In this argument, I had split feelings. I can completely understand Scott’s reasoning for buying comics digitally (I have moved four times and I am tired of lugging 500lbs of comics to everywhere I went).

However, there is no question that no digital comic that is less than 60pgs is worth paying $4.00 to read. I can completely understand why they are selling those comics at those prices, there are many people who rely on every dollar these comics generate – artists, colorists, inkers, office workers, accountants and many more.

With that being said, times are changing and it is impossible for me to commit such an amount for one digital book. To offset this absurd price, the big guys are selling subscriptions to their library. of books That makes me think the intention is to drive the speculative buyer to purchase a yearly subscription by maintaining these draconic prices. If your going to spend money on a digital book, you either should buy an indy at a reasonable price or buy a yearly subscription for the industry leaders. Otherwise you seriously are getting less value for your buck.

I think two results will come out of this transition period in publishing:

1. The Collectible Press – as Jason has stated on several podcasts, the printed comic is going to be an asset to the avid collector and brick and mortar stores will transform to have small collections of print in conjunction with other collectible materials that glom unto niche buyers like purchasers of pvc statues, movie memorabilia and the like. It is kitch for the niche and will be produced in smaller amounts for an ever dwindling group.

2. Futures Investment – The other group is the bibliophiles that see comics as the pop art of the latter 21st century, like Warhol or Lichtenstein. This group sees the monetary value of possessing these books for the long hall. They aren’t fanboys, these are buyers. Unfortunately, power buyers either drive the industry in one of two ways – they stroke the industry to produce more than they can sell with speculative purchase, like in the nineties, and when the interest is gone and the value isn’t there, they are left with thousands of worthless copies of their books or the power buyer chokes the industry by buying selectively keeping buzz low which forces the value upword for the comic but doesn’t allow the publisher to cash in on the up front sales (some more can be gained by additional printings, but that is not a draw to the power buyer, maybe as a reading copy)

No question that these are hard times in publishing and the only way the press can be supported is by increasing endeavors in other media where you can retraffic revenue to the struggling press and use the comic sales and print material as propoganda for your other endeavors.

You will think that is a no-brainer, but you would be surprised how many business models in publishing entertainment don’t include a “helping hand” clause and still maintain an “every media for themselves” attitude. If it works, then I guess that is fine, but I haven’t seen that model work effectively anywhere.

I did want to offer a solid glimpse into comics’ future for all of you and it comes from the industry which most closely resembles the comic industry – the roleplaying community.

If you look at game books, old books are collector items going for large sums of money (the ones in great condition), copies or these books are available as pdf’s for fractions of the cost of print online, a ton of the hard to find ones are torrented so they are free to everyone and the industry has gone all but completely on-line with a huge field of entrepreneurs and staple corporate presences creating a wild tapestry of industry professionals who are holding down two or three jobs to make ends meet or living in land parcels in areas as remote as Alaska or across the seas on other continents.

And there is tons of fan material that has come to exceed the quality and popularity of older more established games.
The world of gaming is huge, just no one is making any real money off of it, except those who develop electronic games or movies/tv shows based on their game, and that may be where the comic industry is heading in the near future.

Good podcast, sorry for going on for so long.