Buying digital comics - a few thoughts & a few questions

Vim Fuego

I'm doing a bit of travelling at the moment. One thing I've learned from this so far is the next time I do this, I'll certainly have an ebook reader with me because carrying 3/4 novels has been a bit of a pain.

I didn't bring any comics or graphic novels with me but I do have comixology, comiczeal & comics apps on my iPhone. Each of them has a few free comics, a few samples and so on. As a result of this, I'm fully sold on the concept of reading comics on the device - it's enjoyable and perfect for those long bus journeys.

I'm a casual comic reader, haven't really purchased single issues since Preacher finished. I like to pick up trade paperbacks, usually long after the initial run.

I'm having some problems with the way legal comics are sold on the various apps.

Firstly, the selection isn't that great. There's a few series I'd love to read but they just don't seem to be available - Y The Last Man, 100 Bullets etc. Is it just me missing a trick or do illegal download sites actually have a better selection of the 'big' books I would actually like to buy?

Second, the pricing model seems prohibitively expensive to me. Each app sells single issues only and at €1.59 a pop, it's not cheap to see arcs through to conclusion. Why is noone offering the digital equivalent to a TPB? Something like €6-8 for a collection of 10 issues would be far more acceptable I think. At least you get a satisfying chunk of story at a comparable price to print TPB when the costs of printing and distribution are taken out of it.

Finally, I think the digital comics industry needs it's own version of amazon.com, somewhere that sells CBR files from all manner of publishers. As it is, I have a number of apps because each one has a certain number of publishers and now, each publisher seems to have their own app which is basically just comixology rebranded. My favourite reader is comiczeal but I have to use inferior apps to read certain comics.

This just seems like a lack of joined up thinking to me. Each software company and publisher looks to grab their piece of the pie while the digital side of comic distribution is slowly growing but, to me, this results in making the whole process a bit difficult and off-putting for potential new fans.

Sorry for long post but it's really been bugging me over the past few days. I have a few questions for you now.

Is this just because this is a 'new' phase for comics? Are the companies just dipping their toes in the market to see what pricing/formats the market will bear? Can we expect things to improve?

On a more practical level, can anyone recommend a website which sells CBR files legally? Is there a better way for me to be going about this?

I'm not trying to start a print vs digital debate either. I'm in Laos, paper copies are not an option for me. I just want to be a digital reader for now.

Sorry if this has been posted before. I have done a number of searches and looked through the forums to no avail.

Fysh

Sadly, AFAIK there's no legitimate cross-publisher site selling CBR files. There's clear demand amongst the more computer-savvy end of fandom (and an established readerbase, judging by the speed with which scanned comics appear on various sites) but publishers clearly find the lack of DRM unnerving. (And don't seem willing to learn the lessons that the music industry has grudgingly learned over the last decade and a half ).

You could do worse than check out Longbox, since the goal there seems to be more or less what you're looking for. Not sure if they've got a mobile client sorted out yet, though.

As for the price point, this is the main reason I'm not on board any digital comics yet. I'll pay €1-€1.50 for a digital comic. No more. Marvel can go swivel with their day-and-date-means-same-price notion (or even worse, in the case of the Iron Man Annual, which cost more in digital form than in print). DC seem to be slightly better, but not by much. The indies like Dark Horse seem to be the ones moving in the right direction.

Vim Fuego

Thanks for the longbox suggestion. I have a small laptop with me so I'll try to get on that, though I think it's in closed beta.

I did a bit of reading on the subjct and I would tend to agree with most of the points here: http://www.wordsfinest.com/2010/06/dc-and-marvel-are-killing-digital.html

The more I think about it, Amazon would be the only company with the clout and experience to pull all this together. An update to iphone and ipad apps and perhaps a future variant of the kindle with colour could be a winner. They seem to have a tiny selection of graphic novels on the kindle store at the moment (no idea how good the software or quality is though) so it must be something they're thinking about.

I was honestly surprised how terrible the current situation is though. Pull the finger out comic industry!

karma_

What you could do perhaps is have a look at:

http://www.falconsquadron.sevenpennynightmare.co.uk/

http://www.bestofbattle.sevenpennynightmare.co.uk/

http://www.sevenpennynightmare.co.uk/contents.htm

There is a good selection of old British comics like Johnny Red, loads of stuff from the Battle weekly title. Some of it is available for download and some of it can be read online.

Might not be everyone's cup of tea but they are actually great sites, ran by Moose Harris and I would recommend anyone with an interest in British comics to check them out.

Vim Fuego

Thanks Karma, I'll check those out. I think there's a similar site for US comics that are out of copyright called Golden Age Comics.

I've found a few collected issues on comixology that aren't bad value. Hellboy seed of destruction tpb is pretty cheap, but they still sell other comics like Invincible per single issue, at €1.59 a pop

JnarF

I use the DC Comics app for the Iphone which is starting to pick up a bit of a catalogue. Dear enough to buy issues though.

wavehopper1

Wondering if things have moved on in the last 10 months?

I've got my first smart phone and downloaded some of the free issues on the DC Comics App. Was pleased to see on the last page of the first issue of Crisis on Infinite Earths that issue #2 was priced at 99c. I figured that's not bad, but when I went to the "Buy Now" dialogue, the price changed to $1.99.

Is there a difference for U.S. and European buyers? Does anybody here know of any series that would be at the lower price?

NuMarvel

The in-app price is usually in euro/cent, so I'm not sure why it changed to dollars.

However, many of the publishers who have signed up with Comixology have occassional $0.99 sales. For example, Marvel has a 99 cents sale every Monday and Friday, and today's offering is the Annihilation event from a few years back. And at the weekend, DC will have a "Flash 101" sale with certain Flash related comics going for 99 cents, including the Crisis on Infinite Earth mini. (Full listing here.)

Apple seems to apply a €1:$1.25 conversion rate, so $0.99 will be €0.79, $1.99 will be €1.59 and $2.99 will be €2.39.

wavehopper1

NuMarvel wrote: »

The in-app price is usually in euro/cent, so I'm not sure why it changed to dollars.

However, many of the publishers who have signed up with Comixology have occassional $0.99 sales. For example, Marvel has a 99 cents sale every Monday and Friday, and today's offering is the Annihilation event from a few years back. And at the weekend, DC will have a "Flash 101" sale with certain Flash related comics going for 99 cents, including the Crisis on Infinite Earth mini. (Full listing here.)

Apple seems to apply a €1:$1.25 conversion rate, so $0.99 will be €0.79, $1.99 will be €1.59 and $2.99 will be €2.39.

Hey, thanks for the info. I've had a go at the Marvel offer but I don't think it's available on the Android (I have a Samsung Galaxy S), at least I can't find it via Graphic.ly.

But I'm going to make good use of the DC sale tomorrow - much appreciated

NuMarvel

Sorry, for some reason I assumed you had an iPhone. No, Marvel isn't available via Android yet. No timeframes as to when it will happen, but they are aware of the demand for it at least. However, it was only this week that Marvel became available via comixology's webstore, so it could be some time yet before an Android app is available.