Long Live Printed Comic Books

Print is dead. Long Live Print.

The rise of tablets and the ease of access to digital content has impacted all printed materials, from newspapers to our beloved comic books. Both of the major publishers, DC and Marvel, have recently embraced digital comics. While digital comics really aren’t anything new, they are becoming more main stream and accepted by fans.

Will digital see the deal of the printed comic? From a publishers point of view, they have to be incredibly appealing. No printing costs, no materials and no physical distribution is necessary. Digital comics also offer the possibility of interaction. Some have been made allowing the fans the ability to peel away the different layers, revealing the various layers and steps that go into crafting the book.

As tablets become cheaper and more common, we will only see an increase in the sales of digital comics that will likely drive their evolution even faster. It is only natural for the content of comics to change along with this progression.

In an interview with Variety, Geoff Johns admits to altering his writing style to take advantage of the digital format. “It’s just a subtlesubconscious change — it feels different,” Johns said. “It’s like when Hitchcock used to shoot those angles, kind of canted angles in his films. It would be a normal room but because an angle was turned, it would feel a little bit off. I think there are certain things we can play around with.”

So what shall become of our beloved printed editions? Are they headed the way of the Dodo? Comics are changing with the technology around us, which is a good thing, but the paper versions are going to be around for a bit longer I believe. The advent of eReaders like the Kindle and the Nook have not killed the printed book. In fact some studies have shown that giving away a free digital copy of the book actually increased print sales. Ted Adams, CEO of IDW Publishing confirmed the same statistic, digital comics are actually helping print sales.

Digital delivery appeals to the current crop of kids, who know the world only in this way. Comics are able to reach a broader market in their digital versions, which is introducing them to this generation. The ability to buy a comic at anytime from anywhere, if you have the right device, dramatically increases the reach of comics. Local Comic Shops have been reduced in number, as many other small retailers, in the recent hard economic times and the availability of ‘real’ comics is limited.

Now we are seeing a resurgence in interest, due in large part to the success of comic based movies. Some of these new fans are becoming comic converts, and buying the stories that inspired the films. Those lucky enough to have a LCS are even buying the paper versions.

Digital comic books are great, and offer options that are simply impossible to do in print. But there is nothing to compare with the experience of going to your LCS, seeing all the books stacked in their displays, brilliant colored covers exploding with dynamic images of heroes and villains.