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Digital Comics: Are They Worth It?

By: | Comic Features | March 14, 2011
Digital Comics are great because you can read them anywhere especially if you have a mobile device. They save space in your house and there are several services to download digital comics. The major problem with digital comics is the price point that some of the publishers establish for these books. It seems like publishers are taking advantage of what people would pay just to download a 28 page book that costs only a little more than their print counterpart. 

Recently, I acquired an Android Phone and I was very excited about my device because this meant that I could read some comics whenever and wherever I wanted. I downloaded the Comixology application from the Android marketplace and browsed their selection, which is amazing. There was so much to choose from, but then something caught my attention.  A lot of these comics were old, in addition, here is another little surprise some of these books didn’t really drop their price digitally. In fact most of the digital books cost more than their current value.  Don’t get me wrong, some of the books in the app from smaller publishers are at a decent price yet others are still too expensive.  After seeing the prices in the app, I concluded that maybe getting the hard copy is a better than the digital version; thus still making me more a hard copy reader than a digital copy reader.


Comics on the iPadComic book publishers should really consider dropping the price point on digital comics because the books that are available for many of these apps are old and pricewise it doesn’t justify the value they are being sold for.  For instance, I was shocked to find a digital copy of a popular DC comic at 1.99 when it was probably worth $1.25 in its day!  The older material should be set at a price point of .50 cents to .99 cents at the most and not so close to $2.00.

Then you have the recent material.  Some of which is up on the app for 1.99. Not bad, but still too pricey for a digital book.  I mean sure, you have the option of buying the stuff and reading them on your device, but is it worth buying a 28 page digital comic book for 1.99 sometimes at 2.99?   It depends on the person, but I can’t justify that price even for a newer book.  At that price I might as well go straight to the comic book shop, buy it at regular price, read it and then store it in my closet.

Personally, newer books should be established at the same range as older books anywhere from 50 – 99 cents.  This way it provides the readers who still buy the books monthly a worthwhile option especially if they are on a budget. Instead of making the reader wait for a collected trade, why not entice us by offering the book a couple of months later at a reduced price?  The 50-99 cents price point is perfect because it would save the reader money and shorten the wait time and availability of these titles.

If publishers would agree on a decent price range on the digital books, not only would you keep the hardcore comic book readers intrigue into trying the digital books, you could also capitalize on newer readers who are just discovering some of these titles for the first time. By introducing these readers to the comic books at a low price, publishers could get younger and newer readers into the comic book world wanting more of these great books.

 

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