Comments on: DC Puts Wonder Woman on Sale Online

By: Chad

Chad — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 14:32:49 +0000

I was amused to note that they had the first four parts of Allen Heinberg’s much-delayed WW run for sale, but not the even-more-delayed annual that wrapped up the storyline.

Apparently, even publishers get confused when reading a story from beginning to end requires more that just following the issues in numerical order.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 12:19:01 +0000

If you look at the fee as paying for the entertainment time, as when you rent a movie or go see live theater, then yeah, your approach makes sense to me (although I think that argues strongly for a $1 price, nothing higher, when it comes to standard format comics). That’ll require an adjustment in attitude among many traditional comic fans. New readers, though, if attracted by the shiny things they can do on a portable device, won’t find it strange at all.

By: Rob McMonigal

Rob McMonigal — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 11:53:31 +0000

I completely understand it for things you want to keep. Hell, I just spent $40 getting Absolute New Frontier vs $6 for the digital copy.

My point is that comics reading is primarily disposable. I figure the read vs re-read ratio is about 3-1, and might even be higher. Having dumped tons of paper comics I never re-read recently, I’m not seeing the logic to paying 3 or 4 dollars for things I can pay 1 or 2 dollars for when I’m not going to re-read them.

Just my perspective.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 11:46:03 +0000

Some people are collectors, some aren’t. I can see the appeal of keeping all your comics in a little plastic box with a screen, with no paper to drag around — but I still value my copies of comics and books and movies, because I remember a time pre-internet when you were never sure if you would see something again if you didn’t buy it then. Hard habit to break, I guess.

By: Rob McMonigal

Rob McMonigal — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 11:29:25 +0000

I understand it when the price is equal. DC is on crack if they think people are going to pay $4.00 for digital with nothing permanent in hand.

But for 99 cents? Who cares if you lose it years from now? If it’s a favorite, buy it in trade for 10 bucks later. But why spend $60 a month on paper comics when you might only want to keep $20 worth of them, when you can read the same for $30 (or, in this case, $20) and then rebuy the few you absolutely must have for another $10 or $20, saving money and getting a better archival copy than a floppy piece of paper?

I think people are far too hung up on this “I don’t own it” thing. At 99 cents (or even 199 cents), I just don’t see why it matters.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 11:20:22 +0000

I don’t intend to preempt Nick, but in my case, I don’t pay $3-4 — I have a subscription deal, so I get at least a 20% discount. And if/when Comixology goes out of business, I lose the ability to return to a favorite title years later and find new things in it.

(I was going to say reread a book I loved but no one else did, but those kinds of comics aren’t usually available for digital licensing, only shared download.)

By: Rob McMonigal

Rob McMonigal — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 11:05:27 +0000

@Nick: So you’ll pay $3.00 or $4.00 for comics you might read only once anyway, because you can own them, to sell later for 10 cents to a comic book shop when you grow bored with them or realize how bad they were?

99 cents is less than a cup of coffee, and you can re-read them or not, as you choose. And if Comixology is out of business years later, what did you lose?

I really don’t get this from single-issue comic book fans. I just don’t.

By: James Schee

James Schee — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 02:16:23 +0000

Well I’ve made my first digital purchase with this, picking up #15-24 since I have never read them. I’m hoping if everything goes well to have an IPad by my birthday this week so curious to see how it goes.

By: Grant

Grant — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 22:14:59 +0000

Or, to put it another way, digital will have to do much better.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 19:53:48 +0000

I suspect it’s going to take the market getting much worse for corporate comics before they’re willing to consider downloads in lieu of controlled, licensed loaner copies.

By: Nick

Nick — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 13:02:14 +0000

Well, this was disappointing. I thought I’d buy some, maybe all of the Perez run. Too bad that you comixology doesn’t actually allow you to download the files. Even .99 is too much for comics I don’t get to download. Sometimes, I think they don’t really want digital comics to succeed…

By: Johanna

Johanna — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 11:15:25 +0000

Oooh, good question. Turns out that the first two are NOT, based on Amazon listings. That’s sad.

By: Dwight Williams

Dwight Williams — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 23:48:25 +0000

Just to reaffirm: the Perez collections are still in print?

By: Johanna

Johanna — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 23:02:59 +0000

Has it been reprinted in any collections? It may depend on how easily they can access the content for digital repurposing.

By: Grant

Grant — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 23:01:30 +0000

if they were holding back on 70s stuff to release later with any “retroactive” digital releases then that might explain not releasing any bronze age stuff like the Thomas/Colan run or O’Neil’s run. But why hold back on the Andru/Esposito stuff which clearly doesn’t fall under the Retro Active time period?

By: Johanna

Johanna — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 22:25:54 +0000

Yeah, I was wondering that as well — what spurred the sale?

By: Chad

Chad — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 21:36:34 +0000

My other question was the timing. They did a similar Green Lantern 99¢ sale a few months back, and I’m thinking that would have made more sense to do now, in conjunction with the movie’s release.

That said, I will be snapping up the Perez issues for sure.