Digital comics available in perpetuity : Something like syndication?

BlackUmbrella

I've read a number times that Star Trek was a rather modest success during it's initial network run, and that it was really the reruns on UHF that sparked the massive phenomenon that in turn sparked a string of successful movies and spin-offs.

So this got me thinking about the fate of comics that die after a short run of issues, and whether or not the availability of these books in perpetuity on Comixology (etc.) might not make possible a second wind for such titles that manage to find an audience among fans. For the first time, the publishers will be beneficiaries, not just sellers of back issues.

Say a book is cancelled after 8 issues. The creative team is new. One of those artists or writers goes on to create a huge hit, thus interest in the earlier canceled series is sparked, and people discover that it is actually pretty awesome. It begins selling greater numbers over a period of time... the publisher could pick right up again with an issue 9 or a new series.

Any thoughts? I'm just sort of interested in the dynamics of a comic industry where nothing is ever out of print or scarce, and how that impacts things.

WetRats

Any thoughts? I'm just sort of interested in the dynamics of a comic industry where nothing is ever out of print or scarce, and how that impacts things.

It's a whole new world.

Seems like it's gonna be a reader's paradise, and no fun at all for collectors.

Zhurrie

Those are legacy situations that really have no place in modern life aside from business decisions where they are artificially created. Print on demand, digital, self publishing, etc. are all at our fingertips.

I'm a computer geek as well and aside from TV and similar situations like Family Guy, Futurama, etc. Movements like Open Source/Free Software really highlight how well projects can do without all the rest of the framework and junk, especially if it is popular or in demand enough.

The companies often hold their possessions so tightly they kill them because they are afraid to let things like fan fiction or turning a dead property over to public domain or even being afraid of letting old back catalog stuff out there for free or very cheap. In almost every case it is shown that those things have the exact opposite effect they worry about and mostly increase sales and interest. There are definitely ways to intelligently handle all of this but we are years away from it happening, if ever.

WetRats

The Baen Free Library is working pretty well.

David_D

Comics to music analogies are never perfect, but I would say that the better comparison of the digital comics effect is not syndication of TV as much as the so-called "long tail" effect. That is to say, like the back catalogs of musicians available digitally and on iTunes (including, in many cases, older albums that never got issued on CD). Not only did digital distribution (well. popularly we are mostly talking about iTunes, but not JUST iTunes) not only widened availability, but it also made readily available works that had become hard to find, or had been left behind, format-wise.

I think that digital comics are doing some of this, too. Sure, there is a robust reprint market in collected editions. But not everything gets traded, and many things go out of print. I do think there is the possibility of what Black Umbrella is talking about happening- that if someone wants to seek out the older work of a certain creator, including works that had a small print run, and if they are willing to use a service like Comixology to access that work, rather than own it in print, then they will have an unprecedented long tail access to that work.

Just as one example, I have noticed that Vertigo has been putting every single issue of Hellblazer on Comixoloogy. A big chunk of these (basically the whole Jenkins/Phillips era) have never been traded. Now, maybe at some point they will be. But in the meantime, someone who has decided they want to read every issue of Hellblazer now has a very direct way to do it. If creators and publishers continue to make their older work available, there could be a lot of potential older material for a new fan of theirs to read, without having to draw upon the same finite pool of printed back issues. Let's say someone becomes a new Francavilla fan, based on his Marvel and DC work, but never read him on Sorrow from Image, then they can get access to that from Comixology. If someone loves Remender from Uncanny X-Force, but never read Sea of Red... etc.

And, at least when it comes to creator-owned work (and maybe when it comes to corporate and licensed work, I guess it depends on whatever the royalties deals are) to buy a new digital copy (or, to be pedantic-- to buy ACCESS TO a digital version, in the case of DRM content) ends up paying something to the people to created it. As opposed to buying a back issue from someone else who has been holding onto it.

So, in a word, yes. I do think that digital distribution, especially as back catalogs grow, will allow for an unprecedented level of access to older material.

As Wetrats said, a readers' paradise, even if not a collectors.

Zhurrie

Well said. My reference to TV was to shows that were canceled but then due to fan outcry/demand managed to come back and to solid success. I think TONS of comics fall into this category but people either can't get them due to high prices on secondary markets for "rare" or OOP stuff or they were never made available because someone in a suit decided it wasn't worth it or popular enough. Just like Family Guy and Futurama among others weren't... until they were.

I am a reader and a collector but value never enters into it for me. I don't save or collect books for investments I save or collect what I find important to me and my life and what I think someone else may enjoy. Except for some specific novels when a books I own gets to be ridiculously valuable I happily sell it and buy the same book in a non-valuable form (2nd print or reprint, etc.) and never think twice as long as it is the same in look/feel/quality. I'm good with all of it no matter how it happens.

KyleMoyer

Heck, it's not just music and TV, but there are movies that are that way, too. There was a discussion on the old forums where people were shocked that there were actually people in existence who haven't seen A Christmas Story, which is how far that movie has permeated into the American consciousness. But it made very little money in the theaters and I think it was kind of a bomb. The second Austin Powers movie made more in its opening weekend then the first one did in its entire run.

wait, don't go anywhere, I need to kill this annoying stinkbug....

OK, I'm back. Both of those movies are movies that were not very successful in theaters, but through VHS/DVD/television have become the type of movies where you can quote in public ("you'll shoot your eye out," "one milllllion dollars") and just assume the other person knows what you're talking about.

That doesn't contribute anything to the comic book part of the discussion, but I just thought I'd throw it out there.

David_D

Heck, it's not just music and TV, but there are movies that are that way, too. There was a discussion on the old forums where people were shocked that there were actually people in existence who haven't seen A Christmas Story, which is how far that movie has permeated into the American consciousness. But it made very little money in the theaters and I think it was kind of a bomb. The second Austin Powers movie made more in its opening weekend then the first one did in its entire run.

wait, don't go anywhere, I need to kill this annoying stinkbug....

OK, I'm back. Both of those movies are movies that were not very successful in theaters, but through VHS/DVD/television have become the type of movies where you can quote in public ("you'll shoot your eye out," "one milllllion dollars") and just assume the other person knows what you're talking about.

That doesn't contribute anything to the comic book part of the discussion, but I just thought I'd throw it out there.

And to further tie what you are saying to digital distribution/access, I think Netflix streaming has become, in a way, the newest broadcast network. I will find that there are certain movies and TV shows, even old ones, that suddenly seem to be in the pop culture conversation again (as well as in, say, my conversations with my younger brothers-in-law finding new things) and usually that is because they have become available on Netflix Instant.

WetRats

The second Austin Powers movie made more in its opening weekend then the first one did in its entire run.

wait, don't go anywhere, I need to kill this annoying stinkbug....

Austin Powers & Annoying Stinkbug... interesting juxtaposition.

BlackUmbrella

Well, if nothing else, I hope it really benefits creators. I don't know what their contracts allow for related to digital (anything?), but it would be great to think that awesome runs like McDaniel and Dixon's Nightwing could keep earning them money.