Yeah, I know. The ipad is old news at this point, but there's been something that I've been thinking about since the gigantic version of the iphone was announced a few weeks back that I can't seem to get out of my head. When I first saw a rather pale and sickly looking Steve Jobs holding one up for the whole world to see, only one thing was running through my mind. No, it wasn't the fact that this thing would make for a great portable device for watching porn, although that did cross my mind later. What I kept thinking about as I saw the original announcement presentation, and then proceeded to check out the shiny new toy's specs at a number of tech blogs, is the fact that this thing would be amazing to read comic books on.
Yes, I know I am speaking sacrilege to those comic book purists out there that believe comics should only be read in a paper based format. These are the same people who decry the existence of the Kindle and the concept of e-books. To those people I say hear me out. Also, You're all a bunch of lying bastards because I bet each and every one of you purists also regularly read at least a few web comics.
To be honest, it's not just the ipad that I'm looking at here. It's more of what the ipad represents to me. It's the next step in the evolution of the e-reader. I've been saying to friends for a while now that while I like the Kindle and all of the other e-readers out there, the reason I have never bought one is because I am waiting for the glorious day when a full color e-reader comes out that is large enough to read standard sized comic book pages on. The ipad is the first step in this direction, and now that it's out there you just know we're bound to see a ton of other tech companies step up with their own version of a full sized color tablet device. With any luck, a full color e-reader can't be far behind.
In this soon-to-be new tech market, the big two comics companies (Marvel and DC) would be completely stupid not to try to cash in and try to expand their readership through these devices. In today's economy, there are a lot of comic book fans out there that just can't afford to keep up with all of their favorite titles. It's just too expensive. The average comic book can run between $2.99 and $3.99 nowadays. Even if you're only reading a few titles regularly, you can easily find yourself spending more on comics per month than you do on your electricity or cable bills. I'm not blaming Marvel or DC for high prices here. I understand that they haves costs and overheads that they have to pay for. They're paying for the writers, the artists, the paper, the ink, the shipping costs, etc. A lot of stuff goes into that $3 to $4 comic price. I get that. But what if we took those costs away?
Imagine if Marvel and DC were to open up their own version of the iTunes store in which they sold digital copies of all of their comics. Let's call it the iHeroes store. By selling digital copies, a lot of those production and shipping costs disappear. This would enable the e-comics to be sold for a bargain price of 99 cents per issue (I'm coining the term e-comics right now, so when you hear it in the future remember where you heard it first). Imagine that. 99 cent comics. Who would have ever thought we'd ever see the day when comics could be affordable again. Such a low price per issue would enable even the cheapest of comics fans (such as myself) to start reading books again on a regular basis, but let's not stop there.
If we're charging 99 cents for individual issues, why not charge $9.99 for graphic novels? Imagine downloading and reading things like The Watchmen or Marvel's Civil War series for half the price it would cost you to buy the books on paper. The costs to Marvel and DC would be negligible to run this sort of thing too. You know they already have digital copies of probably every comic ever made somewhere on their company's hard drives. All they'd have to do is load them up and sell them. That's easy money for them, and it expands readership at the same time, earning the comic companies even more loyal fans who will continue to buy new issues as they come out.
What about this? Instead of signing up for boxes at a comic store or getting a subscription through the mail, what if you could sign up for e-subscriptions to your favorite comics and they were instantly downloaded to your color e-reader the day they came out? No more having to drive to the store. No more having to check your mailbox. Instant reading enjoyment, with no hassle. Even independent comic companies should step in on this action. Why should the big two have all the fun?
I'm sure some of you have already started forming your arguments against this idea, and I do admit there could be some downsides to this new technology. The biggest one I can think of is that a lot of comic book stores will start to lose customers. Foot traffic and sales in stores could conceivably go down and stores could go out of business as a result of everyone getting their books online. Yes, this can happen, but I doubt that every comic book store in the world will die because of this change. I'm not calling for an end to paper based comics here. I know that there will always be a place for collectors who wish to have an actual paper copy of a comic over a digital one. There will always be a market for paper comics, and thus there will always be a need for comic book stores. They may become fewer, but let's be honest here, every form of print media is facing a decline in sales as the world becomes more and more digitally based. If comic books wish to survive in the 21st century, they're going to have to adopt new technology instead of avoiding it.
I mentioned web comics earlier, let's use that as an example. Does anyone you know still read the comics section of the newspaper anymore? Hell, does anyone you know even read a newspaper at all? As newspaper readership continues to decline all over the world, and the comics page has become more painful to read than having to sit through Michael Bay's director commentary of Transformers 2, the internet has exploded with an amazing number of successful and hilarious web comics. Penny Arade, XKCD, Girl Genius, Real Life Comics, oh my god I could go on for hours. The point is that digital distribution and immediate access to a massive audience has helped to create witty and well loved comics that are read by millions of people daily. Even former syndicated print comics have decided to make the jump to a digital format. If you've never read Dork Tower before, I highly suggest you check it out. Dork Tower's writer John Kovalic decided to get out of print comics and become a digital only comic a while back, and he's only increased his fanbase and readership since doing so.
What about all of those aspiring amateurs out there who haven't gotten hired on at one of the big comic companies yet? What about those gifted writers and artists out there who already have a great comic book made, but who can't find the funding to get it printed independently? Digital distribution of comics would enable these people to find their audiences. If they're good enough, they could even make a living off of doing what they love. I guarantee you that Marvel or DC would sit up and take notice if some independent digital comic was outselling one of their establised titles. Those creators would be pretty much guaranteed employment at either company if they wanted it. And the best part? We as the fans would have access to more comics from more companies than ever before, and they'd even be more afforadable.
It's a win/win situation as far as I can see. The comic companies make more money, sell more comics and get new readers. The fans get cheaper books and a ton of potential new titles to read. I can understand the views and the worries of the naysayers out there who will resist the push for digital comics, but I really do think they're being short sighted. In the long run, an iHeroes store would be a boon for the comics industry, not a hindrance. While such a reality may still be a few years off, I really do think it's an inevitable change. If Marvel and DC try to resist, then we'll be flodded with pirated copies of the same books anyways in PDF formats. While I am all for a bit of piracy every now and then, I would personally much rather pay the creators of the comics as a way of thanking them for the great work they're doing. I'm sure I'm not alone in this.
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