Comic Reviews by Walt

It’s been just a couple days over the one-year mark. Just a scant handful of weeks after the Amazon deal, Comixology up and with no warning, no advance notice, took away “in-app payments” from Apple device users. I can’t and won’t speak to whatever the situation is with Droid/Google users, as I’m firmly rooted on the Apple camp.

With that one single change, for a number of factors including the simple PRINCIPLE of the thing, I bailed.

Oh, there were arguments for and against the situation. Like how it’s only a couple extra steps to go to a website, even on a tablet/phone browser and do a purchase that way. Or the arguments against, including the hassle of the browser, and having to go through steps of purchase and then still locate/download in a reader, blah blah blah.

My initial gut-reaction? Walk away. Boycott the thing. I’m not spending one more CENT on Comixology purchasing. If they want that extra 30% or whatever by screwing up what seemed (to me, at least) to have even made them what they were, fine…an extra 30% of 0 is still 0, coming from ME.

But I meant it. I wasn’t just saying it because it was some trendy thing to say, or something to be said and gone back on later.

It’s been a year, and I have not spent one more cent on anything Comixology-related. I’ve bought no random full-price issues. I’ve not kept up with anything on a couple months’ lagtime for the $1 off cover price discounts. I’ve bought no bundles, I’ve bought no digital bargain trades, and I’ve not participated in one single 99-cent sale, of which they seemed to have 2-3 per week where I usually bought at least one or two things, often spending $5-$20+ in a given week just on 99-cent sales.

And to make it worse? Thanks to Comixology‘s ‘stunt’, I don’t trust any OTHER digital comics platforms. At least, not enough to “invest.” I participated in a “Humble Bundle” thing some months back for a bunch of Valiant comics on another digital platform, but I never followed up with anything else. I believe I have those comics loaded to my tablet, but I’ve yet to put any serious time into trying to read them, lacking the “guided view” that was a huge part of my buying into Comixology.

Comixology‘s move was one heckuva wake-up call that things could radically change without notice, just literally wake up one morning and “dealbreaker” specific points are different. As “minor” as many would argue the payment vehicle shift was, who’s to say many comics don’t suddenly become unavailable…like if Marvel decides to “take its ball and go home” not allowing Comixology (or another digital platform) to renew a license? (Plenty of other questions along those lines, but that’s a different topic).

Considering where I started on the notion of digital comics, and how quickly I’d turned toward liking them and was beginning to experiment with and think more seriously about flat-out embracing the medium, I can’t even guestimate how much I would’ve spent–and increased my spending over time–since a year ago…especially while ignoring/refusing to consider questions of perpetual availability and Other Change and whatnot.

I refuse to use Comixology…yet other platforms’ lack of Comixology‘s “guided view” makes them less than ideal; and PDFs and the like on my computer don’t work well due to having a “widescreen” that results in–having a PDF viewer “maximized” onscreen–barely being able to see even half a page without manually scrolling around.

And ultimately…where once I was considering a shift to “mostly digital” I now resist the format almost entirely. Though perhaps in a minority and holding to an unpopular view…I’m sure I’m not alone with it.

Filed under: 2015 Non-Review posts, 2015 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: amazon, comixology, digital comics | 2 Comments »