Reading Comics: Print vs Digital

First and foremost – please support your local comic shop. Because these ‘direct market’ vendors have been the infrastructure around which the western comics audience has been growing and thriving over the last 30 years. These ‘brick and mortar’ stores serve as physical hubs for the community, allowing fans and readers to meet and interact in person, and not just as avatars of online forums. For me, there really is nothing like immersing yourself in a physical store, which at best, can be like an Aladdin’s cave of treasures to be uncovered. So if you take one thing from this post, and this blog in general, it is that your local comic shop is A Good Place To Be. But…

It’s got to be acknowledged that comic collecting is becoming a more and more costly habit, not least because of the plunging value of the pound against the dollar (why couldn’t the Brexiteers understand that living under the jackboot of a centralised European Federation was a small price to pay for cheaper comics?!). What’s more, comics do not really come with many particularly easy starting points. I started reading in the early ’90s, when picking up an ongoing comic series from any publisher felt like trying to jump on a fast moving train. 25 years later, I’d say that the brakes are destroyed and train is plummeting out of control.

So here’s my advice to you if you want to start out: try digital comics. Three easy steps:

1. Go to the comixology website and start up an account.
2. Download the free comixology app onto your ipad or tablet.
3. Buy a collection or tpb; classic intro-level comics are regularly discounted. In fact, I’ve never paid full price for a digital comic, and you can get full stories from classic creators for as little as £2.50.

For some comics fans, ‘digital’ is a dirty word. And it’s easy to understand why; the digital market is drawing money away from the comic shops that we all love, and a virtual copy can’t really compare to the materialist joy of owning an actual object. Note also that the money you pay does not actually give you ownership of a digital copy; you’ll just have bought a license to access a digital copy that the publisher technically owns. Ie. if comixology ever went out of business (which is unlikely, it’s backed by Amazon), there’s a chance you will lose your comics.

But as a quick, convenient and cheap place to start, it can’t be beat. And if you want a physical copy of anything to pass onto your grandkids when you kick the bucket, get on down to that local comic shop!