Good news for digital comics fans, DC has announced it is taking its entire line of comics to the digital day and date model, that I have long encouraged publishers to do. This was announced by DC earlier today and will begin August 31, 2011 with Justice League #1. DC stunned many when it offered digital day and date release of Generation Lost, and now beats Marvel with this announcement.
While this certainly isn’t news brick and mortar stores want to hear right now, keep in mind the relaunching and renumbering is geared primarily to bring in new readers, and combining that with the digital releases should be something that is very attractive to those with the fancy-pants iPad. It’s unfortunate that DC is doing this at the end of August, as the company will have missed a perfect opportunity to bring readers in during the release of Green Lantern. August is also a very busy month for those with more disposable income as they are heading back to school, and are generally caught up in the shenanigans of a new school year. Here’s hoping that doesn’t hurt adoption rates by the one group who should be most keen on digital comics.
6 Comments
I’m looking at this a good thing. While I like having an actual comic book to read, I like the option of being able to read a comic anytime anywhere on my iPad.
I’ll still pick up comics at my LCS but will probably switch a few titles to digital format.
If the digital comics have a lower price point, then I will be thrilled!
Should be very interesting. I wonder if DC did this as a response to criticism that they’re not keeping up with the digital age?
Now I might start buying some digital books on my iPhone. This, combined with digital sales through my local store, will bring me onboard. I’m not going to switch any of my existing subscriptions to digital (unless it’s something I’m on the line about dropping alltogether) but it is great for books I would like to check out, but don’t want to buy: Flash, Justice LEague, JSA, Teen Titans, etc. It’s a nice tier for books I don’t want to pay full price for, and don’t want cluttering up my pristine longboxes.
But again: I want to make sure my local store gets a cut. That program is currently in the works, but it’s the other side of this coin that will have to be in place before I jump on board.
i have no Ipad and till now had no intention on getting one. Will someday I have to buy an expensive product just to read a 3 dollar comic? Not a cool Idea in my opinion.
I’m ichweibnicht and I have a rooted nook color –
I welcome this news from DC and state “it’s about freaking time”!. I wish I had a LCS, OK a good LCS. My favorite LCS closed years ago leaving my county with a LCS staffed with kids who couldn’t care less about service or that little thing like checking the customer out at the register. And you would swear they’re busy doing drugs in the back room. I have my comics shipped and may be switching my DC titles over to digital.
However, unless the digital subscription model improves, this may not be the “win” DC is expecting it to be. My only experience with digital comics is comixology. Unless I’m missing something, I don’t see anything like a subscription feature or a feature that will automatically get all the titles from an “event”. I also think the comixology web site could use work. It’s almost like they’re trying to be clever when all I want is to buy stuff. Dear internet retailers, there is a reason I give Amazon a $hitload of money every month, and ease of shopping is one of them.