By MATT SCHORR
I’m hardly the first person to weigh on this, but given its wide-reaching scope and the ramifications it bares, I’d be pretty darn remiss to ignore it.
Digital comics are becoming a major reality. In the not too distant past, experts were speculating on the possibilities of comics that were never printed but, rather, downloaded.
The speculation is over. Although still very much in the early stages, comic books are joining the ranks of novelists, columnists, and journalists in mankind’s digital future. DC Comics kinda sorta made history at the close of August when they simultaneously published Justice League #1 in print and digital. Others like Zuda (incidentally, a DC imprint) print exclusively digital comics, while some publishers have opted to offer their publication strictly via the Internet (Guns of Shadow Valley, for one).
Comic books, like other publications, are in the midst of an incredible transition. More and more, physical print is becoming a thing of the past. The newspaper industry is in near-dire straits as subscriptions steadily decline. Amazon sold between 2 and 2.5 million Kindles last year, and they expect those numbers to more than double this year.
But here’s the rub.
Comic book readers may be the last holdouts for the digital revolution. Many novel-reading enthusiasts insisted they prefer a physical copy, the ability to turn the page, the feel of a book in their hands…and yet, they made the leap to Kindle and never looked back. However, comic books are a bit different than the average novel. Many readers see them as collector’s items. While they’d never be so foolish to insist one of the latest issues will one day be worth thousands, there’s still a notion that the comic is an asset of sorts, no matter how small. Also, many enjoy organizing them, arranging them, figuring out their continuity (which gets more and more challenging all the time).
So that begs the question: will comic book readers make the digital leap?
That’s a difficult question. Despite the ever-rising number of eBook sales, physical publishing is very much still in business. They’ve not gone the way of the dodo just yet. The same goes for newspapers. Even though major publications like USA Today and The New York Times sometimes struggle to make ends meet, many community papers are still thriving.
It all depends on what direction sales figures go. If they move toward digital comics, you can expect to see the number of physical copies dwindle. If the figures remain solidly within the physical realm, expect digital comics to remain where they are.
In the end, really, it’s up to us. What version do you prefer? Physical or digital? All comic book publishers, big and small, are watching those numbers closely. If enough of us sway it in one given direction, that’s the direction they’ll follow.
However, I do have some bad news for the older fans that insist they’d never buy anything other than physical copies. If DC Comics latest initiative to attract a new audience with the “New 52” proves successful, they’ll be drawing in readers from the digital generation.
And that generation probably has no qualms with instantly downloading a comic book rather than searching for the nearest comic book shop.
—-
Order Matt’s new novel!
