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Old school paper v Digital comics

Started by The Bissler, 27 March, 2014, 12:09:20 AM

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Mabs

Quote from: Bat King on 27 March, 2014, 09:09:42 AM
I am a paper snob. New graphic novels smell great.  The light his the page differently, I have been known to turn a comic or GN to get different light on a page.

I do not get the same enjoyment reading a digital comic.

I do see digital as useful in some ways.  Easier to access back catalogue. Particularly for grabbing that issue with that story that you suddenly need to read.  For me if I had everything digitally researching for my blog would be a ton easier.

I'm totally with Bat King and The Bissler on this: I will never be able to give up my love of the paper format.

I like to look at it this way, when my son and daughter grow up and they see my comic/ book collection on the shelf, they might come across a title which perks their interest and they fall in love with it, and just as I did, they too might uncover a whole work by a particular artist or writer thanks to it. The joy of discovery, finding something exciting and so on. Whereas with my digital stuff, the same doesn't apply as a story no matter how good would probably be stored on a memory stick or laptop out of sight.

I do not deny that a lot of the digital comics nowadays are really exciting (I'm currently reading Simon Bisley's 13 Coins which showcases what could be possible via digital format). But holding a much sought after title in your hands, or a beautiful hardcover book such as Craig Thompson's wonderful Habibi, holds an extra thrill for me which a digital comic can never replicate.
My Blog: http://nexuswookie.wordpress.com/

My Twitter @nexuswookie

atp

As long as it continues I will get physical issues of the prog and megazne to keep my collection whole. I also get my weekly prog digitally from clickwheel, because my newsagent here in australia gets the progs months behind the UK, I have just picked up prog 1862, so digital is the only option for me to keep up to date. I also get the chance to re-read when the paper issues come in.
I personally think digital is the way forward and that it has not yet reached its full potential. As digital storage space is getting less expensive, digital comics can have higher resolution scans improving the quality ( although I have no problem with the quality of digital as they are now). The problem between the formats as I see it, is that they are too similar in content for most buyers to move away from what they are used to. Digital comics have the potential to offer a lot more content as they could have the original art, colouring, lettering and even script and miscellaneous production files and scans tagged onto them for added value. Which would be a  great  source of creative learning and inspiration for future creators. After all most of the production material is converted to digital files ready for print regardless of it being old school pencil & ink or fully painted. With the addition of such files the move to digital would be hard to resist, especially when you can store a couple of thousand comics on a hard drive that costs less than storage boxes, bags, and a bloody decent ladder for the loft.
The freedom of choice should be compulsory

I, Cosh

Wrote most of this three weeks ago. Just thought I'd resurrect this thread to repeat stuff everyone's already said in a fairly longwinded manner.

Travelling home last weekend, I was rereading the first five parts of Jaegir on my iPad. I arrived to find a stack of eleven Progs waiting for me, with that day's top of the heap. I was shocked by the difference. Everything was bigger and bolder. There seemed to be vast expanses of space in each panel; the artwork was open and expansive where it had been cramped and claustrophobic. I exaggerate, but only a little. Obviously, it's a matter of chance (or possibly some logical, thought-out, ergonomic design guff) that the standard tablet is pretty much the same dimensions as an American comic and I've always preferred the proper size of Tharg's Mighty Organ but it was a real eye-opener to feel the difference so viscerally.

I'm a couple of months into my iPad ownership and digital comics experience and it has its good side and its bad. Obviously, ease of access, physical space requirements, choice and accessibility are off the hook. I'm currently working abroad (not sure if I've mentioned that before) so being able to get my weekly Prog without it costing an arm and a leg is a magnificent. Despite the apparent need for multiple platforms, the ease with which you can pick up stuff has definitely led to me spending more on comics than I otherwise would've. For example, I'd only ever read the first Hellboy mini-series and thought it was pretty poor stuff. However, given the opportunity to buy every Hellboy comic ever for $50 (the monopoly money effect of pricing in USD is a great benefit to people trying to sell me more crap I don't need) I snapped them up. Quite enjoyable, although I assume I'm missing a lot by never having read any BPRD. Hmmm, I wonder if that was their plan all along...

I digress. Suffice it to say the practical benefits and convenience are inarguable. Which leaves the reading experience itself. I have found this to be unsatisfactory in a way which I find hard to put my finger on. One part is certainly the need to read different titles in different apps which, unlike their deadtree equivalents, all behave in subtly different ways, but that's not it. I am an inveterate flicker: when I sat down to reread, say, The Ten Seconders there were images and references in the last series which had me rifling through the first in search of half-remembered recurrences. This is something I found far easier with paper Progs than I would on the iPad. I admit this is a pretty edge case and has little to do with actually reading an individual comic but hey ho.

What's causing me the problem is not necessarily the physicality of it but just the way it changes how you experience the flow of the comic. A comic is designed to be read two pages at a time and, while you can do that on a tablet, it means putting up with art (and text) zoomed down to an uncomfortable level. The act of switching between single and double page views (assuming you even can, Comiczeal) breaks up this natural flow meaning you are cut off from things you should be aware off on the right hand page and spoiling the impact of splash pages.

I guess these are as much opportunities for creators to think about the way they tell the story as they are obstacles for pensionable old codgers like me to overcome. Nor do I think the way I approach something is necessarily the "right" way or how I expect kids to look at it. Acknowledging that things can and do change doesn't necessarily mean enjoying that change nor should that be ignored. Ultimately, the good points outweigh the bad but, at least for the moment, I can see me going entirely digital for the Meg for convenience but certainly not the Prog.

Interestingly (for a given value of "interesting") I've been using the Kindle app on the iPad for the same amount of time and I have no problem with that, so it's definitely not all some old-fashioned object fetishist issue I have. Well, I say I have no problem with it. The one thing that infuriates me is that it doesn't show the page number, but a "location" ID. I guess this makes sense when people can zoom and orient the text to different sizes but it's not a lot of fucking use when the index remains resolutely static. Surely that's an insurmountable problem, is it?

TL; DR. I dunno. It seems alright apart from the shit bits.
We never really die.

Frank


Are you Thrylseekr in disguise?

I agree totally regarding how useless digital comics are for reference purposes. Last night, radiator was trying to remember the mention of an in vitro Dredd clone during Tour Of Duty. I flicked through a paperback collection of that story and found the page in question just in time to return here and find he had done the same thing only slightly quicker. If I'd been faffing about with stuff on my hard drive, I would have found that panel around the same time Farage was delivering his victory speech.

Il love reading digital comics, but I'm not done buying books just yet.


Colin YNWA

Very interesting assessment Cosh (the), though I suspect too late to save me as recent reviews of the 12.2 Galaxy tab have convinced me to put aside my original art habit for now, sell some vinyl and delve in when I 've raised the cash. All those peopl who wonder why I don't yet read the Meg... The wait might soon(ish) be over... Well if I can find the time to get to eBay again...

The Adventurer

QuoteI arrived to find a stack of eleven Progs waiting for me, with that day's top of the heap. I was shocked by the difference. Everything was bigger and bolder. There seemed to be vast expanses of space in each panel; the artwork was open and expansive where it had been cramped and claustrophobic.

A few months ago I attempted to do a reread of Progs staring back in 2004, which is when I started reading 2000AD. And I admit at almost a year and a half of the digital progs I was surprised at how noticeably larger the print comics were. And the reproduction quality was a bit better then the compressed digital images*.

It was an interesting experience, but not so much to sway me from my digital choice.

*that said I feel that current 2000AD print quality isn't quite as good as it was 10 years ago.

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Dr Feeley Good

Since I have got my galaxy note tablet and gone digital I have bought loads more comics,stuff I would never have got around to buying in print,a few case files and the rogue trooper books that were reduced, and away from 2000ad,marvel zombies and the two large reprints of the walking dead....by the way is xmen age of apocalypse any good ? I notice it is cheap on comixoligy at the moment and wondered if it's worth getting. ?

Link Prime

Quote from: SteveMillar on 26 May, 2014, 10:05:13 PM
by the way is xmen age of apocalypse any good ? I notice it is cheap on comixoligy at the moment and wondered if it's worth getting. ?

It's amazing Steve, but probably helps if you have some prior knowledge of the era / status quo it overwrote and subverted.
Try the first chapter- 'X-Men Alpha', if you dig it try 'Astonishing X-Men', 'Weapon X' & 'X-Man', the three best titles of the series.

The Adventurer

Age of Apocalypes blew 14 year old me away. At the time I was really into 'What if?' and Alternate Realities in general. Particularly apocalyptic/distopian ones. It was probably the most interested in X-Men I ever was. and because its alternate reality, no character is safe (see: Generation Next)

Also my favorite mini-series in the AOA event was X-Universe. Were we got to see the fates of all the non-Mutant Marvel super-heroes. Its only two issues. But I loved it. Who knew Gwen Stacy could be so badass?


That said... its so 90s it hurts. Physically. Deep inside. I honestly can't say its worth $50 in a single whack. Probably. Maybe.

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Link Prime

Quote from: The Adventurer on 26 May, 2014, 10:32:02 PM
That said... its so 90s it hurts.

Hurts so good.
It's far, far superior to the current guff Bendis is spewing.

I forgot to mention Warren Ellis' contribution- the 4 issues of 'X-Calibre' are intriguingly different.
Plus, you get to see Nightcrawler teleport Deadpool's head off.

Dr Feeley Good

I might give it a try,used to read xmen a lot around the time of mutant massacre and when apocalypse first appeared.... Showing my age now...

IndigoPrime

Quote from: The Cosh on 26 May, 2014, 05:55:07 PMHowever, given the opportunity to buy every Hellboy comic ever for $50 (the monopoly money effect of pricing in USD is a great benefit to people trying to sell me more crap I don't need) I snapped them up.
See also: Humble Bundles for comics, which recently have included IDW's Doctor Who run, and a ton of Image trades. Digital's great for one-offs; for stuff I'm likely to re-read or want to maybe hand on to a probably not-that-interested mini-Grannell, paper's still the way to go though. (And then, on Hellboy, there are the beautiful Library editions, which I splashed out on for silly money, because they're just gorgeous.)

atp

Although  I would prefer paper issues when it comes to my comics, I have to admit that price, space and difficulty finding older comics,
along with wanting to just try new(old) titles has me looking to digital collections.
And what could be better than hundreds of free digital comics that ordinarily I might not look for.
Has anyone else tried ---
http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/
or
http://comicbookplus.com/

I've found some enjoyable reads. And my digital collection costs next to nothing, while at the same time I am "getting used to digital".
The freedom of choice should be compulsory