Floppies are stupid, why does the industry revolve around them still?
>>77347944
?
Don't copy that floppy.
>>77347944
They keep LCSes and Diamond in business. Diamond has a stranglehold on the industry. If Diamond goes down, you can be damn sure that they're going to rip everything down with them.
Likewise, they're a way to keep a steady flow of income coming in for publishers whereas an all trades model would be less malleable.
because the industry was built upon them
don't like 'em, tear it down and build another one
>>77347944
Because the jews in new york know that comic book fans will pay for this overpriced bullshit no matter what
What medium do YOU suggest for inexpensively transporting short-length graphic stories?
>>77348023
Digital monthly (not at $4-$5 an issue), and print trades
Because floppies mean they get to sell you shit every Wednesday. If they just sold trades, they wouldn't be making money as consistently.
Plus a lot people buy floppies AND trades. No point getting rid of floppies if people still buy them.
The money I save from buying a floppy, not liking it, and dropping the series, rather than buying a trade for more and not liking the series, mitigates the raised price.
>>77348062
Digital is always going to be a parallel distribution network. Perhaps one day all the people who care about physical mediums will die off, but until then a lot of people just want something they can hold. Perhaps they could do more to encourage/support digital distribution, but there will still be floppies.
Trades are collections of ongoings that have already found a certain degree of success. The trial grounds of monthly releases is literally the circulation of the industry.
Sjws like variant covers
>>77348130
why not download instead of wasting money on floppies?
>>77348130
>not pirating before you buy anything
>>77348164
>Trades are collections of ongoings that have already found a certain degree of success. The trial grounds of monthly releases is literally the circulation of the industry.
Literally every ongoing from the big two gets a trade
>>77348189
>>77348193
I like to support not only the industry at large, but also my LCS, which is amazing. I don't like reading digitally.
>>77348062
....they already do this. Where the fuck have you been?
>>77347992
This basically
DC has been doing more OGNs lately, but if you've noticed, they have big name writers, artists, and/or characters attached to them. Aquaman Earth One by Francis Manapul is probably the first one to break that mold. Even then it probably won't come out until after some of his creator owned stuff and after Aquaman has appeared in the movies.
Despite this OGNs would probably be more profitable as a elseworld mini or ongoing, but I haven't seen anybody compare the sales/units of OGNs to what it would most likely be as a mini or ongoing.
DC has also been doing lots of digital firsts, which seem like a step in the right direction, however those get physical floppies too, which also have a hand in whether it gets cancelled or not.
It's gonna be a looooong time before floppies actually die out.
>>77347944
Because it's apparently hard for the average professional comic artist to churn out more than five pages per week.
>>77348212
yes, but whether it gets more is a result of whether the monthly issues continue selling.
>Likewise, they're a way to keep a steady flow of income coming in for publishers whereas an all trades model would be less malleable.
>Because floppies mean they get to sell you shit every Wednesday. If they just sold trades, they wouldn't be making money as consistently.
Model A)
comic-fan buys his monthly $3 book for 6 months
Model B)
comic-fan buys the a $18 trade every 6 months
whats the difference here?
>>77348229
Digital is the same price as print, which is fucking retarded
>>77348278
Digital issues get split between more people, do they not?
>>77348256
I don't know about you, but I buy a lot of my trades secondhand from sellers on Amazon or eBay. In this case, the publisher and creators do not get paid for that sale.
>>77348256
Being able to pay your employees more consistently than once every six months. That's an oversimplification, but it's basically what you here from production staff in interviews.
>>77348062
>not linking print mediums
...fucking philistine.
>>77348294
Yes, the digital marketplace provider, ie comixology, apple, etc, gets a percentage of sales.
>>77348278
Why wouldn't they be? The creators still need to make a living.
>>77348329
but its overall less than the percentage of actual floppies (where printers, diamond and LCS get a huge cut from the money)
floppies have a shitload of ads tho, that brings in some extra-money
>>77348023
Short length graphic stories barely exist, comics aren't suitable for serial narratives like tv.
>>77348256
Model A):
Comic fan goes into the store each month. May buy something else each month that they see there like another book or a trade or a figure or whatever.
Model B):
Comic fan only shows up every six months. That means less money made in the other months.
On top of that with trades people might go and buy off of Amazon or Barnes and Noble instead of their comic shop.
>>77348345
That's not how it works, creators don't make commison. The money from sales go to Disney and Time Warner
>>77348256
>>77348435
Also don't retailers have to pay rent monthly?
>>77348256
Double-dipping. A percentage of people who buy the floppies will eventually buy the trade. There is also a number of readers who are more likely to take a risk on floppies, but not trades sight-unseen. Unfortunately, comics publishers are used to small margins and low risk. They want to know how much to print beforehand, and they don't want to sit on a pile of books.
You have to realize, the direct market began as a collector-formed buyers club. It's really not a sane business, nor a forward-looking one. Instead it's a three-way mexican standoff between publishers, distributor, and retailers. No one wants to give an inch. Any real progress will only happen when one of them dies.
>>77348345
The overhead is far lower so they can afford to lower the price to drive up sales. This shit is basic.
>>77348438
Which then gets portioned out for reinvestment and paying out future creators.
Monthly anthologies when?
>>77348492
>what is Dark Horse Presents?
>what is 2000AD?
>>77348492
>what are "trades"?
>>77348492
>What is Island?
Do you actually support anthologies or do you keep going into these threads for attention?
>>77348435
Fucking good. It's the comic book industry, not the comic shop charity. If a better method exists why handicap yourself.
No one held Blockbuster or the Horse and Buggy companies hand.
>>77348492
This shit gets posted every thread amd every thread we have to remind you antholgies only work if they are made cheap enough, no one cares they are buying an entire book they wont even read all of.
And that only works with Newspaper tier paper and slave labor coloress production
>>77348345
>>77348438
Correct
If you're buying corporate-owned comics (Marvel, DC, most of IDW) then the creators don't make any money from your sales.
They're paid in pre-determined page rates. Their pay doesn't go up when sales go up, and their pay doesn't go down when sales go down.
>>77348023
Floppies are written for trades, so at least you'd get a complete story with a direct-to-trade release.
Floppies = Cable
Trades = Netflix
The companies would also have less monthly output (lets say DC would release 10 trades instead of 50 floppies a month), which could help them advertise the titles better.
>>77348435
LCS are a cancer anyway
>>77348483
To be honest, you should just buy creator-owned comics if you want to know with absolute certainty that you're supporting creators, instead of just hoping that your money might-maybe-possibly-someday-eventually be "reinvested" towards them.
>>77348581
>They're paid in pre-determined page rates. Their pay doesn't go up when sales go up, and their pay doesn't go down when sales go down.
That pre-determined pay rate fluctuates with how well sales are doing. So indirectly, yes, it does vary.
>>77348492
>Island (2015)
>Image Comics
>Rank: 219
>Index: 6.91
>$7.99
>112 Pages
>Issue #4: 7,552
>Issue #3: 9,166
>Delta: -1,614
>Delta Percent: -17.61%
Face it, /co/:
ANTHOLOGIES
ARE
DEAD
Don't ever be "that Anon" who insists that America needs anthology comics, because America simply isn't interested in buying anthology comics.
>>77348618
Even then, if its through an imprint, you're money is going back to the parent publisher.
>>77348560
>No one held Blockbuster or the Horse and Buggy companies hand.
Except you don't get what happens. The companies don't get money monthly either under Model B. So that makes Model B impractical without the monthly comics model.
Digital could work but it's pretty clear that it has its own limits and didn't cut into monthly comics the way digital versions of regular magazines and news outlets cut into magazines and newspaper sales.
>>77348345
>>77348468
No offense, but this is what people who aren't in this business thinks.
First, overhead is not far lower for the publisher. Printing is a small part of a comic's cover price, and storage and distribution is Diamond's job. The real cost in digital comics is in developing an IT staff.
For the independent small publisher, there is a real benefit to digital, but the cost of IT as well as payment processing will put a dent in the savings.
But the bigger reason digital costs the same as print is that the publishers still need their print business, and if they started selling digital at a far lower cost, comic retailers would instantly revolt and drop their books. This is that Mexican standoff I mentioned. Digital sales isn't high enough for publishers to give retailers the finger just yet. But trust me, that's what everyone wants to do on the inside.
>>77348181
What? What has his this gotta do with sjw
>>77348639
Holy fuck that's sad. I'm guessing the Chapterhouse anthology isn't doing well either.
>>77348682
>No offense, but this is what people who aren't in this business thinks.
Lemme guess, you're dad works for Marvel/DC/Whoever the fuck?
I genuinely hate floppies and if they were the only available avenue for keeping up with comics per month I'd sooner drop comics.
I truly don't understand the appeal, they look like junk mail trash and are so visually unappealing in a pile or kept in a box. They requires extra materials and special storage to actually keep them long term in the hope of selling them to someone else to keep in plastic storage too.
Digital, trades, omnis that's all I want.
>>77348702
You see, the term is meaningless now, you can apply it to anything you don't like about comics. This way, you can gripe about it with like minded people on the internet, while never actually bothering to change anything.
>>77348677
>The companies don't get money monthly either under Model B. So that makes Model B impractical without the monthly comics model.
are you literally retarded? do you think the companies would release all their line-up only once ever 6 months?
they would spread it around the whole year, so they would secure their monthly income
10 trades x $18 a month = 60 floppies x $3 a month
You guys don't realize how lucky you are to have them.
It's absolute freedom for the reader and a much bigger chance for artists to have their comics bought 'randomly'.
I live in a western Europe country, our industry is based on big hard cover books that cost 10-15€ for about 40-50 pages. In terms of actual book quality, they are great, but they're expensive, and the only choice.
Our equivalent to 'floppies' are monthly releases which usually regroup issues several series in one book. For instance you get a "Justice League" issue that has an issue of Justice League, Flash, Superman and Supergirl (it's no longer like that but you get the idea) for 5-6€. The quality of the book is alright and it terms of quantity/price, it's great, but it's very limited. If you happen to just care about Flash and Batman, tough luck, you have to buy two different 6€ monthlys. Not to mention that choice is limited and only the most popular american stuff is released in such a way.
>>77348682
That's all well and good, but it makes very little buisness sense to grossly overcharge for something that is so easy to pirate
>>77348637
It "can" vary but that doesn't mean that it "does" vary.
The only way to know 100% for sure that you're supporting creators is to buy creator-owned comics.
Buying non-creator-owned comics and hoping that you're supporting creators is just a baka kokoro wish.
>>77348750
and for me, american floppies are like a Grahl. Whenever I stumble upon one at a flea market (not often), I buy it no matter what series it is. Honestly the only thing that sucks about floppies are ads, which can get overwhelming in some cases.
>12 issues a year
Why not just release it weekly like a TV season? They can release the trade in between
>>77348755
As I said, it's not a sane business. Publishers, retailers, and the distributor are co-dependent. One of them really has to go.
>>77348750
European comic industry is more akin to the regular book industry for better and worse
>>77348742
>are you literally retarded? do you think the companies would release all their line-up only once ever 6 months?
10 trades x $18 a month
vs
60 floppies x $3 a month plus (however many trades they do in a month) x $18 (or whatever)
Which do you really think is the better business deal?
>>77348750
>I live in a western Europe country, our industry is based on big hard cover books that cost 10-15€ for about 40-50 pages.
to be fair, these days you have to pay $5 for a 20 pages Marvel book
so an oversized HC with 40 pages for pretty much the same money seems like a sweet deal
>>77348850
oversaturating a market is always a good business deal
>>77348836
To add to that, what we really need is for some forward-looking person at Disney to say "we don't need to make money from comics." Someone should acknowledge that Marvel's value is in the IPs, that they're paying artists and creators for their ideas, and release as much as they can on the internet for free. Say goodbye to the direct market, say goodbye to the LCS. Release digital comics weekly, print books for people that want them, and focus on the real business of movies and merchandising.
>>77348946
>To add to that, what we really need is for some forward-looking person at Disney to say "we don't need to make money from comics."
Yeah and that meant there were no Disney comics in the U.S. for a long while.
>>77348278
Diamond has a staunch "you can not sell digitally for less than physical" clause, and since they have a monopoly on comics distribution, you either play by their rules or don't play at all.
>>77348874
Yes but having to throw in 10-15€ for a book every time is limiting and you will less often by something just because the cover and a quick sweep through the pages looks cool.
But yes the quality is great. I have a couple of x-men books released in the 'european style' (it's very rare that american stuff can released that way) and the size and quality of the book make it better than the original trades of that same story.
>>77348895
If Model B was actually viable don't you think Earth One would've been coming out every six months instead of having an Earth One book once a year at best? Creators making the comics won't be getting paid monthly so they'll probably put the book on the low priority pile. And if those books are delayed then it's even worse than a monthly book being delayed cause that cuts into their finances in a larger way.
>>77348181
No they don't. Collectors, who are almost exclusively the "straight white male" demographic that has been buying comics for decades, are the ones that like variant covers.
>>77348963
Well, did they need those comics?
I mean sure, we might have wanted them. But that's not what Disney looks at. It needs to be worth the trouble for them.
I think if they really released all the comics online, the amount of new people and business they would bring in for their movies and merchandising, as well as the reduction in overhead and redundancy in print (Disney has their own book division that can handle the trades), would outweigh any profit from staying in the direct market.
>>77348231
>DC has also been doing lots of digital firsts, which seem like a step in the right direction, however those get physical floppies too, which also have a hand in whether it gets cancelled or not.
I don't think it accounts for as much though. Most digital first books don't have strong floppy sales. Only ones I can think of that do strongly in floppies are Bombshells and Injustice.
>>77348212
>Literally every ongoing from the big two gets a trade
Not true. Multiple DC books have gone without trades. Infinity Man and the Forever People's trade was cancelled because the sales on the book weren't high enough, despite getting 10 issues, which is enough for two trades worth of comics. Klarion also didn't get a trade despite having 6 issues, enough for one trade.
Marvel tends to collect everything, but DC doesn't. Of course, DC's cancellation line is also much lower.
>>77349032
X-men '92 did great in both floppies and digital first. So much so that they've turned it into an ongoing.
>>77349019
They sold pretty well overseas. Over in the US people forgot that there were any Disney comics for a long time.
>>77349036
>Marvel tends to collect everything, but DC doesn't.
But also Marvel lets stuff go out of print faster so sometimes it can be difficult to get some books unless Marvel feels like putting them back in print.
And that's another thing. Marvel and DC would only have a limited space to store trades they've printed. They're not going to be hitting it out of the park all the time (you can even see that in the monthly comics that get canceled faster) so if an OGN does poorly then they're going to have to get rid of the excess stock fast and take a loss.
>>77349097
Yeah, they were great and they sold well. That's why they kept making them. But Disney probably looked at comic sales and literacy rates in the US and said "umm, no."
Things don't work in every market. It's the same thing with the anthology threads we constantly have. Yeah, it's be cool to get more JP style anthologies. Yeah, those work well in Japan. But they don't work here, and they never will because that window has closed. The window is slowly closing on all of print.
>>77349144
God, yeah, Marvel prints their trades in disgustingly low quanitites sometimes. Good fucking luck getting Rucka's Punisher or Yost's Scarlet Spider for non-outrageous prices.
I swear the second volume of SS was printed at like half the quantity as the first and third because it went out of print before either of them.
>>77348062
I actually like getting physical product for my dollar. Have fun paying for digital copies you technically dont even own!
>>77349183
>Implying I pay for digital
If I don't own them, then it's not really stealing when I pirate
>>77349215
It will be if they make it all-digital, they'll try to rewrite the laws for that. At least them pushing physical means you have a chance of that loophole working for you.
>>77349230
When digital becomes reasonably priced I might feel bad for pirating and actually support the medium
>>77349183
>Have fun paying for digital copies you technically dont even own!
Are you such a casual/pleb that you only read Marvel and DC?
Other publishers offer DRM-free digital downloads, so you do own what you buy. Forever.
>>77347944
>Single issue print is what sells the most
>But I want something else, and everyone should listen to me!
Fuck off. The majority has spoken, and you're not in it.
>>77349183
> Have fun paying for digital copies you technically dont even own!
When you buy a physical book, you own the pieces of paper, but you don't own the story and the art.
It's the same fucking thing.
>>77349474
He's talking about how if Comixology goes down that means you lose access to the book. But of course that ignores Image Comics and The Private Eye and stuff like that offering DRM-free digital comics.
>>77348431
>what is a manga????
>>77349613
Get the fuck outta here weeb.
>>77349601
Honestly though as someone who buys digital I don't care. I buy digital to keep up monthly, most of the time once it's done I don't read it again. If it's something I want to keep, I buy the trade.
>>77349649
>he only reads comics from one side of the world
>>77347944
The industry revolves around a physical story being released serially once a month and the most cost effective way to do that is through cheap magazines.
>>77348639
I've been loving Island
I'll be bummed when its gone.
>>77348582
>Floppies are written for trades
Really sad that people think this. Trades are the extra money, floppies are the original medium
because people keep buying them
>>77347944
Why do /co/ hate floppies so much? You read probably only digital anyway so what's your problem
>>77351032
Maybe if floppies weren't such shit then I'd actually read comics.
>>77351099
I doubt this very much
>>77348702
It's bait
>>77347944
Why don't the big comic publishers just make a digital service similar to netflix where for a monthly fee you can read any comic they have ever published online?
People don't want to pay $6+ for a 20 page comic with 10 pages of ads that they will lose or will get damaged if people buy comics these days they buy omnibuses or trades otherwise they pirate that shit by continuing to waste money printing and shipping floppies they are only cheating themselves.
>>77351576
What, like Marvel Unlimited?
>>77351576
>Why don't the big comic publishers just make a digital service similar to netflix where for a monthly fee you can read any comic they have ever published online?
Did you never hear of Marvel Unlimited? I mean I know they haven't got every comic up yet but that's their intention.
>>77347944
I don't know, nor do I know why I keep buying them
>>77348256
>$18 trade
way too much
I like reading and collecting them
I honestly hate floppies, the only reason why I buy some is to help support my lcs, we haven't had one in my town for like 20 years, during that 20 I'd have to trave over 40 miles to the nearest one.
>>77351607
I wish DC had something like Marvel Unlimited, I'd jump on that in a heartbeat, for all of MU's flaws, it's been totally worth it.
>>77348637
>>77348781
But Big 2 stuff pays far more than creator owned the vast majority of the time.
This is directly from dozens kd creators.
>>77350941
And yet people write for trades.
Floppies are shit anyway. 22pages a month is bullshit for a comic
>>77348256
1. Variant floppies mean people might buy an issue three times.
2. Floppies get people into the store more often, which means they might buy some cards, another comic, etc.
3. Sales are less likely to be massively disrupted by third variables like big movies, big video game drops, etc.
4. You can put ads into floppies. Nobody wants to pay 20$ for a book with ads.
5. Floppies cost less than a trade to produce, so if the comic tanks there's less overhead.
>>77348682
But wouldn't the consumer drift that sparked the lcs in the first place mean the LCS aren't needed in the first place?
And hell, doesn't digital cut out the middleman. AND Diamond.
It's a three man stand off where the other two men only have leverage via interia.
DC could very VERY easily phase into primay digital models.
I mean, seriously, if tommorow, DC annoucned super DC netflix or whatever, where all dc comics were digital and cheaper wouldn't almost everyone just get them of dc.com
And if lcs and or diamond revolt, fuck them, the type of fans who go to lcs' are the obessive turbo nerd types who will buy online if they have to.
Do you think if forced to chose, the core fanbase would pick a DC less lcs over no dc comixs period. especially if DC was cheaper?
>>77348750
You explained why anthologies ate stupid, but didn't say how floppy are.not,
In your example
why not just by the Flash book instead of the JL antho?
>>77348824
I brought this up in a thread.
glad to see another saw it that way
>>77348989
Why not tell Diamond to fuck off and sell digital exclusive if they get pissy, Marvel Hero World only failed because they couldn't handle the load and thus pushed lcss out od business thus crashing the market. Digital doesnt have that issue.
Diamond gets bitchy, fuck em. No one will go to an lcs when they xan get all the comics they want cheaper, anywhere, anytime,with nigh infinte storage AND they dont need to waste time and effort commuting to a store.
Digital is like being Fucking God.
Fuck Diamond, Fuck LCS'
Hell, they may even be able to return an investment since going digital priority would increase rhe collector value of all the old floppies
>>77353329
Then you're stuck dealing exclusively with comixology and apple, who take a significantly bigger cut than Diamond and LCSes.
>>77349183
So you pay an extra two bucks for the luxury of having to commute to a store , touching and smelling paper and taking up space.
Yay.
>>77349410
I openly said the industry revolves around it.
My question was WHY, given it's clear infeasibility
>>77353366
You are under a Fucking media megacorp, a dedicated platform js an obvious investment
>>77348755
You must be Jewish.
Two points not yet addressed:
1) floppies or lcs dying is a false choice. Record stores used to thrive off new release sales, but once digital music took over, record stores didn't die, they just adapted to the market, and the new/surviving shops take a more boutique approach, focusing on used/collectible records and independent releases. You can run a successful record shop and never stock a single new, major label release. It's all about how you attract a niche demographic.
So if graphic novels, digital and trades take over, sure, book stores, Amazon, etc will benefit more than the lcs, but there's still a collectible back issue market and second hand hustle the lcs can use to get a leg up.
2) these discussions never take into account new readers who would come into the fold is comics took a more quality over quantity approach to publishing long form stories. In other words, if stories aren't written to fit these episodic spurts, you could, theoretically, have higher quality stories told, attract better artists and writers, and expand your reader base. The obvious comparison there would be, say, the Netflix model of television writing as opposed to the traditional network approach.
>>77354081
>Record stores used to thrive off new release sales, but once digital music took over, record stores didn't die, they just adapted to the market
They did die though. Tower Records branches used to be fairly common prior to digital music. Once it hit, stores closed everywhere and they declared bankruptcy in 2006. Sane with Sam Goody, Wharehouse, etc. The same can be said for video (Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, etc.) and books (Barnes & Noble, Borders, Waldenbooks, etc.)
You can run a successful record shop and never stock a single new, major label release. It's all about how you attract a niche demographic.
>So if graphic novels, digital and trades take over, sure, book stores, Amazon, etc will benefit more than the lcs, but there's still a collectible back issue market and second hand hustle the lcs can use to get a leg up.
The market for collectable backissues is extremely small. There's a reason LCSes have dollar bins. LCSes are barely surviving now with new product on a monthly basis. A fully digital revolution would kill them all.
Personally, I would welcome a digital revolution and the death of floppies and Diamond. But the industry ad it's set up today just isn't ready for it. Comics would become even more niche than they are now.
>>77355393
>They did die though.
The ones where CDs were a primary part of their market. Vinyl still has some kind of market.
>>77348946
>Someone should acknowledge that Marvel's value is in the IPs, that they're paying artists and creators for their ideas, and release as much as they can on the internet for free.
Not just Marvel but most of the comic book industry is this. Marvel and DC have the bonus that they own the content under one umbrella so there is no need to negotiate with a bunch of creators. Hell, DC and Marvel can afford to lose money on comics in hopes of generating some new good IP that will make them money in other mediums.
>>77355484
yeah, and there are still farriers.
>>77351032
cause a floppy doesn't contain enough material. It's too short to get a good story out of, I don't like reading something for 10 minutes and being done with it. I want more substance, so I read trades. Something to the length of The Dead and the Dying or Monstress is a lot longer, so I'm willing to pick the floppy up of that. But 20 pages is just too short to really enjoy
>>77351653
In Canada they are $25 each...even when our dollar was the same as the US book publishers gouge us.
>>77356869
>cause a floppy doesn't contain enough material
Well yeah, 1.44MB has been too small since about 1994.
>>77356937
>In Canada they are $25 each...
Don't remind me. I've spent thousands on trades, and yet my shelf is tiny compared to many American /co/mrades.
>>77356771
And?
>>77348824
>>77353243
I think I remember that thread. It was an utterly retarded idea then, too.
>>77353329
You lose sales, plain and simple. I know for a fact if a company went all digital that would be the last time they ever saw a dime from me, and I can't be the only one who thinks that way.
>>77356869
It wouldn't be so bad if they weren't 4 fucking dollars. But as long you faggots keep eating the shit, publishers will keep serving it to you
>>77348231
>Francis Manapul
>not a big name artist or writer
Nigga please
>>77358208
DC and Image have a decent amount of comics at 2.99, and Dark Horse hasUsagi and Hellboy at 3.50, and I can tell you Usagi delivers with every issue. Stop buying Marvel.
>>77348725
Well I am the exact opposite of you. I only enjoy physical copies and cannot care less about digital. I cant even stand digital books. I want my vast, physical library. I enjoy the physical collection, its value, the chase for back issues, the satisfaction of actually owning an object, not digital data. If comics ever went fully digital I wouldn't buy a single issue and just spend all my resources on older more expensive books I want. (Like Golden Age books)
>>77347944
Floppies generally need to stop being treated like collector's items, I don't like the feeling that I have to treat these 5-10 minute distractions with impeccable care or otherwise I've damaged something that cost me $4-5.
>>77358552
Are you too lazy and careless to take care of things you own? Are you a minimalist shitlord that likes to like an an empty white box? What the heck is wrong with my generation and its desire to own nothing.
>>77358645
I have several shelves of graphic novels, omnibuses and manga volumes because they're substantial and can just be put on a shelf without having to buy boxes and binders and bags to keep them organized and presentable. I just don't feel that 19 pages of comic along with 11 pages of ads and other superfluous shit printed on poor quality paper is worth being treated with the same level of care.
>reminder that if you only buy trades/omnibuses instead of floppies you are cancer
>>77358774
Do you feel this way about Golden/Silver/Bronze comics, things that actually have significance and value or just moderns? I suppose I can understand it in reference to moderns. But reprints do not compare to reading the actual book of a characters first appearance.
>>77358856
Omnibus master race
>>77358868
>overpaying for a bulky, unwieldy book that you have to be just as careful with as a floppy because the companies all cheap out on binding
>>77358866
If you have the artist's original drawings then sure, those are valuable and should probably be in a museum, otherwise it's still just a reprint at the end of the day.
>>77356869
>>77358552
I'd say a floppy takes about a half hour to read unless you just speed through it, bouncing from balloon to balloon and hardly glancing at the illustration. That's about the same amount of time as a tv show. That's pretty satisfying to me, although I tend to put off reading in order to savor books as much as I can.
Im also in favor of the shorter episodic format because of the types of stories it forces the creators to create. The short length and need for continuation allows for some of the really crazy and out there stuff that is only done in comics, and executed as economically as possible, with no wasted words.
>>77358964
That works well in theory, but almost all floppies are thin as helld easy to burn through and overcosted.
The only time they were viable was when standards were so low you could just throw random cool bullshit on a page.
22 pages is impossible to tell a good comic story in unless you arw a Fucking master and an industry cannot run on the talented tenth
>>77347944
Because it's a way to scam money out of the idiots who still support the industry
>>77358116
People who value worthless wood pulp over actual content, money and massive conveniences are a minority that can talk shit on the internet, but trust and believe all these luddite bastarss will go digital for the fix, especially since the industry runs on a list titles with reader bases that follow it religious ly.
You think Batman and Spider-Man will loose sales to meaningless sentiment? Get real.
If digital is the only way to get the fix, the hardcore Niggas who fund this shit will sign on in droves
>>77358645
For fucks sake, the comic, the story, character, writing etc, not dead trees it's written on, its the exact same.book
you are just spending more time, effort,money and space for rhe privilege of touching wood pulp. Is sentiment THAT valuable to you? You care that much about the physical form that is costing aprox.80% of the money you sink into it?
4/5 of the value of a comic to you is paper and staples?Really?
Is it psychologically driven? Some pointless thrill in having a massive pile of stuff?
Floppy buying is.a neccesary charity, why would anyone PREFER it.
>>77358866
You are a collextor you don't give a shit about comics as an artistic medium, you just like artifacts.
Comics are stories meant to be enjoyed, not totems to fetishized.
>>77359526
Thing about this is it locks out a whole lot of potential new readers. Random dudes will wander into an lcs and maybe pick up a couple issues out of nostalgia or curiosity, but far fewer will purchase a $3 download out of the blue, especially if it requires a reader app to function. And that's counting on them even finding the site where they can buy comics in the first place. Colorful covers of crying purple gorillas on stands in stores sell comics to the uninitiated, not convenient digital platforms.
>>77359623
I absolutely value that sentiment. And yes I value them as artifacts of storytelling. I absolutely care about comics and how they started as a source of inspiring the country, not just kids, in WWII how many Jewish creators created these symbols to show us that an evil as great as the Nazi's could be beaten. Golden Age comics are artifacts of a completely different and prominent era of history and culture and I take great satisfaction in owning a part of that era. While the reprints are surely more economical to own and read, the value of Golden Age books being as high as they are, it's still not the same at all to me as the true book. And I feel this applies to Silver Age as well. These the actual pieces of the characters history, and American cultural history read by people discovering them with awe and wonder for the very first time. Yes I take immense joy in my collection and its value that reprints and digital especially will never bring me.
>>77359623
You can't read digital if you have no power.
>>77359623
Is it psychologically driven? Some pointless thrill in having nothing but data on a hard drive?
>>77359623
Because they want something that fucking exists, you dumb little faggot. How have we gotten people who can't comprehend wanting to own an actual physical copy so quickly? Digital comics aren't even that old yet. Oh wait, I know, it's millennials who think they know shit about shit.
>>77359868
Seriously, what is it with millennials being against actually owning something?
>>77359986
>>77359868
Seriously. The nice thing about physical media is that you aren't at the mercy of the Cloud, a power outage, or a harddrive that could crash or some other shit that can happen to your digital stuff.
Plus it's nice to have something tangible on the shelf, be it a book or a DVD/Blu-Ray.
>>77360147
Pic related
>>77359868
>>77359986
>millennials
Just to be clear, both of you are over the age of 35, no? Otherwise, you're most likely millenials.
If you are, fair play; I just feel that 4chan has some twisted definition of millennials as being anyone born around 2000.
>>77359986
I like owning trades, but little shits keep wanting to focus on floppies.
>>77360183
I am 26, I am millennial, I hate my generation. The older I get the less I like it.
>>77360183
I'm guessing it's more of a "damn kids" thing, but that doesn't make them incorrect.
>>77360265
I'm not saying it's incorrect at all, I just find it funny how 4chan's definition for Generation X seems to be "the generation the ended just after I was born," while Millennials are "those fuckers born after me." It's especially funny when you realize that some sources start Generation Z as anyone born in 1993 or later, meaning there are probably 22-year-olds Generation Z'ers on /co/ who hate the damn young Millennials with a passion.
>>77360340
I think it has something to do with the primary age group for this site is just hitting that point where it becomes clear how fucking stupid the world around you is, because we're all idiots and shitheads like >>77359623 are even dumber than that.
>>77360563
And as a Millennial, I think it's stupid to think that it's just our generation. Every generation's full of shitheads, and acting as if people in their late thirties through fifties are somehow magically in touch with the need for physical makes no sense.
Full disclosure: of course I like physical, but I'm a different kind of scum, being a trade-waiter myself.
>>77360563
Agreeing 100% on this post and so glad more people are condemning >>77359623
>>77360666
>I think it's stupid to think that it's just our generation
Like I said, it's a moment of clarity and you usually see it with your peers first. As for the trade waiting, you should probably buy smaller books because a lot of times they don't get collected, or fully collected. For instance, the gospel adaptations in Yummy Fur were never completed, so they haven't been collected despite being the most interesting parts of that book.
>>77354081
>floppies or lcs dying is a false choice
They're intricately connected. Absolutely no one else except the LCS wants floppies, and publishers have no reason to continue publishing floppies except for the LCS.
>and the new/surviving shops take a more boutique approach
Part of the reason why those shops do well is precisely because they're the last one left standing. It's a boutique business with no competition. That's not really survival, nor will that sustain publishers. Comics publishing is not a business with a long tail especially once you look at the mid to small publishers, unless they have a book market presence.
>>77359623
You remind me of the naive people who believed Kickstarter and Patreon and webcomics would totally be a big revolution against the big two.
This thread is full of complete fucking morons whose ideas have no basis in reality, but at least we haven't gotten any of those retards that think newsstands are magical things that are dying to make a comeback.
>>77360800
I'd be more into floppies, but I've found that with my office schedule and me being off-continent an increasing amount of time, it's really just easier for me to keep tabs on what's been released and reviewed, as opposed to having to keep my hand on the pulse of new releases and previews. I'll make it to my LCS once a month at best.
>>77360869
This thread still has the lazy people who go "Kill the industry to save it" who don't have competent ideas for the aftermath.
>>77360253
>I hate my generation
Oh fuck off. And for the record people like digital stuff because s long as you live somewhere with decent internet it is objectively more convenient and usually cheaper or free.
>>77358645
*tips fedora*
>>77360868
Aren't they? Several of the creators I follow have been able to vastly increase their rate of output after they opened up a patreon.
>>77361090
Not in a larger way, though. Its positive is that it's another outlet so that artists can keep getting funded.
Some people here confuse supplimenting with replacing.
>>77360934
I'm not knocking it, everybody has their own system, it's just that trade waiting tends to limit certain things. One of my favorite series from the last several years only just recently got a trade for the first volume and they are currently on the fourth in singles. You could also consider a subscription service, most stores do it for free and many give you a discount,
>>77361025
I fail to see how complaining about minimalism, and carelessness for ones possessions has anything to do with being a fedora/mra.
>>77361247
>What the heck is wrong with my generation and its desire to own nothing.
this is pure fedora and where did ya pull MRA from?
>>77361247
*tips fedora*
>>77361364
I dunno, they are usually lumped into the same category. But seriously that desire to own as little as possible is so mind boggling to me that I can't understand it. I have such an immense appreciation and attachment to the things I own that things like the tiny house movement make me retch, I want my house to be museum of what I love, I want Del Toro's Bleak House.
>>77359742
Nobody just randomly walks into a lcs and starts buying comics out of the blue
>>77347944
I'm more baffled there's so many ads in comics.
>>77361831
As opposed to all the ads on TV? or Youtube? roadside Billboards? or just about anything?
>>77361811
They do, every fucking day. Whether or not they continue buying comics is another thing, but there are people going in with the intention of breaking into a new hobby every day.
>>77361831
Because publishers know they can get away with it. Some faggots will buy anything just to "support the industry" even when the industry obviously doesn't care about readers only their shekels
>>77361811
You want new readers? Put comic books back into grocery stores where kids can actually see them and bug their moms until she buys it for them.
>>77362266
There we go, a thread about the industry isn't complete without one of you fuckwits showing up.
>>77362288
You don't want kids reading comics?
>>77362317
I don't think there's any value in putting them back in a market they left for a reason. Besides, big titles don't need any help to sell, and if you think supermarkets would stock anything but the sure sellers you're an even bigger idiot than I thought.
>>77362369
It's like the people suggesting newsstands aren't even aware sales on magazines and newspapers in general drastically dropped during the late 00's.
>>77359986
My issue is that I obsessively collect one thing to an extent that I don't really have room to collect anything else.
I love comics as a medium, and want to support it financially, but I'm stuck between paying for digital, which are only as expensive as they are because of the price point parody system the publishers have worked out with diamond, or paying for floppies, something I don't have the desire or space for. So surprise, surprise, I torrent my currents and but trades or graphic novels of the stuff I like.
I feel like Fantagraphics has the right idea with physical stuff. They moved away from single issues and seem to focus on graphic novels and high end collections. They don't publish as much as I remember them publishing in the 90s, but I'll read anything with their logo on it.
>>77362413
>but I'll read anything with their logo on it.
Even Massive?
http://www.fantagraphics.com/massive/
>>77362410
The also lack the common sense to realize how rare newsstands are nowadays. I live in Dallas and I honestly believe there are more actual comic shops in the DFW area than newsstands.
>>77362369
I'm not saying put every title in grocery stores have a spinner rack with the heavy hitters like Batman, Spider-Man etc. Kids can see them read them, maybe get hooked and become a lifelong customer seeking out the specialty shops. Isn't that how most of us got into comics or am I just showing my age?
>>77362495
It would've been a better suggestion back in the 90's. Nowadays people don't buy as many magazines as they used to.
Why do you think Archie has been doing stunts the past few years? Cause their newsstand market is kind of fucked other than their digests which are basically reprints.
>>77362473
but supermarkets vastly outnumber comic shops, I live in the dfw area as well and the closest place that sells comics to me is the movie trading company in denton, 40 miles away
>>77362561
>but supermarkets vastly outnumber comic shops,
But have you noticed that they haven't stocked as many magazines as they used to? Cause I noticed this at a lot of supermarkets around my area in the last six or seven years.
There was one supermarket nearby in the late 00's that stocked some comics, like Star Wars and Amazing Spider-Man and Simpsons, but then about a year or two later they stopped doing so.
>>77362495
I think you're just projecting. Things have changed, comics generally moved out of non-specialty shops because the sales were anemic and the cost was greater than the return, given that periodicals have an extremely convoluted process of sales and returns. Look at Barnes and Noble, Marvel out and out stopped putting singles on the magazine rack and it was months before anyone noticed.
>>77362561
Where the fuck do you live? I live in Garland and I'm 30 minutes or less from about eight shops.
>>77362593
Bridgeport
>>77347944
Because they've been revolving around them for the past 70+ years. It would take a *huge* change in the readers or the market to move away from them.
In addition, while GN's are more popular than ever, they're still not as profitable as floppies. There was some report that compared income from floppies vs. trades, and just about everyone was making much more from the former than the latter.
I suppose if you took out floppies completely the GN sales would shoot up to compensate, but there's no guarantee if it would still be as profitable, and any company that did so would be taking a huge gamble that it might not recover from.
>>77362464
Ha, yup, I got that in a torrent bundle, the intro was a great read. Some of the less, uh, porny porn was surprisingly clever.
>>77349691
Well other people like buying something once and being done with it.
>>77361493
There's a difference between not wanting to own anything and not wanting town tacky clutter like floppies.
>>77353188
I did explain.
I cant buy the Flash book cause like i said there is no Flash book. Only solution are those monthlies with several series in them and the equivalent of trades only exist for very few series
You guys should think of what happened with computer video games.
When Steam hit the market with dematerialization, and started selling games at incredibly lower prices, the physical market was whiped out of the entire planet. It is now almost impossible to find a physical computer game in a store outside of very few highly anticipated games from the biggest publishers, and even then you don't find those in many stores.
It is now even almost impossible to find older used PC games, and not just in stores, even in flea markets, thrift stores and the likes.
The market is dead. More than 90% of PC games sales are on Steam. A great part of that is bought through underpriced 'sales', and publishers don't really have choice on what price their games go for. If your game isn't on Steam, it's like it doesn't exist.
As soon as digital are being sold for less than physical, stores won't being willing or able to rival and you can say goodbye to actual books.
>>77365760
As long as there are people who buy comics to collect instead of just read there will still be physical books. Digital is good for people who want to buy comics just to read
>>77359822
I don't value the haed drive, I value the actual fiction. Anything else is just a delivery method for it, and the logical method is the cheapest easiest and most convenient way to get it.
>>77365760
One thing that works in favor of books is that the medium itself is important to the experience. Whether you buy movies or games online, you're still consuming it through a monitor or tv screen. When you buy mp3s instead of CDs, you're still listening through headphones. This is not the case with books. Even as e-readers and tablets advanced technologically, books have not died as quickly as everyone expected. This may be the case for comics for a while, at least until kids who grew up with tablets become the majority.
The other thing about Steam is that it was started by a company that had its own killer app, and they were able to grow their business quickly. They also had the foresight to open Steam to all publishers and charge a reasonable commission. This is not the case with Apple and comic books yet, and this is not the case with Marvel. For something like Steam for Comics to happen, cooler heads at Marvel and DC have to together and build an open ecosystem, and invite everyone else to join the party.
>>77359986
I own things with value, umbrellas, phones, furniture, things that DO something. A book's only value is as a convey of information, it is something to put text and images on. The text and images are the value, the paper and ink and so on is just a delivery system.
When I read Multiversity, I am enjoying Multiversity a story by Grant Morrison et al, the characters, plot artistsry and so on. None of that is because of the paper , the paper is just what the story is printed on. The story is what matters. It is just so...surreal to place so much value on something so intensely ethereal. Like people who walk to work one way despite KNOWING there is a quicker path because of "tradition." Or people who say something isn't drawn unless it's done with pigments and paper.
The Methods are irrelevant as long as you get your result, getting to work, getting your artpiece, telling a story. They have no inherrent value, and thus can only be judged on how efficient they are in getting a job done.
The sams circuit drawn in Matlab or CADstar is still the same circuit, It only matters which one was made quicker, cheaper etc.
Owning something just to own it, or doing something just to do it, ia stupid. Everything is judged by what it actually does for you, not what it is. It's as stupid as any breaking plates not for fun or anything but "tradition. "
All things are to be judged on there own merits.
Floppy buying presents ancillary benefits to some (communal effects with the lcs people, supporting creators) thus my necessary charity comment, jt can serve a purpose yes, but that's not because of any inherent quality of the book.
>>77366103
>One thing that works in favor of books is that the medium itself is important to the experience. Whether you buy movies or games online, you're still consuming it through a monitor or tv screen. When you buy mp3s instead of CDs, you're still listening through headphones. This is not the case with books. Even as e-readers and tablets advanced technologically, books have not died as quickly as everyone expected. This may be the case for comics for a while, at least until kids who grew up with tablets become the majority.
Honestly I read both physically and digitally and both have their pros and cons.
Physical are more soothing and you have the feel of the paper and of different paper quality.
However I have a great computer screen. Reading comics in portrait mode, I have a bigger image than any book, the colours are better, I can appreciate the drawings a lot better.
I was not born with tablets and already I like digital just as much (in a different way).
The transition might happen more quickly than you think.
Also a lot of people loved to collect cool video game boxes. Yet, they stopped providing those (and not just for PC).
>>77366260
All you talked about "owning something "as if having a physical object as property was an inherent plus, why?What does that stack of papers and ink and staples actually do for you. You can touch it, smell it and the like, if that was the reason, an actually overwhelming tactile pleasure, it would make sense, by comic books dont feel like molly tabs when you touch them. You read them and then what?Read them again if you want. Okay, the papers themselves haven't done anything aside from conveying the story.
The collector factor is an entirely different animal, akin to archeology where the bowels and knives in museums aren't actually used for ther purposea, but instead as an interest in the culture.
In that case, you are not judging them on the rubric as a story telling device, but as a cultural artifact. Which while understandable in that context, is still a minority field, that is, most comics today are bought for reading, not collecting.
Media is just that a medium, a way to transfer ideas from persons to persons, the rubric they should be judged on are those ideas and how efficient they were at conveying them, not whatever inherent qualities of the method itself.
You can disucess musical mediums in terms of sound quality, films and t.v. screenings in visual levels, but dont wank the medium just because, what are the objective aspects of the paper that give it so much more value for the exact same content?
>>77359742
LCS are primarily delivery systems for the hardcore. And even more now we are seeing that all they usually do is sell the same top titles to the same hardcore fans.
There accessibility factor is miniscule.
>>77347992
Marvel is currently in the best position to break the mold. Their books, for better or worse, print money. They're the ones who can create an alternative outlet for new forms of comics.
>>77366297
>Also a lot of people loved to collect cool video game boxes. Yet, they stopped providing those (and not just for PC).
What I mean is collectors alone won't be enough to keep physical.
>>77360952
The Big 2 are part of parent companies so massive, they are effectively immortal.
The entire industry could be raizes to the ground and the Mouse and the Watertower would just come up with some other distribution method.
>>77361493
Wanting something just to have it is a pathology. Objects are means to an end, I am not going to buy 59 candles because hey I now own 59 candles
>>77362639
Yeah, because the publishers have horrible trade programs, they are selling less due to incompetence or, perhaps a deliberate designed hold back so the floppies will sell
>>77364316
Oh I misread, I thought your first paragraph was about your "trade" equivalents
>>77361831
You should flip through one of those women's magazines sometime. The first 20+ pages are ads.
>>77365760
And? You get your content, cheaper, easier, quicker and from anywhere and this is a BAD thing?
>>77347944
Some comics just work better in floppy format rather than trade or hardcover format. Not to mention if the cover artwork is good then I like to hang them on my walls.
>>77366479
That's different, articles or interviews aren't as engaging as a story.
I'm fine with ads before or at the end of a story, or on the back cover, but right in between 2 pages of a story, that's just disrespectful.
>>77366488
My main point is that people who think digital should cost less should think twice of the consequences if that were to happen.
>>77366523
I've learned to ignore them for the most part. Only annoyance recently is when they put the promo folder in the middle of the comic and it's a double page spread, so you can't see it properly.
I'd prefer them all lumped at the back too, not sure why they don't do this for all the house ads. I can understand the paying ads wanting better placement.
>>77354081
>It's all about how you attract a niche demographic.
The issue here is that where everyone listens to music and collectors are the niche within that, comic buyers are ALREADY a niche. The collectors among them would just be a niche of a niche, and that's not enough to keep most LCSes in business.
>>77366542
The consequences of not having to keep sucking diamond's tit? I'm ok with that.
>>77366560
Don't forget the ads that Twix bought a few months ago in DC books, actually breaking up the page to insert an add across the bottom half.
I wonder how they are going to handle those when the issue get collected in trade.
>>77366649
What is Diamond doing so poorly in your opinion?
>>77366684
I did forget about those. They were a bit invasive, yeah. They could just take both half pages and put them on one page I suppose for the trade.
>>77347944
floppies should cost 1$ or 1€
>>77365760
>>77366542
I think comics fall more into books vs e-books rather than physical disks vs steam's digital distribution.
Comic books sales have dropped because they're expensive. You can pick up two twenty minute reads of something suited more for a TV-show, or spend that on a novel crafted over an entire year that lasts at least a few hours. And if it's an E-book, you can guarantee that more money will go to the author.
Comic books have to distribute to a niche audience, worldwide, with several episodes, and people don't even know where to start. Finding specific copies of outdated issues means finding a comic book specialist, or ordering online.
Quite frankly, as soon as DC or Marvel cut out the middle man and start exporting digitally, these companies are gonna make comic books more profitable, and be able to risk putting out more content.
The only downside to this is that the money is going to end up in the wrong hands every time.
Inb4 it makes piracy easier. It's already easy.
>>77354081
>On the quality versus quantity approach
What about new writers and arists? Major companies don't accept any kind of spec submissions and won't consider hiring a newbie or listen to any new ideas. The only way to get original content produce through vertigo, marvel dc, image, darkhorse, 2000ad is to be noticable in the first place.
The best thing about digital distribution is the fact that it'll increase profits for self-publishers.
>And that all these awful webcomics will try to migrate to it and the authors will die a slow and painful death for peddling shite content for anything other than free.
>Be in store
>See comic issue on shelf
>Oh hey this cover catches my attention, this looks interesting
>Pick up
>Nothing on back or inside front cover telling you what the comic is about
>No idea about genre, plot or basic premise of comic
>Nothing but jazzy cover
>Put back on shelf
At least give me a synopsis so I can judge if the comic is up my street or not. I'm not buying something based on how cool the cover is.
>>77368798
yeah, fuck it. I'll buy a few trades here and there but I'm sticking to library reading now. I can flip through it, or read a bit then take it home and it costs me nothing. Plus I find better selection there than at LCS, and can order in anything I want if there is something specific I want to read. I'll buy only the ones I like enough to keep in a collection, and in one week of doing this I found some stuff I probably will buy like Kabuki and Northmen
>>77347944
The Smurfs are back on print?
Also, I bet this is going to be resold in bulk to some obscure bookstore in another country by a way cheaper price.
Because peronal observations. My country could be that 'other country'.
>>77368798
you forgot
>realize it's 2015
>google it on your phone
>>77347984
too lateHail Hydra!
>>77347992
> Diamond has a stranglehold on the industry. If Diamond goes down, you can be damn sure that they're going to rip everything down with them.
Monopolies are how capitalism is supposed to work, right?
Fuck. I can't even remember how long ago it was that Diamond took hold as the only distributor for the industry. I just remember a number of comic shop clerks and owns commenting how fucking demented and sick the industry is with Diamond as its sole distributor.
One local shop was smart and jumped ship to the main bookstore distributor for manga, but they still have to deal with Diamond for American comic books and merch.
>>77370282
>Fuck. I can't even remember how long ago it was that Diamond took hold as the only distributor for the industry. I just remember a number of comic shop clerks and owns commenting how fucking demented and sick the industry is with Diamond as its sole distributor.
1995 was when Marvel went Heroes World exclusive and then everyone had to shift to Diamond cause it was comparatively stable or something.
I think it was in 1997 when Marvel gave up on Heroes World and then joined up with Diamond. That was when Diamond probably had more control over the market.
>>77348850
Don't forget.
Floppies have advertisements that earn the publisher money.
>>77348391
>floppies have a shitload of ads tho, that brings in some extra-money
That's a bingo.
>>77366684
>Don't forget the ads that Twix bought a few months ago in DC books, actually breaking up the page to insert an add across the bottom half.
>I wonder how they are going to handle those when the issue get collected in trade.
Leave them in for more money for DC! Bwa ha ha ha!
>>77360147
>Seriously. The nice thing about physical media is that you aren't at the mercy of the Cloud, a power outage, or a harddrive that could crash or some other shit that can happen to your digital stuff.
Yes. Collect all your comics on flammable paper. Excellent.
>>77366589
Niche doesn't have to mean "collector" in the sense of someone paying high prices for rare back issues. In keeping with the record store analogy, the majority of sales in a record shop that focuses on used media is $5-$10 items. So it's not "collectors" buying Aerosnith and Boston records, in the same sense that "collectors" wouldn't be buying cheap used trades and new trades/graphic novels that come out. There is a market for that model though, and you don't need new floppies coming out every week to foster that market.
This is all academic even within the realm of a hypothetical scenario, though, as most comic shops are heavily supplemented with toy/game sales anyway. I suppose my main point is, there are still plenty of used book and record stores even though those mediums are both available online/digitally, so I don't see why it would be different with comic shops. It's just wonky logic to say "death of floppies = death of lcs!"
>>77370347
fuck that's aweful, I would never pay for shit like that
I only buy floppies when shops slash the price down to $1 or less because they're ancient back issues or they're having a sale or something. Paying more than that for like 15 pages of a comic mashed together with ads is stupid.
I'll pay more comparatively for trades though since it feels like I'm buying an actual book instead of a flimsy magazine type thing.
>>77366589
>The issue here is that where everyone listens to music and collectors are the niche within that, comic buyers are ALREADY a niche. The collectors among them would just be a niche of a niche, and that's not enough to keep most LCSes in business.
mfw I wake up some days and think about that
Especially when I look at comic shops and see how the big two publishers, which make up like 70% of the market, keep pandering to the die hard collector with shitty gimmick covers and force retailers to dance through hoops of ordering more random issue to get them thus inflating sales.
>>77366297
>I was not born with tablets and already I like digital just as much (in a different way).
>The transition might happen more quickly than you think.
I honestly expected this to happen the moment the iPads and iPhones started getting retina displays. Those are almost enough to display b/w manga without moire, and more than enough for color comics. That fact that this hasn't happened yet is why I think it's going to be relatively slow compared to the transition of video games and music.
Publishing strategy of the majors does matter. Right now they still have a lot of reasons not to embrace it in a hurry.
