I hadn't realised that Comics companies were so appalling with digital content.

[andrewducker]

I mean, kudos to DC for getting huge swathes of their comics available in digital form, but charging $2 per issue means that if I want to read Grant Morrison's run on Batman then it'll cost me $16 for the first TPB-worth, which is 60% more than Amazon would charge me for the trade paperback.

Marvel, on the other hand, are charging $5/month to read everything that they've made available in digital format. Which frankly would be enough to get me to hand them my cash. Except that that's an offer that's only available on the PC/Mac. If you want it on a tablet then you're out of luck. I've read comics on a 10" tablet, and I've read comics on a 22" monitor, and frankly I'd rather read them on the tablet.

And, of course, everything is wrapped up in proprietary formats - in fact, both Marvel and DC have outsourced their iPad/Android comics to Comixology. Buying in software/expertise is one thing, creating a monopoly you're dependent on to sell your comics is quite another.

2000AD is slightly better - all of their issues are available in the standard CBR format (and PDF). And some of their trade paperbacks are too. However, not many of them are, and crucially there's no way to tell what is available, you have to trawl through their entire shop until you bump into something with a "Add Digital Copy" button underneath it. Of which there isn't that much. The first Judge Dredd trade was released that way a couple of years ago, but nothing more has been added since.

This all seems like rather a wasted opportunity, to be honest.

Comments

[calum]

I figured out a pretty easy way to get the comics out of Comixology if you're interested.

[andrewducker]

If they were cheaper (or as cheap) as the trade paperbacks then maybe. As it is, I'll leave it for the moment. But thanks!

[luckylove.livejournal.com]

And Radical Publishing appear to have axed the TPB version of Hotwire Vol 2: Deep Cut which has left Mark fuming. For 18 months the kept postponing the release and now, according to Amazon, they've decided to not bother with it. It was meant to be Mark's xmas present in 2010. I guess he'll never get to read it now.

[andrewducker]

Why on earth would they do that??

[luckylove.livejournal.com]

I've no idea. They've just told Amazon it isn't being released. Steve Pugh is trying to get it sorted but it's not looking good. I'm so tempted to write on Radical's FB page saying if they're having trouble getting the money together for the TPB release they could always try Kickstarter. I doubt they'd appreciate that.

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

I also understand that there is pressure on the big publishers from their distributors and the comic book shops to keep the best-selling 'event' comics held back from digital release.

[khbrown.livejournal.com]

How hard can it be to offer things in .CBR given that it's just a RAR of PNG or JPG files?

[andrewducker]

Oh, I can totally understand not making them available until a week or two later.

But if Marvel can offer an unlimited subscription for $60/year on the PC, then why not on a tablet?

And why do DC expect me to pay more for locked-down comics than it would cost to buy the TPB?

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

meaning people will just search for them on tpb instead, given that almost all scanners work on advanced copies

withholding legitimate sales just encourages illegitimate. The moment businesses accept this, they'll start making more money

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

Unscientifically, but I reckon on a pretty high correlation between people who read comics and people likely to narked off by rubbish DRM, exploitative pricing & lazy platform policies.

Some days I think capitalism hasn't failed because of inappropriate incentives & ownership structures in the banks but because of an epidemic of earwax meaning that businesses can't hear the shouts of "I would like to give you money. M O N EY!"