It’s arguable that the big news from DC’s announcement today is that the entire DCU line will be going day-and-date digital. But not everyone is a fan of the practice, apparently; responding to Ben Simpson’s tangentally tweet “Regardless of DC’s move, anyone who is releasing a creator-owned book NOT day & date digital is leaving money on the table,” Brian Michael Bendis tweeted the following:
As you can imagine, the original tweet has a little less black barring, and probably not suitable for family blogging.
The idea that same-date-digital release harms comic retailers has been one that’s often used to defend publishers’ decisions not to make their entire lines – One reason, perhaps, that Bob Wayne’s letter to retailers makes a point of mentioning “an innovative mix of publicity, promotional efforts and retailer incentives designed to maximize your opportunity to increase [their] DC sales.” Whether Bendis’ attitude towards the matter stretches to Marvel making the Ultimate line day-and-date earlier this year remains open to question.
May 31st, 2011 at 5:03 pm
So, how much money did Bendis personaly donate to keep Tower Records and other music retailers running?
What about Borders/Waldenbooks and other book stores that are struggling?
Let’s not play the game of “Woe is MY industry” when the digital revolution for comics – same-day digital distribution – is long overdue. Comics and shops will continue to struggle even without this.
If you think this is going to kill retailers, then perhaps those retailers didn’t deserve to survive in the first place.
May 31st, 2011 at 5:09 pm
I can’t see how it HELPS retailers, but maybe some innovative promotional ideas might even things out a little.
May 31st, 2011 at 5:47 pm
I agree that this may hurt retailers, but Bendis often seems to take opportunities to tout how great digital is in interviews (see Word Balloon). This comes across to me like someone just trying to criticize another company.
May 31st, 2011 at 7:38 pm
It’s the usual partisanship we get from the Big Two these days.
I’d love to see DC include codes in their physical books for digital downloads. I know a lot of vinyl records come with such things so the customers are investing in a collectible and still able to read it as they want.
I realize the speculator market destroyed comics before, but making them collectible again could help keep stores alive.
May 31st, 2011 at 7:47 pm
I think it’s time for the retailers to adapt or die. I love my LCS, but I don’t want floppies anymore. How much longer can I buy books I really don’t have space for out of guilt for abandoning my LCS? Especially when I have a 64gb iPad in front of me?
May 31st, 2011 at 8:00 pm
I don’t agree with much Bendis says but he is right. Of course driving few fans left out of stores by rebooting again isn’t going to help stores either.
May 31st, 2011 at 10:50 pm
That’s pretty much the summary of the situation as well, Cisco Kid.
I’ve got my Kindle and have made the move to ebooks (only buying the occasional hardcover). I’ve long been ready to do the same with comic books and reading them on my computer.
June 1st, 2011 at 2:57 am
And there speaks a natural wordsmith – could Brian Bendis BE more crude? And since when is ****ing in the ass an automatic negative? I’d bet a hell of a lot more people – gay AND straight – indulge than read his comics?
June 1st, 2011 at 4:43 am
“since when is ****ing in the ass an automatic negative?”
pretty much always dude. perhaps not in reality, but in the vernacular, always.
June 1st, 2011 at 6:54 am
Will his opinion of this change when Marvel goes Day-and-Date?
June 1st, 2011 at 8:36 am
Yeah, this MIGHT have an effect on brick and mortar stores and everyone likes to point out what happened to record stores when music when digital download, but look a what happened to the whole musi industry! The record industry didn’t support digital at all for years and the record stores still died because that’s what people wanted, but because the industry didn’t even try to make a digital distribution channel, piracy went rampant and ist still rampant to this day, crippling record sales. If publishers don’t start taking steps like this to give digital buyers what they actually want, someone else will provide it for them pirated for free, and once that happens, good luck getting any of that audience back as paying customers.
The video games industry almost had the same problem, but is getting it on track before it gets out of hand with digital distribution services like Steam and D2D. The people who run steam put it best stating that a lot of the problems with piracy are ACTUALLY more of a customer service issue (not always of course). The industry is not providing a service the customer wants, so they get the service from someone who WILL provide it, and that usually ends up being through pirating. In the long run DC doing this is much more beneficial to the comics industry overall as it will help prevent the situation the music industry is now in where record stores have dwindledto a very few, AND digital has to compete with ridiculously rampant piracy. Piracy will always be there, but most customers want their goods legitiamtely and don’t WANT to steal them. The industry just needs to make sure it’s providing good customer service to ALL of it’s customers in order to stay in business, and this is how to do it.
June 1st, 2011 at 9:24 am
I would buy more comics if they were available to me digitally. If i can cut out going out of my way to the comic shop I would. and I usually stop collecting because I can’t make it there. It’s such a hassle in NYC most times.
June 1st, 2011 at 9:48 am
I’m not saying Bendis is wrong (I don’t think he is), but coming from him, it’s the pot calling the kettle black. The master of drawn-out storylines speaks…
June 1st, 2011 at 10:04 am
It’s weird, this is the same Bendis that I’ve heard rant about digital comics being the NEXT BEST THING to come along.. and then he comes out with this.
People that are fanboys NOW – are COLLECTORS and unlikely to jump immediately to digital, so regardless of release date – they’ll still be there. The whole digital comics thing is to bring in new fans that aren’t currently served by the direct market. Like movies and games, people prefer BRAND NEW MATERIAL – not old stuff – so releasing digital to attract this new market days/weeks/months after the hard-copy release, defeats the purpose of going after this new market if they consider it “old stuff”.
It’s really too early to tell how this will effect things.
June 1st, 2011 at 10:06 am
Mr. Bendis needs to get a clue — as do the comics retailers in this country. Anyone with the slightest bit of business sense could have predicted that the digital-comics revolution was coming YEARS ago. What happened to the music industry could not have been a brighter beacon. Instead of harrumphing about it, ignoring it, or making a company like DC out to be bad guys for making a move that can only benefit the comic industry as a whole by EMBRACING modern technology rather than FEARING it, a smart comic shop should have been figuring out how it could diversify to make sure that it does not become redundant once digital comics take hold.
And they WILL take hold. It is inevitable. How many actual CDs have you bought in the last few years? Versus how many downloaded singles? When the industry charges me $3.99 per 22 pages of story, I’m not particularly concerned about “doing my part” to support it. I want the product, and I want it affordable. If I can get that story cheaper, without leaving my house, you think I’m going to pay MORE and drive into a comic shop (which are often poorly run, from my 20-plus years of comic-buying experience)? Get. A. Clue. The days of comics as collectibles are long over. How are your back-issue sales? I never see anyone buying any from my comic retailer. Nothing published in the mainstream after the mid-80′s has any kind of scarcity anymore. And I really don’t care about holding it in my hands either. I switched to an e-reader months ago for books. I’ve never read more in my life. Don’t miss the physical books at all.
And for Mr. Bendis to act all outraged that DC is sticking it to the retailers — do you really think Marvel is not currently hatching its own day-and-date digital plans? Do you really think they’re that stupid? Grow up. It’s business. The world is changing. And your company will be following suit before you know it. I wonder, when Marvel announces its digital-publishing initiative in the very near future (it will have to, or look like it is hopelessly behind the times), will you also castigate it for how terribly it is treating the retailers? I suspect we will get a lot of silence — something that would be a pleasant change of pace from Mr. Bendis, to be sure. I swear, the man-children who run this industry…
I’m more alarmed by the Newsarama article about the comics retailers who seem totally unconcerned about the digital plans, and more worried about whether the new No. 1 issues will sell. Wake up! Your Titanic is sinking! It’s true that in the short term, most long-time comic fans will probably not switch to digital in droves (although some, like me, absolutely will). In the short term it may actually be a boon, because if promoted and priced properly it SHOULD bring in new readers who previously did not have access to, or would not step foot in, a comic shop. But in the long term, all but the hardcore comic collectors WILL go digital, at least in part. It is easier. It will be cheaper. It will be faster. You can’t fight that.
Instead, I implore the comics retailers out there: use this opportunity, this small window of time, to figure out what else you can do to keep your current customers. What else can you do that reflects your core competencies? How can you diversify your stock and still be attractive to the same audience? (And hopefully broaden it.) This is not the time for sticking your head in the sand. If you do that, three or four years down the line expect your ass to get barbecued while you’re not looking.
June 1st, 2011 at 10:44 am
Applause for your comment, Eric. You speak the truth!
Digital is happening. We don’t know for sure that digital is a gateway for new readers, but all evidence in other media have indicated that it is, especially young new readers. We also know from other media that the retailers who resist the change will suffer the most. The ball is rolling. Brick and mortar retailers need to hitch a ride.
And besides being wrong, I agree that Bendis needs to express himself differently, especially his vaguely homophobic terminology. Maybe he instead of this this tweet he could have shared his opinion via a 6 part storyline featuring characters speaking to one another in interchangeable voices, sprinkled with unnecessary droll remarks.
June 1st, 2011 at 10:56 am
I’m sure that when Marvel does the same thing, Bendis will find a way to rationalize it. “Sure Marvel’s ****ing retailers in the *ss, but I’m sure they’ll provide a reach around too!”
June 1st, 2011 at 1:50 pm
If some people had it their way we would still ride around in horse and buggy. Watch black and white t.v. Use rotary phones or chat via total phone (remember that thing??) And lastly still listen to music in cassette or 8 track. (I still love records)
The point is, whether we like it or not we have to embrace change and technology. I for one welcome digital comics as I haven’t bought a book in years due to financial and other reasons. So a quick convenient way to read will certainly bring in new readers. You will still have your collectors at the stores buying hard copies. But why not have a choice in how I want to read my comics?
And Eric put it best, comics dont hold value anymore. But if you want a collector’s issue, buy the variant, but dont cry when in 3 months it drops its value by over 50%.
If you dont live in the now, you’ll die like a dinosaur.
June 1st, 2011 at 2:06 pm
I don’t like this DC reboot,and will jump off.But how about Bendis taking a pay cut so that his books would be more affordable to the average joe ?
June 1st, 2011 at 5:31 pm
To everyone who says the retailers need to “adapt”: how are they supposed to do that? Start selling blank DVDs?
I admit, true collectors will probably not go to digital format. It seems to me more of a way for someone to cover up their hobby (no evidence laying around).
I, for one, like having something tangible for my money. A hard drive crash and all of that gone to waste. I am aware the Kindle network keeps a record of what you’ve purchased so you can replace anything that is lost, but how long can they really keep all of that data? What about when their systems crash?
June 1st, 2011 at 9:20 pm
Here’s the hard truth about digital downloading.
Only idiots pay.
And it’s true. Regardless of morality (and it is morally wrong) illegal downloading is so easy and accessible that there is no point in paying. It’s ridiculously easy to stream TV and Movies and music for free, and only slightly more difficult to download them illegally to a hard drive. Why any one frequents iTunes is a true mystery.
If the “evolution” of comics is digital it will also be the extinction.
Most comic readers a re collectors. They want hard copies not PDFs that cost the same. If the market does eventually become purely digital it will in reality become even easier to pirate, in better quality, digital comics.
And eventually the system will crumble.
Musicians mainly make their money off live performances, pirating doesn’t hurt them as muc h as it hurts record labels because pirating gets their music out to fans that then come to shows.
TV is also sheltered in a way because ad revenue pays a lot of the bills and as long as there’s a TV audience there will be ad revenue to lean back on. Until there isn’t. Then I guess their SOL
But comics, with no one footing the bill, the big 2 will die and the only creations will be independents that find a way t market their free comics with merchandise and what have you like the web comics that sell t-shirts and sketches and junk.
For now I’m hesitant but optimistic about DCs reboot, but the idea of day-and-date seems to me to be (a very early) precursor of the end.
June 2nd, 2011 at 4:01 am
while i agree with a lot of what alex just posted, as i was reading it i was thinking of that website/comic strip the oatmeal. the guy who does that just came out with a hardcopy collection that i see in bookstores. and i think at least one other site/strip did the same, cyanide and happiness, maybe. so there’s an example of things moving the opposite way, from digital to hardcopy.
I think it’s possible that in the future dc and marvel stop producing comics altogether and begin to just license out the characters to people who are more able to navigate the current technological and commercial tides. sure it would be a radical change and maybe even the death of continuity as we know it, but it would be the death of the industry completely.
June 2nd, 2011 at 5:20 pm
Not wanting to be an old codger, I agree technology has to evolve. However, let’s say the brick and mortar stores cease to exist. Where is a fanboy going to talk to someone who shares their hobby? The Internet? Maybe, because if hard copy comic book become extinct, so does comic book conventions.
People, you have to be careful that technology doesn’t make human interaction on a physical obsolete. I hope DC Comics and the retailers have a reasonable compromise.
June 6th, 2011 at 6:50 am
My local comic store offers next to no added value to my comic-buying experience (mostly it’s cranky clerks that manhandle my books). But if the downloads are the same price, I’m going to go to the store and buy the books. I like owning “something” for the price I’m paying. It’s the same reason I buy physical CDs if I can find them for the same price as an iTunes download.
Digital is the future. But not the only future (yet).