Digital comics thread

That list is definitely surprising.  But the thing to remember is, the number of comics bought digitally is still extremely small, so any numbers are going to be skewed.  I'm sure if and when the digital market grows to become significant, sales will reflect the more mainstream taste.

And frankly I doubt digital is going to take over retail, or cause a paradigm shift in quality improvement.  These comics apps so far are just as impenetrable and convoluted as a comic book store is for a regular person.  In fact these apps may be worse, since there is no helpful clerk to guide someone new to comics.  That's my biggest problem with these apps, someone new to comics would find them overwhelming, and even worse that person would have no idea what is good.  Comixology has a pretty large selection, and if you don't know what to look for you're almost sure to find some shitty comic, since there are way more shitty comics than good ones.  And that just defeats the purpose of trying to get new readers.  There are some cool, and interesting free comics on the apps, but there's way too many crappy or mainstream superhero comics for free.  

Do they seriously think new readers are going to read these continuity heavy superhero comics?  They need to market and push the correct comics.  Certainly something with a beginning and an end.

I obviously do hope digital brings in new readers.  Because that's the only way the industry is going to improve.  A lot of people like to blame the current readers, and their obsession with the mainstream superhero titles.  But I've always felt the problem was the fact no one else is interested in comics.  The worldwide market for comics is actually bigger than one might expect.  I think it's close to a billion dollars.  But the market is also very localized to its own region.  Japanese mainly read manga, and the Europeans read their own comics.  The French have a fairly robust comic scene.  Manga has made its way to the US, so that's an exception.  And obviously the UK and the US read the same comics since there's no language barrier.

It's tough to be optimistic.  I mean, if even a decade of these huge Hollywood comic book adaptations can't help improve flat sales even a little, it's tough to see what will.     

Of course, if digital does actually explode, there's a good chance it'll devastate retail.  That would be interesting.

Reading comics on my computer is sometimes preferable to reading it hardcover.  The individual panels are bigger and you pick out more detail.  Plus it's nice to have the next page be a complete surprise.

Yes, reading on computers does change the way one reads.  I mean it doesn't have to, but if you read them in widescreen and especially if you use the guided view of comixology, you get a sense of surprise that really changes the impact.  Theres also a real sense of tension.  But the problem with guided view, first of all is that its not optomised for the ipad but for the iphone.  And secondly it only shows one panel at a time, I think the guided view should incorporate two or three panels, while revealing one at a time.  In comics its important to have a view of at least a few panels, as this creates a sense of motion.  I think theres a lot of room to create an optomised reading experience that would really blow away a normal reading experience.  Hell, the guided view is really the work of a director.  I could see these comics being directed in the future.

And btw is it me or is it getting really slow at Chud?