the strengths of the platform you are distributing it through.

We’ve had over a decade to debate how widespread digital distribution would affect the industry. We’ve had over a year of speculation over what Apple’s Tablet PC would look like. The time for debate and speculation are over. Ipad is everything most people have said they wanted from a comic book reader, so it’s up to comic book companies to not just meet people’s expectations, but blow them out of the water.

Shawn Demumbrum
SpazDog Comics
www.spazdogcomics.com

Email: shawn@spazdogcomics.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/SpazDog
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