Comics in the Digital Age

As a long time comic book reader and regular at my several local comic book shops I have been hit head on with what digital comics will mean for the comic book industry.  It started as a blip, people scanning copies of their comics and putting them up for download, a handful of people reading them on their computers, and the local shops and global publishers didn’t change anything.  People were still buying books the way they always did and the few that were reading on their computers probably were not going to buy the books anyway.

Then… the iPad… the Kindle Fire… the Nook… the hand held, high def, pleasure to read on tablet.

Comic book reading apps popped up on all the devices right away, but at first the shops were not worried because the publishers were not putting new releases on their apps.  Sure, you could download comics but only ones that had already been at home in your collections for years.  If you wanted the newest books you still had to go down to your local shop and participate in the archaic act of giving cash to an overweight, sweaty, elitist comic shop owner before going home and putting your new treasures in plastic bags and storing them in boxes in your attic. 

But, people were still taking their scans of the new releases and putting them online, and now that you could read on your tablet a lot more people were interested in subverting the system.  The big publishers took note and now every new release is available on their app the same day as on the shelves in your local comic book shop.

For many, including myself, collecting comics as an investment went out long ago.  I love the books, but really just for the stories and the art.  I’m not trying to sell these things, I just want the entertainment.  And as much as I still prefer to read novels in good ol’ fashion paperback, reading comics on an iPad is a dream.  The art looks fantastic, the text crisp, I don’t have to worry about bending the pages and ruining the book, and best of all, every one of my digital comics fits in the palm of my hand so I don’t have to worry about taking up so much space with boxes on boxes on boxes.

I don’t know what will happen to local shops now that many will be purchasing digital comics directly from the distributors.  Perhaps they will stay open with the few die hard collectors who still want the books ( if the publishers even make them any more ), or maybe they will stay open as hobby and game shops.  All I do know is that I’m going digital and not looking back.

-Andrew Pate