Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Once you've registered and completed email validation, you'll need to reply to the thread in The Welcome mat before you gain full access to the site.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Free Comic Book Day 2011
Topic Started: May 8 2011, 09:36 AM (361 Views)
lastchance
Member Avatar
Senior Member
[ *  *  *  * ]
No love for this on VSSystem.org??? Oh, well. Anyways...

I'm personally shocked that I couldn't find one download of any of these issues! This industry is SO against digital it crazy! The single biggest mistake the music industry made was not jumping into digital sales as soon as they possibly could, but also not getting in after the 3rd or 4th opportunities also. Comic sales are declining? Well then maximize your efforts to get your product out there. They are only losing more potential sales and future fans by NOT going digital. How in the world could it have hurt them in this instance? All the books were free anyway!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
carlosthedwarf
Member Avatar
Alpha Flight LIVES!!
[ *  *  *  *  * ]
You can preview all of them online (follow the link on my blog) - not the same as a download, but a step in that direction i guess...

The SOLE purpose of Free Comic Book Day is to get people into comic shops. It's a marketing thing. Making the free comics digital would kinda defeat the purpose!
Edited by carlosthedwarf, May 8 2011, 02:32 PM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Hatman
Member Avatar
Alphan For Life
[ *  *  *  *  * ]
As Carlos said, the whole point of the event is to get people into the comic book stores. If they were to be released online a month or two afterwards I'd be cool with that, but they shouldn't be available online the same day.

I do agree that the current digital distribution system isn't very good when it easily could be. That being said, I much prefer holding my comics in my hand so it doesn't bother me that much. :)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
lastchance
Member Avatar
Senior Member
[ *  *  *  * ]
I've been reading and collecting comics for about 25 years. In the past year I've come to realize a few things:

comics

- Are too expensive to read just once at $3 (even more at $4)
- Are too expensive to collect as an investment at $3 (even more at $4) when the resale value immediately after purchasing them is $1 (ifyou can sell it)
- They take up too much damn room
- They needlessly use up wood from trees that I need to make air and shade

Honestly, there are just too many good reasons to go digital. I feel for the local comic shops, but they ARE a dying breed. If the big chain bookstores are going out of business and are having a hard time, it's only a matter of time before the extinction of the comic shop.

I also hate to say this, but the reality is that thousands of people are already file sharing comics for free. If the industry wasn't so afraid and have set up an easy system of downloading comics (new and old) at a fair price, then they could and could have saved too many people going to a free system.

In the end, they're going to realize that they can sell digital comics at a cheaper price by cutting out the middle man (printers, distributers, sales space) and therefore selling more comics and making more money.

In the past two years alone I've seen a lot of comic shops go out of business and that rate doesn't seem to be slowing down!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
lastchance
Member Avatar
Senior Member
[ *  *  *  * ]
@ carlosthedwarf - Thanks for the link, by the way!

One more reason to go digital:

- It's a lot less time consuming downloading your comics from your computer rather than having to go out of your way to travel to get them!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
carlosthedwarf
Member Avatar
Alpha Flight LIVES!!
[ *  *  *  *  * ]
I 100% agree that digital will be the future of comics. But the future isn't here yet. There are still millions of comic book fans who don't have internet access. Weigh that against the thousands stealing comics, and you'll see why the comic companies aren't too worried...yet.

One more thing to think about - if comics went all digital today:

- comic store employees lose their jobs.
- many distribution employees lose their jobs.
- some postal/ups/fedex employees lose their jobs.
- Printing presses cut jobs.
- Comic companies lose ad revenue
- Ink suppliers cut jobs.
- The millions without internet access can't get comics.

There is a lot invested in this industry. I understand your frustration, but it's going to take a while before the mindset of the masses matches your mindset.

But I think that day will come. In our lifetime for sure.

(But, like vinyl, paper books will never disappear completely.)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
muller_factory
Member Avatar
Senior Member
[ *  *  *  * ]
carlosthedwarf
(time=)

- some postal/ups/fedex employees lose their jobs.
Understand your point but this is a little exaggerated. Even by now with the huge surge of email they still are able to hold their jobs. So I seriously doubt with comics going digital create this kind of impact.
Edited by muller_factory, May 8 2011, 11:15 PM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Hatman
Member Avatar
Alphan For Life
[ *  *  *  *  * ]
My LCS actually continues to expand, but they do so by diversifying. They not only sell comics, they sell toys, CCGs, etc. I realize that is against the trend, but it's nice to know not all comic stores are struggling.

And part of the fun of collecting older comics is the hunt; I spent years tracking down my Alpha Flight volume 1 run, and the joy I felt at finding a new piece can't be matched by simply buying an entire run on e-bay. I have bought runs on e-bay and while it's great to get the books there is something to be said for The Hunt. You don't get that with digital.

I do have a number of the GIT Corp collections and some other digital downloads, and I think there is room for both models for now. I have no delusions that the print comic will one day go away, but that may end my comic collecting career (though if I can find a suitable e-reader/tablet that fits my budget that might change things).
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
carlosthedwarf
Member Avatar
Alpha Flight LIVES!!
[ *  *  *  *  * ]
muller_factory
May 8 2011, 11:13 PM
carlosthedwarf
(time=)

- some postal/ups/fedex employees lose their jobs.
Understand your point but this is a little exaggerated. Even by now with the huge surge of email they still are able to hold their jobs. So I seriously doubt with comics going digital create this kind of impact.
How do comics get from the printing press to the comic distributors? [cool]

That's a lot of $$ to fly those heavy books all around the world.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · General Discussion · Next Topic »
Add Reply

Marvel Comics Character Images, Character Names and Card Text Copyright 2009 Marvel Characters Ltd. and/or Upper Deck Entertainment, LLC. DC Comics Character Images, Character Names and Card Text Copyright 2009 DC Characters Ltd. and/or Upper Deck Entertainment, LLC.