THE iPAD AND THE COMICS (Part Two)

Another enterprising observer of the passing digitalis, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Andy Ihnatko, anticipating, perhaps, the advent of iPad, interviewed honchos at both Marvel and DC Comics to see if the Big Two were poised to plunge into the electronic surf. DC Comics, he reported on March 29, currently has no digital publishing initiative to speak of. Marvel, on the other hand, launched its Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited subscription service two years ago. “It offers all-you-can-eat access to an ever-expanding library of comics (7,500, as of this week) for little as five bucks a month” ... but “it's more geared towards deep back issues rather than new releases, and you can only access these comics through the service's Flash-based website. You can't download them onto a mobile device for Internet-free reading.”

 

Despite these differences, neither publisher is ready to jump into digital publishing just yet. Both are waiting until “the ground firms up a lot more.” Said  John Rood, DC’s executive vice-president of sales, marketing, and business development: “I would say that we haven't seen an opportunity as being missed yet. We're not going to rush into any new platform or new partnership, especially if it's going to result in a sub-optimal product or a sub-optimal enjoyment, or a sub-optimal business plan."

 

Tom Brevoort, Marvel's VP and executive editor, described digital comics as "a new thing that's sort of off in the distance. I don't think it's entirely crystalized exactly what they're going to be, how the delivery system is going to work, how we're going to adapt the style of storytelling and the kind of things that we do to this new medium."

 

Neither company contemplates the disappearance of the printed comic book. Jim Lee, co-publisher at DC, has done his own informal market research, and while he encountered many who are Torrenting comics, when he asked them how they would prefer to read their comics, “they always prefer to read it on paper. People do put a premium on actually holding a comic book.”

 

Writes Ihnatko: “Both companies expressed a commitment to print publishing and described digital distribution as just another way of getting their stories and characters in front of an audience.”

 

Both companies, Ihnatko added, “stressed the importance of building a digital model that would ultimately bring more customers in to comic book shops.” Comic book shops are like mini-comicons, said Marvel's Ira Rubenstein, executive vice president of global digital media. "Going to the shop on Wednesday [when new comics arrive every week] is where they gather with the other fans and it's a real experience. I don't think you can replace that experience virtually."

 

Their goal, Ihnatko said, is to use digital to expand the market for printed comics, and not simply replace it.