For once the rumors were not only true, but understated the actual news.
Yesterday, DC confirmed a broad new positioning for its core universe. Josh has all the details here, but the highlights are:
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52 new titles, launching with new #1s.
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Flashpoint appears to be the culmination of the old DCU
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Justice League #1 (by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee) will kick off the new status quo.
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Jim Lee redesigned dozens of characters and DC will be modernizing some origins and character profiles as well as de-aging some of its characters.
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Every title will be available digitally on the same day the print comic is released.
To say this is big news would be an understatement. I’ve written quite a bit about industry dynamics, and the challenges facing the direct market as the digital age emerges. But in all honesty, I never thought I would see either of the Big 2 publishers commit in such a sweeping way. No matter what happens from here, DC Entertainment deserves a lot of credit for making a bold, risky and potentially transformative decision.
We’re going to get a lot more answers in the coming days and weeks, but here are some questions and observations that are dancing around my skull at the moment:
Managing the Diamond and Retailer Relationships
I’m sure the “day and date” aspect of this announcement is the most provocative, particularly for retailers who are already dealing with waning sales. Bob Wayne, DC Entertainment’s VP of Sales, issued a letter to retailers that was admittedly light on details. That said, you can be sure that DC thought this through before committing to a digital push. Let’s remember, COO Geoff Johns also owns a store. I’m very interested to see what DC’s positioning is to the retailers, and how they’re going to convince them that “day and date” isn’t a direct threat to their long-term viability. If I were in DC’s shoes, I would consider the following ideas to ameliorate their concerns:
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Maintain pricing parity between digital and print releases.
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Create a coupon/rebate program that allows digital buyers to buy collected editions of the same work in stores.
Update (6/2/11) — DC did what I thought they should do, and announced parity between the digital and print comics at release. DC plans on dropping the price of digital comics 30 days after initial release (so a $2.99 cover price becomes $1.99). This was the most logical, and most likely, approach to pricing.
Did Superman: Earth One Give DC Confidence in this Move?
When I first heard this news today, I immediately thought of Superman: Earth One – the OGN written by J. Michael Straczynski that was geared for the book store market. This was a book that rebooted Superman for a new generation, and largely threw out the decades of continuity most of us were steeped in. While the OGN wasn’t critically acclaimed among long-time DC fans, it was considered a major financial success for DC, and arguably was the first example in a long-time that superhero books can appeal to NEW readers, who ultimately don’t care about making sure everything in a story lines up perfectly with 20 year old volumes of Who’s Who?. Was the success of this modern retelling a factor in DC’s line wide reset?
Update (6/2/11) — Looks like I guessed right on this one, as JMS posted on his Facebook page (via The Beat) that Superman Earth One did, indeed, play a role in giving the DC executive team confidence in this move.
The Pricing Paradigm
The pricing scheme for the digital releases is going to be an enormous component of this initiative. Price it too low, and retailers panic and wonder about being undercut by one of the publishers they rely upon for consistent sales and cash flow. Price too high and you risk removing any hope of building a new readership. As I posited a few moments ago, I suspect DC will initially price their digital comics at cover price. I could see them lowering the price of digital releases after a certain time, but long enough for retailers to get their stock off the shelves. If I’m right, will $2.99 create new readership?
Digital Neutrality?
I haven’t found details yet on whether DC’s comics will be available across all digital platforms on “day and date” or whether it’s limited to a specific service. I’m sure that question will be answered shortly, but if it turns out that one particular digital distribution platform gets exclusivity on “day and date”, it could give them a push into a leadership position in what’s currently a very fragmented market. [Note: iFanboy is part of Graphic.ly, which is a digital comics distribution platform among other things]
Vertigo Plans?
Vertigo is a unique imprint for many reasons. Let’s remember that Vertigo arguably set the tone for the “wait for the trade” concept, by virtue of releasing trades of its series immediately after the end of the first arc, and pricing the first trades at discounted prices (often $9.99 cover). But that also created what some view as a negative loop, as Vertigo single issue sales are now routinely near the bottom of the Diamond 300. What will this new initiative mean for Vertigo? In the near term, it sounds like Vertigo will be left alone. But will Vertigo creators, many who share rights with DC, have the option of going “day and date” at their discretion?
Don’t Go Home Again
Renumbering has been a consistent arrow in the quiver of publishers to try to jump start sales. As with anything that’s done repeatedly, readers have built up a tolerance for the move. This is – without question – the mother of all renumbering gimmicks. As a result, this CANNOT be a gimmick. DC can’t go back in six month or a year and say, “SURPRISE! We’re back!” without suffering what I would think will be devastating consequences. Now I realize people will point to Marvel’s Heroes Reborn and the subsequent return to the prior continuity as a counter to my point, but to my mind this is a different time in the market. DC needs to commit to this for the long run, and I suspect they’re aware of that.
Jason Wood is a mutant with the ability to squeeze 36 hours into every 24-hour day, which is why he was able to convince his wife he had time to join the iFanboy team on top of running his business, raising his three sons, and most importantly, co-hosting the 11 O'Clock Comics podcast with his buddies Vince B, Chris Neseman and David Price. If you are one of the twelve people on Earth who want to read about comics, the stock market and football in rapid fire succession, you can follow him on Twitter.
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@Wood: Great article. Agree with your points. DC has placed a very big bet. How they execute will be just as important as today’s announcement.
I’m not a dc guy so I’m excited.
Look at how one more day made the spiderman books the best they have been in decades. But I can see how dc fans will be pissed. But from a marvel fan this sounds good to me there books other than the bat and grean lantern books have been just bad.
I love the fact that you are looking at this in a very measured way, god knows the rest of the Internet won’t. Personally I have to admire DC for doing this but at the same time I have to question why it took so long. If this were any other business it would have dived onto the digital platforms months or years ago. Change or die and as for the renumbering how could a chance to see Morrison on superman not be the best idea in the room
I AM CRISIS-ED OUT! I don’t want to even think about another reboot that won’t matter in a few short years. I’m out DC… I hate saying statements like that, but I’m exhausted with all this event crap every year. I’m buying less and less every year, this new stunt will keep me away from DC (and I LOVE DC).
I totally agree that this is a “can’t go home again” moment for DC and for all of us that are fans of DC Comics. This is the start of a new era, brought about by new technology that is changing the entire art form from top to bottom; creators, companies, local comic shops and how we digest the content and save it. Very major time, and I’m glad DC had the cajones to make a bold move going forward. The positive vibe I have about this out weighs the negatives I intially felt. The loss of Detective Comics numbering is a superfluous one. My main concern is for the stories; will the current story lines be wrapped up to my liking and not feel rushed, and will I enjoy the re-launched characters.
nice going Jason,
On Superman Earth One, have any actual sales numbers come out? I know that book stores ordered the hell out of it, but do we know actual sales numbers?
Great article Jason.
One thing that came to mind regarding the pricing paradigm is back issues. DC could potentially lower the price of each issue by 3%. For a four issue run:
#4 – $2.99
#3 – $2.90
#2 – $2.81
#1 – $2.72
I’d be curious to see what the threshold would be for the wait-for-traders out there in the digital marketplace.
I’m sure that this has been addressed elsewhere, but will Action Comics be eliminated/renumbered? It’d be SUCH a bummer if no comics title ever made it to issue #1,000.
I really don’t know what I think about this decision. Part of me thinks it’s a great idea, and part of me hates it. Continuity is such a double-edged sword. Being free of it could really help things. It’s dumb to be a slave to things that happened 20+ years ago, but at the same time you can’t totally disregard those events. Must be where the “retcon” idea came from! I would much prefer something like Marvel’s Ultimate universe.
But does altering that history invalidate all those books, all our collections, all our money spent? Sure, we got enjoyment from reading them, but what about all that time (and money) I wasted learning the post-Crisis history of the JSA if it gets swept away in a reboot event? (Now I know it won’t be completely erased, but I’m one of the biggest JSA fans you will ever meet!). Is this a chance to throw out all the things that didn’t work, but keep what did? Or will they throw the baby out with the bathwater?
Is this being done with the hope of attracting new readers who don’t WANT to learn all the history? But will something like that attract new readers? Is this deck chairs on the Titanic?
Is a reboot like this an admission of failure? Or a desparate measure? It really seems like several DC books have written themselves into a corner – there have been comments to that effect on the podcase too. Or at least exhausted their wellspring of ideas.
Why does this freak me out so much? I fear change, I’ll admit it.
Nice article! My retailer raised a good point to me this afternoon. He felt that if DC is going to be offering same day digital on it’s entire line, they need to make the physical books returnable items for retailers. I can imagine ordering these initial offerings is going to be even trickied since retailers might not know who’s going to jump to digital when given the chance. It seems like returnability would also be a salve to retailers while the digital market develops.
A related, but slightly off-topic question: Why aren’t comics returnable? It seems like the publishers would be in favor of this, as it would give them a better reckoning of actual sales, and it would alleviate some of the retailer’s risk.
Regarding the numbering.
I bet they could have something in the metadata that keeps track of the original numbering.
Just gonna jump in on the pricing for the digital comics. I haven’t been reading any single issues in a long time, mostly because I don’t wanna pay that much for a comic book. So as to that, $2.99 would still be too much for me to pay for a single issue. $1.99? Maybe. But if it was $0.99 or $1.50 then I think I’d be much more likely to buy single issues again digitally. Preferably the $0.99 because it is a great price point for people.
As for all the renumbering…as somebody who doesn’t read DC (and who barely did even when I read single issues) it’s not a huge deal. As long as it all makes sense I’m okay with it.
But it is nice seeing a comic company stepping forward with this.
When it comes to digital comics, I’m excited for possibility of using it as a way to check new series. That said, I would never check out a digital comic at $3 or even $2. But if the publishers/digital companies went day and date at cover price and then reduced the cost of the digital copy to $1 after 2-3 months, I’d try out a fair amount of new stuff.
And I 100% agree with the coupon program for going back to the retailers to buy a trade of a digital series I checked out. I think that’s a great win-win for the publishers and the retailers.
DC’s move has me excited. I’m a Marvel guy and I only buy comics in trades. Occasionally, I buy issues for my iPad. But now, if the price is right, I’ll be reading a LOT of DC.
For me, pricing is very important. A price point of $2.99 means I might buy a couple of issues a month. A price point of $1.99 will have me buying five or six a month, maybe more. It’s not about logic or math. It’s about psychology. $2.99 is 33% more than $1.99. That’s a big difference in my mind. For me, it’s much easier to justify more purchases at the lower price, even if I spend more in the long run.
No matter the price, I WILL be buying some of DC’s same-day digital releases.
This is the same company that brought Jason Todd back. I don’t know if I can trust them and the fact that this isn’t just another gimmick.
That being said, I’m in. I think its a good idea. I look at a lot of DC books on the shelf and I have no intrest in there current stories with all of their baggage. I’m more into the elseworlds type of titles where the continuity just doesn’t matter, and they can do something interesting with the characters.
Hopefully this will give them the shot in the arm that they need. I just hope they don’t recant.
If they want any uptake there’s no way they can charge the same price for digital as they do for print. The digital issues will probably be $1.99 but at 99 cents this reboot would have a greater chance at success.
The digital price is probably the bit of info I’m most looking forward to learning. For my money (literally), $1.99 or less is the magic number. if it’s $2.99, I’ll stick to print. I bought Takio digitally for $9.99 – the same as print – and while I liked the story, I felt like I got burned a little. But back in January I bought a bunch of Morrison’s Batman for 99 cents a pop, and freaking loved it!
But as a lifelong comic book fan, while $1.99 is good enough for me, Joe Q. WebUser might be expecting 99 cents.
I understand the need to not completely stab the direct market in the back, but when you eliminate the costs of printing and distributing, as well as retail mark-up, I don’t see any practical reason a digital comic can’t be cheaper than print.
I know programming the panel-to-panel navigation for small screens takes resources, but I’ll be reading on an iPad, so for me that’s just wasted effort. Give me full page images and I’m good to go — not a lot of added effort there (since the majority of production is handled digitally these days).
Maybe there will be format options? Panel-to-panel navigation costs a little more than just straight up full pages?
I’d even be in favor of a rental subscription model – $20-40 a month lets me read as much new material as I want, but anything I access “destructs” after a week or two. I don’t need to own or have 24/7 eternal access to everything I’m interested in keeping up with.
I heard some interesting news from my LCBS:
The owner told me they received some info from Diamond about the Digital Pricing. Take this with a grain of salt because it seems Diamond is asking for feedback/opinions on this.
The pricing would go something like this:
1- If you buy a newly released Digital Issue it’ll ring you 1.99$.
2- If you buy a regular paper copy at cover price (Only If I have a monthly pull list setup at the LCBS) you’ll be able to buy the digital copy of the same comic for 0.99$
The LCBS would give you a code for the download directly in store.
So, 1.99$ for digital copies only.
Or…
2.99$ cover price + 0.99$ will get you the paper copy and a digital copy.
Interesting.
So now that DC is going “all in” on digital distribution and has their own app and all. What do they gain from continuing to use 3rd party apps like Graphic.ly & Comixology? Obviously a big part in them going day & date (and keeping prices the same as in print) is maximizing profits and cutting out the LCS middle men. They might not be acting like it. But let’s be real. You don’t have to have taken Business 101 at Greendale Community College to see it. So if that’s the case, and DC has found a way to sell directly to readers and max out profits. Why continue to have online middle men when they have their own app? I somewhat understood the presence of using other companies when the marketplace was new and only certain books were sold day & date. But once a large publisher goes “all in”, I struggle to see how it benefits from also using other companies to do what they are able to do on their own. Anyone?
@rrrafa I have to say, one of the first things I thought was “Maybe this is my jumping off point.”
So right now I buy mostly DC titles from my LCs. I get a 25% discount because of how many comics I buy (around 25/month 15 of them DC plus trades) So if the D&D are priced at 2.99 it doesn’t save me any money to switch. Unless the price point is at 1.99 switching just doesn’t make dollars and sense for me. At 1.99 it would also allow me to pick up a couple of extra titles.
digital is the way to go. I applaud DC for this decision. Now they just need to lower their price point even further. They have their own digital platform, but they spend too much time guiding you across the page. I can download simple PDF’s online and view them on my iPad and they look brilliant! Digital delivery cuts down the cost per comic immensely, just as it does for the book. I’m waiting for Marvel to make this jump as well. The only issue right now is how many comic geeks have tablets. With 52 titles at $2.99 you might want to hold off that first month and save the $155.48 for a cheap tablet if you don’t already have one.
Wasn’t the reason for Earth One’s success cited as an unfortunate comparison to Twilight?
Great stuff. At my core I really hopes this kick starts an Itunes type model for comics. I can’t recall the last CD I’ve purchased. In 2011 it’s insane that I can really only get new content from one type of outlet. I won’t go totally digital on comics but the stuff I’m not hardcore about I would love to go straight digital and not have to wait months.
I’m excited for the move, but I will be a little heartbroken if Action/Detective Comics never make it to #1000.
@KickAss Yah. De-aging concerns me too. Origin clean-up could be OK. Look at the Ultimate Fantastic Four, that was done very well.
I know it’s pretty unlikely, but I really hope they start off with only one Batman book, one Superman book, etc… I feel like that would help get more people to buy into other heroes as well. I know I personally started off only buying all dozen or so in-continuity Bat books a couple years back and then realized after several months that there were so many more heroes out there to read about that I previously knew nothing about (Green Lantern, Jonah Hex, etc…). I was just too scared to miss something in one of the Bat books for the longest time until I decided not to care about that anymore. I think less books related to each hero/family/team will help curtail that a little.
I’m fine with only parts of this. De-aging does bother me. For example the rumor that Barbara Gordon will be Batgirl again. I know in the last 5 years so much has happened to all of DC’s main characters (Batman/Green Arrow as example) , at times it was a rollercoaster. You have the Killing Joke out there, its in the minds of most readers. When whoever writes Batgirl you get the feeling they might get the urge to play that card, I hate to think lots of these stories will be variation of what we have read. The first JLA getting together, Batman finds Robin, Guy and Hal fighting to be GL. Those who’ve had read these stories for 30 some years feel that it’ll come to that.
I am so amazingly excited about this. I’ve been a Marvel fan my entire life and, until recently, looked down on DC due to ignorance. About a month or two ago I found this website through the podcasts and have been just tearing through comics as a result, but I was at a loss as to how to get into DC since I had no real grasp on it. This has me incredibly interested and itching to get my hands on any and everything that comes out.
Bold move, DC. I’m behind ya.
Hell, this will even make me feel more comfortable trying to go back and read the archs of the past, because I don’t feel like I’m just getting further and further behind anymore.
I got a lot of questions regarding how well DC is going to be able to pull the reboot off. But for the most part I’m willing to see it play out. The only thing that bothers me outright is the de-aging of characters. For all the reasons previously stated by others. Not only do I not want to see characters retconned out of existence or their ultimate fate (Oracle, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, etc). I flat out have zero interset in 23 year old Superman and friends. ZERO.
You know this means Geoff Johns has like 5 monthly booms coming out. One day the man is gonna snap and go door to door with a shotgun around DC HQ
I won’t say I am excited by this, but it has huge potential to attract new fans. DC is actively addressing all the complaints fans have claimed they had. Price too high? Fixed. Too much continuity? Fixed. Will it work? Who knows? Fans often complain about crap just to complain.
@MajorLaser That’s a bit extreme and let’s remember he’s the COO of a company. Not too many of those guys get where they are for being hair triggers. Also, Bendis has been doing it for years and (groan) Stan did it for a long time.
As for $1.99 comics I think that’d make the digital move for me. Especially with the rebate for the trade program. I pay $0.99 for a song that’s three minutes long. I’d pay $1.99 for a book that takes me ten minutes to read, but I guess that’s up to each person to put a value on their entertainment. If the books continue to remain the same price I’ll stick with paper. As far as retailers and digital go, I don’t think we have too many people who make a living shoeing horses any more.
@KenOchalek –i’ve worked for a traditional art book publisher that didn’t allow returns and their managing editor told me very bluntly…returns would cost them millions each year and require dozens of additional employees. You’d need a wharehouse, staff to unpack and restock, people who track the sales and issue refunds…and all that just to get a palette full of damaged books (because no one at a bookstore or at UPS will pack and ship those things perfectly) that you can’t sell as new to anyone else. This is where all those discount books at Borders come from…they’re called ‘remainders’. They make more money by selling 10 copies of an unreturnable book than they would selling 50 returnable ones. Its a pretty bottom line thing.
They’ve written about it before…Borders returning huge shipments to small publishers can basically put them out of business. sucks but imagine all that waste if comics were returnable?
I have a few questions. Often we hear of the concern of publishers to avoid straining relationships with retailers with digital initiatives. But aside from the axiomatic reasons (which seem to be ethical in nature but also connected to the economical structure of the industry) to avoid doing this I’ve never seen anything specific as to why it is judicious to “stay friendly” with retailers.
My question is: How is it profitable for DC to avoid “offending” retailers with their digital pricing? And could it possibly be more profitable for DC to cast aside this concern?
One more comment then I’ll get off my box. There are two things that bar DC’s new initiative to gaining new or lapsed readers. The direct market and the very notions of comics themselves. With the direct market we’ve created an insular community where we sell our goods in stores that the average reader is, let’s face it, embaressed to go in. Digital solves that to a degree but how aware is the general populous? We do as members of this insular community but the average guy doesn’t. My second and much more difficult notion to pin down is comics are viewed as for kids or for nerds. While being nerdy isnt half as bad of a stigma as it used to carry, comics don’t seem to have caught the breaks that computers or video games have gotten in recent years. How do we change the perception of comics? Ask the good folks at Audi Toyota and their sticking gas pedals (in both cases it was found to be driver error), perception is ridiculously difficult to change. I’m a little dizzy, getting down now.
@wordballoon Thanks John!
Superman Earth One had reported 2010 BookScan sales of 19,691, which is very strong as you know for a OGN. When you consider that this doesn’t include Wal-Mart or international venues, or the Diamond direct market, it’s pretty safe to say sales were at least 30,000 copies if not substantively higher. That’s a hell of a success for a book like that IMHO.
I am not going to be a downer and ruin other peoples fun but I just hope that digital doesn’t become the new big thing. For me, it will never replace physical comics. I am interested in the new issue ones especially Aquaman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Justice League, and Hawkman. However, I really hope this relaunch doesn’t shake up things too much.
@ato220 – That’s my big thing in this whole, “Digital is going to bring comics to the masses” line of thinking. The “comics are juvenile and for guys living in their parent’s basement” stigma exists and is prevalent. And IMO, it really doesn’t matter how much you mass market. It’s not changing anytime soon. At least not enough to reach the types of audience that people are hoping digital comics on ipads are hoping for. The simple fact is most people view it as a watered down, lesser form of storytelling. World balloons are a way to tell a story to a child to most people. I know this because I am constantly failing in trying to get friends to try comics. Not only that, constantly get eye rolls from friends and co-workers when they see me reading a comic. I’m not saying it’s right or that it’s fair. But the stigma remains. Even amongst today’s youth. I’m all for trying to evolve the artform and business behind it. But I really think the grand allusions some have about this so-called potential untapped ipad market is really quite foolish. Social conventions aren’t easily trumped.
So you would artificially maintain parity to keep brick an mortar retailers happy?
I never want print to go away- but I don’t want to pay higher prices for something that I don’t have to.
If the LCS wants my business give me a discount- have events – create relationships with the customers
give me something extra to lure me in
the coupon/rebate program for collections is a great idea.
But
and if they can’t do that – Well… Maybe a break up is in order.
Some stores will find a way to do this and thrive others who can’t change their ways won’t.
B/c while print will still have it’s place (I personally still prefer it)
This is only the beginning of a storm that has just finally picked up a good wind.
@wallythegreenmonster – Interesting way you put it about returns. I hadn’t quite given it that much thought. People always talk about how magazines are returnable. So at first thought, it seems silly for comics to be different. But when you take into consideration the economics behind it all, it does make sense.
People should remember the experiments DC has been doing with digital day and date. They released the Justice League: Generation Lost series that way as a way to see how sales would do. Each title came out at $2.99 and then got cheaper the longer it was out. I’m thinking that the experiment was successful enough to push them in this direction. And over at Marvel, they’ve started doing Ultimate Spider-Man the same way. Sure, we’re talking one series, but it makes for a great test.
There are a lot of issues to think about, but the one I come back to is the ability to pick up last week’s issues easily through the app. Go to the store and try to find last week’s Uncanny? Oh, sold out. Do it on the iPad, it’s still there.
@j206
I’m not sure I agree. Digital did wonders for an industry which had a lot of social stigma attached to it. Pornography. Digital distribution allowed easy access and private access to it negating any social embarassment there was associated with it.
Re: the numbering
I’m betting the new scheme will likely stay in place… until the cumulative numbers would equal Action 1,000 and Detective 1,000… and, then, revert back to original numbering for those two titles. If they stay monthly that’d be 8-10 years.
@JNewcomb – That’s a decent point. It will now be much easier to be a closeted comic fan. If there is the huge, universal demand that there is with porn. Social stigma be damned. Not sure on that, however.
@j206 No, comics will likely never be as big as porn. But I can very much see digital boosting comic sales in part because of the negated embarassment factor.
For instance, perhaps you view a trailer for a Wonder Woman movie at WB.com or DCcomics.com, you could easily get hotlinked to where you can buy digital Wonder Woman comics. And if this gets any traction that sort of thing is bound to happen. Finding products online is a breeze as compared to finding phyical products. Anonymously (presumably).
Renumbering comic books that have been published since the late 1930’s is such a horrible idea, it is a short term solution to attract new readers at the expense of 70+ years of historic publishing. I am absolutely furious about this.
If they reboot Batman, undue the last 25-30 years of continuity, I am out. I am a life-long fan and reader of Batman and Detective Comics, but if they slap me in the face like that, I’m gonna stop reading, I’ve had it.
@JokersNuts This is not even nearly the first time these books have been rebooted, and in all but a handful of cases, renumbered.
Will this bring in new readers? Here is a true story. I told my father about what DC was doing, relaunching all their titles with new #1 issues and stuff, and he actually was so intrigued he is going to pick up a couple of them for himself. My father is 64 years old, and hasn’t read comics in over 50 years, but this move has him at least curious to pick up Action Comics #1 and whatever else he thinks sounds interesting and give it a shot.
so i hear a bit about retailers being unhappy….what are they gonna do..not carry DC books? That is a huge line of products that shops couldn’t afford to not stock. Even if they went pre-order only for DC, you’d still lose a lot of customers and have lots of empty shelves. They’d be that shop that had bad selection which is bad for the shop…really i see DC in the power spot here.
@wallythegreenmonster That’s what I’m wondering. Hence my questions above. Why would DC need to hesitate slighting retailers?
I made the following bold prediction on 11 O’Clock Comics this week…a year from the start of this reboot, DC will sell more digital copies of the vast majority of their titles than they sell in print. Grand slam home run.
This is certainly not directed at Jason, who wrote a really well reasoned and articulate piece here, but my first reaction when I heard the news: “Oh man, the internet is gonna be pissed…” Personally, I plan to wait until I get some actual details on what’s going on with this – (total reboot, separate universe(s), temporary Flashpoint altered reality, etc.) and read a few of the books before I swear off DC Comics forever.
When I read the news, one of the 1st things that i thought was, “you know, now would be a good time to stop”. I know thats now the thing they are aiming for but i can’t help but wonder if I am alone in that feeling. I am pretty much a DC only reader and right now is not a great time for DC. I mentioned that to my LCS retailer today and he mentioned that there are always the “one foot out the door already” folks who are waiting for a reason. I don’t think i will, I’m pretty easy to please as a reader, tell a good story, and i am a happy guy.
I constantly sound like a broken record when Digital Comics are talked about. Digital as a medium in general has one problem. How do we fit this round peg into the square hole that is our old Business Model.
It doesn’t work and in the end usually upsets customers.
If DC wants to move their medium forward and gain new sales print cover price for Digital on day and date makes no sense. Changing the price a month or two later makes even less. Those new customers who show up will be pissed and will later drop off or just end up waiting the time to get the cheaper price.
Not too metion, I sincerely think the average non-comic reader (the person digital is suppose to grab) will look and see that they could buy 3 songs for the price of one comic. I’m not a big music guy, but I know I get way more bang for my buck out of a .99 song than I do out of a 2.99 comic (which I don’t actually pay 2.99 for because every shop I’ve been to has a discount).
I made the 2.99 prediction on a quick article I did at Paperkeg today as well. Glad to see I sync’d up with you. It gives me a sense that I wasn’t completely out of my mind when I made it.
As always a fantastic article sir!
Great article. I didn’t know much about digital distribution of comics (Not in the least bit interested–who wants to gaze proudly at their Ipad screen to see their huge collection?), and I’m actually shocked that digital comics don’t come out the same day as print. Way to go DC for making that (apparently) big leap.
As far as the renumberings go: I’m not a big fan. I like reinventions, so long as they don’t spoil the good that’s already there. The unimaginably huge, complex backgrounds for these characters is absolutely what drew me to DC (and superhero comics) in the first place. I love the rich history that everyone’s got. Look at Batman right now–try to explain to your non-comics friend who all the Batmans and Robins are. I love all that stuff, and I just hope that the number on the cover won’t make all this loving research that I’ve spent the last 7 years doing and Action Comics 900+ issues relegated to “Pre-Flashpoint” history.
@ato220 “the average reader is, let’s face it, embaressed to go in”
@JNewComb “negating any social embarassment”
Seriously? Is anyone embarrassed to buy comics? In a comic book store? Maybe–maybe I’d be a little timid if for some reason I bought my singles at Borders, but at a comic book store, what’s there to be embarrassed about. Sounds silly to me. Especially when you compare it to buying porn in store 😛
@Wood Has anyone ever released any sales figures for digital? I remember there was something about the free issues were exponentially being downloaded compared to the ones you have to pay for, but no actual numbers.
1) looks like I’m getting an iPad
2) it doesn’t matter there are no good shops near
I wouldn’t get too upset about DC (presumably) wiping away years of continuity. It’s comic books – inside 6 issues the continuity will be bizarre and convoluted all over again anyway. Weird stuff happens in these books and it piles up really fast. Also, the vast majority of writers end up mining all that old stuff anyway, because they can’t come up with their own stuff (or enough of it to fill a monthly book with incident).
So even if say, Jason Todd never existed in the post-Flashpoint continuity, I would lay money on a Jason Todd (or a Jason Todd-like character) emerging again in the Batbooks within a couple of years anyway.
Detective etc numbering concerns – oh my god do you realize how ridiculous this sounds? Did anyone care if LOST was more than 100 eps, less than 100 eps or exactly 100 eps? Did anyone care if the Beatles made more than 10 albums?
I agree with Wood that this is a desperate but ballsy move that has great potential for DC, at least relative to what their alternatives were. Will be fascinated to see how it plays out. I’m also a big proponent of digital comics, so anything that moves that forward is a positive. Pricing will solve itself in the long run I trust (the invisible hand of the marketplace…)
@JokersNuts
Now, if you’re legitmately upset, I’m not trying to devalue your emotions, and I’m using your post to address an attitude I’m seeing from many places on this issue, so please don’t take this personally, but really?
REALLY?!
If the thing you care the most about is the number on the cover, I think you’re doing it wrong.
I read comics because I love the stories, the characters, and the artwork. I couldn’t give a toss what number is on the cover. Sure, a big number speaks to a rich storytelling history, but changing the number or starting the story over does absolutely nothing to negate the existence of that history. It’s all still there.
I posted something to this effect in the other article’s thread, but Detective Comics sells somewhere around 40,000 copies a month (#38 in April’s top 100). Action Comics sells around 60,000 (13 in April’s top 100). If you want to go back far enough, both of these titles used to sell in the hundreds of thousands and maybe even millions.
To anyone in comparable entertainment industries (movies/TV/video games), these numbers are basically small enough to be insignificant. Even if you take the top selling book at around 100,000, modern comic books are the definition of “niche market”.
DC seems to have decided that they don’t have to be a niche market if they don’t want to be. And I think they’re right, but it may come at the cost of some individuals and institutions that have been overly catered to for far too long.
In the past ten or so years, the quality television, film and video game adaptations of these characters (often using the SAME STORIES FROM THE COMICS!!) do tremendously well, attracting those hundreds of thousands and maybe even millions.
So anyone with a brain cell at DC has to ask the question, “Why is there a disconnect?”
There are many potential answers, but no one knows 100% for sure. The poor availability of comics is a proposed answer. This initiative will help determine if that’s the problem. The high price of comics is a proposed answer. This initiative could help determine if that’s the problem. The accessibility of the characters and stories is a proposed answer. Whatever Flashpoint ends up doing, it seems like the goal is to make the characters more accessible.
And I know that taking the time to study and learn about the continuity and the characters is one of the things that appealed to us about comics. Trust me, I’m a Legion AND X-Men fan, I know from continuity. But think about when most of us did that work — probably 20 or more years ago. The world has changed dramatically. You can decry the state of humanity’s attention span if you want, but even acknowledging that that kind of investment of time, energy and money might enhance your enjoyment or comprehension of the current stories is a lot of effort to ask of anyone in 2011.
Ahhh, now I’m just ranting/lecturing. That’s no fun.
TL;DR — Nothing lasts forever. Everything ends. Grow up. Keep calm. Carry on. Read what makes you happy. Have a nice day!
Yeah. Let’s also remember that anniversary issues tend to be bloated pieces of garbage filled out with pin-ups (i.e. unused covers) and inventory dreck. Getting to a big number is something to dread, for the most part.
ALTHOUGH I have no doubt that the renumbering will be epic in a year or two. Once books start to flounder, DC will resort to the same tricks to goose sales that it has always used, including renumbering and pandering to fans of the old continuity (character revivals, rehashing old plotlines…).
The coupon idea is really interesting. I could see DC using it as a way to argue for 2.99 digital comics if they can then say you can get the trade for half price or what have you. It also still drives people into shops and possibly even boosts trade sales with more double dipping.
@Cormac Aw! I LOVE anniversary issues!
I’m betting that the new digital comics will be priced at $2.99. And, to be honest, I am probably willing to pay that. But I do hope that DC factors in the subscription discount that most LCS offer and make the price something like $2.50. I would hate to pay more for digital comics than I do for my hard copy issues.
Piracy proves that people want to spend time reading comics, even digital ones. I don’t think anyone has firm data but it’s not hard to find torrents that have had thousands of downloads at any given site. And there are a gazillion sites. I would conservatively estimate that the market for a given pirated issue of Batman is 10x what the paper pamphlet sells in the direct market.
So, the demand has been established. Now we have just have to haggle on price.
The big elephant in the room in my view is Amazon. A colour Kindle is inevitable, and they have the reach to undercut Apple and offer a censorship-free and painless review process. Would love to see them throw their hat in the ring (I buy all my comics in trade via amazon now anyway).
@conor Well, there have been some good ones and most have at least some quality content. But so much tends to be bland retelling of the characters origin or whatever. See Spider-man 600. One great Marcos Martin/Stan Lee strip and 3 or 4 dreadful one note joke pieces. They are much like any anthology issue though I guess! (i.e. no-one will ever like all of ’em)
@Cormac You mean this Amazing Spider-Man #600? 🙂
I don’t think I’ll ever be swayed to go digital with comics. And I’m 25. If I can’t do it, I can’t really imagine people who’ve been buying comics for the last 20-60 years to jump on board with that, either. The most important part to me is the story, but I love the collecting aspect of it, too. The only way I’d consider getting digital comics is if that rebate idea Jason mentioned comes to fruition (which I can’t see happening for a very long time, if it ever does) and I could get the trade at it’s listed price minus the cost of the individual issues I already bought. But I gotta have a physical copy in one way or another.
@conor haha, i guess you’re just a sucker for this stuff 😉
Still, there will always be anniversaries of something that the publishers can make a big deal out of. Err, I hope.
@LucasEwalt I think you might be MORE inclined to go digital the older you have. Once you get to my age and have been forced to throw out or give away thousands of comics (and books…and DVDs…and games…), you attribute less value to having a physical collection.
I don’t think many people will really go FULL digital, as some books are just to beautiful as objects not to want them on a shelf. But for most stuff, I’d be totally happy not having to worry about the physical object.
@LucasEwalt What Cormac said. I’m tired of having all of these boxes of comics that I’ll never even look at ever again.
If this works for DC (ad it will) then Marvel will soon follow suit, and that will make it easier for the smaller companies to go day-date digital.
Looks like I’m saving up for an iPad.
Any idea on how this will work for non-US downloads? In the UK we get issues on a Thursdays but I can imagine this could be huge news in plaes like Australia were they have a longer wait for issues.
I don’t know why people are so upset about the renumbering thing. The numbering has been changed so many times throughout the history of comics that it truly doesn’t matter at this point. As someone pointed out, when Action reaches #1,000, it will be almost 2020. Who knows where the industry will be at that point? If DC feels the need to change the numbering, it will do so.
What we need to demand are good stories. That’s what should matter.
On the topic of digital, I’m even more interested now in adopting digital. I’m getting tired of managing my longboxes, but I need to invest in an iPad or some other e-reading device. I don’t want to read them on my laptop. Once the prices sink for some of these devices, and DC’s platform is further clarified, you can count me among the converted.
@Meanmrmustid icv2 estimated that 2010 digital sales were $6-$8 million, for download to own, not including subscriptions.
Publicity isn’t a problem so far (USAToday and Yahoo both had the story from day one), but more needs to be done as the time gets closer. As for effect – the last time DC did something like this (One Year Later), I jumped into their books big time. I’ve since dropped them all for monetary and quality reasons, but I’m inclined to try a few of these, especially Justice League. The key thing is good books. And publicity! Get the bloody word out there and make this exciting as hell. You’ve got two of the most recognizable brands in the world, with movies out next year, and possibly a third breakout brand if GL does well this year, so it should sell itself.
On a related note, will people be more pissed about Clark and Lois being unmarried than Peter and Mary Jane, or less?
Oh, and what comic will now be the longest running with continuous numbering? Uncanny X-Men. Ron should be happy. If he cares about that kind of thing.
At the end of the day, this was a business decision. We can judge that all we want, but they have to do something to help the business. The creative aspect of the decision is not something we can judge yet. Let’s wait for the books to see how the actual stories pan out.
@LucasEwalt –agree with Cormac and Conner. Having moved a bunch i wonder why i was lugging around these longboxes full of comics i haven’t touched in literally 15-20 years. Why do i need them? My ideal solution will be to keep up with the stories via my iPad and then if something really great comes along, splurge on the printed Hardcover or omnibus for my bookshelf to keep. really 95% of comics i have i know i’ll never read again.
I’d love to see DC release its digital content across multiple digital services. I don’t want to see another monopoly on the distribution end like we got with Diamond. MAKE THE DIGITAL DISTRIBUTORS COMPETE FOR YOUR PRODUCT AND OUR BUSINESS.
I sincerely hope this doesn’t hurt Vertigo. I really like the way Vertigo operates and don’t want to see the imprint go away.
> Piracy proves that people want to spend time reading comics, even digital ones.
@Cormac I disagree. Piracy just proves that people want free shit. There’s a big difference between getting something digitally for free and paying for something digital. Right now, people can consume as much digital comic content as they can bit torrent down for free. Once they have to start paying, they can’t afford to do that and will have to be more selective. Many will probably quit reading comics as soon as it starts costing them money.
@kennyg What makes you think piracy is going anywhere?
@kennyg I choose my wording quite carefully there. They want to spend their TIME reading comics. I said nothing about the likelihood of those people ever paying for comics, digital or paper. Bear in mind that for many people, time is a more valuable commodity than money (20 mins of my time is worth more than $3…).
But the simple fact that they care enough to download and then (in most cases) READ the comics is all we need to confirm that there is a potential audience for comics beyond the people that go to a LCS ever week. Just think of all the other free entertainment options someone who has is PC-literate enough to find and torrent comics has…the fact that a reasonable number of them give a shit enough to spend their time reading Batman or whatever is a lot more encouraging than the sales figures I’m seeing from the comics industry.
There is no stopping piracy – I’m not suggesting what DC is doing is going to convert any pirates. They can and probably will curb a fair amount of this behaviour by pricing and advertising well. But I’m not so much interested in that point as the fact that people still CARE about reading comics in large numbers, and will seek them out in digital form.
@nudebuddha Exactly. I’m not saying it will go anywhere. If given the option to get the books for free or pay, most people already pirating will opt to continue. Napster et al proved that.
Now, I’m not advocating piracy. In the case of comics, piracy must really hurt the industry (unlike music, which was proven to be a bogus argument) because we already have a small audience paying for product. So what is DC, or Marvel, or any publisher going to do – pull a Metallica and sue their fans?
I like it and as a marvel zombie I am used to renumbering, reboots etc. I am going to pick up some of these titles to check them out.
huh? DC is doing all they need to do: provide a legit alternative. Think of a Venn diagram with a circle of people who can afford to buy some comics, a circle of people who like comics enough to read them regularly digitally, a circle of people who have access to a tablet or smart phone, and finally a circle of people who are reluctant to pirate on moral grounds. The relatively small overlap between those circles is the market DC (and everyone else) is going after here. They already know it’s insane to try to get EVERYONE to pay for your product, however nice that would be.
The smartest thing DC could do about piracy is just forget about it, really. They aren’t ever going to get all those imaginary dollars from pirates. They don’t exist.
So instead of trying to cut off the pirates by going through comixology and the apple store, they could just offer up .cbrs for legal download everywhere. Amazon, itunes, the DC comics website, comixology, wherever. Wherever you see a mention of a comic on the internet, there should be a little button saying ‘BUY’. They get better margins by freeing themselves from a single distributor, which is what stuclach is getting at, I think.
@Cormac Agreed. Going through Comixology or anyone doesn’t cut off the pirates anyway. Pirates have been and will continue to scan their own comics. Piracy in some form, has always existed and always will.
@wood JMS confirmed your speculation that it was Earth One’s success that motivated this move. The Beat has a quote from his facebook page, may be worth an update to your article: http://bit.ly/mgGc3I
FYI, those that say dc has it’s own app. If you don’t know it’s just comixology app with on dc comics. So basically it’s still comixology. If it’s available in one it’s available in the other.
With Kirkman releasing day and date on his books for a while and his history of manifestos, I’m a little suprised he hasn’t dropped one talking about what digital sales have meant to him.
This idea that because piracy exists, people won’t pay for digital content is ridiculous. Music piracy was rampant for years, and so easy to do that virtually computer illiterate people were treating their PCs like free music boxes. Apple iTunes came along, and the same arguments persisted…”why will someone pay $0.99 for a digital file, when it’s there for free!” Well guess what, Apple has sold 10 BILLION (yes BILLION) songs on iTunes. Is music piracy gone? Hell no. But the music industry did carve out a very profitable, significant business for themselves in spite of the piracy.
So of course piracy of comics won’t go away, but there are ABSOLUTELY people who will pay for digital comics, many of which currently download them illegally.
@xrcst –thats what was left slightly ambiguous for me. Maybe i just read into it, but it felt like DC had plans for its own App. Honestly that would make so much sense, but would be a massive project to develop properly. If its through comixology or someone like that then that will be fine to start. But ultimately i think the publisher needs to take control of that, unless they partner with an iTunes or Amazon.
as far as piracy–bootleggers will always be around in one form or another. That just comes with media. But i do think that creating a legal alternative that gives the same product only more official is a great step to curb some of the damage.
It would be a good idea if there was some sort of code on each direct issue with which you can download your digital copy for free.
So by this the direct issue would be 2.99 (preferably cheaper, but let’s take the standard of today) and a digital copy would be 1.50.
@ragcage –out of curiosity. i keep hearing this idea thrown around. As a comic reader and collector, why do you want and need a print and digital copy of the same issue? It makes sense for music…but i’m not seeing it for comics.
For me i just want to read the story so the archiving side of it doesn’t factor in for me. Curious what yours or others thoughts are on that.
But rather than mess about with codes or coupons or whatever, I say at that point just download a scan if you want it. You paid the retail already, why on earth should you pay a cent extra for a scan of it.
I’d be interested in finding out if Blu-Ray sales are being helped at all by those extra digital copies they throw in. I suspect not.
Where does your 20 minutes come from? It does not take 20 minutes to read the average comic. I can make it through most 22-page (err, now 20 for DC) books in 5 minutes. Or less. Sure, some books are more wordy, or have more elaborate art, or are worth a second read, but we’re not talking “War and Peace” here. It’s not a significant amount of time invested. And it’s been discussed on here before, the cost-to-time ratio of comics makes them a very expensive form of entertainment.
Don’t get me wrong, I want this to work. I’m a huge DC fan, and if it means comics continue to be published, I am all for it. I want comics to succeed because I have an interest and an investment in them. Not that I expect to make money off them, but I have spent thousands of dollars on comics, I mean an emotional investment. But I think the number of people willing to PAY for downloading comics is being over-estimated.
Maybe I’m a Luddite when it comes to comics. I have laptop, a smart phone, and an iPad. I’ve tried it. I hate comics on the phone. Anything smaller than an iPad – that doesn’t display a whole page at a time – just doesn’t work for me. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe this will usher in a bunch of new readers – not just people switching formats who already read, but people willing to pay for digital or paper comics. But there is a lot going against us.
Over-estimated? I don’t think anybody has any good estimates on what that number might be, including DC. I certainly haven’t seen any hard numbers in here. But here’s the thing: they are f**ked if they don’t try something. Renumbered or not, there is no way in hell Action Comics is reaching a 1,000th issue without an initiative like this. If there turns out to be no paying audience for digital downloads, well, at least they tried.
The alternative is oblivion, it really is. They don’t care about what YOU prefer anymore, because your business is no longer enough to support them. Sorry, but that’s the cold hard truth. They can’t afford to care about you anymore, no matter how much you spent on their product over the years or how much you like the feel of their paper.
@kennyg -i’m the same way to a point. i’ve tried comics on my laptop, desktop, phone…nothing was fun until i got the iPad. Its the right size and with the right app its pretty enjoyable. I actually like how it hides the spread…i’ve been surprised MORE by page reveals on the iPad than on paper floppies cause i’m not seeing two pages when i turn the page.
@wallythegreenmonster In some cases it’s easier to read it digital, some people even like it more digital.
My point was, that people will continue to go to the shops (even if they just want the digital) out of a collector’s point of view (reading digital cuz it’s more relaxing (for some people it rteally is…) and getting the printed copy for the collection.
@Cormac I realize your Venn diagram hypothesis is a spit-ball. The only numbers we have to go on are Diamond sales. I don’t know if graphic.ly, ComicXology, or any of the online providers release sales data. I would love to see the numbers compared to print if they do. Also, I don’t know if it’s possible, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some kind of torrent-tracking method that could show how many times something is downloaded (sort of like “trending” in Twitter or whatever). I just don’t know what the audience for this model is. I’m sure the ifanboy Triumvirate could give some insight into this, since they have bet the farm on this working (not something I would go into lightly!).
Maybe it is becoming “change or die” time. I think that would be worse for smaller publishers who don’t have a Warner Bros. or Disney at their back. Writing off the cost of producing comics as an acceptable loss might balance out with character licensing rights, movie/TV/cartoon deals, etc. The IP may be worth it, as I’ve seen alluded to here.
@conor I’m more concerned about boxes of comics that I /will/ want to read again. Unboxing and unbagging favorite runs just to reread them is a pain (wait, it’s a crossover story? and the conclusion is in another box in another corner of the closet? PITA). I so look forward to the day when all my books can be pulled up and reread with ease. And my closet can be repurposed into a secret lair. Don’t tell anyone, okay?
@wallythegreenmonster Good point about the iPad. I firmly believe that the reading experience on the iPad is better then paper. It’s akin to reading books on the kindle over the hard copy. I believe you become much more immersed in the experience because you don’t have to worry about positioning or turning the pages. You just click the next page button and the story is there.
@Wood You know who iTunes really benefits? Apple. The relationship between Apple and the record labels is contentious at best. Certainly, Apple changed all aspects of the music game: packaging, shipping, distribution, marketing, buying, instant gratification of customers in their very homes… but the amount of power and control Apple has over the music industry is staggering. It’s not so much that they saved the music industry, as some would argue. They simply exploited a situation (piracy) with the only comparable option (DRM’d pay-for downloads), broke apart the notion of the album as a unit of product, and priced it in such a way that it is arguably palpable to most consumers (Amazon and eMusic are cheaper, though, with better sound quality and no DRM). And now they call many of the shots, much to the chagrin of the music industry, who can’t bite the hand that now feeds it because of their own stupidity. Machiavelli and Sun Tzu would be proud.
@RocketRacoon -yeah thats a conversation that i’d like to see happen. A lot of people are focused on what digital comics “aren’t” their not open to the new things that the technolgoy brings….the idea that this new medium could actually enhance the comics reading experience is something we need to talk about.
@kennyg that’s not at issue though, no matter who is the financial beneficiary of that model (I agree it’s Apple), it proves that a significant amout of people are more than willing to pay for digital content that they can, and do, get for free easily.
@RocketRacoon Well, two-page spreads are still not perfect on the iPad, or any other electronic reader. I am often annoyed by how some e-readers force your navigation from panel to panel, especially on the phone. I would prefer just a PDF-type file and I’ll drive. But a comic page is almost the same size as paper on the iPad, the way God intended it, and I love it for that. But not so much in the sunlight.
@Wood I think I focused more on your comment about the benefits to the music industry than piracy. Sorry about that.
I think there are a couple of factors that also contributed to the success of paid-for music. One was the fear-of-God lawsuits that the RIAA and MPAA have filed against people. Sure, we all know it’s BS, but I think that curtailed a lot of casual media piracy (but there’s no deterring some people). Splitting up music into independently purchasable tracks instead of whole albums was also a master stroke that the record labels HATED. Good for the consumer, though – I hated buying an album that turned out to only have one good song (the single) on it. And, arguably, they priced it cheaply and made it easier than stealing with a simple interface.
The kicker to me, though, is the devices. Apple briliantly tied digital music downloads to a must-have piece of hardware. They didn’t invent the MP3 player, but they dominate the field. They are what everyone aspires to in terms of UI, hardware, applications… everything. iTunes pretty much only works with their devices (I’ve heard of hacks for Android but never tried any). Bam, you get to double dip on hardware AND the media that goes on it.
Back to comics. This is where I think comics are significantly different. Music, no matter what the delivery method (MP3, CD, 8-track tape) requires a device of some sort to play. You can buy a CD, but without a player, you can’t listen to it. Without electricity, either batteries or AC, you can’t power the player. With comics, the book IS the device. It requires nothing additional to read, no electricity, and you can read it pretty much anywhere (except under water, but iPads don’t work there either). This is the same with books, which amazes me that things like the kindle are so successful. I guess it comes down to cost per unit, portability, and ease of download. But you do have to plunk down the initial cost of the device, and only one person can read it at a time. I know I can’t afford an iPad or nook for every member of my family, we share.
Digital media also completely eliminates the secondary market. Which I am sure all publishers LOVE.
@kennyg Your Apple info is a little outdated. Tracks are unprotected. Quality is comparable to Amazon and, last I checked, better then eMusic. But the main point remains: Apple takes a big chunk. So much so that it’s easy to see where digital might not end up being much cheaper then print as long as the market is driven by their devices.
Digital does require a device, which represents a barrier to entry into that market, but I expect that barrier will drop.
But the portability and accessibility advantages of digital are considerable, so, while I don’t see this as the death of print (yet), I do see digital as being an increasingly large part of the industry.
Techland (Time Magazine) reported a 2.99 pricepoint with dedicated DC apps for iPad, iPhone and partnerships with comixology and PS3. Which the price point was cheaper, but it still sounds pretty good to me.
@kennyg comixology gives you the option of using “guided view” or just the entire page view, and you can switch between them while you’re reading the book. So in essence you are in complete control of the reading experience.
Personally, I sometimes prefer the guided view, but lately I’ve been leaning towards the entire page view. I like both, I don’t know which one is better, but I do like having the option.
On a side note, I wonder if die-hard prose book fans were this resistant to e-books? It’s seems like the ebook, and with it the Kindle, have created a whole new market for books that didn’t exist when they were sold exclusively at books stores.
I speak from personal experience that a lot of friends are now reading much more books due to the ease, and accesibility of the Kindle. I think DC’s movement towards digital can have a smiliar effect.
@wallythegreenmonster @Cormac @conor Okay, guys, I’ll concede that they’re a pain to lug around when moving, and there’s a bunch I’ll never read again, especially because I tend to get the ones I really love in hardcover editions anyway. But wouldn’t it still be better to actually have the books so when you don’t want/need them anymore you can donate them to charity or something? I dunno. Maybe I’m just resistant to the idea that the vast majority of my comic book purchases/life are entirely disposable/ultimately worthless.
@RocketRacoon I can answer that for you – yes, die-hard prose book fans were/are very against the kindle. I got one for Christmas a few years back and still don’t really use it a whole lot. I’ve bought a few books on it, but I’d still rather have an actual copy of a book. Typically I only use it to (illegally) download books I’ve already purchased in paper format in case I’m going somewhere and don’t want to carry around 3-4 books at a time when I’m not sure what I’m going to be in the mood to read. (I’m not sure if that counts as piracy or not, but I’ve made my peace with it.) However I do plan on getting “A Dance with Dragons” on the kindle next month when it comes out because I can start reading it at midnight and then I’ll just wait and buy it again when it comes out in paperback, so we’ll see how that goes.
@LucasEwalt Ultimately, the only worth that comics have are as story delivery mechanisms. Paper or digital, they all achieve the same goal–they tell you a story. Other than that they are mostly disposable/worthless.
@RocketRacoon I was not aware you could change between guided and full-page view. On a small device, like a phone, guided is almost a necessity. I will have to experiment a little more with the iPad. Thanks for the tip!
As far as prose books, I don’t know that it’s a direct comparison since they generally don’t have much in the way of graphics. I mean, as long as you can see the font, you’re generally OK. I have a friend who is a self-declared Luddite as far as many things go, but the hypocrite has a kindle and loves it. So I guess it’s all personal preference in the end.
@Rob3E I find the iTunes tracks to have a flatter EQ and less gain than tracks from Amazon or emusic. I hate it when the gain is vastly different between downloaded and CD-ripped tracks, or the EQ is lackluster. I actually prefer emusic the most, due to lower cost and better sound to my ears. I had heard that iTunes was offering non-DRM tracks at a higher price, but I wasn’t sure if they were m4a files or MP3. That may have changed, I don’t use iTunes if I can avoid it – that’s >50% of the reason I ditched the iPhone for Android.
Parity pricing with a reduction after a short time. Hmmmm, where have I heard that idea before? :whistle:
The $2.99 price point, dropping to $1.99 or lower later is more or less what they have right now so it would hardly be a shock to see that continue. However, we have no way of knowing how well the current strategy is working for them. I mean, I see early issues of Batman in comixology at $2 and just find it hard to believe people are buying ’em.
Wish iFanboy had a forum so we could go off-topic a bit more! Would love to see everyone’s speculations on the rest of the new books. I’m curious about what Scott Snyder will be doing, and if this affects the new JLI book…
This seems so nonsensical to me. The fundamental misunderstanding is that print and digital are similar markets. Jason, if DC is trying to do something for a different group of buyers, how hard would it have been for them to treat digital and paper as two DIFFERENT markets? Leave the print books alone and launch an entirely new line for digital platforms. This isn’t bold Jason–and it isn’t visionary. It’s moronic. Boom!, IDW, Dynamite, Dark Horse, and Image are licking their chops right now. BMB is right.
That might work if they didn’t totally half-ass it, like Marvel’s web comic stuff.
btw, those bitching about the 52 number 1s in one month – remember that the month before will be totally barren other than Flashpoint 5. So save yer pennies and quit yer bitchin’