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Author Topic: Big Two's digital decision  (Read 2699 times)
Perry
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« on: March 30, 2020, 03:53:17 PM »

So, it appears that both Marvel and DC WILL be selling digital copies of their comics that were due to hit this week and a lot of feelings are being felt about that around the net. To say the least.
DC has said the reason they are doing it is that their research has found that the people that buy digital are not the same as those they buy physical, that they are different consumers. Meanwhile a lot of shop owners are crying foul that this will kill their shops.

I do find it odd that some of the ones that are complaining about the decision are the same ones that were downplaying the entire idea of digital comics to begin with. Saying stuff like "There will always be physical copies of comics. We will be fine". which I agree with, but now they are worried, and rightfully so I suppose, that those that ONLY bought physical may get used to buying digital and never return. I don't think that, but I also know that there will be loses. At least some.

I know most here at the Realm are either on MU and DCU so not buying most of the big two comics to begin with and I know of no-one here that is currently buying big two physical copies, but do you think ... if you did buy big two floppies would you leave them for the time being and buy digital, thus hurting the LCS later or would you wait until the distrubition is figured out to buy?

I know I still plan on buying a couple issues when they hit this Wednesday and I'm actually glad they are hitting. I may not get all my comics, but I at least get my big two issues that I wanted.

I do feel for the shops, but honestly, I am surprised that digital hasn't already done more harm than it has to them so maybe they can survive this as well?
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Jimmy T
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« Reply #1 on: March 30, 2020, 06:54:58 PM »

I wish the guys from the two LCS I frequented for over 27 years all the success they can get-local business owners! Doing what they love! Finding their passion and making it a reality!

Yet...I find myself struggling in a small part when I consider the larger, societal and progressive impact of the digital evolving age.

If we were the best of friends with Blockbuster and Family Video, would we raise the chant of 'man, we need to keep these places open!' or do we look at it as an aging dinosaur industry, that unfortunately, the world has passed due to how that kind of content is processed?

(now mind you, I have on occasion in the last 1.5 years looked for a movie I wanted to show my wife. Not on Netflix, hulu, or Amazon Prime, all I pay for. So, I had to buy a used copy for $9 off of Amazon for it. Then, THEN, that's when I bemoaned no local rental places).

But to bring it back...should we ...should we believe that the avenue for comics/comics purchasing/comics outlets be the specialty shops and stores? I mean, we no longer have the specialty (that I know!) sports memorabilia stores filled with sports trading cards and such. That method has...passed.

Now, I'm not advocating for the closing of all LCS. But if I sit back to analyze what it's 'society purpose is' I question it's long term strength.

Do we believe all the vapr/e-cig stores are going to stay around? No, that will, at some point, no longer be able to support itself. We won't wish for them back.

I will probably always wish for the LCS to be around; they are cool places! But WHOSE job is it to keep that a viable establishment? I mean, all kids still get tons of toys for birthdays and holidays, but that didn't keep Toys'R'Us open at all anymore. Shit, the Dairy State Wisconsin lost over 10% of it's dairy farms last year-almost 800 farmers lost it all. We need that milking industry, but this state has lost almost 2000 farms in the last 4 years.

Some things just don't work. But I also don't know 'who' fixes them. With the increase of Dungeons and Dragons play, these LCS better specialize in Adventure League and Pathfinder Society on the weekends. Maintain being a site of judged Magic the Gathering tournaments, as well as being a Yu-gi-oh site. Adapt, innovate, or get out while the getting is good.

*** wrote this over 3 stopping periods over 25 minutes. Here's hoping it makes sense!!

Rereading Perry's post...I think shops can survive, but like the dairy farms here...they will continue to go away....
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Jimmy T since 2001
Perry
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« Reply #2 on: March 30, 2020, 07:56:45 PM »

I am still to this day surprised we still have comic stores. It boggles my mind. Honestly.

And while I do think shops will be around a long time, I do think eventually comics will out-price themselves, it has to happen. Cost will always continue to rise on paper, ink and employee pay so of course comics will soon be $7 and they will die.

Floppies that is.

I realize/believe that the only true future comics have (as price will no longer make them viable once a certain generation of "completest" dies off) will be the trades and OGN. That I think is the future of comics, if anything.

Print will always have its crowd, slowly dwindling amount of fans perhaps, but fans, but even novels, by and large, has almost reached its price to inflation cap. Comics passed theirs very long ago. Comics rose past the inflation standard many years ago.

Take Matchbox Cars. Remember them? I do. (Well, I was actually on the other side, I was a Hot Wheels guys but hey a good Matchbox car was cool) Well I read an article back a few years back, maybe 5 years or so, that a guy wrote, talking about how he was flipping through a 1965(?) comic, a 12¢ comic, and there was an add for Matchbox. Each car was about 50¢ (something like that) and he did the math and Matchbox cars at the time of the article had gone up to ... I don't know .. $2 or so and how that equated to (using my pricing here, not his as I can't remember exactly what it was) ... it adds up to 400% increase. From 1963 to 2015(?) that isn't too shabby. Not really. But compare that to a damn comic? 12¢ to $3?
What is that ... "tap, tap, tap, carry the 8 ..." 2400% !!!!

See the problem?!?!?!

Comics, due to no-ones fault but how they are made, have gone up an insane amount vs any other form of entertainment out there.
How much was a movie in '65?

Crap ... now I have to look.

 Grin

Okay, first off all I found that article I was talking about so let me edit that in ...
HERE is the hot Wheel / Comic comparison ...

and HERE is the ticket price through the years. Now it goes back to 1910, but if you look at 1965 ... ish ... the average movie ticket was about $1. One dollar for a movie, 12¢ for a comic.
Now it is (on average) $9 for a ticket, $4 for a comic.
HAHA
Funny how that switched yeah?

Theater tickets still only went up 800% while a comic, today, went up 3,225%

3,000 percent increase?

HAHAHA
Yeah, it won't be long ... Comics are hanging on by their fingertips now ... It is only a matter of time before the ledge they are holding crumbles.
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Avatar mash-up is from Ross Pearsall... and of course those that own the original characters Smiley
Jimmy T
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« Reply #3 on: March 30, 2020, 08:30:59 PM »

I link in my mind comics and cartoon strips as well.

With the advent of newspapers going the way of icebergs (ooOoOOooOoo topical Jim!), how to cartoon strips last? I may nto always like the views of Scot Kurtz when he opens his mouth, but the man forged ahead when syndications and newspapers told him no way for how he would break in with PvP. So he did it himself.

And the man has made himself, and is doing cartooning, and I think it's great.

Even with all the rerun strips, my kids will never know Peanuts, Garfield, Beetle Bailey, Hagar the Horrible, Blondie & Dagwood, Foxtrot, Marmaduke, Family Circus, Doonesbury, Calvin & Hobbes (well, I own all that actually Wink ).

I love cartoons as an art form and entertainment form.

But the meme has essentially taken that over. Reused screen shots, the same jpeg image, clever wording, and it's nearly endlessly entertaining.

Will 'kids' these days fondly recall the memes of their youth?: Kermit the frog doing his sun tea drink. Willy Wonka leaning on his head on his hand, Ray Liotta laughing maniacally in the bar, the little heavy toddler boy going 'yes!' with a fist pump (and how many of these do you even recognize as I listed them?). Boromir from LotR 'one does not simply...' to name another.

I'm not ready to say 'it'll be in my times that comics go away'....but I guess I will say I won't put it past me to see it happen though.

Then again, Dungeons & Dragons was in it's death throes for a long time in the late 90s to mid 2000s. Then along comes 5th Edition, then comes the youtube generation of just wanting to watch others play; video games, board games, unboxing packages...and watching role playing games. D&D has never been quite as popular, accepted, or even understood.

Ask me 15 years ago if this would be happening, I'd tell you no.

So who knows? Maybe retro things will make comics seem cool, and suddenly decades of library material in comics will be the new scene.

I don't believe it though. Also, I no longer believe it's up to 'me' to carry the torch to see them survive and live though. Not my responsibility. But as a consumer, I'll take them in as I can, and as I'm still entertained.
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Jimmy T since 2001
Perry
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« Reply #4 on: March 31, 2020, 06:50:03 PM »

 Angry
Well DC decided yesterday to NOT put digital up and now Marvel has decided to do the same.

Look, I get it, but still, that sucks.

Guess it is back issue reading for awhile for me  Undecided
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Avatar mash-up is from Ross Pearsall... and of course those that own the original characters Smiley
Jeff
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« Reply #5 on: April 05, 2020, 09:57:01 PM »

Angry
Well DC decided yesterday to NOT put digital up and now Marvel has decided to do the same.

Look, I get it, but still, that sucks.

Guess it is back issue reading for awhile for me  Undecided

I missed this post.   Not happy as I buy all digital already.  But I guess I do have plenty in backlog to keep me going for a month or two.
« Last Edit: April 09, 2020, 03:00:12 PM by Jeff » Logged

“If I could go back in time and like tell 11 year old me that like not only do you get to go to Comic Con but you go every year.  So much so that you get greeted by Stan Lee when you show up.  And 11 year old me would be like - How did we get so fat?”- Kevin Smith
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