Digital comics are they worth it ? disscussion and comments:

Well I got a comixology account and bought the first issue of the Arkham City tie-in and i don't have any complaints.

 

Did you get the digital exclusive or the regular version? I haven't been able to figure out what the difference is based on the descriptions.

I decided to get Batman Year One, and the first Fables arc, "Legends in Exile" either later today or tomorrow. I'll post my thoughts after I read them.

 

okay I am all sighned up.

 

Comixology is doing a big $0.99 Superman sale for the next forty-eight hours starting today.
Here's the list:
Classic Tales of the Man of Steel:
Action comics #1 (first appearance of Superman), #6 (first appearance of Jimmy Olson), #23 (first appearance of Lex Luthor), #252 (first appearance of Supergirl), Annual #11
Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow:
Superman #423
Action Comics #583
Superman Begins:
The Man of Steel #1-#6
Birthright #1-#12
Secret Origins #1-#6
For All Seasons #1-#4
Modern Adventures of the Man of Steel
All Star Superman #1-#12
Superman: For Tomorrow (#204-#215)
Red Son #1-#3
The Death and Return of Superman:
Superman #75
The Adventures of Superman #500
Superman #81
Emperor Joker:
Emperor Joker #1
Superman #161
The Adventures of Superman #583
Superman: Man of Steel #105
Action Comics #770
Last Son
Action Comics #844-#846
Any must buys in that list?

 

and those are all digital comix's?

 

Only 60$? Is that for current issues or for their back catalogue? If it is for current issues then it's a pretty sweet deal and cheap to boot.

With the proliferation of tablets i can see this being a real alternative and back in the day when i still read comics regularly i'd have easily broken this 60$ barrier in 2-3 months, depending on what's going on maybe even in a single month (at 3-4$ an issue not that hard to do).

 

I already prefer trades as it is, but if I ever ended up with an ipad or similar tablet and DC came out with a $60 bucks for a year of comics digitally, I would most likely convert.

 

Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow is really good, but it's IMO dwarfed by All-Star Superman which tells a very similar story. Superman is a character that has had his origin and early years told a lot and for the most part really well done. Birthright, For All Seasons, The Man of Steel are all very good (Albiet for different reasons). I can't really comment on the rest. Not the biggest Superman reader.

 

"Hi, I'm everything that's wrong with DC's approach to digital comics! Specifically, the notion that 99 cents for intangible copies of comic books we printed between seventy-two and twenty-five years ago is a sale price."

Overlooking my belief that stories that old (as distinct from the IP) should be public domain in the first place, it strikes me as a somewhat exploitative practice, hitting impulse buyers, which I'm not convinced is good business; I'm not sure a great way to generate the affection and loyalty for what you need to push (your present-day product) is to overcharge for frankly suspect product which met the end of its intended economic lifespan long ago.

Now, that said, I'd love to be able to peruse fifty year old Lois Lane comics (as they're quite good, in that "is this shit for real?" sense, and the answer is "no, not usually, but it's hilarious, right?"; my favorite issue is the one where Lois fantasizes about marrying a Space Mormon, though unfortunately it was made in 60s so it loses steam before it can get frankly pornographic). And I would even pay some monies to do so. Maybe $20; conceivably $40.

$137 strikes me as a little excessive.

Like, taking an example from that list, I've read Action 252. And even when you throw in the first appearance of Metallo and his sweet stache, and the apparent selling point of the piece, the very awesome sequence of Superman explaining why he's stuffing Kara in an orphanage instead of doing, you know, anything to help her acclimate to Earth or get over her parents' deaths or show her any sort of basic human affection... I dunno, it's really hard to get over the idea that it's a buck for a piece of disposable children's entertainment that came out in 1958.

You should at least get a discount for the Congorilla story you aren't likely to give a shit about, let alone feel pleased you paid thirty-three cents for.

SPOILER: Superman murders Metallo, and Kal-El exploits a tragedy in which dozens died in order to infiltrate Kara Zor-El into human society. There, I saved you a dollar.

The price for MoS is more arguably fair. I mean, I spent more than $6 on it ten years ago. But that is also widely recognized as a good comic, not just a piece of comics history.

 

I sampled some of those digital comics and the text is pretty small. That could be a problem, and resizing it doesn't seem like something that could be done very well.

 

All-Star's got more polish (and physically more story, of course), but I dunno. That's a tough call.

I will list each one's advantages, because the Internet likes lists.

All-Star Superman
1. Lex Luthor's an actual character, who actually does things, instead of functioning as a life support system for Brainiac.
2. Nasthalthia Luthor's first appearance since antediluvian times.
3. The Professor Quintum = Luthor fan theory is pretty cool, although poorly supported by anything which actually occurs in the book.
4. Bar-El and Lilo are a better General Zod and Faora than General Zod and Faora. It's weird how these banana-flavored one-shotters probably brought more tears to my eyes than Superman's own sacrifice.
5. The death of Jonathan Kent is ultra-sad.
6. A huge variety of neat stuff that doesn't deserve their own bullet points, but are nonetheless cool to read.
7. Jimmy Olsen kicking the shit out of Evil Superman.
7 1/2. Superman doesn't cry about justifiable homicide like a total wiener. However, this only counts one-half point, because you know he totally would have.

Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?
1. Brainiac is in it, instead of being replaced by Morrison's pet idea Solaris. I dunno, man, I'd kind of expect the Tyrant Sun to be bigger than, say, my house.
2. Bizarro's scene is short and tragic and beautiful, and not a two issue-long pounding headache.
3. Lois Lane is Lois Lane, and not a brown-haired misogynist stereotype who happens to share the same name.
4. The Legion of Super-Heroes are in it, instead of being replaced by Morrison's pet idea, the Council of Cross-Time Kangs. Yes, I forgot their name, because I do not care about Superman's grandkid having sex with a 5th-dimensional imp. Kryptonian sperm are vulnerable to magic, Grant. Be consistent!
5. The reaction to Supergirl's unexpected appearance is ultra-sad.
6. Lana Lang is rather bad-ass, if unfortunately somewhat easily defeated by the Legion of Super-Villains member who has his God Mode turned on.
7. That abomination Krypto dies.
8. Superman's (and Moore's) brutal deconstruction of Mxyzptlk, probably the most fearsome enemy he's ever faced.
7. Full point deducted for Superman's crybabying and self-flagellation with gold kryptonite, because he had to destroy an eldritch horror. However...
8 and 9. The wink! YES. DOUBLE-POINTS AWARDED.

Alan Moore wins! I declare him the best "No, I'm the Spiritual Kind of Magician, No I Can't Do Card Tricks--Do You Even Know Who I Am?" in comics.

I mean, no one wants to read about Hush, but I bet Paul Dini can at least do card tricks.

 

I decided to take advantage of the sale, and picked up the issues that make up the Last Son story arc, although I did have to pay full price for AC Annual #11. I'm three issues into and so far I'm really enjoying it. I'll probably finish it up either later tonight or tommarow, the only reason I stopped was because I had to go to work.

 

I've heard conflicting reports about the $60 Marvel deal. I don't know if it includes all new comics, some new comics plus very old comics, etc. I also hear that the reading application is terrible.

 

There website claims it's all of their comics, both old and recent. As for the reader, I've used it for some freebies, and previews and I don't mind it so much. I prefer the Comixology one, but the Marvel one does have an extra magnifier you can turn on, which is nice.

 

I just wanted to let everyone know that Comixology is doing a DC Eisner-award winners sale. They have 1-5 of American Vampire, all 6 issue of Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love (Fables spinoff), all 10 issue of Daytripper, Detective Comics #859-#870, I, Zombie #1-5, The Unwritten #7-#11, Tiny Titans #1-#6, Crisis on Infinite Earths #1-#12, and 2 "seasons" of American Splendor.

 

I haven't read any of those except for From Fabletown with Love (big Fables fan), which I thought was pretty good. Probably a bit confusing if you've never read any of Fables before, though, but if you haven't--you should! It's awesome!

 

american vampire fantastic book. I am going to get farscape comics.

 

I've only read Legends in Exile, and a little bit of later stuff from wikipedia.

Spoiler: Stuff I Know

For example I know that The Adversary is Gepetto and that the Fables eventually go to war with him again.

Would I be able to follow those OK? If not, I'm still going to get them, since I don't know if they'll ever be this cheap again. I just wanted to know if I could read them now, or if I should wait.
I absolutely loved LiE and I am really eager to read more.

 

One thing that mystifies me is, why are digital comics simply print comics "scanned" for a digital screen?

That doesn't really make sense to me.

You should be able to, with one touch, switch seamlessly between pencils, inks, colors, and the final page, at any point in the comic. You should be able to tap a button, and switch colorists or inkers and see the same comic interpreted different ways. You should be able to make all the letterings disappear if you want to admire the artwork. You should be able to "draw" a square (with your fingers) around any cool piece of comics artwork, and set it as your iPhone/Android/iPad/etc's background image.

You should be able to have a page by page AUDIO commentary from the writers. And another commentary from the editor, and the artists. Hell, from EVERYBODY involved.

They should start making comics in a form factor that fits well in smartphones and tablets. Comics which all panels fit well into the rectangular phone shape.

At the end of EVERY new comic there should be a box where you can write your thoughts on that exact comic and zoom it's off to a digital discussion thread (like the review threads here) for that particular issue.

These random ideas are just the tip of the iceberg really. if you're going to have digital comics, have them be DIGITAL COMICS.

 

I have to believe that such features would seriously up the price of the comic.