Comics, Comix and Comic book fans; do you care if your comic books are digital?

[shadow_Fox81]

Nominated this year for both a slew of Harvey and Eisner awards was Chris Ware's Buildings Stories. The Novel among many things is a valediction of the joy and interactivity of physical formats in an increasingly digital Comics Industry.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/apr/18/chris-ware-building-stories-eisner-awards

The novel is fabulous and raises the notion that tactility is an inextricable part of comic books as a creative format.

Though i have no qualms with web comics or digital formats, I think comic books in print form are infinitely more alive, intimate and affecting.

but that's me.

anyone else with thoughts on the matter.

 

[EeveeElectro]

I agree, having a physical collection is lovely.
I probably won't ever have a kindle because I love having stacks of books. People come into my room and straight away see what I'm interested in and how dedicated I am. I love having a comic book, DVD and game shelf, knowing I've built it up feels great.

I care, an actual book feels much better. I see the upsides of a tablet or Kindle but it's not for me.

 

[Raikas]

I do love the feel of a comic book - the bright colours on a glossy page, the blunted ones on newsprint, all of it.

But honestly a couple of decades of buying them make for a lot of stuff. Add books and other media and that's a couple of rooms? worth of them. And there was a point in my life where I liked that, but these days it feels more and more like clutter, so I appreciate that digital comics (and eBooks, and access to TV and movies online, and so on) allow me to read/watch what I want without having to devote extra physical space to storing them.

So yeah, I miss the feel of the physical books a little, but I'm happier not having to think about filling up another longbox that's going take up even more space in my house.

 

[DANEgerous]

I love E-readers but for comics the physical thing is far beyond a digital copy Kindle and the like are nice but not for comics if you ask me.

 

[Worgen]

If I buy a book or a comic then I'm getting a physical copy, digital ones aren't worth money to me. Digital feels like it should be a web comic or something to me.

 

[Raikas]

a digital copy Kindle and the like are nice but not for comics if you ask me.

Out of curiosity, why?

I do have a fondness for the feel of floppy single issue, but I feel like for me that's as much about nostalgia as it is anything else. I'm happy to let the relatively easy storage options for a trade/hc collected edition or the no-storage necessary digital copy despite that, but I wonder how other people are framing it.

 

[Aris Khandr]

I prefer digital. I've got over 700 issues on my Comixology account. If they'd digitise the rest of the old books I have from back when I still collected comics (such as having the entire run of X-Men 2099, as well as about three years of Silver Surfer around issue 75), I'd happily dump my entire physical collection. I'm completely over physical media. Don't want any of it. My goal in life is to be able to pack all of the things that really matter to me into my car and move in one trip. I'm not quite there yet (and it really doesn't help that I keep buying more stuffed animals), but that's the eventual goal. Losing the huge, bulky longboxes is a major step toward that.

 

[Kae]

I used to have a physical collection but they caught fire, all of them -__-'
Now I read digital but I'll admit I don't read them too often, but that is how I read Scott Pilgrim and it was awesome.

a digital copy Kindle and the like are nice but not for comics if you ask me.

Out of curiosity, why?

If I were to take a guess, some details in drawings are lost due to resolution, also I don't remember which comic I read but the letters kept getting smaller in one scene until it was unreadable, which would have been unreadable too in a physical copy but you could always use a magnifying glass.

 

[crazygameguy4ever]

Only paper comics are real comics. .with a few exception like a several web comics i follow.. but for 95% of comics and manga i read it has to be physical copies.. digital can never replace reading read comic books and manga volumes in your hands.. just like music should be on cd, and movies/tv shoes released to purchase should be on dvd or blu-ray.. there's really no no comparison.. physical copies are better

 

[Grimh]

Seeing as digital is pretty much the only way I can get a hold of most comics, I'd say it's pretty great.

 

[Queen Michael]

I read Building Stories a while ago. Good stuff. And I always buy comics in physical form when I can, but sometimes, if a series I want is very cheaply on sale digitally, I'll get it there.

Also, I had to buy Supreme Spider-Man #1 digitally. It just wasn't possible to find a physical copy.

 

[alfawx]

Digital is nice, but I think there's a certain romantic sense of completeness that you can only get from physical books. Physical books always just seem more alive to me. That and (this may come off as more than a bit weird) you are never, EVER going to get the amazing smell of books in a digital form (unless computer based smell-o-vision becomes a thing, which I kinda doubt will happen).

 

[Thaluikhain]

I like digital. In part because there's endless amounts of free digital stuff. Webcomics, or normal comics re-released as webcomics, or just things people are allowed to download.

 

[DANEgerous]

a digital copy Kindle and the like are nice but not for comics if you ask me.

Out of curiosity, why?

I do have a fondness for the feel of floppy single issue, but I feel like for me that's as much about nostalgia as it is anything else. I'm happy to let the relatively easy storage options for a trade/hc collected edition or the no-storage necessary digital copy despite that, but I wonder how other people are framing it.

It is something about inc vs light, the art style of comics is just kind of better with ink. Digital screens even with ultra high definition just look worse than ink if you ask me

 

[SweetShark]

I am 50/50 for this:

On one hand the digital is more cheap than the physical one and they digital...well, they are "eternal", but on the other hand the physical comics feel more "right".
I really nice to feel the paper of the comic and squeeze it as much as you like [not so much].

So, I don't know.

 

[SquidVicious]

Most of my entertainment collection has gone digital and I have absolutely no problem with it outside of being able to save things I purchase legally on a local drive. I was able to read the entire Gotham Central 40 comic run last night in one sitting, something that would have been impossible if not for the digitizing of comics.

As I've gotten older I've found that I don't need to own physical copies of every piece of entertainment, however there are certain things that I do still like having physical copies of and they're always something that means something to me. I will cherish my collection of Preacher and Transmetropolitan but I don't need to go out and buy a paper copy of the latest Batman or Superman comic. Books are becoming like this as well, I'm really only buying physical copies of books I absolutely love and want a physical copy so I can lend it out to other people, as are DVD's. I don't even bother with CD's anymore because they only thing they do is sit on a shelf and gather dust while I listen to the album on my computer or mp3 player.