Digital distribution has undeniably been good for comics. Even though the research shows that all DC really managed to do with the New 52 was bring back former readers, the industry doesn’t really care, as long as it can keep selling comic books.
That said, that was also largely limited to one or two apps, mostly notably Comixology, which has implemented some frustrating design changes over the last year or so. There was also the question of not screwing your local comics shop: Retailers were understandably a wee bit worried about digital pretty much driving them out of business.
Well, that didn’t happen. Sales of actual books on glossy paper are up 12% over at DC, even while digital sales are up nearly 200%. In fact, DC is rapidly expanding their digital availability: you’ll be able to buy books day and date on the Nook, Kindle, and iBooks storefronts. So, in an age where record stores are a dying species, Blockbuster is now a shell of itself, and bookstores are getting jittery about the Kindle… why are physical comic book stores not only not bleeding… but thriving?
Unfortunately, Only The Urban Shops Survived
I’m an exception when it comes to comics fans: I live in a major city, and there are no fewer than four comics shops ten to twenty minutes walk from my apartment. But as comics fans go, I’m the exception.
My dad is a pretty typical example of the comics fan left adrift. He lives in rural New England, and already had to drive thirty miles to hit the local comics shops. Then his nearest shop closed down its retail operations; now the closest place to buy floppies is two hours away. Keep in mind this means no fewer than five shops in the area have closed between 1995 and 2005.
More than that, comic book shops are more and more the only retail outlet left for floppies. When was the last time you saw this at a drug store or grocery store?
About the only comics you can reliably find in grocery stores anymore are Archie Digests, and even those are lately a dying breed. There’s a lot of reasons for that, the most basic being that in the aftermath of the comics collapse of the late ’90s, only Diamond was left. So if you want your single issues, you either have to be very dedicated or very lucky.
Subscriptions Are… Less Than Ideal
Diamond is infamously not great, as our commenters can tell you. But, having fought with subscriptions departments before, it can be frustrating, and smaller publishers may simply not offer subs. Also, getting your comics in the mail not only sets you up for trashed comics, but also lost comics. The reality is comic book shops are not in the mail-order business to any true degree anymore, and the postal service will not be treating your comics with any real respect.
Some of Us Just Don’t Have The Space For Floppies
Ask anybody who has ever had to move longboxes: being a comics fan requires not just money, but space. And lots of it. Also, when you inevitably have to move somewhere else, a reasonable amount of upper-body strength.
There are a few comics I own the complete run of because I can’t read them otherwise: John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake’s run on The Spectre, for example. But I just don’t have the room. I have too much other stuff, like clothes and furniture. I had to buy a tablet to read comics, but that, I’ve got room for.
So, for now, at least, digital and physical comics can co-exist. It’ll be interesting to see what happens as DC expands its digital plans, and whether other publishers such as Image or Dark Horse follow.
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Glad you mentioned the trouble with space. I’m trying to get all my comics into one room and it just isn’t happening. I might have to head over to eBay soon.
Yeah. My dad has a 600-book collection from the ’90s, and I have to move that bastard every time I go home to visit. Comics are heavy.
as far as the loss of the “neighborhood comics shop” is concerned, I’m lucky in the sense that where I live on Long Island NY, there are actually still a couple of local comics stores that are not dead (yet). The one I have my pull list at is literally a block away from my parent’s house where I grew up. needless to say, I’m the exception. I can list at least 5 comics stores that were in my surrounding area that have closed years ago, that were once huge bustling businesses. It’s very sad.
Dan – “floppies?” I’ve been collecting comics my whole life and I’ve never once heard that expression, lol.
I’ve only recently started buying comics digitally, and the only reason why is because my work situation is such where I’m in front of a computer all day and (when I’m not actually working) I’m lucky enough to be able to do things like comment on this site and read comics. I haven’t bought much at all though, just a couple of issues to bide my time here. why? mainly because I still like having the physical copies. yes they take up space, but I’m not that crazy collector that has sixteen longboxes taking up massive space in my house. I collect physical copies for 2 reasons: #1, I like re-reading what I’m a fan of, and #2, on the off-chance that something I bought becomes valuable (like the Walking Dead first print issues #26-current that I have… #27 alone, the first appearance of the Governor, is apparently worth $200+).
Yeah, I think there’s still a lot of room for physical comics, personally, but I have enough problems moving my graphic novel collection.
Although I’d think you’d be a digital evangelist considering how much Diamond screwed you over getting Revival!
agreed – my graphic novel collection is pretty insane, it takes up 2 whole bookcases in my room.
I heard Revival #1 first printing goes for over $12 now! friggin’ Diamond!!!
Maybe its just my specific area, but near me you can get most current issues of comics at my local Barnes and Nobel. How much longer that store will be around (its gigantic and taking up real estate in the biggest consumer goods market in the country) is a different story.
Really? Huh. I was under the impression B&N and comics publishers were in a peeing match over Amazon. Maybe the fiscal realities outweigh corporate.
When I was a kid, they still had the rotating racks in drugstores; I discovered comics there and was only after I wanted to find back issues that I sought out a comic shop, at which point my ‘collecting’ increased dramatically and hasn’t stopped.
I’m sure everyone and their mother has an opinion about how to get more comic readers; I think making them that accessible again would be more successful than rebooting titles or renumbering every couple of years. Do DC and Marvel think that anyone outside of existing fans keep up with that stuff — that someone has been watching Amazing Spider-Man for over 600 issues from afar, ‘Gee I’d like to read that, but I’ll wait til they renumber them.’ If anything ‘new readers’ are just going to be confused that Superman is a teenager or Spider-Man is from the future and/or has no legs (or whatever ‘Superior’ is going to be).
I’m a pretty avid reader, but even I admit it is kind of a hassle to take time off every Wednesday and travel across town to a specialty shop, lest someone buy all the Captain Marvel issues before I get there. I don’t see a person casually easing into that ritual just because they enjoyed an Iron Man movie a couple of years ago. Comics should be sold in more places.
Although, I don’t get why comics being heavy or taking up too much space in my apartment helps a local comic shop…
you should a pull list at your local, so you are guaranteed a copy of whatever you are looking forward to every Wednesday.
I do agree though that us “pull list” creatures are a rare variety, and that not many people would be willing to sit and dive into a PREVIEWS magazine every month, picking what books you want to order. your love of the medium has to be pretty damn strong. especially since they make you BUY that fucking magazine.
Pull lists are wonderful things, but GET YOUR LIST EVERY WEEK. Seriously. Comic shop owners go BALLISTIC about people who sub and then never buy books.
rightfully so though… I mean, you’re essentially telling them to buy books (they DO have to buy them, it’s not like they can return them) that you, in turn, are buying. if you don’t, they’re left with a ton of books that other people might not give half a shit about.
I mean, last week my order included the Image “Thought Bubble” anthology.. .cool as shit book but no one I know would ever buy that.
I’m selling off the contents of 20 long boxes starting at a garage sale this weekend. Mostly 80′s/90′s titles. For many of the comics I will miss, I checked online to see if the series was available digitally before consigning it to the sale boxes, rather than the two long boxes that are my “keepers.”
I just don’t have physical room in my life for around 5,000 comics any more.
I started ComicBin because of a number of these issues.
I couldn’t keep buying comics and storing them. Partly due to space considerations, but partly due to just not wanting to hold onto issues I knew wouldn’t be worth even their cover price after I bought them. I still have several long boxes, but I haven’t even thumbed through them in a decade, if not more.
Buying digital comics, even at $1/each gets crazy expensive if you want to get back issues. Iron Man has been in over 5000 comics. That’s just not going to happen for many of us.
Getting to a comic store isn’t a huge problem for me, I’m pretty lucky. But even so, last time I went I was charged for a free comic and they told me that I needed to order a comic 3 months in advance if I wanted a copy because they didn’t order any.
No, with ComicBin, I can read a ton of comics for $9/month and I don’t have to store anything. When cool things come along (like a friend of mine getting her first writing work in a major title) I can go buy a bunch of copies and get her to sign them and support her. For the rest, I read them online and enjoy the stories.