Comic company IDW has a vision for the future...one that's far more in touch with reality than the visions of Marvel or DC.
Yesterday, IDW announced the release of its new line of digital comics.
“E-publishing is clearly becoming an important part of the comics world, and IDW is leading the way,” said company CEO Ted Adams. “With these new apps, people who have never even been to a comic book store can now begin enjoying this great medium in a whole new way.”
Let's here it for SOMEONE in the comic industry embracing technology!
I know Marvel has a subscription service, but you never own the files. You can't collect, just read. And from what I can tell, it's a scatter shot of titles and issues...far from organized and with many gaping holes. (To their credit, they have a lot to go through and digitize. But there is no indication from them that they'll ever e-publish a full run of anything major, like FF or Spidey.)
Anyhoo - this IS the future of comics, kids. I've mentioned this before, but I'll say it again...the next generation of comic lovers (my kid, your kid) is growing up digital. And to ignore that is to flush revenue down the toilet. We Gen-Xers may not like the idea of losing paper product, but that's what's going to happen eventually. The smart companies are preparing for that now.
Will paper and ink comics ever disappear completely? No way. I think as long as books are in print, we'll have comic shops and graphic novels. But that's not where the money is going to be anymore. Yes, it'll turn profit, but no, it won't be raking it in hand-over-fist like digital comics will. Digital comics = very little overhead. Traditional comics = ink, paper, printing, distribution, etc. Perhaps we'll see the (sad) day when comics only see paper in TPB form...after a years worth of digital comics for that series have been released.
What do you think? Is this going to pay off for IDW? Or is it taking too big a step too soon?
since it's coming up, hope you don't forget to tell everyone that marvel vs capcom 2 should be available for download on xbox live 6/30 for like 14.99 i think or 1200 live points (i think) psn should get it later that week.
Posted by: crash | June 23, 2009 at 08:25 AM
Ooo - nice! I will bring it up next week. And I'll download for PS3 as well. :)
Posted by: Carlos | June 23, 2009 at 10:19 AM