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[Digital Comics] Funny Books On Your Phones and Tablets! Check OP For Retailers
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Does anyone know of other comics download services?
On that note, one thing I wonder is how digital comics will affect the role of the publisher. Currently, Brubaker has to approach Marvel about getting Criminal and Incognito published because he isn't in a position to publish the book himself and get it out to as many stores. If Criminal and Incognito were digital comics, however, the huge investment needed to get the title off the ground is no longer a factor and Brubaker could potentially just put the book online himself, either by approaching Longbox independently or simply starting his own website. In both cases, he streamlines the process of getting his work out there and increases his total earnings from each issue.
That's not to say Marvel and DC and other publishers cease to be, of course. They still have their own properties, which people will pay to read, and they still serve as a great way to raise a person's profile. That said, they'll have to offer established talent a lot more if they want them on their payroll. I'm hoping that this will mean better contracts with better benefits.
https://twitter.com/Hooraydiation
Given that, what's the value of a marketing team to a creator, especially when teaming up with a publisher means that they'll also be able to kill your book and hang onto the rights to your original characters? It seems like a pretty shit deal unless your book is so bad that nobody will buy it, in which case you're just thankful for receiving money up front.
Frankly, I think the only real value would be in having the imprint of a publisher on your book, and if that's the case then it reduces the role of publishers to little more than expensive logos.
https://twitter.com/Hooraydiation
The marketing department at Marvel is also used every now and then as an excuse for things like the Ultimatum delay or other things the publishing division screws up, like the way their digital comics system was when first launched.
I just wonder if Marvel is trying to fill the gaps on their digital comics by trying to get to some middle ground with the creators regarding digital distribution rights.
For instance, Bendis and Fraction books probably get updated all the time because they have newer contracts that probably do something regarding royalties for online books. But if they try to, say, update the site with all of Kirkman's Marvel Team Up (don't know if they have it), there is probably some pissing match to go along with it because Kirkman now works at Image.
I know these are work for hire contracts, but I don't know what is stipulated regarding uploading to a system that probably didn't even appear in contracts 2 years ago.
So that at least give me hope that if the service continues it may fill in alot of the holes.
There is little infomation about the service or vision for it (such as Amazon's digital vision for the Kindle) so it's hard to say what "classics" they will be adding. They do have all of the Kirkman volume of Marvel Team up on the site, it's one of the complete runs (I myself only read the Leage of Losers arc). I assume they dont have to worry about royalties and rights on most stuff, I know I haven't been paying attention for a long time, but I thought that was why Image and alot of the independant houses were formed, because Marvel/DC just owned everything they did.
If Longbox is accessible from the UK I am all for it.
If I can take my digital comics, load them up onto my computer, back them up as I want to, and view them when and where I want to (independent of Internet connection, for example, and independent of which computer I originally bought them on), I'm pretty sure that I'd be totally down for digitally distributed comics.
If I have to maintain an internet connection to access my library, can only view it from a limited number of devices, or lose access to said library if I stop paying a monthly fee, then I have absolutely zero interest in the service. Essentially, I want to buy things, not rent them.
Mind you, I'm not saying they shouldn't provide some all-you-can-read monthly subscription, or whatever. That would be a great option for hooking people on comics, I imagine. I just wouldn't go for it, myself.
https://twitter.com/Hooraydiation
https://twitter.com/Hooraydiation
In any case, why should Marvel or DC be worried about pissing off Diamond or the shops? Diamond can just go fuck themselves, and the shops aren't about to boycott Marvel or DC when doing so will just drive them out of business faster.
https://twitter.com/Hooraydiation
Opinions? I honestly feel like, as the retailers and direct market seem uninterested in supporting or pushing books like Blue Beetle, She-Hulk, Booster Gold, or Captain Britain, DC and Marvel both need to begin looking into digital distribution for their low tier titles.
Honestly, don't you, as a reader, look at upcoming books and immediately wonder how long they're going to last? Did anyone not predict that The Order, Pet Avengers, Runaways, Blue Beetle, Breach, Firestorm, or Exiles were going to struggle right out of the gate, and ultimately face early cancellation, poor sales, or both? So why do Marvel and DC keep throwing these books into a market that can't support them at any sustainable level? As far as I can see, the pros of going digital on low-tier books far outweigh the cons.
First, the publisher's overhead costs aren't as high, as the printer, distributor, and retailer don't get a cut of the book's sale. That allows the publisher to pass the savings onto the customer, while still making a healthy profit. Even the retailers benefit, as they no longer have to order books that they're expected to stock, only to have them sit on their shelves, eventually making their way into discount bins. Everyone saves money.
Plus, while a book selling 20k to readers through the direct market may be unprofitable, if it can pull in the same numbers through digital distribution, then it could, from everything I've read, actually be pretty profitable.
That's not even touching on the other benefits of digital distribution, like the fact that you can keep a backlog of single issues available for years, while physical single issues only have a shelf life of a few weeks before they become all but impossible to sell. Or that books that may not sell well in the direct market have the potential to do well when marketed to demographics that don't frequent comic shops. Red 5's Atomic Robo only sells a few thousand copies in the direct market, but several issues have placed in the top 20 of e-books for iTunes.
But, as long as DC and Marvel are afraid of stepping on the toes of Diamond and the retailers, I'm afraid we won't see any serious movement in the digital comic area. Though I will say that Marvel's Spider-Woman motion comic is a step in the right direction, combining top tier talent with a B-list character that has struggled to maintain sales in the past. I just wish they would have released it as an actual comic, rather than some weird, movie/comic lovechild.
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it's a lot less risky for new characters to be introduced in an environment where there are say four or so bat family or wolverine books respectively
it's cool, it's an online exclusive!
MICHELLESTARTER MK 3 https://www.wepay.com/donations/michellestarter-mk-iii-analogy-or-pun-comparable-to-iron-man
These are undoubtedly good things for DC and Marvel in the short term, but in the long-term I think the Big Two might find it much harder to dominate a market that requires less of an initial investment from a publisher or self-publisher to put out a book.
https://twitter.com/Hooraydiation
See Crimson's post. I think that the low cost of entry will mean that there will be far more material available. I think we may see a repeat of the initial popularity of comics, where there was a glut of material of varying quality. Unlike then, though, Marvel and DC control the rights to the most well known properties, so even though their market share in the digital space may not be as dominant as in print, they will still be the biggest players. Assuming they get with the program and fully commit to the medium.
Webcomics are comics. This is kind of going on right now actually. Honestly, I can't believe the big comics companies don't have some kind of web comics thing going on.
Yeah. DC is putting their toe in the pool, sort of. I don't understand why the big comics companies (DC, Marvel, Image, Dark Horse) don't have some kind of webcomics thing going on with their big properties. Dark Horse did (does?) have that Myspace Comics thing. It had Fear Agent and Umbrella Academy on it.
The publishers aren't doing digital now because, like the music industry before them, they don't know how to maximize revenue from the medium (they don't believe that people will pay for something they can get for free) and they fear lack of control of the content. It's a stupid way to look at the issue because right now they're getting no money at all and have zero control over it. At least with a viable alternative out there they can gain some money and control, what little there is to be had at least.
A summary of the Longbox panel from SDCC.
And a two part interview with Rantz Hoseley at Newsarama: Part 1 Part 2
Does the quality vary at all? Honestly, Longbox looks cool, but I'd much prefer a subscription service.
But unless there is some type of tablet device, reading on a laptop just isn't the same thing.
I wholeheartedly agree with this. If I recall correctly, they put the Fin Fang Four stand-alone online before making a physical print of it, and if it came out in a TPB or a HC anthology, I'd totally buy it.
I even stood in a local hobby shop, with the single issue in hand contemplating breaking my 'no floppies' rule, but the truth of the matter is that if it can't stand up on a bookshelf, I simply have no way to store it.
I am scouring the internet for issues 1-250 of Hellblazer, bar #11.
Come to my shop and buy 75% of them
But you can't touch 134-206 I called dibs and also on Dangerous Habits
If you find #45 though I have that already
If you can live with the gaps in titles and the fact that it may be a year before you see any recent comics, I suppose it could work for you. They do get some online exclusives, though, so there is that.
I like it well enough, but you're right in that the scans aren't as high-quality as they could be. This isn't a problem for most books I've read using the service, but I was reading some Immortal Iron Fist last night, and it's nigh-impossible to tell what's going on in some panels because the relative low-quality just destroys the detail. I don't feel very cheated by this, though, since I'm just paying one flat rate for access to tons of comics, but whenever we get a pay-per-issue system of downloadable issues, I hope they use higher-quality scans that what they're using for this system.
I also find that their comic reader is a resource hog, at least in Firefox. I've had my (relative fast) computer grind to a halt after reading ten or so comics in a row because Firefox is suddenly using upwards of 90% of my CPU.
I wouldn't say that either of these issues is dire, or discourage you from subscribing because I really do think it's a great resource for introducing yourself to series you wouldn't otherwise check out if you had to pay for them per-issue or per-storyline. It's a good resource if you want to familiarize yourself with tons of different Marvel properties, and not so much a good resource for completionists or people who want to stay current.
http://vimeo.com/6153232
I really like the little news feed on the main page, and the organization system seems pretty straightforward, but what'll make or break it for me is the quality of the reader, and the clarity of the images.
In other digital comic news, iVerse recently exceeded one million downloads, nine months after beginning distribution. Considering that they only distribute to iPhones or phones that can access Google Android, and that they distribute comics that usually only sell 5,000-10,000 units per issue in the direct market, that's pretty damn good.
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