Digital Comic Suggestions/Got a new iPad...now what?

Torchsong

So I splurged on myself and got myself one of those newfangled iPad thingys the kids are into. I've successfully set up the Marvel, DC, Comixology, Comic+, and Viz apps on it, and I'm resolved to actually support "the digital initiative" by buying at least one or two titles Day and Date of release.

One of these is easy - Demon Knights. I enjoy it, and I know I plan to buy the trade when it hits. So digital makes sense - I can read and enjoy the story then buy the trade for the "physical copy". I'm also a subscriber to Shonen Jump Alpha, which delivers weekly comics to my pad.

What do you guys (if any of you actually do) read digitally now? I'm thinking I can afford to do maybe one more title. I'm tempted to give Marvel a shot again just so I can compare the differences.

fredzilla

I usually wait until there's some kind of sale. I picked up all of Bone for $40 (color) off Comixology. I also got some JLA and New Frontier for $.99 or half off. I haven't worked the math but I'm sure my monthly DCBS order is still cheaper than anything on digital, unless it's on sale.

brydeemer

I haven't committed to any digital books yet for two reasons:

1) I want them to be cheaper (I just can't justify the same price when I don't get a physical copy)
2) I really want a subscription model - I know I want to buy Batman and Spider-man every month. But it's so easy to forget that a new issue is out. Two months could easily go by before I remember. I want to subscribe and have that issue automatically download to my iPad when it's ready. Newstand already supports this feature, so the publishers just need to activate it.

Bry

EdChambers

As a fan of Fables, I decided to read "Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love" digitally. I picked up all 6 issues of the mini-series for 99-cents each. I thought it was worth it. I look forward to getting a iPad-like device some year, and start enjoying more comics in that format.

KyleMoyer

1) I want them to be cheaper (I just can't justify the same price when I don't get a physical copy)

If Marvel and/or DC dropped their prices down to $.99 or even $1.49, I could see myself
1. buying an iPad
2. Buying substantially more comics from their company than I currently do, if not the entire line.

I would especially do both of those if I could actually download and own the digital copy rather than be "renting" it.

fredzilla

I concur with Bryan. I've gone so far as to email customer service at Comixology and said I would spend nearly $50 a month if the books were $1 each. I would love a subscription offer--kind of like iTunes "season pass."

CMWhittington

I agree with Bryan. I just lurk ComiXology for their sales and strike when something good drops in price.

As for readers, avoid iBooks for now if you read on a small mobile device. They don't have the nifty "panel follow" that the others have yet.

brydeemer

I agree with Bryan. I just lurk ComiXology for their sales and strike when something good drops in price.

As for readers, avoid iBooks for now if you read on a small mobile device. They don't have the nifty "panel follow" that the others have yet.

Good point on iBooks, although I only ever read on my iPad so that's not an issue. And since most comics aren't designed with panel-by-panel viewing in mind, I don't like that view anyway. I prefer to see the whole page at one shot.

Bry

Torchsong

I've got the freebies from TwoMorrows put in my iBooks to test out how well it works (it's all new to me!) and so far so good on that. It's not too difficult to read anything and while my eyes aren't the best in the world the visuals do really pop out on this screen.

I'm with you all on the lower price. Maybe I'll wait for the monthly $1 price drop before picking up Demon Knights. A subscription service would be the ultimate way to go, no doubt.

CMWhittington

Good point on iBooks, although I only ever read on my iPad so that's not an issue. And since most comics aren't designed with panel-by-panel viewing in mind, I don't like that view anyway. I prefer to see the whole page at one shot.

Bry

I don't care for it either but it's the best way to do it if you have no choice. So glad Apple finally released an iPad with a retina display. Now I can justify going fully digital with my comic purchases.

RadioWayne

I'm 100% digital with my comics reading and I love it! I buy my books a month later or as I want to read them so it saves me some money. Like many others on the forum, I jump on many of the .99¢ deals on Comixology.

electric_mayhem

I am with @brydeemer. A subscription model is key for recurring businesses models ala MMOs and even the free-to-play use the nickel and dime approach. If DC/Marvel offered D&D for digital and a sub.? Sign me up! :-bd

JohnTilton

On my iPad I generally read everything through either ComicZeal or Comixology. Sometimes I will get it through Graphic.ly but I really don't like the way they render the comic in sections, and I can't read them on my iPhone, it doesn't have adaptive panning like Comixology.

brydeemer

For anyone who doesn't know, Marvel recently started selling digital collections through iBooks. They also have at least one free book on there as well.

This is a huge step in the right direction as far as I'm concerned.

1) Many more people and non-comic readers are browsing the iBook store than are checking out Comixology. So there is more chance of exposure here.

2) Marvel keeps more of the money and therefore can charge less if they so chose. Apple takes 30% of anything sold via an iDevice. Comixology takes another 50% of what's left over (at least that's my understanding, but different companies might have different contracts). So that's not much left for Marvel. With iBooks, Marvel only surrenders that 30%, leaving the rest for themselves.

3) While it's still DRMed, I have more confidence that Apple will be around in the years to come than I do in Comixology. And we know from Apple's track record that they are not in favor of DRM, so likely they will be pushing the publishers to abandon it as soon as possible. Hooray for freedom.

So go check out the iBook store and see if they having anything you want. Encourage Marvel (and others) to make more things available.

Bry

John_Steed

I like Comixology and Graphycly quite a bit. And I hope there will be many more providers. The earth is not an apple ;)

brydeemer

I like Comixology and Graphycly quite a bit. And I hope there will be many more providers. The earth is not an apple ;)

I wasn't arguing whether or not Comixology and others were good products, I was simply making a case against them as a business model. For the same reasons we dislike Diamond, we should also dislike these new distributors. Why the publishers would get in bed with them and give up some of their profits is a mystery to me. Skip the middle man whenever possible.

Bry

John_Steed

@Bry
I get your point but dislike the thought that everything has to go through Apple. There are so many other devices on the market. Competition is a good thing. I buy and load my media through many different means, including iTunes. And with publishers having more distributors to choose from the prices might drop to a healthy level for all.

brydeemer

@Bry
I get your point but dislike the thought that everything has to go through Apple. There are so many other devices on the market. Competition is a good thing. I buy and load my media through many different means, including iTunes. And with publishers having more distributors to choose from the prices might drop to a healthy level for all.

I don't think that everything has to go through Apple. I'd be overjoyed if publishers started selling PDFs on their own websites. No middle man at all would mean even lower prices. Perfect!

But when they start using other companies (like Comixology) that are distributed through the app store, then they have to pay two middlemen. This doesn't make any sense at all. Now that Apple is allowing them to release their books in the iBook store, they should do it and either lower their prices or keep more of the money for themselves, thus making digital more profitable.

In the world of tablets there are very few devices that are gaining any traction at all other than iPad, so for the sake of discussion I'm just going to leave those out and only speak for Apple. I'm all about competition because it only makes my Apple products even better year after year.

Bry

Torchsong

Bit the bullet and bought Demon Knights #7 last night - not for technology's sake but because dammit I wanted to know what happened and couldn't get to the LCS! :) A few observations:

- Holy crap is it ever nice reading comics on this pad! The retina display really makes the colors pop where paper might have muddied them down. This isn't meant to be a slam on paper (I *will* still be buying this in trade format, after all), but damn things looks sweet on this thing.

- I do think $2.99 is still a bit pricey for it. In the future I probably will wait a month to save a buck (and maybe buy more in the process!)

- I also subscribe to Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha which speaks to the subscription model Bryan talked about. Once a week I get 160 pages of comics delivered to my Viz app to download. They're up there for one year (I'm not buying, I'm renting) so it's on me to view said book within that year. So there's no ownership, yet for a nominal fee I have tons of comics to read. I'm so far behind it's not even funny...

knightwingbk

I use comixology, I haven't looked at the Graphic.ly or other apps. For me, Comixology has all the comics I want to read.

Comixology has sales all the time, i check it every day just to see whats on sale. Marvel has one-day $.99 on Mondays and Fridays. I got Siege this way, as well as some issues of Amazing-Spider-Man. DC Has weekend sales pretty frequently. Their biggest so far was for St. Patricks day, they had all versions of the Green Lantern title, Green Lantern Corps, Green Arrow (last 2 series and Longbow hunters), Emerald Warriors, the whole lot for $.99. Before that was Blackest Friday where they had all the Blackest Night and tie-ins on sale. They have sales on indie books during the week over 3-day spans. I got most of Morning Glories this way. I'm pretty happy with the sales they have, I'm usually looking for stories I love to buy digitally, or stuff I haven't read but comes highly reccomended.

knightwingbk

Also, everyone should check out "Valentine" on Comixology or whatever else its on. Its 9 parts, and its FREE and a great story. What I really liked about it was how it really uses the digital medium, similar to Mark Waid's thing, but Valentine did it first.

UnknownFanboy

Got the new iPad ... Going to get the newest Walking Dead trade then catch up to date through Comixilogy

SolitaireRose

I'm still going through this site: http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/

larry

I use Comixology on my iPad. Its pretty good. I just wish the screen was a little bigger. I don't have the best vision so sometimes I have to do panel by panel viewing, which I'd rather not do. I pretty much only buy DC books a month after release or books that are on sale. I want to read some Marvel but its too damn expensive for digital.

Kat_Rocha

A color version of Utopiates Issue 1 is available for free at Graphicly.com. This was the series that launched Josh's and my career. We got the rights back and we're going to release it as a color graphic novel.
You can get the first story at http://graphicly.com/01-publishing/utopiates

knightwingbk

World War Hulk, WWH: Frontline, and SKAAR: Son of Hulk all $.99 on Comixology today, as well as the last day for the Legion 101 sale.

I'm thinking I might grab WWH and Geoff Johns' Superman and the Legion Story. $5 for WWH beats the $25 Marvel wants for their trade.

chrisruggia

If you only have an iPhone, how's the reading experience in the different apps?

I only just got one so I haven't dipped in yet, and it's such a tiny screen I'm not convinced yet that I'll particularly enjoy reading comics on it.

KyleMoyer

If you only have an iPhone, how's the reading experience in the different apps?

I only just got one so I haven't dipped in yet, and it's such a tiny screen I'm not convinced yet that I'll particularly enjoy reading comics on it.

For stuff on sale, like the free books or the occasional 99 cent books I would say an iphone screen is alright. I would never make "the switch" to digital though if iPhone was my only option (which for me it is - well except my computer, but that's not very portable).

KyleMoyer

If you're not sure, comixology is free and there are plenty of free sample issues so try it yourself and see what you think. Worst case scenario you used up some hard drive space that you can easily delete.

chrisruggia

Thanks, I'll give comixology a try.

John_Steed

- I also subscribe to Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha which speaks to the subscription model Bryan talked about. Once a week I get 160 pages of comics delivered to my Viz app to download. They're up there for one year (I'm not buying, I'm renting) so it's on me to view said book within that year. So there's no ownership, yet for a nominal fee I have tons of comics to read. I'm so far behind it's not even funny...

me want...me want...

and then I got this:

Thank you for your interest in VIZ Manga.

Currently, VIZ Manga products are only available for purchase in the U.S. and Canada.

who said the world is a village???


L-) :(( :-??