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Digital Transition: Requiem and The Walking Dead

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Walt

brucemourningI bought into the hype and had the foresight to email the local comic shop the Monday morning the week Batman, Inc. #8 came out.

However, I did not display the same foresight for any of the “Requiem” issues that have come out since then.

I’m not particularly interested in Detective Comics with a $3.99 price point, ditto for Batman itself.

Much more interested in the Batman and Robin title, but as stated…I managed to lack the foresight to request a copy of the latest issue be held, and it’s not part of my pull file.

But I’ve also been–increasingly seriously–considering a transition to “going digital,” and I’ve been somewhat experimenting with that. This weekend feels like it definitely bore fruit in that regard.

digitalbatman018I get tired of wasting time and gas running around to various comic shops for an issue I may have missed (I hate using the phone, but that’s an issue entirely its own), especially when it often leads to me buying other stuff I normally wouldn’t, out of some kind of “guilt” of spending a lot of time in a shop and not wanting to walk out empty-handed; or even simply of reaching a minimum  purchase price for using a card.

There’s also the “immediate gratification” thing as well as “convenience,” to say nothing of the mere fact of owning a tablet now and being able to view full-page comics at almost “normal” size.

So in one quick expense, I was able to–at about 10pm Saturday, long after any comic shop would be open, and from the comfort of the chair I was sitting in, having just finished an episode of Person of Interest–purchase Batman #18, Batman and Robin #18, and The Walking Dead #108.

digitalbatmanandrobin000and018With The Walking Dead, I decided after all the stuff with #100 that I was gonna go back to waiting for the collected volumes. But then decided I was going to miss the experience of the monthly single issues, of fully keeping up with the story.

So, since I was then grudgingly willing to consider an ongoing prospect of purchasing twice…why not try buying the single issues as digital, and saving the collected volumes to be my sole print purchase for the series?

I’ve yet to make the follow through on print–I don’t think I’ve bought a collected volume since 13, as I’ve been keeping up with the singles–but I’ve followed one entire 6-issue run of the series now digital-only, and don’t particularly miss the print.

digitalwalkingdead103to108Yet another benefit to going the digital route–the issues are basically “always available” and never “sold out.” I don’t have to race to the comic shop ASAP on Wednesday to buy a digital copy of whatever issue; and if I don’t decide til late Saturday night that yeah, actually I DO want to go ahead and read that after all…I don’t have to wait til Sunday, Monday, or Wednesday to get back to a shop and hope they even have the issue in stock TO buy.

Also keeps me clear of the speculation side of things. I want to READ the issues. If I was in it for the speculation, I probably would’ve sold my Batman Inc. #8 already–but having been spoiled, I wanted the actual issue as a piece of history in the Bat-story. I don’t yet know what all the Requiem stuff will be–so far it doesn’t seem to be a single arc or such, so it’s kinda nice to hold off on purchasing until I’ve thought about it.

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The 99-cent digital sweet spot

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Walt

comixologyscreenI love 25-cent bargain bins. That just seems to be the best price…perhaps because even going back 21 years or so, bargain-bins I recall–mainly at Comics and Collectibles–were 25-cents. And because hey…it takes FOUR comics to each one-dollar.

By that logic, the 50-cent bins rack up the price twice as fast, where every 2 comics are another full dollar.

And typically I avoid the dollar bins…even though it takes 4 of these one-dollar comics to match a single contemporary comic, when one’s used to ’90s comics and such around 25-cents…$1 seems a bit much.

But…digitally, it seems that 99-cents (effectively that $1) is the magic price point. Because of whatever limitations or “politics,” I have never seen a digital comic SELL for less than $0.99. Seems there’s “Free,” there’s $0.99, then there’s most of the usual stuff ($1.99/$2.99/$3.99+).

houseofmWhile I don’t usually buy full-priced ($2.99/$3.99+) comics, every now and then I have, for one reason or another. With a tablet now, I’m far more likely, as I do contemplate a more drastic shift to digital.

But primarily, I’ve been a definite fan–and sucker–when it comes to 99-cent sales from Comixology.

Whether it’s been acquiring A Death in the Family, Batman: Year One, Batman: Year Two, and The Dark Knight Returns for a mere $0.99 per issue (all 4 stories for about the price of a TPB of only ONE of the stories) or random other issues–Zero Hour/1994’s Zero Month issues, small runs of Cable, some Rogue and Gambit issues, or X-Force #1 just for the heckuvit, etc.–I frequently find myself buying at least an issue or two from most of these sales.

houseofmspidermanUsually the purchases are fairly spur-of-the-moment, but I actually thought specifically on stuff before partaking in this past weekend’s House of M 99-cent sale. I actually considered splurging for the whole event; but I’m still holding out hope of finding the hardcovers for a decent price.

While I was out shopping, I bought an iTunes “gift card,” treating it as if I was paying the price for a single collected volume. Once I redeemed it, I snagged the entire “core” House of M series, along with the 5-issue Spider-Man: House of M mini. And I have about $2 left over for something else.

I doubt I’d’ve bought any of these for $1.99 each…but for $0.99…I’ll buy in “bulk.”

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The Difference in 24 years

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Walt

In the spring of 1989, the first two Batman comics my mom ever bought me were Batman #439 (Year 3 part 4) and Detective Comics #604 (The Mud Pack part 1).

24 years later, I have the Batman issue on an iPad…and sadly, the Detective issues are not yet available digitally.

fullcircle

This photo also shows how close in size the ipad is to a comic. While it’s considerably smaller…this is still significantly better than trying to view the comics on my phone!

With the iPad, I can actually read a comic in full-page view, zooming in for the occasional small caption. But it’s really no worse than reading any of the Marvel digest-sized TPBs.

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Falling for Digital Comics

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Walt

comixologyatomicrobo001It’s taken me awhile, but I do believe I’ve largely “come around” to a certain acceptance of digital comics. I have not wholly EMBRACED digital, but I’ve come to see some definite perks to “going digital.”

A few months ago, I decided to try the nook app on my phone for reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest and found that I loved being able to read prose on my phone. Rather than lugging around this large hardback, I could simply read from my phone’s screen, and since I always carry my phone, I’d always have my book on-hand as well without having to adjust for (physical) space.

dccomixologyappbatwingComics have been a much different thing for me, given the tiny size of this phone’s screen. So I’ve been resistant, occasionally downloading a freebie “just to have it” on the phone, but never purchasing any comics. I did purchase several issues of Batwing digitally, to try out the format, though I’m almost certain as of this typing that I’ve yet to read beyond #2 and quit buying after #7 (hey, once I catch up on the reading, the later issues’ll still be there!).

But a few weeks back, I jumped on the Batman sale from Comixology to purchase the single issues of A Death in the Family, for the sheer principle of having (in SOME form) the individual issues of this story after all these years. $4 for the set when a single issue of anything new is the same price…it was like paying for one comic, and these are in my phone so I can read ’em or refer to ’em whenever…and conveniently. Continue reading →

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A little on a lot: digital comics and pricing

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Walt

As I’ve not been blogging regularly lately, there are a number of things I’ve been thinking about, had thoughts about, and generally considered blogging about/retreading, but haven’t. I sat down Saturday morning for awhile and typed a lot more than I intended. So I’ve broken that into several posts (this is one of those posts).

DIGITAL COMICS & PRICING

digicomicsI’ve bought a few issues of Batwing digitally a month “late” for the discounted price DC offers. However, I think I’ve only actually READ through issue 2, so I may look for some other series to try this way. Where DC’s got it right is that these are rather new issues, BUT I’m not paying the full identical price as the PRINT EDITION. Marvel doesn’t seem to do this discount only a month later. They have the Netflix-style subscription to “stream” comics (not actually buying/downloading them) or full price matching the print edition (or paying $3.99 for the print and getting a code to ALSO get a digital edition, but that’s a different thing). 1502Marvels are more expensive ANYway, which has put me off more of their books than I could probably list.

I cannot justify paying the same exact price for an electronic file as I’d pay for a physical comic. I’ve caved and see it moreso with ebooks, for convenience: but the primary reason for me for buying a digital comic WOULD be that it’s cheaper than the print, so I’m sacrificing convenience (of size/etc) in favor of a savings from DC. If the digital price is the same, I’m simply sacrificing convenience for the digital experience.

MARVEL $3.99 STANDARD PRICING

threeninetynineA couple years ago, I was all set to jump in on all the new Avengers books for the Heroic Age “relaunch.” BUT…I refused then and continue to refuse to pay $3.99 as a standard price. 4 Avengers titles at $3.99 each was NOT an investment I was willing to make. $2.99 each ($12/month) was within my tolerance…$3.99 each ($16/month) was beyond my tolerance.

regenesisMore recently, I picked up X-Men: Regenesis and Uncanny X-Men #1 and Wolverine & the X-Men #1, just to try ’em (and because I’d spent a half hour in a comic shop that didn’t have whatever I’d walked in looking for, and I wanted to justify to myself the time/effort of going). But while I probably would’ve given both series (and some of the other X-books) more of a chance, I refuse to pay $3.99/issue (especially as I believe Uncanny was $2.99 before the renumbering). I enjoyed Gischler’s X-Men series, uncannyxforce19point1but even that I finally gave up on because it just didn’t seem worth $3.99/issue.

I dropped Iron Man for the same reason: at $2.99, it was a solid enough title (down from my loving it after reading the 19-issue hardcover). But $3.99 is more than I’m willing to pay.

I’m somewhat “grudgingly” continuing with Uncanny X-Force, because it hooked me with the Age of Apocalypse stuff, and scratching the X-itch as well as Deadpool. But I’m looking for an excuse to drop it, and may just as soon drop it spur-of-the-moment sometime as not.

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