Comics: pbook or ebook versions?

[WillysJeepMan]

Originally Posted by jocampo

Interesting comments.

I wonder how the electronic versions can replace the "collectible" feature of the pbook ones. You are not able sell your ebook Mangas on ebay, are you? ... and some really old comics, in good conditions, sells for thousands ...

The age of collectible-ness of consumer goods has passed. As soon as people held onto things for the purpose of collecting, that is when the value in collecting decreased. For items that were available PRIOR to this point, then yes they are still collectible. But items after that point, like current comic books, will never reach a value in the thousands (accounting for inflation).

I'd rather have the cheaper ebook version that won't increase in collectible value than the more expensive pbook version whose value as a collectible will grow insignificantly.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by jocampo

I wonder how the electronic versions can replace the "collectible" feature of the pbook ones. You are not able sell your ebook Mangas on ebay, are you? ... and some really old comics, in good conditions, sells for thousands ...

I'm not sure you can. "Collectibleness" is, I think, tied up with uniqueness - and how do you make a file unique? You'd have to add some value to a single, unique item to make it collectible.

I don't collect in that sense, but as I've discovered, there are books that I like to own in a more tangible form than files, so that I can keep them on my book shelf. For display, I guess - both for myself and others. There are some books, including comic books, that has so much value to me that owning a digital file is not enough. However, that might simply be because of my age.

[Anthem]

Originally Posted by jocampo

I wonder how the electronic versions can replace the "collectible" feature of the pbook ones.

Yeah, feeling like something is "collectible" has a certain allure to it that is basically and entirely missing from digital comic books at this point. How they can overcome that and appeal to collectors I have no idea.

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by jocampo

Interesting comments.

I wonder how the electronic versions can replace the "collectible" feature of the pbook ones. You are not able sell your ebook Mangas on ebay, are you? ... and some really old comics, in good conditions, sells for thousands ...

I don't think that an electronic version will ever be as collectable as a printed version. There are few actions I can think of that can make an electronic version rare that would also make it attractive to all readers.

One of the main factors that has led to high prices is rarity. When I started collecting comics in the mid-1970s, if I missed an issue my only hope was to find someone with that issue who was willing to sell at a price that I could afford and was willing to pay.

Now many comics, including many older ones, are available in a collected form (such as a trade paperback). As an example, DC Comics recently began releasing a collection of trade paperbacks called "Showcase Presents" which features black-and-white reprints of comics devoted to a single character/group. While the original comic books might cost thousands of dollars to collect, the "Showcase Presents" collection usually costs less than 30 USD.

Added to this are many comics issued with multiple covers (the contents are the same, just the cover is different). As an example, with the miniseries "Identity Crisis" the first issue was released with four different covers, a different one for each printing. Also, many new comics are released with multiple covers at the start.

The above make reduce the rarity of many issues, and reduces the price that someone will pay for an original back issue. However, what the electronic version will do is make comics available to a wider audience. Mad Magazine released a CD-ROM that contains 100s of issues of Mad, making them available at an affordable price. Also, some publishers are making them available on-line for viewing.

[Anthem]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

However, what the electronic version will do is make comics available to a wider audience.

That certainly seems to be true.

[ilovejedd]

ebook. I just don't have the shelf-space (or closet space, or under the bed space, or under the sofa space, etc) for pbooks be they comics or novels. Too bad legitimate sources of manga are few right now. The Viz iPad app is a step in the right direction, although I can't help but wish it was available for other platforms and there's a way to back-up and view bought manga on the PC.

[estelle58]

I prefer pbooks for the comics, must be the child in me

[Anke Wehner]

I'd love to be able to buy comics as ebooks/pdf/cbz for "low enough" prices. Buying the stuff I'd like to follow is not practical, partly for the high prices asked for print, and mostly because of the shelf space it would take.

I've seen scanlations of manga I also have in print that look better in the digital version - bigger, don't have to bend the pages, double page spreads as on big image... Would be so lovely if there were legitimate sources for things like that; I might go back to reading more than the one series I still buy.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by Anke Wehner

I've seen scanlations of manga I also have in print that look better in the digital version - bigger, don't have to bend the pages, double page spreads as on big image... Would be so lovely if there were legitimate sources for things like that; I might go back to reading more than the one series I still buy.

There is now (for part of Viz's catalog on the iPad, at least). At $5 a volume, pricing's not bad either, specially when you consider $1.50 goes into Apple's coffers and only $3.50 is left for Viz. Quality is pretty good. Better than or on par with scanlations. I never really wanted an iPad but I bought one because the Viz app used to be exclusively available on the iPad. Went on a shopping spree and bought all the available manga that I like even if I already owned a print copy, just to show that there is demand for electronic versions and that people are willing to pay for them.

[Vandy]

Short, sweet and simple...

As a child, I enjoyed paper.
As an old fa.. er, adult, I enjoy electronic versions.

Regards,

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by Vandy

Short, sweet and simple...

As a child, I enjoyed paper.
As an old fa.. er, adult, I enjoy electronic versions.

Regards,

I think that it will be a slow transition from the p-version to the e-version. Right now, the printed version is dominant and I think it will continue for a while since that is what a majority of readers are used to.

As existing readers transition to the e-versions for some of their books, the cost of e-readers drops to a point where it is not a major issue, and new readers are born who don't view the p-version as the norm, I think the e-version will become the norm for most reading. In the end, I think the p-version will continue to exist but it won't have the dominant position it has now.