Second Verse, Same As The First

This is not an entry about sexism, racism, cisgenderism or heterosexism. This is an entry about digital comics. Explicitly, this is Yet Another Digital Comics Post By Willow. YADCPBW - damn, it doesn't make a catchy acronym.

Why another post? Why not.

Mostly though, I'm writing because I'm realizing that just like there are fans who talk about holding a book in their hands, the feel of the paper stock, the good binding, the typeset - for books and I'm sure similar sensations for comics, I want to talk about the sensation of being a digital fan.

Recently I read through the Star Wars: The Old Republic webcomic, available at the massive multiplayer online game site. And it hit me how much I love that moment when you determine if you want to read full screen web-browser, or full screen monitor, or if the art is laid out enough that you can read as is. I love the graphic flip to a second page. I love reading single page style, with two page spreads coming up only if the art cues for it and then bam, wonderful large art, right there. That I can zoom in on to see the fine details done by inker and colourist. I love the preview panels that pop up showing bits of colour and hints of layout. I love knowing ahead of time how many pages a comic is. As much as I'd love to have all these things possible on a portable e-comic reader, I enjoy it as it is on my computer monitor. I enjoy it more than reading prose ebooks.

I've said before that individual comic issues aren't for me. And they aren't. Not the physical individual issues. I have several in my home right now that I rarely go through and read, because they're either old and fragile back issues. Or they're the more modern comics all glossy and ink and if I'm looking at glossy pages I'd prefer a hardcover if I have to have a book at all.

But also, comic art is changing. And while I'm not completely sure I like the change, for example I've not at all enjoyed the way Marvel in particular seems to be swinging to cinematic still shots - a lack of layout and movement I think of as dead art - there are individuals trying to fuse the two. And seeing that lit up on screen feels epic in a way holding something in my hand just wouldn't.

I also don't like how insubstantial floppies feel. Or rather to keep this on positives, I like the way an adobe pdf handles when I'm reading a single issue. I discovered this reading the single issues of The 99. I can get excited about a new installment and not waiting on trades with a PDF. It represents part of a whole, I can eventually burn to disc, write a name on a label (or make a special label for) and have right there for my own enjoyment. Plus it makes the thought of buying the series in trade a choice of a different venue, instead of me feeling like I'm spending money twice, and the second time just for binding it.

Those glossy pages in paper floppy issues make it feel less like waiting for trade and buying is about better paperstock and quality production.

And digital copies to take with me when I leave the house? I loved the chance to share The 99 - Origins with my little brother and father. It's like taking movies with you to share with people, or taking music. Here, join me enjoying this. This is something I might get you for a present / something you should consider buying for yourself. I love the thought of Greg Rucka's run on Wonder Woman someday being portable. So I could open up a laptop somewhere and go 'Here, this is what I mean'. Or 'I'll bring them for you to read when I come up'.

For the first time I think I buy the concept that there is a Digital Generation. And what's tactile and comforting for said generation will obviously be very different from the generations that came before. But the impulses have the same basis. Digital to me is portable, the way a paperback might be portable for someone else. Yet I thrill to the thought of something the size of a paperback or trade holding 100 of my favourite books - my personal favourite library on hand. I thrill to the thought of having choice when I catch moments to read, to either re-read or read new. I thrill to the thought of never being without a book. I thrill to the thought of one click download of not just ebooks, but comics. All comics. Going to the website of an indie artist, writer and illustrator and boom, I paid my money, I have their work in my hot little hands.

I recently read How Mirka Got Her Sword - it's available in 'dead wood pulp' for $20. I love the style and colours of the story and I realized, something on heavy paper-stock, with that style of print and colour is something I would actually enjoy having and holding in my hands. It says 'book' to me in a very unique way.

Whereas most other comics say digital.

[Comments Allowed]

Wowio Says To Comic Creator "Bend Over Deeper"

Right, so Wowio owes Chris, creator/artist of webcomic Misfile, about 7k dollars. And it's over due 105 days and counting. And they've already paid out 3rd quarter orders.

I was feeling a little - "You don't give people second chances, Willow. Is that always wise?" For a while there. Since I've not gone back to cruise Wowio since...wow, since AUGUST apparently. I've just directed my attentions elsewhere.

Now I'm really glad I haven't been giving them even click per visitor money. But at the same time I'm pissed that they're adding to the fuck-ups on models of digital comics accessed/purchased online. Their failure is going to be another useless bump in the road that bigger studios/corporations will look at to say 'Digital Comics Is A Lost Cause' and that saddens and ticks me off.

I don't have a lot of money right now, but even on a budget - Blue Beetle is something I'd have paid money for if I could get a digital copy. Maybe I'm a new brand of collector. But I don't want things in boxes taking up space, needing dusting that I have to worry about evaluating for insurance for fire or flood. Give me digital comics I can have on my computer, on disk and saved online/off site. Make my comics accessible and durable in an e-reader. I would actually buy a comics e-reader even if it didn't let me read regular prose books as long as all the comics I like, from webcomic favourites to indies could be updated on it.

It's effing lonely on the digital frontier and then an idiot in assless chaps (Wowio) walks in, smelling of stale air and ego and expects me to be grateful.

Yet More Ow On Wowio

Seems like it was a good thing I had the time yesterday to open the read-online-only files of Neotopia and find out how the story ends; they're no longer on my queue in my library. A whole bunch of things aren't. I've gone from nearly 400 items to just under two hundred (195 to be exact).

I can't quite complain, as the creators have every right not to sign contracts or continue with Wowio. But the less there is on there, the less I'm going to use it as my digital publishing one-stop (or top shop out of a tight few).

One thing that's really struck me is other people's reactions. Friends of mine who I introduced to Wowio who went to the site for the re-opening and discovered, as one friend put it "a bunch of children's lit fluff". And the prices on things that she did want to read were at paperback prices of 7$ and 8$.

It looks like July 31st wasn't the real opening day, however. Since looking at the site now on Aug 1st, there seems to be gift items that might allow me to download some things. I haven't checked yet. I wanted to write out my thoughts on my second impression / second day first impression.

Especially since the reminder of how many friends I'd turned onto WOWIO, reminded me I'd turned family members on to it too. And I am not having siblings or older family members contributing to shafting the artists.

Annnnd the gift downloads?

Your next download from Comics & Graphic Novels is free (for a limited time) — a gift from EA Sports.

So is that one download only for the day vs the previous three a day? Without any information I'd better make some very careful choices - yes?

One incredibly good thing about my recent disappointment in Wowio is the discovery that some of the comics on my queue were web-comics I'd never heard of before. I'm adding them to my feeds now and investigating if they have other avenues for digital offerings. Half the reason I liked Wowio originally was that I felt like I wasn't going to be torrenting but I would get digital comics AND pay the creators.

NB: I'm aware I've been grumpy, cranky and somewhat bitchy what with the stupidity in the femiblogsphere and Marvel and DC being - well, full of juvenile self glorying idiots. So Wowio had a big void to fill when it came back anyway. But I know there are other places selling digital comics like Drive Thru Comics. Looks like it's time to investigate them.

More Wowio Blues

So far I've had the end of one comic and the whole of another be completely unreadable - nothing but mangled blurs and lines in black and white.

There's also a quality drop that I don't remember experiencing before. I'm looking at HELIOS #1 right now and page 6 has some serious quality issues. The page is blurry and the limited size adjusters (zoom regular, medium or large) do nothing at all to help.

I've also discovered that every time you close the Wowio Reader, it loses your preferences. So while it can apparently remember which page you closed out on, it can't remember to keep a two-page spread at medium.

On top of those discoveries, Ad Block Plus bars the ads on the reader. I've always had Ad Block Plus disabled on Wowio.com in support of their text ads, which I clicked. But those ads were not the intrusive, flashing, blinking, too colourful and distracting not to mention sometimes apparently page distorting ads now on the Wowio Reader.

How exactly do the artists get the best possible deal out of ads people can find ways around? It felt like one thing to have ads in the beginning and end and maybe even in the middle of the comics. That's relatively close to the experience with an actual copy (non trade) in one's hands. But this constantly rotating, blinking, mess?

On the one hand I can look at more comics, peruse first issues and figure out if I'd really enjoy them. But that could have been done with using the Wowio Reader as a previewer. Considering I had to trust Wowio with my credit card info in order to gain membership (1cent charge then refunded at the time), I don't appreciate being treated as some kind of pre-criminal with COPYRIGHTED material all over the Wowio Reader.

I was so excited about Wowio's return. I counted down the days and minutes. I was there within minutes of the site going live again. I didn't bother to wait for notification (which never came via the mail, by the way). And now after a month and more of waiting....

Ugh.

Sh*t D*mn M*therb**tet

Apparently PLATINUM STUDIOS is prodding, poking, asking questions, seeking to negotiate to acquire one WOWIO.COM.

I am not pleased.

Wowio is currently down as they prepare to go global. At least that's what the splash page says as explanation as to why I can't catch up on my downloads at the moment. The thought of Wowio being acquired by another company fills me with distrust.

Wowio is just starting out. It's just beginning to see the possibilities for what it's offering. There are so many ways it can go and it's on the front lines carving out the frontier. Becoming a subsidiary just leaves me thinking of no more essays or critical works or magazines or comics from competitors or web comics or indies or non comic / non graphic novel works.

I feel Wowio should remain Wowio and if Platinum Studios wants to get into the digital trade it should bloody well create it's own. Wowio helped me smile about comics again after a year where my only solution, in order to maintain sanity was to walk away from the big Two and take several steps back from Image too.

It seems as if something can't have even a droplet of success online before a bigger company shows up to eat it. Yes they call it buying out, but it feels more like eating/absorption and shitting out of waste. Has Yahoo done ANYTHING with Delicious? Anything at all? No.

Google's been sitting on Jaiku for a while now. And yes, it is Google and Google tends to make things work. But still, Jaiku's been sitting and people have been left waiting.

I had 350 plus items on my Wowio Queue before I moved. There were a lot of comics but there were also a fair amount of novels and documentary style texts; thoughts on serial killers for example or an examination into myths. I hadn't yet touched the essays and magazines/articles.

*sighs*

It likely doesn't help that there's very little about Platinum Comics I enjoy. There's maybe one Platinum title on my Queue and I keep bumping it down anyway.

ETA: Ok this shit right here about how Platinum Studios have messed up paying an artist is NOT giving me good thoughts about the future of Wowio and the creators who were previously getting $.50 a download. Nor am I feeling good about what consumers/readers will be getting if they have to deal with someone whose reputation is besmirched like that. Cause WTF???

Tokyo Pop Says - Blow Me. Who'll Sign Up?

I seriously, SERIOUSLY, hope that minority creators are too well versed in the history of cultural appropriation, theft, sacred space violations, actual rape, land stealing, slavery, indentured servitude and more - than to sign a contract that cheerfully states they'll be giving up their rights to their creative product.

Why signing a Tokyo Pop Manga Pilot Pact (and/or other of their contracts) IS FOR SUCKERS!

Why a folksy contract is like a folksy President, Prime Minsiiter or Premier and IS FOR SUCKERS!

I'm shouting about minority creators but if anyone, white, black, brown, gold, red, bronze, green, purple signs up for this in a flurried rush of "But I'll MAKE IT BIG AND RENEGOTIATE" I will feel incredible sad for you. Sad and helpless, because you'll have created this mess yourself.

The US dealt with a writer's strike in Hollywood over late last year and early this year. What was it about? RIGHTS! Rights and rights to proper compensation.

Why do unions go on strike? Rights! {yeah yeah, there are those idiots who mess it up for everyone - but I'm talking in general here}

This should get talked about. There are too many young people who tremble and get stupid at the thought of making a career out of something they love to do. HELL, I get all a trembling and dreamy eyes at the thought of bylines and book credits. I'm also cynical and believe in the concept of healthy selfishness.

Many people point out that this 'Pact' smells like a clone from the recording industry - y'know those people who sue their customers. I know nothing about how it works in present day or what the twists are for rap vs R&B vs NeoSoul (and yes rap gets a small r. Sometimes it's all cause I say so). I do know that I've read enough books and articles and have enough friends who were thoroughly and disgustingly all things boyband to know that crap and shit contracts have happened and do happen in pop and rock. I know N*SYNC (is the star fucking right?) was one.

All I have left to say right now is:

MOTOWN.

JERRY SIEGEL & JOE SHUSTER

BILL (bless him) FINGER

Heard of them?

Heard of Prince? Ever wonder why he changed his name? (The Artist Formerly Known As)

Haven't? Then Wikipedia is your friend.

Go forth, learn, educate. Don't be a sucker.

Things I've Said Before

I've a friend, a former roommate, who is all about reading. She loves stories. She loves good stories. She likes long stories. She likes stories that make her think.

But she is not a bibliophile. She doesn't look at hardcovers and note the gluing and touch the paper and ponder the quality. She doesn't contemplate how long the bindings will hold and miss the days of when books were sewn together AND glued AND bound.

Text books do not give her a thrill because of their solid nature and heft and durability.

She likes the stories, the text.

I on the other hand always considered myself a bibliophile until the possibility arose that I could get comics in digital format.

This should be an entry about how the cover art on the Cable & Deadpool, particularly the art at the beginning, absolutely turns me off. And if it weren't for a friend showing me scans again proving I'd like Deadpool, I wouldn't have looked twice at it.

That's what got me thinking.

But that led to going to Marvel.Com and that led to looking through some of their sample offerings (the free 4 pages). And that led to me thinking all over again about how excited I get at the prospect of non flimsy issues and non bulky trade paperbacks and how much I'd love to give Marvel my money for their digital offerings if they weren't such privacy invading bastards.

Is there a word yet for someone who loves digital media? Digitaphile? That seems awkward sounding.

I've posted recently about how much I don't like photorealistic art. But I also loathed the art of the late 80's and early 90's. And it's not all Rob Lifield.

**Eyes cross and tear pinkish liquid at the sight of his name**

I really love getting to zoom in and look at the art up close. I love the crispness of it.

I'd love even more if there were layered options and you could lift the speech and caption boxes off the art and just stare at those clean pages.

I love the colours.

I love seeing a good combination in styles of artist, inker, colourist.

And then, I love seeing a good story in the midst of it.

Comics led to Animation led to Comics.

Have I waxed rhapsodic about the wonder, love, uber-cool that is Starship Troopers: Roughneck Chronicles in this blog yet? If not, I should.

**sighs with love / sighs with love** So amazing for it's time in the history of cgi animation.

Anyway, back on topic, all this thinking about how much I love and would prefer digital product for comics (as an option, you flimsy lovers can have your cake too) led to me thinking about collectors. Would I understand the people who loath a thing, but buy it anyway so their collection isn't missing anything - if I liked the flimsies?

Cause the only time I want flimsies is when they don't bind all the stories, a and b and sometimes c plots all together in a trade. So it's not completest of me, it's me wanting to finish reading the damn story.

And yes, I can think various cover options are cool. But it would be easy of me to go with the one I liked the most (or just a little bit more). And yes, all the while I'd probably be thinking 'I wish this were on CD, with scratch art from the artist and maybe all the variation covers'.

Am I a product of an age?

Am I DVD spoiled? **hmmm DVD's... oh yeah, extras baby...**

Can anyone explain the completest collection comic fan to me? The comic book addiction? The people who loathe BND yet still buy it?

And while you're at it - could you explain the people who buy Rob Liefeld for the art?

How Digital Blew My Mind aka The First Taste is Free

Marvel Comics. Digital Distribution.

I can't remember right now how I stumbled across the information during the last week, but I did.

While the whole $5 dollars a month if you pay 54 for the whole damn year at once - kind of makes me cringe as I'm a woman currently of limited means ; Though actually even if I wasn't, I grew up in a pinching penny environment. Think of me as a black Saiunkoku Monogatari. Noble family, broke as anything. So my frugal ways will likely stay with me for life.

STILL if they can work it (things to be fixed mentioned here) it'd be wonderful for those of us, like me, who want to legally read and then buy the tradepaperbacks of the stuff we want to hold in our hands for all time.

[[ Why are there two prices listed? One obvious and the other when you press 'offer details'. That combined with the prices subject to change at any time makes me brr a little ]]

So there I am peeking at Young Avengers + Runaways, cause I keep hearing how much I'd like or at least would have liked Young Avengers. Yes, gay teens for the whooting. Gay teens who're related to Scarlet Witch? Gay teen grandchildren of Magneto? My Woot, let me show you it.

Anyway, I'm peeking and so far it's crisp. And I don't feel skeezy or confused the way I've been confused by bittorrent. But I am having just a little trouble reading. There's this odd weird cut off thing in two page. The right? (page in this direction -->) is cut off in two page view. Two page view lets it feel like a comic. So it's a shame it just isn't working.

[[ Also, why can't we save these things online? If you're paying a monthly or yearly subscription fee and they don't have to pay for distribution - Oh Diamond the stories I hear about you - then shouldn't the general costs drop?

And so I'm left thinking that if I paid 60$ a year, I'd damn well want to be able to burn my own discs with the option of a little extra to get them to make fancy disks for me! I mean some of us don't like flimsy paper issues.

We want books. We want lasting. We want it not to take up too much space! Space and the demands to treat it gentle just don't quite work for me. Also if I could get the whole of Cloak and Dagger on CD, I would pay now and eat tuna for weeks. ]]

I can't say more just yet, because it wants me to register in order to finish the reading experience and see more. I am not big on registering for something that's supposed to be enticing me to spend money. Why should you get my personal information when I don't even know if I like you yet?

On the other hand; Heroes for Hire looks as cool as it sounded, despite Misty's hair.

[[ Seriously, wtf was up with that? I can see what they were trying to accomplish. But black hair doesn't work that way, and I know they can draw squiggly lines for corn row. But it's been said before so...]]

And I'm scrolling through Generation M, (still not registered) and it looks interesting despite the massive hairball I think CIVL WAR was/is. So this could get me seeing some squee on this side of the big two's take on superheroes. I do remember hearing that the tie-ins didn't suck. And the best way to get me interested in buying a potentially good story is to make it easy and simple for me. Scrolling through the site, I realize I could finally look at She-Hulk without feeling I'd be wasting money if I didn't like it. And I saw other stuff people have tried to pimp me. General count? At least 10 series that I wouldn't look at twice before due to money and storage space/upkeep.

With the production of readers for E-Ink and e-book readers like NUUT (and possibly Bookeen) where Manga's available for download already in Japan, it's not too far down the road to where having digital copies won't restrict you to reading at a desktop or laptop - your comics could be digital and portable. So why no downloads? Why so slow to roll with the times?

Then I looked up DC's online possibilities and there my mind was blown. I consider myself a DC girl, even if my love of Batman was closely followed by a love of Marvel's Cloak & Dagger and by Dazzler with a follow up of the daily Spiderman comic strip.

I may have to rethink that self perception given that scrolling through DC's website I didn't see much that interested me in general. And then I was disappointed because DC doesn't seem to be taking parallel steps to Marvel in terms of digital distribution. For a whole hour I was faced with the prospect that ease of access to both past archival issues and current storylines might make me a Marvel girl.

Of course while googling to find out why this was so, I stumbled across a few sites that are doing digital archiving and are being dually harrassed by both Marvel and DC.

Why is it that these two can't seem to get that the future is here? I'm not sure of the legalities of it, but I'd think if other people are doing the hard work of scanning your titles and putting them up and promoting them and you want to get into the digital business, then it might make sense to create a Marvel or DC corporate sponsorship of bit-torrents. Say that they'll provide the original seeds, and sites promoting the material have to charge a minimal fee, of which they (the product licensors) get a certain percentage. The most other money they'd have to put into it is buying out or creating their own personal readers - they could make a little money that way too.

I grew up with comics, but at the moment I'd say I'm a casual comics reader. I like good stories. I love superheroes. But even if I could afford to spend the money to follow all the cross-referencing needed to get a single plot from beginning to end, I'm fairly certain I wouldn't spend it; not at those prices. That money could go to so many other things; gaming, ice-cream, netflix subscriptions, buying trades I already know I like, saving up for conventions, going to see the movies in theaters, etc.


I agree strongly with this write up here about keeping it simple and inexpensive and how causal users, or those coming back don't really want to hunt down a comic book store. I'm there right now. I'm thrilled to be into comics again (when I'm not saddened by the state of things). I'm aware of comic stores now. But I'm already going 4$ for 20something pages?!!! I don't want to have to go out of my way to find a book store on top of that. I go to local bookstores that are not the big chains once a year; in December. And I don't feel I'm missing out on the comic book buying/having experience or sense of community, because the internet has blogs and forums.

What about creating a new sub-set of the comic book lifestyle? A digital lifestyle.

[[ I now imagine myself going to a local, licensed comic book downloader, who'll put the volumes I want on cd or dvd, with various extras and interviews from the artists, inkers, colourists and writers that only they have access to via subscription to Diamond or whomever.

Maybe there's a hardcover I actually want to own, so I pick that up too. And while I'm there, I can pick up some stamps for snailmail, cause licensed comic book downloaders can use certain images to place an order with Photostamp or whomever. If I already called ahead, it's waiting. If not, the order'll ship to me. Maybe I order a couple postcards too.

There are other customers there waiting for their digital orders, so there's browsing and some talking (some of us know each other via blogs, forums and newsletters) and I avoid the corner with the overly sexy statues so I don't bus someone's chops for oggling Mary Jane's porcelain skimpy undies. Someone pimps a website I'm not subscribed to, that's all about a new Batman writer's exclusive podcasts. Someone else talks about an exclusive mini-series cartoon (think CloneWars) that can only be gotten through the official licensed downloads, as an extra. And I pout about missing it, since it won't be available again for another 3 months, unless I plonk down for an extras cd. I don't have the money in my budget for it but I make a note, collect my stuff, pay for it and I'm gone. Not to return for another couple of months.

My purchases tally up to something like $40, but I'm following some 30 series, DC, Marvel, Darkhorse and some indies and I got those stamps. But that's ok for my quarterly comic budget and I'm already paying $12 a month to read the issues (from 3 major publishers) as they go live online. Happy little customer me, goes home to read/view my extras, hug my hardcopy and not have to deal with boxes taking up storage space I don't have, or hours of bagging, cataloguing whatever, since y'know, I'm casual and not a "collector".]]

*sighs*

It's a nice dream but totally unrealistic, right?

Got the name.