Oct 28, 2009
The future of comics?
Is the upcoming rumored Apple tablet the future of comic books? Will this be the death of your local comic store in the coming years going from being just a comic book store to becoming a GEEKS-R-US store with everything plus maybe some of the limited printed versions of some digital comics. More on this maybe every Wednesday morning the new comics will published new on iTunes & productivity drops at those times. Could that be the future of comic books?
Sure that it far fetched and not everyone is going to have a new Apple tablet to view their digital comics on but doesn’t almost everyone have a computer / laptop these days & running some version of iTunes? How much of a stretch is this considering the costs involved in printing comic books over digital publication.
I do not see this happening overnight but I would imagine in a few years, the comic book industry will change a great deal and more towards a digital media. Look at the big MarvelFest event today in New York for the launch of the Astonishing X-Men motion comic (likely will come out in a zillion months for us up here in Canada — LAME!) so why not feel that the comic biz is changing.
Shit, I wonder how comic book conventions would be if most of the comic books came out online?! Would fans still travel to San Diego Comic-Con to get digital signatures on their latest download of their favorite motion comic.
Good article on Gizmodo:
http://gizmodo.com/5391045/apple-tablet-will-restore-comic-books-to-former-glory
Digital comics of course will never outright replace floppies, it’s more of an ‘in-addition-to’ sorta thing. No collector’s value for a digital copy. Not to mention the existence of Apple Tablet is still more fiction than fact.
Sony is also working on a PSP comic reader, with a system designed to smoothly transition between panels in order. Marvel’s digital collection is the first up when it launched.
Me, I read scanned copies on my computer (and the homebrew, free comic reader on PSP) and pick up copies when I get out to the store, usually in trade.
I would never switch over to only digital comics. The whole collection aspect goes right out the window. I think it’ll be nice to have a second copy of certain books to read on the go but there’s no way that it’ll completely replace traditional comics at least not for me anyway.