Formatting your comics...

 There's been a lot of buzz recently regarding how you read your comics. By that I don't mean on the couch or in the toilet I mean do you like them on paper or screen?

REALLY? How did he pay for that?

   With the New 52 from DC (that's getting older every time I fucking say it!) they did a same day and date digital launch along side the hardcopy and Marvel is slowly but surely following suit. Many comic companies are also going digital with the advent of tablets and their ever decreasing prices and ever increasing capabilities. Downloading comics and reading around the Wotzit smear left from having to touch the screen is burgeoning.

   The rise of digital comics is a good thing, not just because fanboys will have to wash their hands more but because this means there's the possibility of getting new readers through online advertising, it's environmentally friendlier and if you ever get a female to co-inhabit with you she won't even notice you move your comic collection in because it will all be on a memory stick, with your porn. 

   Here's the bit that hurts though, periodical comics are dying out.

   

I'm afraid so.

    The Comic Industries biggest act of self denial is that floppies, as a format are dying out. Book shops such as Waterstones and...well Waterstones simply will not stock floppies as it makes no sense at all to do so. But they do stock trades and trades do sell, especially after big screen adverts like Thor and Batman. They even do little recommendations from the staff which I find utterly charming, even if one of them is a positive review about something Geoff Johns coughed up.

   Now personally I like a floppy (COMIC) I will freely admit to being old school and liking the monthly serialised format as it gives me something fun to look forward to. Nothing beats that stack of comics feeling. BUT I will also be the first to admit that I like every other format, even if I don't partake yet. I collect the trades and read web comics so a digital comic shouldn't be a stretch for me. I am though, in a minority.

   There is a general feeling of resistance among comic readers (yes, yes accept for you who embraces new ideas like a python embraces a wild pig) to the digital medium, which is ironic when you consider how much time they spend on the net whinging about how their favourite characters should wear their underpants. From what I can gather it's mainly to do with people being too stuck in their ways. 

   "I like the feeling of paper in my hands." Well I like the way my cock feels in my hands but it will always feel better in a vagina. 

  "The rustle of paper, mmm" I never really noticed until you said it, now I play music to cover up the annoying rustling of paper.

   "I just don't know how to read them on a screen." Because when you switch a piece of technology on you switch your brain off do you? It's a touch screen on a tablet, I'm pretty confident that's easy to figure out.

This person will have problems using a tablet.

   If you're worried about brick and mortar Comic shops closing because they can't sell floppies, don't. Let's face it they are always on the verge of dying out and the good ones have long since learnt to adapt to the times and sell more than just comics. A good comic shop will survive off the back of trades, merchandising and careful trend following.

   There are, of course a few genuine problems.

  The prices of the comics themselves can also be a bit of a head scratcher. A while ago this was announced... Dark Horse goes digital! and while this is a wonderful thing 2.99 US is squeeze too far. They still have to pay the creative staff but I'm pretty confident the resources for getting a digital comic to its audience are far less than a printed one. Besides, you will get more none readers willing to click for a one  dollar than four. But there are steps to get the prices down using special offers and more content like commentaries (yeah, just like a DvD) and behind the scenes type pages showing the sketches and designs that went into the comic.

   

   The technology is too fucking expensive. I can read a comic that costs three quid on the train, I object if I'm holding a slab of equipment that costs a month's wages in front of people who were only thinking of mugging me before but the idea has since become a plan of action. 

   As with most things size does indeed matter. The screen size on a nice expensive ipad2 is 10.2 inches which is just enough to get a standard American format comic page on but the smaller more affordable (slightly) devices are seven inches on average which leaves you feeling like your wife does, wishing you had a few extra inches.

   

   And of course I've never had to plug a comic in to read it.

   But and it's a big BUT...   

  The size and cost of mobile phones in the eighties was monumental (In 1984 the Motorola DynaTAC 8000x (The Brick) cost $3,995) so give it a couple of years and these expensive tablets will be used by all and not just people presenting programs to raise awareness of famine relief.

In the oldy days we could only use them to talk to people

Now we can use them to tell the time!

     The idea that I can just download the comics I want and never miss an issue is quite tempting. I can also store the entirety of my collection on my keyring and skills your brain uses for reading comics won't change, even the act of turning a page is still there in an easily understandable form.

   Right now it's an option, soon and I promise you this, it won't be. 

You can still do this with a tablet.