Random Thought Of The Day #602

Day 602

I'm gonna go geek for a day here.

I've talked about digital comics before. And I know that I've mentioned my love of comics a number of times.

But they've been so bloody expensive for the past few years that I pretty much couldn't justify it anymore. $3 or $4 or even sometimes $5 a pop? And it only takes about 15 or 20 minutes to read one anymore (thank god they killed all of the endless exposition that they used to put on every single page) so it was a horribly cost-ineffective form of entertainment. I mean, I could buy 2 episodes of a tv show for that price thru iTunes and be entertained for 2-3 times as long.

Though at least with comics in paper format, you had something that was moderately collectible. Some issues not so much, but many of them would be worth more than you paid for them a couple years down the line. Especially if they were really good. So at least you had that.

And I've always been a big fan of holding things that I read. Except the newspaper. Cause it's fucking cumbersome. It's too damn big and folding it properly is a pain in the ass. But a comic book or even a real book are the perfect reading size. And so, I could never really get into the e-reader thing. Or digital versions.

I know... Same size, same form factor on the 2 dimensional side. But the thickness issue bothered me. Yeah... Chuckle cause I'm talking about something being not thick enough for me to be satisfying. *giggle* teh buttsecs *giggle*

But it was weird.... There's just something that feels more... I don't know... fulfilling? Maybe? But there's just something about flipping thru the pages of something that you're reading and feeling how far you are through it. Or being able to look at some massive block of printed pages and thinking 'damn, that was a long read but it was good!". I don't know if that makes any sense, but it does to me.

And it's the same thing with comics. Yeah, they're only 22 pages or so long, but you knock out a stack of 15 or 20 of them and you see them accumulating and filling up long boxes in your house, and then look at your bookshelf and see that filling up with books that you've finished, you're able to kinda keep a visual reminder of how much you have read. Or maybe a record of how much you still have to read. Kind of like a mental inventory of the written word. Or like an achievement record for yourself.

Stupid, I know. But it's how I see it.

A lot of other people are the same way with movie or music collections. Being able to sit there and say 'wow, look at all that that I have watched/listened to" and it's right there. Where as, I don't really care and have all my shit digital when it comes to movies and music. I want the convenience there.

But then there was the cost and the content and the release times. Same price as printed but I don't get the collectible aspect of it or the physical object that like at least 1/3-1/2 of the cost comes from and there's no overhead for shipping or displaying and maintaining a storefront? Fuck you! You are instead charging me the same to effectively do nothing more than a "Copy & Paste" function from your server to my device.

And then you want me to pay the same price as print to wait 2 or 3 or sometimes 6 months after the printed version is in stores? Fuck that. Buy old product for the same price? Go to hell. You finally got that right with the day-to-date digital releasing schedule, but that's still kinda bunk.

So I could never really get into the e-reader or digital version of comics for that reason. Your library all throw onto a device. Existing as a database instead of a physical inventory. With old content. For the same cost as the physical product. Something bothered me about that with the written word or something artistic. Yet it didn't with music or movies. Yeah, digital everything makes the it easier to carry a shitload of content with you and means you have less crap cluttering up your house. But there's something about books and comics that I don't see them as clutter. Weird, I know.

But I just actually saw something that might make me change my mind a little on it. Not entirely or for everything or whatever. But something that might actually make me consider paying for comics again.

Marvel just came out with their Infinite Comics project. Not just a digital version of the print comic. Not the weird motion comic thing they've been doing for the last few years. It's actually kind of a whole new way to interact. Panels kinda form in front of you while you're reading the comic. The caption boxes might be there with just a background. And then the image of the character appears. And then the word bubbles come. And then they might actually change rather than having to fit a long bit of dialog into 1 panel and covering up all the background with word bubbles. And then maybe only 1 panel changes.

I can't really explain. But I like the concept. And at least with that, if I went the digital method, I'd be getting different content. Maybe the same comic, but it would be paced different. The art wouldn't get hidden. The way I read it would be different. And it might actually be worth the switch to digital. Or rather... the switch away from downloading torrents of scans of comics that other people buy and actually buying things again.

I just wanna see a price point on this shit first.

And I might need an iPad first. Another excuse to get a tablet. Cause they're apparently not for the iPhone version. Maybe I should see if the Marvel app is available for my Macbook. Hmmm...