On the heels of the revelation that, starting with this month's issue, The Walking Dead will be released digitally on the same day that the paper copies hit comic book stores, Robert Kirkman tells Comic Book Resources, "All of my books will be like this very soon." One assumes that means Invincible, Haunt, Guarding the Globe (and possibly Image United?) will be joining The Walking Dead.
How does Kirkman see digital sales effecting print sales?
"The Walking Dead has been on the iPhone for over a year now and it's been on the iPad since its debut on the Comics app. Sales have been climbing in the digital market exponentially since its debut, and sales in print have been climbing as well. It's not like one is stealing from the other. It seems that both of them are just continuing to go up."
As for the rest of the industry?
"I think that eventually, we'll all be doing this. I think that there's a huge audience out there that likes comics and possibly the reason we're not seeing big jumps in comic book readership while at the same time seeing all of these big movies being made based on the comics is that there's a gap in availability. I think that as we move forward, more and more people will be doing this. I think it will only help our print business and it will drive more people into comic book stores looking for trade paperbacks. Hopefully, it'll bring a whole new audience into those stores with a whole new audience reading comic books. I see this as a good thing."
Check out more from Kirkman on his digital future plus more on The Walking Dead itself in the interview linked above.
Now that we've seen the initial steps into the digital world by the major comic book companies I've been thinking that the true digital revolution will have to come, not from Marvel or DC, but from the indie companies. It's almost silly that it has taken this long for someone to take these bold steps into day and date digital. I'm still shocked that a company like, say, Boom! Studios isn't fully embracing a digital day and date strategy considering there are so many comic book stores that don't even stock their books.
Hopefully once people see that day and date digital comics don't bring about the end of the world, this will be but the first digital day and date domino to fall.
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Some rights reserved.
That’s great, and I’m glad to see him embracing the digital medium, but my concern is price. I’m not going to pay full cover price upwards of $4 to get a digital comic. I can’t see spending more than $0.99 for an infinitely reproducible medium when it costs the publisher next to nothing per download.
If you insist on charging full price for a digital comic the the physical mediums price should drop to compensate for the publishers increased profit margin from digital distribution.
@WLH7M: New digital comics will never cost $0.99. No any time soon. Too many costs involved; too many people take a piece of the pie. You don’t really think that if you pay $2.99 for a digital comic that the publisher makes $2.99, do you?
Digital comics are such a new frontier that any pricing you see today is not the pricing you’ll see three years from now.
We won’t see $0.99 any time soon but digital should be considered a new pie and if they want it to have a better chance of succeeding they’ll price accordingly.
@s1lentslayer: I’m not sure what you mean. Digital is already considered a new pie. That doesn’t negate the reality that Apple, the digital comics distributor, and the comics company (and in some cases the creators) all get a slice of the pie. Which is why you won’t see new digital comics priced at $0.99 any time soon.
Welcome to 2010, comics.
I’m waiting to see how quickly the $1.99 digital comic moves up to $2.99. We all realize this will happen right?
the Tiki
Its an all new breakdown that none of us are familar with. I don’t see the issue paying the regular cost of any given comic. you are paying for a service, you are also paying for the ability to store comics in a new and different way. Plus your getting a comic that won’t deteriorate (sp?), rip or tear. to think digital qualifies us for cheaper comics because its not paper is absurd.
@conor, that is true but with no digital offerings their percentage was 0. I think that people feel like digital offerings require little extra work on the publishers end and that they could afford to provide digital copies cheaper.
Digital comics being easily available might convince me to get a tablet computer. Especially if the comics are cheaper then they are in the stores.
@s1lentslayer: People might feel that way but those people would be wrong.
The other side of the coin is that if they provide digital offerings cheaper, the gain from digital minus the loss from print would result in an overall loss to the bottom line.
I don’t buy monthlies now, unless they match the price per issue of the trade or HC I don’t know that I’d jump on the digital bandwagon unless it was a series I couldn’t wait for the trade
Ever since the ifanboy crew got bought by a digital comic company they sure do get defensive when ever someone complains about price. Their is no possible justification of why a digital version would cost the same as the print version except for trying to milk money from consumers. Another thing people rarely mention is that digital is going to make more money for the publishers because consumers who buy digital can’t give away/sell off their comics requiring anyone who wants to read it to buy their own "new" copy instead of buying "used". They will also make more money by the fact that they don’t have to reprint or run out and they can keeping making infinite amounts of money on their issues instead of just their current issue.
You should probably go back and read the things we were saying about digital comics before February. They won’t be much different. Also, and this is key, these comics are on a competitor’s platform. So how much sense does it make for us to defend that? Where does that get us?
All we’ve ever said, again, and again, and again, is that if you don’t want to pay it, don’t. That’ll learn ’em, if enough people don’t buy them.
Does Kirkman know there’s a skunk on his shoulder?
@gothamcentral the guys have been very consistent about their views on digital, josh in particular has ALWAYS said he would goo completely digital if it was possible, the price whining always cracks me up, if digital was .99 would i buy more? sure! but its not, so i buy my preferred medium of monthlies, and digital doesnt affect me at all, no big deal
@gothamcentral79: Do you think that maybe it’s because we are now working with a digital comics company that we have a greater insight into how the business breaks down, financially, then the average person? Do you think that might be possible?
And trust me when I tell you that NO ONE is getting rich off of digital comics right now. No one.
The iFanboy three also tell users not to bitch about the $2.99 to $3.99 price jump for PAPER comics too.
No conspiracy here.
Well, I’m happy about this news. Maybe now I’ll catch up on Walking Dead through issues and be able to be part of the discussion.
Curious. This really only entices me to pick up Walking Dead or maybe Invincible to sate me between trades, but at a $2.99 price point, I can’t say it makes much sense for me to do that, either.
Of course no one is getting rich off digital comics right now, their ridiculously priced. If they were priced at 99 cents they would see probably 10 times as much and make more money.
Conviction vs. an informed opinion.
Conviction always loses.
But it never realizes it.
@PraxJarvin If you just wait a couple weeks you can get them at $1.99 instead.
@gothamcentral at .99 any digital comic on an apple device, which if we are being honest represents a HUGE portion of the digital market, is automatically dropped to .67 of profit for the publisher. Add the fees associated with conversion of files (labor cost) and distribution (comixology, graphicly, iverse etc are not charities) creators page rates as well as possibly creator royalties, there is no way that publishers can sell enough copies to justify that
Good ol kirkman rockin the boat, makes me proud. I get invincible in hc but, whatevs, the more options the better. We are all kinda poor so, get em however u edging want to but don’t complaint. Makes u all look whiny as hell! I like me hc, thanks, and refuse to accumulate floppies. Cheers Rob!
.99 feels a little cheap to me. But the fact of the matter is, and Im pretty sure I have heard the ifanboy 3 say it on shows that the PRIMARY reason for the increase of floppy comics is because of the actual cost of paper and printing the books. IF that is true, it seems to me that it should be cheaper to produce digital comics instead of paper ones, even taking into consideration the distributor fees and all the other pieces of the pie. It may not be enough to make it .99 but I’m sure it could be 2.75 or 2.50 at least.
Especially considering DCBS has many special offers of paper books at deep discounts, and I think ALL books have some kind of discount right?
So if I can order a 2.99 retail book from dcbs at 2.50… I should be able to buy it from digital at least for 2.50.
I’m going to have to call BS if you tell me it actually costs more to produce digitally and respectfully request those "in the know" as Conor put it do some investigative journalism and educate us on the costs involved, if not in whole numbers, in percentages of the pie.
@xrcst: Who said it costs more to produce a digital comic? No one. All we’re saying is it’s not cheap and that despite what some people think, there are actual costs involved.
@conor No one had yet, I was just pre-rebutting pertaining to my comment about it actually being cheaper to buy comics via dcbs than digital. My whole post supports your idea that there are costs. I just contend that it has to be some percentage cheaper.
The bottom line is digital comics should really be $1.49. But because of Apple only having .99 price points, we’re stuck with this shit.
I said it last week and I’ll say it again.
What is the point of owning a digital copy if it’ll cost the same as a physical copy? Digital copies should not be the ‘standard’ price tag. What is making comics be so expensive that $2.99 is a given? It doesn’t have to go through the rigmarole like paper. Maybe I am not fully aware on how digital gets to be available. But how hard and expensive is it to get an artist to give out their files of the finished comic, upload onto a company’s database, and let someone at the company create a finish file for everyone to buy?
Surely it cannot be as expansive of cutting a tree down, turning it into paper, distribute those sheets of paper to anyone who needs it, let an artist use dozens (if not hundreds) of sheets to create a 22 page company, ship it to Diamond or the comic company, get those men to copy thousands of copies to distribute, and create more when/if reprints are made.
There is absolutely no way digital comics can be just as expensive as paper. The process for digital has to be simpler and more cost effective then paper.
If no one can give us exact numbers on how digital is made compared to paper then we’ll always have to guess.
@TNC: And you were answered last week.
@conor: Yes I was answered with vague ideas and no scientific or proven facts.
The problem is that; you dont have any hard evidence, I have no hard evidence, and no one else seems to have hard evidence. All we have to go buy are creators and what they publish as ‘their’ numbers. If we’re going to believe a company that gives us ‘good’ statistics about how well they’re doing, then maybe Enron would still be around.
I seriously want someone on this site; whether it be Wood, Conor, Josh, Ron, any members, etc; to make an article or link to somewhere where this is reliable, scientific, and 100% proven on all things digital. From sales, to producing, to even give us an estimate on what the future could bring. Instead of giving us the same old ‘What if?’ articles we see all across the internet.
If comics were to hit that 99 cents price point, I would start reading a LOT more. As it is, the $1.99 has me considering buying more. Unfortunately, I don’t have an iPhone or iPad to read comics on and don’t want either. I’m still waiting on a good comics delivery system for Android and/or Linux.
@TNC: Uh, no – I’m talking about this:
What is the point of owning a digital copy if it’ll cost the same as a physical copy?
@conor: Yes and you gave me the same old "Well it won’t be a pain in the ass like carrying longboxes all the time".
But WE’RE talking about prices here and in both articles you have not given us any reason why you are comfortable paying the same price for either copy.
Although you did say ‘You think we have ANY insight into digital comics financially’? So I guess that answers my question.
wow…..There is a civil war upon us now…lol Digital vs Paper
@TNC: What I actually said was: "Do you think that maybe it’s because we are now working with a digital comics company that we have a greater insight into how the business breaks down, financially, then the average person?" Which is the exact opposite of what you’re claiming I said.
Just five days ago the last time we had this discussion as to why some people — not you, obviously, but other people — would pay the same price for digital comics as paper (people like me) I said: "I will also pay the same for the format I want (digital) rather than the format I don’t want (single issues)."
Read slower, my man.
So does Kirkman have full editorial control over Walking Dead that he can just decide these things? It seems like he has more pull with Walking Dead than others have with their creator owned books……or is that just how Image is set up?
I just want to say If I could get BOOM! titles at the 20% off cover price of my lcs on digital day and date I do it since my lcs rarely gets boom titles in on the right week…
@conor: But why do you want those prices?
Don’t you want it too be cheaper? You’re pretty much replacing the good with the bad and vice versa. There’s nothing really that amazing about digital if you take out the cheaper prices.
@TNC: Did you fall and hit your head and forget the conversation we had about this FIVE DAYS AGO? I’m not going through this again, go back and read the answer to the price question which you already asked and I (and Josh, and daccampo, and stuclach) already answered FIVE DAYS AGO.
As to your second question, it assumes paper = good and digital= bad. I don’t know how many different ways I can say that I don’t look at it that way. You do and that’s fine. But you seem to have a problem understanding that there are people who have differing wants/needs/opinions than your own. I find many things amazing about digital, none of which have to do with the price.
I’m with @convoy give me my DCBS discount and no more monthlies for me, well not too many random monthlies.
@gobo Uhh, doesn’t that negate the point of having them available day-and-date? 😉
I said it 5 days ago, I’ll say it now: comic books are damned expensive to make.
Getting rid of printing doesn’t automagically make comic books cheaper because digital has other challenges that cost money that traditional print does not. Someone has to pay for bandwidth. Someone has to pay for the conversion process. Let alone no publisher makes 100% on what they publish through the 3rd party applications.
Maybe I should write an article on how much it costs to make a comic book and how hard it is to recoup costs in the end. Someone might have beaten me to that…
@conor: I listened to josh and gobo because they at least made a conversation out of it.
Not: "Your wrong and deal with it"
@TNC: Ooooookay.
I hate it when mommy and the pervy uncle fight.
@wallythegreenmonster
It’s how Image is set up. Every creator has full control over their properties, which includes where, and how, it is digitally distributed.And even though I don’t really know, i’d say that Image gets nothing from the digital pie.
On the price being the same as the printed version: If you think it’s worth it, buy it, if not, don’t. That’s how it works, no matter the product. I guess Kirman goes for the same price (for now) to not fuck up the distributers.
Just when I think this guy can’t get any more incredible he goes and does something like this. I’m considering constructing a (massively bearded) statue in his honor.
It’s always nice to know that at least one person in a position of power really gets it. Kirkman deserves his backwoods mansion.
I do not have data on the specific costs associated with producing an individual issue of a comic book (perhaps Mr. Wood does), but I would wager that the majority of the costs are up front costs incurred at the time of creation. The publishing/distribution (be it digital or otherwise) is likely a relatively small portion of the total cost (or marginal cost) per issue. The salary of the entire editorial staff, writer, and artist is likely to be considerably larger than the cost to print/distribute a single issue (due to economies of scale in the printing/distributing process).
That means that the average cost per issue is likely to be relatively similar regardless of the type of distribution method used. Hence, similar prices across formats. I can see digital being somewhat cheaper, but not enough to get us to $.99 or $1.99 an issue. And don’t forget, demand for comics is probably quite inelastic meaning that we might come to iFanboy and complain about the price, but still buy the issue. As Josh mention, if you want to change something (like the price of a comic) you must send them a message with your money.
@charlessp1138 Please do. Because I am calling BS if you are trying to tell me digital costs AS MUCH as paper and technically if you are telling me it costs 2.99 to produce a comic you are actually telling me it costs more since I can by said comic for 20% less in paper form from DCBS.
And yes while I am willing to pay full price for digital , for the same reasons as Conor, I would buy more books if the price point was cheaper. The number of books I buy each week would increase in proportion to how much cheaper it is. And that is better for everyone involved if some/many/lots/all consumers feel the same way. More comics are bought making the bottom line better, customers are happy, more creators are able to sit at the table and be fed. Risks are able to be taken with said creators and projects.
Now I got to head on over and get caught up on all of Kirkman’s projects so I can be ready to purchase thema ll on day and date to do just that stuclach and send a message with my money.
@PraxJarvin A two week wait is less than you might wait at DCBS to get your books, and it was directly in response to you wanting to read it while waiting for the trades. They’ll still come out much faster than that.
@TNC I’m sure Conor would LOVE for digital comic to be cheaper, everyone would. If he’s happy to pay 2.99 for day and date to save space in his tiny New York apartment that’s up to him. If enough people do, then that’s how much it will end up being. If more people don’t, then prices will (ideally at least) come down.
Are people making more profit per book on 2.99 digitally? VERY likely. But the market is MUCH smaller at the moment so it’s a tricky situation, we don’t know how much Comixology’s cut is, and even if they are making more profit. GOOD FOR THEM. I don’t discourage anyone from trying to make as much money as possible, in order to do that they have to find the right price point, and that might be 2.99, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Other reasons someone may buy day and date comics at the same price as physical:
1) They love trees
2) Convenience of carrying around your books on one device
3) No convenient local store
4) No ads in the books
5) Trying to support the move to digital in general and taking an early adopter hit in the wallet (like many early adopters do)
6) Any combination of the above.
Everyone should remember, when any new technology comes out it usually starts out more expensive and then settles down to a lower price when it gets wider adoption. We’re firmly in the early adopter phase. We can argue about whether this is a "good thing for comics" or not. But it’s clearly a good thing for SOME people, and I think we’ve all heard plenty of reasons why it is (and plenty of reasons why it isn’t)
I will and do pay $3 or more for comics…….. COMICS….On paper. However, I refuse to pay that price for something that I can get with absolutely no effort for free. And I could care less about the legalities of it and don’t think "morals" come into any play with such a thing any more than "morals" of price gouging come into play on their end.
@Preacher I assume you don’t pay for TV, movies or music either since you can get all that for free with no effort as well. Also, learn what price gouging means. This isn’t that.
If the digital comic distributors want to charge the same price for a new digital comic as a print copy then I’m fine with it. However, that pertains only to day and date or relatively new comics. If the digital issue was something published awhile ago they should be marked down, just like at the retail shops. I’d love to see a digital comic app have a "rack" that features day and date comics and a "dollar box" feature that separates out good deals on older comics.
@Preacher-Your decision of logical denial on the factual and definitial reality of the situation and willful ignorance is duly noted.
@Jestr If Generation Lost is any indication for what Kirkman will do it will be 2.99 for a couple weeks or until th next issue comes out and then it will drop to 1.99. (Not sure if Generation Lost drops after two weeks because it’s 2 weeks or because that’s the time between issues)
@Preacher You already said this, over here (http://www.ifanboy.com/content/articles/Walking_Dead__77_Was_Digital_Day_and_Date#179707) Get back in the studio and make some new stuff. Sick of always having to hear the greatest hits
Why do so many people feel so entitled to get the products of a corporation at one penny above production costs? Thats what a lot of people are suggesting and its so bizarre. Just because we’re fans with pull lists doesn’t mean these publishers owe us anything. Its called capitalism. Company produce a product, they charge what the market will bear in order to maximize profit. You can chose to buy it or not. Moreover, comic publishers are getting by on fumes right now. Direct market is not going to sustain the industry long term. New innovative approaches and products need to be created…aka digital day and date. Why wouldn’t they try to make a nice chunk on that?
DVD/BLU Ray costs more than a movie ticket. Why? Is one experience better than the other? Who cares…its what the market will bear and has accepted as the price.
I don’t even have a response anymore.
I love Kirkman. Always trying new things, or just plain doing what is obviously right, to innovate his industry. Kudos, Robert.
@gobo: That sounds like a good model to me.
I refuse to feel any remorse for those that feel no remorse. I could care less if I add to the wealth of a company or corporation. I DON’T CARE. I spend thousands every single year buying and selling comic books and related material. Do you people even realize what happens to most comics after about a month of being on shelves? Do you have any idea what these things are actually worth? PENNIES. The comic companies know this and it’s how the business works. It’s not hard to find an entire longbox full of 2009/2010 Marvel/DC runs for less than $50 a box.
They’re price gouging because they know within a very short amount of time their product is, for all intents and purposes financially, worthless.
DOWNLOAD….BOOTLEG….PRACTICE PIRACY….
I assure you, it makes absolutely NO differnence. I download whatever I want and still manage to invest much more in the "industry" on an annual basis then most collectors and many retailers.
So take that 3.99, go buy yourself some more overpriced crap, put it in your pipe and smoketh it.
And if you people really gave a damn about the comics industry, you’d be out there buying back issues…And 95% of you are not. So, ya know….Shut up, Fools.
@preacher You should do this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAKVJIZHLdo (I mean the dance)
Not even gonna bother to click…..
Use should do this:
*note the silence*
@Preacher: Who you talkin to? You didn’t put an "@". I’m throwing that to gobo. Poor Gobo ;p
@EVERYONE
"And if you people really gave a damn about the comics industry, you’d be out there buying back issues…And 95% of you are not. So, ya know….Shut up, Fools."
I’m a part of the other 5%, can I speak? 😡
hahahahaha Preacher is coming with it.
Just internet robbing folks.
The point is this…
If it makes you feel better to continually fork over money to ease what you consider, "your conscience", then fine…That’s what you have to do to feel better about yourself.
I don’t need to do that. I give them my money once….If something looks good, I’ll check it out in one format or another…I WILL MAKE THEM EARN THEIR MONEY.
Some of you people, my god, it’s ridiculous.
"Well, I own all the original issues, and the trade…But i’ve got to have this oversized hardcover. Because, ya know, I might want to read it again and look at it’s hardback spine when I walk by the bookshelf on my way to watch Brave and the Bold on Friday nite….Actually, I better buy TWO just in case I spill my Dr. Thunder on the first copy…"
Yeah….NO.
Don’t think for one second that it’s fairplay and genuine respect for the consumer….Comic book companies want your money and don’t care how it affects you. THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT YOU.
The sooner you realize this, the more you can enjoy your funnybooks.
Now i’ve got some time to spend on Demonoid getting the last couple issues of Brightest Day.
Fantastic!
You just keep coming up with these, Preacher, as they are the highlight of my reading!
Yea, I agree with MisterJ. I was a little sad they deleted Preacher’s comment in the "Who is the most important blah blah blah" thread. Best poster by far.
And you keep paying too much for comics and i’ll just carry the cost!!!!
Thanks!
@ EVERYONE:
How long do you think we have before the retailers have to close their doors due to digital replacing hard copies?
Would you feel that $2.99 or $3.99 was justified if we were actually buying something tangible? Like, say a disc or thumb drive with comics that we could still get from the retailer?
For me personally, if they came out with something like a kindle for comics that didn’t cost as much as the iPad, and it had small PSP or Nintendo DS game-style cartridge or whatever, both available at the comic shop, I’d be more than happy to fork the money over. The publishers could still print a few hundred for the stores to have preview copies for us to thumb through. If that were the case, we’d have one shelf devoted to comics, and not entire storage units (in some cases). As consumers, we’d still feel like we were getting our money’s worth because we had the experience of going to the shop, nerding it up with the guys there, and walking out with something in hand.
I’d LOVE to be able to stop buying single issues. But I don’t want to see my local shops go under because they really are some great people. But, as it stands now, they’re not doing very well. I have a friend who, up until very recently, was the accountant for a major comic book company. Said company owns a chain of comic book shops. According to my buddy, all of the locations lose money, but the owner of the company likes having the shops, so they are kept open. This person can afford to do so, but many other shop owners can’t.
If (or rather, when) digital becomes more prevalent and takes over the industry, we’ll be paying full price regardless of how much it costs to distribute them.
Look at music as an example. If I want to buy a CD, it will cost me anywhere from $9.99 (on sale) to $20.00, with an average price of about $15.00. On iTunes, they’re pretty much all $9.99.
I have friends who have music up on iTunes, (and granted they’re not big time), but their music sells in the tens of thousands worldwide. It costs them WAY less to sell music digitally than it does to have actual CD’s made, liners printed, etc.
I agree with the general hypothesis that there is no way that it can cost as much to sell comics digitally, for many of the excellent reasons listed. So, at this point, if the trend that Kirkman is seeing with his books is what can be expected, that means that digital is ADDITIONAL revenue. If there is money to be made ON TOP of what they’re already making, then we’re not going to see the price go down, (in my opinion). Unless we see some newcomers from IMAGE who are more concerned with gaining a readership. I’d sell my books for $1.99 if I were in that position. I’m not sure how much of that is up to the publisher or not.
But the day that the scales tip, and digital is the norm, $2.99 or $3.99 will just be the price of comics. So, they can either charge it NOW, or hike it up later, and we can all complain then.
I think most comic shops will be gone in 5 to 7 years.
CDs can be bought for less than iTunes $9.99. And I don’t know when was the last time you checked iTunes but prices for albums fluctuate up to $16. Not only that, iTunes used to be a place where you could buy just one song. Now, they have album only songs that happen to be the singles coming off albums, usually soundtracks.
The game can change once the game is locked down.
Preacher, I hope most people are aware that corporations don’t give a shit about consumers; however, artists care about their art.
That is where maybe some of your empathetic feelings could latch onto.
just for the record… i wasn’t here FIVE DAYS AGO so I am missing all that juicy information you don’t want rehash my friends….lol
and a google search of FIVE DAYS AGO brings up porn so I will have to find that conversation later….lol
I understand that there is effort aka $$$ going into creating scanning and hosting said comics and that cost has to be paid for by someone. also loss leaders like MOCKING BIRD and HAWKEYE are thrown out for free while I paid like 3 bucks for it…. bet the guys that didn’t pay the 3 bucks didn’t complain on the free download….lol
anyhoooo i am being very pick and choosy with how I spend my comicbook dollar digitally.
I kill giants
planetary
jonah hex
fables
ironfist
so far is where my money has gone… to proven commodities that I don’t own but might be interested to read. nuff said and 1.99 ain’t too expensive but 2.99 kinda is for most things!!!
Ahhh..another one of those crazy "I steal comics because I love the medium"-rants. Priceless. You’re not Robin fucking Hood, you know. No matter how much you want it to be.
Reasons I dont buy paper single issues anymore (apart from the rest of Morrison on Batman):
Comic shop is too far away
Comics are too expensive in australia thanks to international shipping
Comic shop doesnt always have what I want in stock
Comic shop isnt always open when I have a spare hours to go
Single issue comics are a pain in the ass to store
Digital comics helps with all of these 😀
Also these have no ads (for the most part) and I can read every single one of my comics on a train trip if I really wanted to.
It odd to see you guys complain about the price when its actually working out cheaper for me thanks to no international shipping
Do they put a sales tax on the digital comics? I live in a state that doesn’t have one, so I don’t know if iTunes and whatnot is like that everywhere, or just based on your registration zip code. That would be another reason to go digital, I would imagine. If you’re paying 9% (or whatever it is where you live), and you have a stack of books each week, that would be a way to save a little money.
It is really not in the comics companies best interest for existing fans to switch to digital. Thats one big reason they dont want to price the comics that way. Other than printing it DOES cost as much to make a comic. the writers, artists etc all still have to get paid. The printing is a part of what the price has to pay for. Not to mention the overhead of rent, employes, bills etc.
Existing readers switching to digital endangers the direct market. if 20% of a titles readership started buying digital, then those people arent buying from an LCS. i dont know may comics shops around me that could survive the loss of 20% of their Marvel and DC business. If enough comic shops fold, then Diamond folds and the direct market is basically over. its unlikely right now to think that most of those readers would then switch to digital. I dont have an ipad, and i dont have a laptop. My compter is in my office where i do not read. I read in my living room or in bed. In the future this will likely change as im sure ill eventually get some sort of tablet, but not for a while. Sincre the direct market is also the main distributor of statues, posters, non mass merchant action figures etc. that cant translate to digital sales thats a lot of income lost.
we also seem to forget (as many do in the trades vs floppies discussion) about advertsisng. Digital comics dont have ads and most digital formats seeme to be EITHER paid or ad supported its unlikey that digital comics would adopt it. Advertsing relies on circulatio numbers. As those numbers drop, so do ad revenues. Marvel makes tens of thousands of dollars each month from advertsing. they would have to transition that to digital or lose substantial money.
Its not unusual to make people wait for the cheaper format. Hardcover books come out first. DVDs only come out day and date with theatrical release on smaller movies that mostly have limited arthouse release. Now even Redbox and Netflix have later release dates. Some films tried releaseing the blu ray before the dvd but it didnt catch on. If you can wait you pay less.
Kirkman can get do this because he isnt a big company with overhead and shareholders. Waling dead has long been an anomaly that increases its sales over time. He is also sitting on a pile of TV money. That helps.