Tablets and Digital Comics

[GLewis]

He's an older generation comic creator.  For him, this is as close to flying cars and the Jetsons as he's likely to see.  So he's a bit excited.

Having said that though, having both major comic book companies in the digital world with same day offerings?  It IS a game changer.  The industry as we know it has changed forever. 

I'm feeling as if this is starting to snowball. If digital sales start heating up, we could see some bug changes a lot faster than I thought. In fact I thought it would be well over a year before we saw any day and date releases. Hopefully this won't stall out anytime soon.

[Farrell]

He's an older generation comic creator.  For him, this is as close to flying cars and the Jetsons as he's likely to see.  So he's a bit excited.

Having said that though, having both major comic book companies in the digital world with same day offerings?  It IS a game changer.  The industry as we know it has changed forever.  

They've got us talking like them now.  Will nothing ever be the same? 

[Night (Travis) Nurse]

did you update to os4 yet?

No I'll do that tonight when I get home.

N Travis N

[David]

I love that the official press release very quickly mentions creator incentive payments. That's something I don't think has even been discussed with Marvel's various announcements.

I want to @ reply him with a "U Mad?"  cause I don't remember Marvel saying anything public about creator paying incentives for digital content.

[Dom Sutton]

I don't know much about online comics. But I saw an ad saying that I could now buy a digital version of Planetary. Downloaded this Comixology thing and found that they want me to pay $1.99 for EACH issue!

No fucking chance. I'd pay 10c an issue or $1.99 for the whole series. But $1.99 for a single issue digital comic? Is anyone going to pay that? I can go on ebay and buy the trades for a fraction of the price it will cost me to buy the digital version.

I don't get this pricing. Are people paying it?

[JoeyN]

How many issues are in a trade? The trade is $10.19 on amazon

$1.99 is not a lot for a digital comic. If you think they would put issues up for 10 cents an issue, then I really don't know what to say.

[Just Bill]

How many issues are in a trade? The trade is $10.19 on amazon

$1.99 is not a lot for a digital comic. If you think they would put issues up for 10 cents an issue, then I really don't know what to say.

Ten cents is extreme even for me...  but ninety-nine cents an issue is my sweet spot.   I understand why the pricing is the way it is though. 

[Dom Sutton]

How many issues are in a trade? The trade is $10.19 on amazon

$1.99 is not a lot for a digital comic. If you think they would put issues up for 10 cents an issue, then I really don't know what to say.

OK, like I say, I don't know a lot about digital comics and what people are willing to pay. Maybe 10c is pie in the sky. I personally wouldn't pay too much more though. And $1.99? Really?

I don't know about Amazon, but you can find the TPBs for a lot less on ebay.

[GLewis]

OK, like I say, I don't know a lot about digital comics and what people are willing to pay. Maybe 10c is pie in the sky. I personally wouldn't pay too much more though. And $1.99? Really?

I don't know about Amazon, but you can find the TPBs for a lot less on ebay.

.10 cents is definitely pie in the sky. They have to pay the people who make them after all.

[Dom Sutton]

Fair enough, I'm being totally naive, but I'll never pay $1.99 for a digital comic that I can pick up a physical copy of for a fraction of the price in a bargain bin or on ebay. I want to make the switch to digital, but these prices seem prohibitively high to me.

Is anyone here paying $1.99 for these comics?

[thefreakytiki]

Classy move by DC...

DC Make Justice League Generation Lost #4 and #5 Returnable
Submitted by Rich Johnston on June 23, 2010 – 2:00 pm (10) comments

When the DC Comics App launched today, with Justice League: Generation Lost #4 available for cover price hours before it would be available in the US, and a day before it would be available in the UK, without any warning to retailers who had ordered it as normal…

Well, it was going to cause a bit of a stir amongst retailers, wasn;t it?

I understand that DC Comics are going to make both Generation Lost #4 and the subsequent issue returnable for full credit for retailers.

So we can presume issue 5 will also be day-and-date digitally released as well. After that folks, you’re on your own…

I think one fact of Rich's is wrong.  The FOC date is 3 weeks prior to street date for everyone except Marvel.  Marvel's FOC used to be 3 weeks as well but changed it to 4 weeks to make sure proper distribution of variant covers.  I may be wrong but that's how I learned it. 

Calling Mr. Zack Kruse for the proper info here. 


the Tiki

[Hassan T]

I just read JMS story in Superman #700 on my iphone. Awesome!!

I am glad DC is using the App as a vehicle for promotion of big stories that are occurring in new comics. The choice of using the JL bi-weekly series as the test for same date release is great. It is a bi-weekly series that people will know will come out every other week.

[GLewis]

Fair enough, I'm being totally naive, but I'll never pay $1.99 for a digital comic that I can pick up a physical copy of for a fraction of the price in a bargain bin or on ebay. I want to make the switch to digital, but these prices seem prohibitively high to me.

Is anyone here paying $1.99 for these comics?

Not yet. Once I know that I'll eventually be able to get ALL of my comics digitally I will gladly switch. I could care less about the physical product. It's the content that matters. It's the same way I feel about music. I want the music, not the packaging that I have to find a place to store for the rest of my life.

Right now though, I just don't understand the hows and why of what they're doing. That being said, I never read Fables. If I had my iPad right now, I would probably buy the first five or six issues they have for sale, as opposed to the physical copy.

[Farrell]

Fair enough, I'm being totally naive, but I'll never pay $1.99 for a digital comic that I can pick up a physical copy of for a fraction of the price in a bargain bin or on ebay. I want to make the switch to digital, but these prices seem prohibitively high to me.

You're comparing secondary markets sources like Ebay and bargain bins to a publisher selling their books to their initial customer, Dom.  All of those books on Ebay and in those bins were already paid for, probably at full price or close to it.  Bill Hughes recently bought something close to 100 issues of Savage Dragon on Ebay recently and I'm sure he didn't pay anything close to $300 for them.  I'm equally sure that he doesn't expect Larsen to lower his retail prices to coincidence with the price he paid on Ebay for them.  

To answer your question, though...

Is anyone here paying $1.99 for these comics?

Not while I can buy comics new for close to the same price (thanks to DCBS), I won't be.  I prefer to own physical copies and it would take a major price differential to change that.  Even then I'd be likely to become more dependent on buying collections instead of singles.

[Just Bill]

Bill Hughes recently bought something close to 100 issues of Savage Dragon on Ebay recently and I'm sure he didn't pay anything close to $300 for them.  .  

SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS AN ISSUE!!!

 

And Peter Rios sold me a bunch more for  the same price.  Now I'm on the hunt for about issue 135 and up but I'm having a hard time finding them at that price.  Or at all, actually... no one is selling them in lots.  But I'm patient.  And eventually they shall be mine!   

[JoeyN]

i've been buying older stuff I haven't read before. I've grown out of the must have physical media. If I could get everything digital on release day I would.

[Jon O]

Got the first 4 issues of Generation Lost and I loved it.  There aren't any comic shops around here so this is perfect.  I'd love them to do this with Flash and Birds of Prey.  I'd be all over this.

[Night (Travis) Nurse]

Got the first 4 issues of Generation Lost and I loved it.  There aren't any comic shops around here so this is perfect.  I'd love them to do this with Flash and Birds of Prey.  I'd be all over this.

I'm glad to see them pushing this series. I read it in monthlies, and have pre ordered it through July. I am loving it, so it's nice to see people, who may have not read it enjoying it. It will be interesting to see issue #3 sales compared to the new digital/print sales of #4.

N Travis N

[David]

Is anyone here paying $1.99 for these comics?

Yes:

Got the first 4 issues of Generation Lost and I loved it.

[Julian Lytle]

My problem with the Marvel people quotes is this, Marvel really didn't publicize the profits sharing. It might have been mentioned but I don't think many in the fanbase knew this and really since Marvel only has Icon for certain creators it doesn't matter. DC did their's public but they also have a lot more creator owned material from Vertigo, Wildstorm and it looks like Zuda. So in the end, Marvel gets a for the day.


By the way the DC app needs to stop crashing or say if it's only for certain models of iPhone/iPod touch