A DARING TALE OF SUSPENSE AND CREDIT CARD BILLS

First, DC Comics announced that starting in September their entire line would be released digitally on the same day and date that they were available in stores. Understandably, some people freaked out. Just when they were calming down, Marvel announced that starting with Spider Island, the Spider-Man event beginning this week, all the Spider-Family books would be going day-and-date with the X-Men to follow in October and November, and once again, there was some excitement filled with a little bit of “Ohshitohshitohshithowdarethey?” thrown in for good measure.

While most of the worry about digital comics has been on the retailer end of the issue, there’s one notable exception. John Siuntres, gentleman, scholar & host of pretty much the best comics podcast around, Word Balloon, has been asking questions about whether new readers reading digitally will be put off by waiting a full month for the next installment of a 6-or-more-part story. Siuntres’ idea is that in an “instant gratification” environment, people not used to going to the shop every month might benefit from more 2-part or done-in-one stories rather than be immediately tossed into the deep end of stories like Invincible Iron Man‘s “World’s Most Wanted.”

I don’t think Siuntres is wrong. I think comics in general could benefit from more stories done this way. As Dan Slott and others say, every comic is somebody’s first, and being forced to understand too much continuity can absolutely put people off reading more. I spend a frankly absurd amount of money at Brandon’s shop every week, and unless I’m out of town or unable to stand, I don’t miss a New Comics Wednesday. That said, I’ve been reading almost all of the X-Books for a few years, and I still have to go to Wikipedia around once a month just to remind myself about something like what exactly Quentin Quire did so that I can understand the latest X-Event. I still don’t know exactly what the deal is with Illyana Rasputin, and I’ve read about 5 miniseries or story arcs she’s been a part of. Hopefully, some post-Schism stories are going to be new-reader friendly - and to their credit, that’s more or less what Marvel has said, regarding these digital initiatives and future ones - because otherwise the day-and-date digital X-periment [Ed Note: Sorry, I couldn't resist] results could look exactly like what Siuntres is concerned about.

At the same time, that’s why I think that Siuntres doesn’t need to worry as much about new digital readers as we all need to be about comics storytelling in general. Just like Batman Incorporated or Grant Morrison‘s fantastic run on Batman probably aren’t the best places for a new reader to jump on, even at the beginning of a new arc, the same could be said with relative ease about most of the superhero comics industry in general.

It’s why I think that, gender issues aside [Ed Note: More on that later, if we can figure out a way not to get rocks thrown at us], the DC relaunch is a fantastic opportunity to land new readers. A new continuity is just an open boxcar for new readers to jump on and ride the hobo rails to a land of great stories. And yes, I think digital readers are a big part of this.

Truthfully, I see less work in getting new digital comic readers to stick along for the ride than I would in getting them to do the same by going to a comic book store. Going to a comic book store is a trip. Between scheduling, children and everything else that takes time away from unadulterated free time, it’s one that’s difficult for a lot of people to make. Even a lot of comics professionals will admit in interviews that they can’t make it out every week because of these reasons, so it’s completely understandable that a new reader whose job doesn’t involve keeping up with comics might find the same thing hard.

But digital comics? You can buy those at any time of day, from anywhere you can connect to the internet. With a smartphone, that’s just about anywhere. Tap tap tap tap COMIC. Anytime, anywhere; what could be better for a new reader?

Really, it’s the same delay until a new issue for a new reader regardless of whether or not they’re going to a store or buying a digital copy from wherever they damn well want. The difference that even if going to a shop isn’t part of their routine to pick up new issues, using their computer or their tablet is, and the digital services themselves are trying to make it as easy as possible for readers to remember what’s coming out. Weekly emails with new issues listings. Push notifications so that their iPad will tell them when a series they like is coming out and take them to the in-app listing for that issue. Finish the end of an issue? The app itself will ask if you want to sign up to be notified when the next part of the story comes out. The future is here, and it lets me be lazier than ever if I want.

There’s also the largely unspoken issue surrounding new readers: comic book shops themselves. Even if a person has time to visit a local store, even if they have a glut of stores in their area with a convenient location, the reality is that a lot of stores aren’t very good. It took me years before I found a local store that:

a) Had a good level of stock

b) Didn’t ignore me when I entered

c) Didn’t outright lie to me when I asked about release dates by telling me that there is no list of releases that exists anywhere

d) Didn’t try to steal from me by ringing in comics at 1000% the listed cover price and hoping I wouldn’t notice

Years. In a city with a dozen comic book stores, it should not be that hard to find a local comic book store that meets this list of criteria. But it was. To me, any shop that does these is making it harder for new readers than digital comics and 6-part stories ever could. It used to be, in comics’ heyday, that you could buy single issue comics at lots of different places; drug stores, grocery stores, book stores, you name it. Now, it’s basically comic book stores, and like I said: a lot of those are terrible. I pity the person who sees Captain America: The First Avenger and walks into most of the comic shops in my city to try to read more about the character. The direct market saved the industry once before, but with the ghettoization of comics behind the curtain of the stereotype of the Comic Book Guy - something my experience and any comics comment section/forum on the internet could argue is not as untrue as we might like it to be - comics need to expand. Without spinner racks coming back to my local Rexall Drugs, I think digital comics are our best chance at that.

Even assuming an “instant gratification” culture - and I don’t, not entirely - you could make the argument that people who buy things as digital copies - music, TV shows, movies, books, magazines, newspapers or video games - are used to buying theses things online. They’re used to setting up notifications or checking the digital storefronts, and they’re used to waiting - years, in some cases - for new content. 30 days isn’t unusual. The experience of buying an issue through Comixology is almost the exact same as buying through iTunes, Steam or Kindle storefronts, and that’s a good thing. Those are services that have done it right.

Of course, there’s the chance that they could still, with all those strengths, buy a new digital issue, find it unsatisfying and decide not to continue. It’s certainly happened to me many times before. I simply don’t see it as a digital-specific issue, because in my experience, it hasn’t been. Marvel and DC probably should do some shorter stories. It’s just as much for the benefit of somebody walking into a shop as it is for someone tapping away on their tablet. Maybe more.