I’ve had a comic in my hand for as long as I can remember, except for a 15 year period that lasted from the late 90′s to a few years ago. After the crazy comic boom and fall in the 90′s I was burned out. I found myself more interested in the monetary value of a comic and was buying multiple issues and variant covers….ugh. I needed to step away for a while, but wasn’t expecting it to be as long as it was. About 5 years ago, I started visiting a comic shop again and flipping through books and just being nostalgic. I missed it….bad. Comic shops are the only place that I can have a one on one conversation without worrying about that dreaded social anxiety creeping up. These are MY people.
Unfortunately, this comic shop was not really close and I just couldn’t see myself driving an hour and a half round trip every week so I just visited every once in a while and would read and talk, but always felt guilty about not buying anything. Around 2009, I started hearing about a Green Lantern story called Blackest Night and it was the launching pad for me to get back in to comics. It was still inconvenient to visit the comic store and I struggled to find issues and made due until 2010 when I got my first iPad. One of the first apps I downloaded was ComiXology and that flame that had reignited the year before erupted into a bonfire. I had comics when I wanted them, I could read them whenever I wanted, and didn’t have to worry about storage. It was flippin’ fantastic!
So, that was pretty much how I bought my comics until just recently. A new comic shop opened up 10 minutes from me and I now I have a convenient place to go and buy comics and, more importantly, socialize. I set-up a pull list, which gets me 20% off all comics, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the owner and seeing all these people that are in there buying comics. People that have been all around me, but I never knew it. This is a part of the comic buying experience that cannot be replaced by digital. Sure, we can talk on Twitter, Google+ and the message boards, but it just..is..not..the..same.
Okay, so I love going to the comic shop and won’t buy digital again. That’s what you’re thinking, right? Well, here is the rub. While I love the “experience” of going to the comic shop and love the smell and feel of a physical comic, I also love the convenience of digital. What I’ve noticed in the weeks since I’ve started buying print again is that it takes me longer to read each issue. I’ll buy comics on Wednesday and am still getting through them by the weekend. With digital, I was buying on Wednesday and be finished later Wednesday. Why the difference? With digital they go with me EVERYWHERE. Bathroom, lunch, waiting in line, etc. It didn’t matter. I was reading comics wherever I was when I had free time. With print, I can only read at home and my free time there is more limited, so that means I read one or two print comics per day.
My initial thought was that I would continue to use ComiXology for digital only titles and back issues, you just can’t beat their $.99 sales, but when I have a moment and pull out my phone, I still want to read a comic. I’m quickly blowing through the back issues I have bought and will soon be looking at no digital comics to read, while I still have a stack of physical comics at home waiting for me. It’s frustrating.
I guess I’m just torn. Digital is more convenient, no doubt, but print is cheaper with my discount at my LCS and I really enjoy visiting the shop on Wednesdays.
My question to you, our loyal community of Geeks, is what do you do? Are you print only? A digital convert? A little of both?
