I’ve pretty much embraced the digital revolution. I moved to MP3 back when you marvelled at devices’ 512Mb storage. And I was an early ebook adopter, back when Fictionwise would let you buy ebooks from the UK without any regional restrictions.
However, I’ve been slow to move to digital comics. It’s not the concept that I have an issue with, it’s a case of storage. I don’t mind paying for content – I like my content to be legally acquired. But with that comes a condition. If I migrate from one device to another as formats and devices change and become obsolete, I want to be able to take my content with me. If that means having to crack a DRM so my mobipocket books can go onto my kindle, then so be it. I don’t mind going through a little bit of pain to do it, so long as I can IF it becomes necessary.
The problem with cloud storage means that if Comixology goes out of business tomorrow, I’d lose my digital comics collection… and that would suck. In 10 years’ time when the technology has moved on and we’re all using some other device or app, I’d like to take my legally purchased comics with me.
My friend and upcoming superhero novelist, Adam Christopher, says that this is the future and I just need to get used to it. And I suppose he’s right to some extent. I’m worrying about something that hasn’t happened yet, but it’s been enough to stop me jumping onboard with digital.
DC’s new 52 has me excited. Whilst I suspect that Marvel will remain my spiritual superhero universe, I’m interested to see what DC are going to do with the universe. Previous attempts to get into DC have not met with success, but I’m keen to give it a go.
I’ll probably pick up some of the comics out later tonight, but my worries about storage are probably going to make me buy less than I otherwise would.
Moving To Digital Comics
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About the Author: Adrian
I followed an almost identical path, early adopter of MP3 & ebooks. After misadventures with MS Reader I vowed only to buy ebooks that I could remove the DRM from. Each time I got a cast iron removal mechanism saw huge leap in purchases (MS LIT, then eReader/PDB, Adobe ePub then Kindle). Comics on iPad are glorious to read but worrisome to own! There are numerous apps, each with their own quirks, and until the latest Comixology update, none had very good on-device library management. The new app understands story arcs so I can at last work through the Blackest Night 80 issue mega arc I got when they had it on sale last year. I am still bothered by retention though. I did discover a script to extract the comics once, but haven’t revisited that recently. They have probably obfuscated the data somewhat (it was previously a simple collection of jpgs).
I also notice that IDW have some titles in iBooks and they look lovely, but I don’t have a solution for preserving them. Given the slightly more ephemeral nature of comics I think a subscription service would be great, but I do want to own and keep my ebooks. Interesting times. In the end I just got the Swamp Thing DC52 issue and wonder what else to dip into.