Digital Comics (the wave of the future or not)

itisitex · Forum Member Joined: Sep 01, 2002 Posts: 180 Location: Tx

Not sure if this has already been talked about but i would like to hear what everyone thinks.

It seems now days you never have to worry about hard copies of anything. The news is reported online ,you can rent and view movies with out ever having to even pick up a video case, music can even be down loaded to a listen devise never having to pick up a cd, comics can be found online or on dvds. Does this mark the beginning of the end for printed material? Is these the reason for price increase of comics?

GhostofMacbeth · Forum Member Joined: Sep 21, 2001 Posts: 616

I don't like online comics and I love printed ones. It isn't even a question of quality. It is just something I prefer and I think a lot of people are like that.

Ratteler · Forum Member Joined: Jun 10, 2002 Posts: 553 Location: NYC

There are several factors leading to the decline of print comic books.

There was also a revolution in print technology. This was a double edged sword since traditional comic books had to raise the bar with better paper and higher resolution printing. They passed this cost on to consumers with higher prices.

Comics were victims of their own success. In the late 80's they peaked and had moved from story mediums to collector items. The book became more important than the story in it. To capitalize on this fad, mainstream comics started doing multiple covers in all kinds of strange print mediums.

The new print technology was also much more widely available. Almost any one could get a comic printed now and lots of independent titles started showing up and well as multiple titles for big properties like X-Men.

The big consolidation of distribution companies about a decade ago helped effectively take comics off the classic newsstands all together and created the "Comic Shop". With specialty shops that dealt only with comics the traditional distribution channel of newsstands and candy shops broke down as those venues stopped selling comics. Those stores were falling victim to larger Walmart style chains that offered most of the same functionality at substantial savings because the chain could volume purchase, while the local mom and pop shop couldn't. Where comic books used to flourish, they were being starved of the income that kept them alive and they couldn't keep pace with all the different titles coming out anyway.

Comics grew thrived by being in your face. A child would be dragged into the store by a parent looking for a smoke, lotto ticket, or magazine, and at eye level to the child would be an adventure to catch their eye and inspire their imagination. To the parents benefit it would a half hour of quite for almost each book. ;-)

When the kids got older they would followed the book, and brought new customers with them.

With that venue gone... the new kids stopped coming all together. Out of those left, some people outgrew their comic book age. Not us of course, but enough people to hurt the bottom line.

To make up for the lost sales comic companies raised prices even higher, and more people got priced out.

So, no new regular readers and declining demand from those you have... higher and higher prices.
Higher and higher prices, less and less customers. Now your print cost start rising because your not making as many of each book to command a volume discount.

Doom and Gloom.

For comics to make any real come back they have to regrow their audience. But how?

I always look to the past to figure stuff like this out. I think the new Comic book has to be anthology book. A nice big fat book with enough monthly stories to be worth the $5 - $10 price tag, in Magazine format... because magazines still sell.

But until some one besides me figures this out... expect less and less print.

palmers · Forum Member Joined: Jun 07, 2002 Posts: 379

That's an intelligent and coherent summary, Ratteler, if you don't mind me saying so.

I make digital comics because I can't distribute print ones at present. Print you can take to the loo with you, you can take on a train, and it's a different experience handling the thing. Plus, it doesn't whir while you read.

I believe very strongly that the cure for the decline of the industry is a return to those days of general distribution. The major publishers should be begging to get into supermarkets in any way they can, before it's too late.

My dream is to produce a line of family-friendly - which doesn't mean childish - supermarket comics. Takes initial money, though.

IMP.
_________________
RIVER: skin on the outside. First chapter FREE from www.ianmpalmer.com

Ratteler · Forum Member Joined: Jun 10, 2002 Posts: 553 Location: NYC

I'm not sure supermarkets will do it. They don't get significant kid traffic, and what they do get it invariably dependent on a mother who watching a tight budget and will probably see a "Comic" a waist of money. Today's young traffic is in your local Game Stop or similar store where video games are sold.

Find the kid traffic and that's where you start rebuilding the print comic industry. Then you have to make a product worth while.

A $30 video game can last a several days to a week. A movie for $20 last about 3 hours with special features. A $5 comic book however only provides about 22 minutes of entertainment.

If you break it down into minutes of entertainment per dollar, comics are probably the worst deal out there.

To even start to make inroads, you have to do something to fix that economic imbalance.
I think a thick 500 page “Computer Shopper” style comic book anthology with 20 different books all in one, on really cheap paper might suck readers in again.

I mean even as a fan myself these days I wait for a Trade paperback on most books.

Comics also require more mental work than their competing mediums. I SOOOOO wish that was a good thing, but at least in America it's not.

Then we have to worry about the next technology shift as well.

E-Paper is a big buzzword now in tech communities now. Very soon something like a simple PDA will come with a relatively large low cost screen that keeps its image even without power, and can change it's image based on it's memory. It will have 90% of the advantages you list for paper media and may even do damage to traditional newspapers and magazines. Given that, it might be too late for traditional print books and time to accept the PDF as the future of comics with an iTunes style distribution system.

The good news in this is that now a days some comics are sent to the printer as PDFs anyway.

itisitex · Forum Member Joined: Sep 01, 2002 Posts: 180 Location: Tx

Being the "Devils Advocate" digital comics can be stored with less space. Which means more closet space for clothes and such. You can take a lap top to the loo or a smaller viewing device. The production cost would be down so it would be cheaper to the consumer. you could even offer the book one page at a time instead of waiting for all the pages to come in.
Now the other side
The value would never increase. It would be easy for someone to share the comics out thust cutting into earnings and raising the price. A lap top in the loo would be just wierd. It would be hard to get some interested in comics if they don't have a computer ( yes there are still people out there without computers). harddrives can crash without notice and servers can go down.

palmers · Forum Member Joined: Jun 07, 2002 Posts: 379

Ratteler, your fat book sounds like a manga or European-style album. Not a criticism.

IMP.
_________________
RIVER: skin on the outside. First chapter FREE from www.ianmpalmer.com

GhostofMacbeth · Forum Member Joined: Sep 21, 2001 Posts: 616

I think that they need to get back into walmarts and kmarts and seven elevens, etc. They have/had a msll section in my local supermarket but I could always count on there being older stuff. I would sometimes go there if I missed an issue

But video game stores is a good idea. It is the right mentality and demographic for a lot of it.

japes · Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 6:18 am Post subject: