So for the both of you who have not heard as of this September, DC comics is now offering there single issue periodical comics on the same day (Wednesday) in both a physical paper option and digital option. The price point for these books is either $2.99 or $3.99 as of now in the United States. To buy the physical comic you can visit a comicbook store, online, or anywhere that sells comics near you. These usually come out every Wednesday, barring a holiday with the next issue coming out one month later, unless a title works under a different schedule. Ok, so what? If your reading this you already know all of this what's the point. Just follow along I'm trying to build a story.
In September DC comics launched their comics with new books and renumbering of older titles all with number ones as the issue number. The price is the same for the digital as it is for the physical version, but now you don't need to go anywhere to buy it. All you need is a internet active device, whether it's a desktop computer, a tablet or mobile device. Most companies which distribute these digital comics also have a computer program that allows you to read these comics once you have made your purchase. Again, WTF! Yeah, you know this keep reading.
Now the main purpose of renumbering the books according to DC comics is to make the comics they put out more accessible to new readers. To go along with that they put their books not only in the traditional brick and mortar stores but online. Again you already know all of this, big whoop. Now my question is what does this mean for the future of the physical comic?
Now let me be clear on this. I've been buying and reading comicbooks on physical paper for almost 20 years. I've spent thousands, upon thousands of dollars on single issues, trade paperback, manga, and different variations on comicbooks. And for my spending and collecting I kept buying box after box after box to store all of it. But now there is the cloud. This seemingly magical place where things can be stored and found so long as you have an internet connection. This includes comics, as well other things that are digital. So why would I NEED to keep buying physical books?
I like many others have a Apple "I" device. I updated it to the latest version. But before I did there was a warning. If you do this update all of your previously stored information will be deleted from the device. Basically setting it back to its factory setting with only the most basic applications. So I did it but I wasn't worried about information loss. I signed back into my account which was still available. The apps were under my accounts, purchased section of the app store so I re-installed those. The cloud had some of the rest of the information.
Now lets apply all of this knowledge to what may happen in the future. Lets say your on your DC comics account looking to add new titles to your subscription. Your also looking to remove some titles as the creative team has changed and you don't like the book anymore. So while your going through your list you see that DC has added back issued digital versions of a trade you already own in a physical paper version. You really love this trade and would love to read it anytime you want. No more moving long boxes and digging through trades to pull out your beat up version which you can't buy anymore since it's out of print. What do you do, you download it of course?
Now that beat up copy never has to take anymore damage than it already has. And you get to read your trade whenever you like. Great, win, win right?
Three days later your device falls to the ground at a weird angle and now the screens cracked and it won't turn on. Argh!!! What are you gonna do, will you freak out and panic. Throw your hands to the sky and scream, "why God, why?"
You might do that, but after you've calmed down you'll go to the cloud or your account. That's right you'll remember that you set your device to automatically backup to the cloud everyday at a specific time. Yippie, your trade was backed up and is still in the cloud or your purchased account. So you get a new device, redownload what you need and there you go without skipping a beat.
So again why do I need to keep buying a physical comic? I can access what I want, whenever I want. I don't have to worry about damaging, losing or just the wear and tear that comes from reading a comic. The number of comics that I can save in the cloud depends on how much I'm willing to spend on cloud space. And knowing these comic companies they'll certainly put more older stuff on their site which will than make me think about downloading them so as to not go through my paper copies of those books. Plus there never is going to be anything sold out. I can get it even if I'm in another country.
You've got to understand that physical comics are going to become like music CDs. Their still useful but most people don't buy them. Yes, that's not completely true, but HMV, Tower records and many other outlets that sold music CDs as their primary product and now their gone. Even traditional paper books are going away. So what makes anyone think the same won't happen to comics. Sure people still buy a CD version of an album, they still buy the Hardcover version of a new novel but where do they get these from. Your best bet is online but you can find some stores. A Best Buy or Barnes and Nobles still has these but the stock now is usually one or two copies. Even the folks in the store will tell you to go online to find something because they don't carry much stock anymore.
Now how can anyone realistically say that they will keep buying physical for the next ten years? The comic companies don't want to keep making paper comics. They aren't selling hundreds of thousands of copies on a monthly basis. The cost to benefit analysis they do tells them that they will save more money by not carrying so much paper inventory. So come on. Let the physical paper go. Buy new bags and boards for your older stuff, to keep the books from turning yellow/orange. Use your computer if you don't have a mobile device. And most importantly embrace the change. It's a slow gradual change that can only get better with time. And keep in mind it's not like you have a choice.
In September DC comics launched their comics with new books and renumbering of older titles all with number ones as the issue number. The price is the same for the digital as it is for the physical version, but now you don't need to go anywhere to buy it. All you need is a internet active device, whether it's a desktop computer, a tablet or mobile device. Most companies which distribute these digital comics also have a computer program that allows you to read these comics once you have made your purchase. Again, WTF! Yeah, you know this keep reading.
Now the main purpose of renumbering the books according to DC comics is to make the comics they put out more accessible to new readers. To go along with that they put their books not only in the traditional brick and mortar stores but online. Again you already know all of this, big whoop. Now my question is what does this mean for the future of the physical comic?
Now let me be clear on this. I've been buying and reading comicbooks on physical paper for almost 20 years. I've spent thousands, upon thousands of dollars on single issues, trade paperback, manga, and different variations on comicbooks. And for my spending and collecting I kept buying box after box after box to store all of it. But now there is the cloud. This seemingly magical place where things can be stored and found so long as you have an internet connection. This includes comics, as well other things that are digital. So why would I NEED to keep buying physical books?
I like many others have a Apple "I" device. I updated it to the latest version. But before I did there was a warning. If you do this update all of your previously stored information will be deleted from the device. Basically setting it back to its factory setting with only the most basic applications. So I did it but I wasn't worried about information loss. I signed back into my account which was still available. The apps were under my accounts, purchased section of the app store so I re-installed those. The cloud had some of the rest of the information.
Now lets apply all of this knowledge to what may happen in the future. Lets say your on your DC comics account looking to add new titles to your subscription. Your also looking to remove some titles as the creative team has changed and you don't like the book anymore. So while your going through your list you see that DC has added back issued digital versions of a trade you already own in a physical paper version. You really love this trade and would love to read it anytime you want. No more moving long boxes and digging through trades to pull out your beat up version which you can't buy anymore since it's out of print. What do you do, you download it of course?
Now that beat up copy never has to take anymore damage than it already has. And you get to read your trade whenever you like. Great, win, win right?
Three days later your device falls to the ground at a weird angle and now the screens cracked and it won't turn on. Argh!!! What are you gonna do, will you freak out and panic. Throw your hands to the sky and scream, "why God, why?"
You might do that, but after you've calmed down you'll go to the cloud or your account. That's right you'll remember that you set your device to automatically backup to the cloud everyday at a specific time. Yippie, your trade was backed up and is still in the cloud or your purchased account. So you get a new device, redownload what you need and there you go without skipping a beat.
So again why do I need to keep buying a physical comic? I can access what I want, whenever I want. I don't have to worry about damaging, losing or just the wear and tear that comes from reading a comic. The number of comics that I can save in the cloud depends on how much I'm willing to spend on cloud space. And knowing these comic companies they'll certainly put more older stuff on their site which will than make me think about downloading them so as to not go through my paper copies of those books. Plus there never is going to be anything sold out. I can get it even if I'm in another country.
You've got to understand that physical comics are going to become like music CDs. Their still useful but most people don't buy them. Yes, that's not completely true, but HMV, Tower records and many other outlets that sold music CDs as their primary product and now their gone. Even traditional paper books are going away. So what makes anyone think the same won't happen to comics. Sure people still buy a CD version of an album, they still buy the Hardcover version of a new novel but where do they get these from. Your best bet is online but you can find some stores. A Best Buy or Barnes and Nobles still has these but the stock now is usually one or two copies. Even the folks in the store will tell you to go online to find something because they don't carry much stock anymore.
Now how can anyone realistically say that they will keep buying physical for the next ten years? The comic companies don't want to keep making paper comics. They aren't selling hundreds of thousands of copies on a monthly basis. The cost to benefit analysis they do tells them that they will save more money by not carrying so much paper inventory. So come on. Let the physical paper go. Buy new bags and boards for your older stuff, to keep the books from turning yellow/orange. Use your computer if you don't have a mobile device. And most importantly embrace the change. It's a slow gradual change that can only get better with time. And keep in mind it's not like you have a choice.
No comments:
Post a Comment