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Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

Old 05-07-12, 04:16 PM
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Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

Thread for digital comics, discussions, thoughts, sales, etc. May not get much traffic, but I am leaning more and more towards digital and it is a big topic of debate as to whether it will one day supplant the LCBS. I personally don't think that's going to happen anytime soon, and I actually want LCBSs to stay around, but we'll see.
Old 05-07-12, 04:21 PM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

Comixology has two sales going on right now, both ending today.

They have a JSA 101 sale with a ton of back issues of All Star Comics, All Star Squadron, Infinity Inc., Justice Society of America (1991) and John's Justice Society of America (2007). For the older issues, look out, some of them are not in color (assuming this is due to rights or something, they were originally printed in color, like Infinity Inc.). 99c each, I highly recommend the first four issues of JSA Classified featuring Power Girl's then-current origin if you like Amanda Conner art.

Marvel Mondays is a 99c Avengers sale: the first few issues of the Secret Avengers, New Avengers, and Avengers Academy along with some of the Avengers disassembled run. I've read most of these issues, and while I like Avengers Academy a bit I don't feel strongly enough to double dip.

Also, all of DC's new 52 #1s are 99c now, so a good chance to try some titles you didn't think were worth 2.99 to 3.99 at the time. These are only for those 52 number 1s, not the mini series or series that started after that initial push. I skipped out on most of them but will dip my toes in to see what the fuss was about. Any recommendations?

Viz also has a sale for 40% off any digital manga purchase today only. As their graphic novels are priced pretty low compared to print in general, this is a good deal if you like digital.
edited to add: I misread the Viz deal. It's actually only for Bakuman #1, Rasario + Vampire Season 2 vol. 1, Dragonball Z vol. 1, Death Note v. 1 and Toriko vol. 1 for 2.99 each.

Last edited by fujishig; 05-07-12 at 05:53 PM.
Old 05-07-12, 04:49 PM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

The minute I get a tablet... I'm going to try them out.
Old 05-07-12, 05:03 PM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

I have a tablet and I love reading comics on it but I think Marvel spoiled me when they released those complete collections on dvd a few years back. You would get 400 issues for 50 bucks or less and it was legitimate. Kinda hard for me to pay even a buck an issue when you get used to that.

I think they need to do more collections like that even if it is not on dvd. I know that may be giving away the farm but at the same time I don't see the masses being very interested in paying 3 bucks for one digital comic.

Hell, you can do better when you buy giant omnibus collections than on a lot of the digital "sales" going on which is kinda silly.

I know piracy is hard to stop but at the same time, you have to give people a reason to go digital and right now the prices aren't doing that. I don't look for comic torrents but I assume they are still out there and thriving, correct?
Old 05-07-12, 05:24 PM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

Yeah, I wish I had picked up more of those Marvel collections when I had the chance.

I doubt that my continual complaining about the price issue is going to change anything, but I doubt I'll often pay more than a dollar an issue, ever again. Years of quarter bins, fifty cent bins, and dollar bins, even to this day, make it hard to pay more than that for even a paper comic, let alone a digital only comic.

Just the other day my local shop had most of their shelves for $1 a comic. I picked up most every DC new 52 issues 1 & 2. They have been fun, but at roughly 5 minutes per book I'd be pissed if I paid more than $1.

I'd eventually buy every DC book every published for $1 a book if they were on DVD or other back-up able media.
Old 05-07-12, 05:25 PM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

Originally Posted by brianluvdvd
I have a tablet and I love reading comics on it but I think Marvel spoiled me when they released those complete collections on dvd a few years back. You would get 400 issues for 50 bucks or less and it was legitimate. Kinda hard for me to pay even a buck an issue when you get used to that.
I wish DC would have done those GIT-Corp CD-ROMs. The offerings of old comics on Comixology are sparse at best, and it will likely never be very complete.


I know piracy is hard to stop but at the same time, you have to give people a reason to go digital and right now the prices aren't doing that. I don't look for comic torrents but I assume they are still out there and thriving, correct?
Piracy is actually thriving more now than it was before. Going digital has made it even easier for the pirates because now they don't have to take the time to scan the comics when they can just steal a digital copy. It used to be that it would take several days after release day before all the new comics were scanned and uploaded to pirate sites. Now every single one is there by midday Wednesday.
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Old 05-07-12, 09:52 PM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

It's early days yet. I think the pricing will get better as the publishers get a better handle on these things. I don't know if all publishers are doing this, but DC is dropping the price of previous month's books when the new issue comes out. That's how I've been picking up my New 52 books, by waiting a month and getting them $1 cheaper.
Old 05-07-12, 09:54 PM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

I'm not sure it'll get better. I've noticed some "HD" titles now sell at $2.99 an issue.
Old 05-08-12, 02:28 AM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

I've already seen discussions that new release digital comics won't ever get much cheaper than the current pricing. The companies have to pay the writer and artist and support staff. It's going to take another comic book company outside of Marvel/DC to see if there is viable support for cheaper digital comics. 99 cents is probably the magic price point, but you need a lot of readers and low overhead to hit that range.
Old 05-08-12, 09:02 AM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

I just recently got back into comics, and I am 100% digital, outside of some stuff (Flex Mentallo HC) that is not available digitally. I am OK paying $2.99 and $3.99 an issue. Sure, I wish they were cheaper, but they aren't and space is more of a concern to me than money. Plus, they look amazing on the iPad 3 and the ability to zoom in is a godsend as I get older and older .
Old 05-08-12, 10:26 AM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

Even at 99 cents an issue, I have no real interest in digital. First of all, like Trevor noted, the price isn't that great a deal, and second of all, I like having a tangible product I can put on my shelf, read without being tied to a device, loan to friends, etc.

Now, what I would be interested in is a Netflix-style "All you can eat model." I would gladly pay $10 a month for access to Marvel's entire catalog, even if it lags the newsstands by some reasonable amount of time (say 12 months).
Old 05-08-12, 10:42 AM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

Uh, they do have that, it's called Marvel Digital Unlimited. It's just not really accessible via ipad and is browser-only and flash based. Still highly recommended if you just want to read comics and don't mind doing it in a browser (or if you have a tablet that can run Flash in a browser... be sure to test it out before you buy a sub). They have a pretty decent collection, but obviously not everything is there. I also think they intentionally keep it incompatible with the ipad, because their comixology backissues would otherwise never sell.

I think the real reason you won't see sub-cover prices day and date is that it would kill the LCS. Sure, there are those who want/need the physical copies, but if you can get it day and date for a cheaper price than a comic store, I'd think that that would eventually pull enough customers to shut down most of the LCSs that already run on a thin profit margin.

The 99c thing has been argued time and time again, but I don't think they increase volume of sales enough to make up for the cheaper pricing, unless they somehow change their marketing strategy and get a much broader reach. Just dropping the price won't get people to start reading comics. You'll be selling to the same niche audience, perhaps a little bigger as people try it out, but at 1/3 or 1/4 the price you used to get; plus there's no turning back. I don't see it happening.

I liked the DVD rom collections too, but I wonder if that's feasible for the modern stuff. I'm guessing that they don't have to pay that much in royalties for those collections, but I'm sure that all modern day contracts include at least some royalties for digital. Plus, at the time those came out, you could really only view them in crappy pdf on a computer; now that tablets are taking off, that's a direct competitor size and portability-wise, to a comic.

As far as digital vs. physical copies: I don't know how you guys do it. I mean, I admit I collected way too much, but even going mostly trade-only a few years ago my bookshelves are filled with tpbs and hardcovers, and I still have a few boxes of floppies of the few series I had been collecting. I just have no room. I'd love a subscriber-based service because I really only want to read most comics... I've realized, much like DVDs and Blu Rays, that I don't have to own everything, even things that I like. So cheaper digital titles are perfect, because they are perpetually available, they don't take up much space, I can try things out on a whim and then get the whole collection instantly if I so choose. There are still issues; if comixology ever goes away or if they somehow lose licenses and start pulling things, I'm screwed. It already scares me that sometimes when they update and you reinstall the app, it deletes all your purchases (which you can then download again for free, but still). And I'm not paying full cover price, because even in my normal monthly shipments I never pay full cover price.
Old 05-08-12, 01:55 PM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

Originally Posted by Trevor
Yeah, I wish I had picked up more of those Marvel collections when I had the chance.
I bought them all when they came out and I haven't regretted it at all, especially since I got a tablet recently. You can save them all off the disc to a hard drive and then just port them over to whatever you want to read them on. There's a really good comic reader that does pdf files for android that works especially well for comics that I use.

My son and I are going thru the Byrne FF Omnibus and since there were several issues where he came in and out, we were able to easily read those issue on the tablet. Works out great.

Originally Posted by fujishig
Uh, they do have that, it's called Marvel Digital Unlimited. It's just not really accessible via ipad and is browser-only and flash based. Still highly recommended if you just want to read comics and don't mind doing it in a browser (or if you have a tablet that can run Flash in a browser... be sure to test it out before you buy a sub).

I liked the DVD rom collections too, but I wonder if that's feasible for the modern stuff. I'm guessing that they don't have to pay that much in royalties for those collections, but I'm sure that all modern day contracts include at least some royalties for digital. Plus, at the time those came out, you could really only view them in crappy pdf on a computer; now that tablets are taking off, that's a direct competitor size and portability-wise, to a comic.
Definitely try the Marvel sub on the browser before you buy. Mine never would work correctly. Marvel did quickly refund my sub price though as I had no interest of reading comics on my laptop. They really need to come up with an app that works with the sub. That would be perfect and I would easily subscribe again for that.

I know this is a pipe dream but in my perfect comic world, you could go to your LCS and mix and match so many issues on a disc for a reasonable price. They would have the access, it would be legal, but you would still need to obtain it from them directly. That would be a way to still keep the LCS in the mix but comics companies would make much more by cutting out the middle man. Still, that shows I am an old man thinking like that. It is still physical media and everything is going away from that. And why go to the LCS when you get just get it off the internet directly? So...dumb idea but I still like it.

Just think if you could go in and get all of Marvel & DC and any other titles you want for the entire month of May all on one disc. Yeah, you can do it now but it is either way over-priced legitimately or you are possibly stealing if you go the other route.

And speaking of the other route...thinking about this got me curious about torrents and the such. I never have been involved or used them at all and visiting some of the sites that discuss this stuff, I feel even older and/or dumber than I am. It's like they are speaking a second language on how to access this stuff or get invites to these "private trackers."

I don't have a problem downloading stuff if it is out of print and you can't buy it new. I just don't know if it is worth all the time and effort.
Old 05-08-12, 02:53 PM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

Diamond is kinda trying to do your old-man idea... not with physical media, but with people buying digital at comic stores (Comixology/DC also has an affiliate program). I don't see it happening, for a variety of reasons, the main one being that you're basically selling a competitor to your clientele. It's like Barnes and Noble selling Kindles, it would be very foolish.

The problem with physical media (assuming you can't just port it over to your hard disk when you get home) is that it's still not as convenient as digital because you have to go dig up the disc every time you want to read an issue. So if you want to read a series sequentially, you'll have to have a disc a week or whatever. And if you can port it to your computer, well, that's where DRM comes in.
Old 05-08-12, 04:38 PM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

That's the awesome thing about the gitcorp discs. None of them (Marvel, Archies, Mad Magzine, etc.) have any DRM.
Old 05-15-12, 10:07 AM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

at the moment i am a physical only reader -- collections on amazon and #1s at my lcs (to try out new titles for cheap rather than blind buy a whole volume). i look up a lot of reviews before ordering if its not a character i love or a creator i trust, but i do buy a bunch of things per week. ive tried comixology and graphicly (not the marvel unlimited sub though), and thought it was ok but not great enough for me to switch.

i recently read the hd AvX infinite version on an ipad3. its the first time ive ever seen anything awesome enough to make me want it more than the physical comic. it really is something impossible on paper. if you havent seen it in that resolution youve got to try it. if more comics do it (and if the collected edition prices arent too bad) i would be pretty tempted to buy an ipad4 someday (need something thinner and lighter and so on) and switch to digital. i cant believe i'm saying that!

in addition to all the storytelling effects, i really liked having something drawn for the same dimensions instead of squeezed or zoomed to fit. of course i would prefer if the next ipad had a larger option (since its already big compared to a kindle) too. especially since a lot of physical issues come with the download code now too, which seems like a good step.

take a look at this if you havent seen the marvel infinite tech yet
http://youtu.be/kUheAFT7XL4?hd=1&t=23s
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Old 05-15-12, 10:19 AM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

If Marvel ever sells their entire G.I. Joe line in digital format, will someone here please send me a private message? Thank you.
Old 05-15-12, 10:52 AM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

Originally Posted by dogmatica
If Marvel ever sells their entire G.I. Joe line in digital format, will someone here please send me a private message? Thank you.
i think that will be by idw as opposed to marvel

https://shop.idwpublishing.com/comics/series/gi-joe/classic-collections.html?limit=all&order=position&dir=asc

in fact they have new issues that continue where those left off

https://shop.idwpublishing.com/comics/series/gi-joe/a-real-american-hero.html

as well as a variety of other joe projects and universes

https://shop.idwpublishing.com/comics/series/gi-joe.html

many of which are available digitally

http://read.idwpublishing.com/

some of which are free or on sale
Old 05-18-12, 06:22 PM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

I have some of the DVD collections but disliked the browser experience so didn't really dig much into them. I wish I'd gotten all the Marvels now that a better experience is possible.

So I've generally been a hardcopy advocate, but a strange thing happened recently with Animal Man. I liked reading it and it was under $10, but when I finished, I realized I had to shelve it. I recently reorganized my comics so I have room and a logical space for it, but I found myself wishing I just didn't have to deal with it. Maybe it's because I'm having a general desire to clean out some of my media, but for comics in particular it felt like a strange turning point.
Old 05-20-12, 12:45 PM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

I've got a Kindle Fire and am dipping into the digital comics world, but I'm focusing on titles that are being released digital-first. Right now, it's just Smallville for me and I'm enjoying getting almost-weekly installments of the book. I've got tons of physical comics, so I don't mind not having ones of this series taking up space in my house. I'll probably try some more, but I don't see myself going even primarily digital with my comics purchases.
Old 05-21-12, 10:58 AM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

Originally Posted by Super X
I've got a Kindle Fire and am dipping into the digital comics world, but I'm focusing on titles that are being released digital-first. Right now, it's just Smallville for me and I'm enjoying getting almost-weekly installments of the book. I've got tons of physical comics, so I don't mind not having ones of this series taking up space in my house. I'll probably try some more, but I don't see myself going even primarily digital with my comics purchases.
Just a heads up, the Marvel Digital Unlimited sub does work with the Kindle Fire (although it's not perfect). You should try it out, they have some free titles up to try.
Old 05-21-12, 10:26 PM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

Originally Posted by fujishig
Just a heads up, the Marvel Digital Unlimited sub does work with the Kindle Fire (although it's not perfect). You should try it out, they have some free titles up to try.
Is the selection good? Or is it something like, you get Civil War #1 and afterwards, you are told that you can buy the rest for 1.99 at the digital store?
Old 05-22-12, 02:40 PM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

You can browse the selection online:

http://marvel.com/digital_comics/unlimited

It's much better than you describe, they are mainly missing issues in between runs... so if a mini or event book like civil war is on there, they usually have all of them, but they might have, say, Cable 1-10 and 13-18 and be missing 11 and 12.

As a side note, if anyone buys comics for their iPad, the best buy.com deal of the day is a $100 itunes gift card for $80. I post it here because, even at 99c a piece, comics still make up the majority of my itunes purchases... and this makes then 80 cents a piece...
Old 05-22-12, 02:43 PM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

Originally Posted by fujishig
You can browse the selection online:

http://marvel.com/digital_comics/unlimited

It's much better than you describe, they are mainly missing issues in between runs... so if a mini or event book like civil war is on there, they usually have all of them, but they might have, say, Cable 1-10 and 13-18 and be missing 11 and 12.
how soon does it get access to new releases?
Old 05-30-12, 01:58 PM
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re: Digital Comic Book Discussion and Deals (Comixology, etc)

I think it's a year or two, so not great on getting current stuff, but then, if they did that who would buy comics anymore?

Comixology has a Grant Morrison DC sale right now. The first six issues of All Star Superman, some Batman RIP, Batman and Robin, Batman Inc., Flash, some JLA, Animal Man, Invisibles, etc. They're mostly the first few issues of each series, so not complete by any means, though you can buy all 3 issues of We3 for less than 3 bucks, so that's something. Also Joe the Barbarian.

How is Batman Inc.? These are all the pre-Flashpoint stuff, but it carries over (mostly) to the DCnu, right?

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