CBR: Millar Draws A Line On Digital Distribution

[CBR News]

With the release of his latest "Kick-Ass" issue today, Mark Millar is taking a stance against day and date digital comics, and he tells CBR why print first is better for comics and retailers and how the series brings back Hit-Girl.


Full article here.

[christinereed]

I think Millar may have a good point about digital releases. From what I've seen written on the forums here, digital customers want a price break and wouldn't mind waiting to get their copy. However, I balk at digital being third, behind print single issues and tpb. I'd like to get my digital issue at the same time or before tpb.

[darkxmen]

I am a huge comic book reader, not a casual fan, I don't want or have the space to collect this white long boxes. I love my digital comics, and they should be day and day date. Digital is here now and its not going away, there should be a choice for people who want to read there comics the way that they choose too.

[Chad Anderson]

"But release comics digitally on the same day as a higher price point print edition is basically sentencing the latter to death."

Millar is operating from a total misunderstanding of day and date digital as it currently exists.

NO ONE releases day and date digital for cheaper than print right now. And given that most comic shops cut subscribers a break on price, the scenario he's describing here actually exists in reverse. It's cheaper to buy print. (Yes, you get a break in the digital price after a month in many cases, but by that point, most comic shops have moved on to the next issue.)

And his doomsday scenario doesn't seem to have come to pass in the past few months when DC went day and date on its entire line and still experienced record sales for its print editions.

Sure, there are issues to be worked out as comics go forward into digital, but can we please discuss the actual issues that exist?

[Just Endless]

I could not agree with Millar more. I still think he's a bad writer (Goddamn Ultimate Avengers, SO BAD), but he's just earned heaps of respect in my eyes. And I'll be picking up the charity book today, I think.

[Chad Anderson]

And darkxmen, I'm with you. I have a storage space filled with comics, and the idea of not adding to that pile is why I switched to digital for my monthly books. I'm even chipping away at the pile by replacing print copies with digital where I can via 99¢ sales and the like.

At this point, if companies all went with Millar's plan for digital customers to be third in line, I might just stop buying new stuff entirely.

[matthew_lane]

At this point, if companies all went with Millar's plan for digital customers to be third in line, I might just stop buying new stuff entirely.

Frankly mate, you stopping collecting comics is of significantly less import then the people who would lose there livelyhoods if this digital sillyness goes ahead as it is.

This will turn out to be just like VR in the 1980's... You know, the obvious direction the technology is obviously going in & we all know it... Right up until the second its possible & people realize its a crap way of doing this thing & we were happier with the thing you had before hand. A technological pipe dream, that would require the reinvention of human nature at a fundemental level to actually work.

sure for major collectors like yourself it might be useful, but for that 99% of the buying market who is not you, this digital release system as it is right now, may well just kill the hobby.

[darkmorgado]

NO ONE releases day and date digital for cheaper than print right now. And given that most comic shops cut subscribers a break on price, the scenario he's describing here actually exists in reverse. It's cheaper to buy print.

They do? Maybe over in America but sadly that's not the case over here in the UK.

[minusthesnake]

So I guess no one has been reading all of the article's CBR has been posting where they've interviewed comic shop owners and they've all said that day-and-date digital hasn't hurt their sales and, in some cases, has sent people into their stores looking for more stuff to buy?

Millar's heart is in the right place, but he seems incredibly uneducated on this issue.

Digital is here, it's not going anywhere, and it shouldn't. The comic industry hopefully learned the lesson that the music industry took way too long to: EMBRACE DIGITAL OR GO EXTINCT!

[darkmorgado]

Anyway, I have no problem with alternative distribution methods, but the amount of weight being given to digital at the moment will have a harmful effect on retailers - the vast majority of whom are also long-time fans of the companies that are now going to be screwing them over.

I don't buy digital, despite owning an ipad. I prefer print. Not for reasons of cost, but because I like having a physical copy of something instead of just data. I like the ritual of going to my local comic shop, spending my time poring over the shelves, taking some comics home with me, then cataloguing, bagging, boarding and boxing them.

And, to paraphrase Giles from Buffy, you can't beat the smell of a good comic book.

[Chad Anderson]

Frankly mate, you stopping collecting comics is of significantly less import then the people who would lose there livelyhoods if this digital sillyness goes ahead as it is.

This will turn out to be just like VR in the 1980's... You know, the obvious direction the technology is obviously going in & we all know it... Right up until the second its possible & people realize its a crap way of doing this thing & we were happier with the thing you had before hand. A technological pipe dream, that would require the reinvention of human nature at a fundemental level to actually work.

sure for major collectors like yourself it might be useful, but for that 99% of the buying market who is not you, this digital release system as it is right now, may well just kill the hobby.

Frankly, mate, I'm confused: If, as you say, the success of digital releases "would require the reinvention of human nature at a fundemental level to actually work" and are not useful for "that 99% of the buying market who is not [me]," then how is digital going to kill the hobby?

As I pointed out above, day-and-date digital generally COSTS MORE than print now. So yeah, it's probably not for everyone. And I don't see companies changing that anytime soon, in order to protect the comic shops, and I'm OK with that. For me, the extra expense is worth the convenience when it comes to dealing with monthlies.

[Chad Anderson]

They do? Maybe over in America but sadly that's not the case over here in the UK.

Sorry to hear it.

[mistergoodman]

This will turn out to be just like VR in the 1980's... You know, the obvious direction the technology is obviously going in & we all know it... Right up until the second its possible & people realize its a crap way of doing this thing & we were happier with the thing you had before hand. A technological pipe dream, that would require the reinvention of human nature at a fundemental level to actually work.

sure for major collectors like yourself it might be useful, but for that 99% of the buying market who is not you, this digital release system as it is right now, may well just kill the hobby.

Wait, digital is a crap way of doing things, and it's going to kill the hobby? If it's a crap, how is it a threat to paper? The only way same day/same price digital releases could be a threat to the retail market is if a signficant number of people prefer digital to shopping at a local store.

[Chad Anderson]

So I guess no one has been reading all of the article's CBR has been posting where they've interviewed comic shop owners and they've all said that day-and-date digital hasn't hurt their sales and, in some cases, has sent people into their stores looking for more stuff to buy?

I think it's easier to run around like Chicken Little.

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if that lack of effect on print sales changes a bit after DC's huge push for the New 52 dies down and the years pass, but I think you're right, ignoring digital is a recipe for disaster.

[darkmorgado]

Sorry to hear it.

Not to mention that comics here are normally sold at a higher price than the actual currency conversion would suggest. Very often stores just replace the $ with a £.