captaintemerity

April 10, 2013 9:26 pm Does this whole mess beg the bigger question: How many hoops should we jump through to get a comic from creators to readers? Apple DOES have a policy in which they can (and do) block content, up to and including blocking the entire app the content comes in on, effectively blocking everything else that might be offered through it: http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2013/04/04/izneo-removes-40-of-their-catalog-after-receiving-censorship-threats-from-apple/ On top of that, they take 30% of the price just for buying it on your iDevice. Through someone else's service. And then ComiXology, we've now established, jumped the gun, likely because they aren't 100% sure of if something in this comic (and others) might set Apple off and blow the rest of their business on top of it. They didn't communicate this to the creator or to their customers until pretty late into it. They also take half of what the comic sells (after Apple, unless you buy from them directly on their web site). So, self-censoring, not great communication, big cut of profits (at least they do a lot more than Apple is doing for their share though). Oh, and the purchaser doesn't actually own the issue (but that's something else entirely). Bad press equalling good press is all fine and dandy, but the attention of this story IS causing some retailers to suddenly state that they are no longer comfortable carrying the title, which may or may not have happened if things hadn't fallen the way they did. But, moreso, Brian and Fiona had their book pulled on someone's whim and suffered from a bad game of Telephone. It may have worked out for them, but if this wouldn't have happened, would Sex #1 and 2 be suddenly back in the store as well, or would that have just been swept under because it wasn't nearly as popular as Saga is? And will retailers suddenly become targets because of a popularized story talking about "explicit gay sex acts" in comics? While it's nothing illegal, and they would be protected, who needs that heat? If it was just Brian and Fiona (and Image) selling the comics from their own site (as PDFs or CBRs/CBZs), none of this would've been... anything. I never saw this as a censorship issue. But I can't say it makes me want to buy from Apple or ComiXology. It's not a non-story. It's a reality check.

January 4, 2012 4:00 pm Let's try something here... A person can’t afford to buy THE CAR he desires at $23,999 so he decides to STEAL IT. As he was never going to buy THE CAR in the first place the industry has not lost any money. If he just stopped STEALING CARS he would not give any additional money to the industry BY BUYING GAS. Furthermore, it is likely he might not DRIVE TO PLACES that he found worthy of any extra dollars he earns in the future. Second, STEALING THE CAR keeps him interested in DRIVING and may make him more likely to buy a MOPED to GET TO WORK EVERY DAY. Hmmm.... Seems like the same points being made, but sounds a lot like theft, right? Like, you wouldn't be surprised in the least if you got arrested and put in jail for years for doing it, correct? S'funny.