After reading Vaneta’s great One Month Later piece about retailers’ takes on the New 52 over on the main site, I’m reminded about one thing that I was curious about, not from a retailer point of view, but a reader’s: How many people who normally buy books in their stores bought books digitally?
I’ve been thinking about this recently, in part because I’ve seen people online say things like “I wanted to try [Book X] but my store was sold out, so I’ll either wait for a second print or skip it,” and found myself wondering, why didn’t you just buy a digital copy? The price is one answer to that question, of course, but we’re into October now, so the digital price point for first issues will start dropping to $1.99 this Wednesday – Will that be enough to convince people to pick up books that they otherwise would have skipped?
Use the comments, people: Have you replaced print with digital now that the New 52 has put the entire DCU day-and-date? Have you sampled books digitally that you wouldn’t have bought in the store? And, with prices dropping this month for last month’s debuts, are you likely to take a second look at some of the New 52 launches now that they’re a third cheaper?
Note: The “Vote” button does not show on some browsers. Choose your option in the poll, and mouse over the bottom left-hand corner of the box to click the invisible “Vote!”
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:42 am
Count me in as a former print customer who has switched to all-digital in the wake of The New 52. I don’t have to worry about sell-outs; I don’t have to take up more space in my home with boxes; and I can much more easily re-read the issues whenever the fancy strikes.
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:48 am
I love the day and date digital option! Right now I’m buying most of my books in print, but I’ve decided that any new books announced I’ll buy digitally. Slowly I’ll drop books off my pull and pick them up digitally. My goal is to be all digital within a year.
I live in downtown Chicago so realistate for all my comic boxes is very limited. I’m thrilled for the digital option because it’s going to save me a ton of space and make my partner VERY happy.
October 3rd, 2011 at 12:06 pm
I’m about 75/25 in my print/digital buys.
For the most part I prefer reading my comics in print form. The comics I get digitally have tended to be either ones I wanted to try and wasn’t sure if I would like. Or on the other extreme, comics I love and want to have access to wherever I go.
October 3rd, 2011 at 12:21 pm
I got all the relaunch titles I was curious about (maybe 12?) digitally. It was an interesting experience. Being based in Ireland, it’s considerably cheaper buying online at US prices, and you also get ‘em a day earlier, which is nice.
As for the actual reading experience, it’s not bad, but not great. On the iPod, it’s definitely a shame that all the artistry that goes into page layouts is largely lost and all that rotating to fit different panel orientations is kinda off-putting. That said, it’s not really an issue seeing as the latest version of Comixology isn’t compatible with my iPod! The DC Comics app still technically works, but is sluggish as hell and crashes relentlessly. I’d imagine the overall experience is better on a tablet, but the fact that you can lose significant access to your bought-and-paid-for comics if you don’t update your hardware is a major deterrent for me.
It’s a shame, because I really like the idea of digital comics but, until they offer a decent downloadable option that doesn’t rely on me having to have the latest hardware release to be able to read my books, I’m out.
October 3rd, 2011 at 12:31 pm
I bought 11 DCnU floppies up from 0 a month ago. Those are the ones I was sure I wanted to try out. Of them I will continue on getting 6 of them for at least the first 3 months then re-evaluate. Other books that I’m hearing good buzz about I will buy in digital format when the price drops a $1.
October 3rd, 2011 at 1:22 pm
I think I am likely to try a couple of second issues at $2 a clip – JLI and JL lead the pack. I am still very much a print sort of guy, but the lower price might move me to try the next issue.
However, I didn’t get the first issue of Batwoman, and decided that in this case I would rather wait to buy the collection next year. I don’t know if JHW’s style of art will work well in the Comixology format.
October 3rd, 2011 at 1:24 pm
$1.99 is much more reasonable, but anything higher than 99 cents for a single issue of a comic book is stupidly insane, considering that it takes less time to read a single issue than it does to listen to a single track on iTunes. Especially since one of the unfortunate side-effects of going digital is that it’s made online piracy easier than ever.
October 3rd, 2011 at 2:35 pm
I’m extremely excited about buying the digital versions. Reading on the ipad has been throughly enjoyable, and it’s been sheer torture waiting for the 1.99 price to kick in (i refuse to pay 2.99.) Still, after collecting for thirty years (i’m 41), i’m also at 75/25 comic vs. digital comic.
October 3rd, 2011 at 4:20 pm
@K-Box When has online digital piracy ever been hard? People are saying that the pirated copies have better resolution than the official digital copies. People who want to pay for things will pay for things. People who don’t will continue to pirate.
The reason that these day-and-date books don’t cost 99 cents is profit margin. DC has done more than a few 99 cent sales because those issues are older and less royalties have to be paid to writers/artist/colorist/etc.
October 3rd, 2011 at 5:43 pm
I’m loving the day-and-date digital. I’d stopped collecting for many reasons, but the one I couldn’t get past was the amount of space that my comic collection took-up. At $1.99, I can get almost half the new 52 within my budget!
October 3rd, 2011 at 7:03 pm
I’ve gone completely, 100% digital since DC’s move. I don’t just read DC but now if it ain’t digital, I ain’t buying it.
October 3rd, 2011 at 9:35 pm
People are saying that the pirated copies have better resolution than the official digital copies.
Which is yet another reason why it’s stupidly insane to charge more than 99 cents per digital issue, because even the people who might otherwise WANT to pay for DC’s product will actually get a SUPERIOR quality version of it if they DON’T pay for it. That’s, like, the exact OPPOSITE of how bootleg copies work in literally every other entertainment medium in human history.
The reason that these day-and-date books don’t cost 99 cents is profit margin.
How on Earth is a studio-produced song able to be produced more cheaply than a 20-page comic book?
October 3rd, 2011 at 9:37 pm
I dropped paper and went all digital for the New 52. October is my September, as I decided to lag behind a month to get reviews and reader reaction, as well as to save $1 per issue.
October 3rd, 2011 at 10:05 pm
I am reading my New 52 comics digitally and only digitally. In fact, I’ve given up on print comics altogether. They are too pricey and not nearly as convenient as clicking a button. For me, the switchover has happened fully and I now have no need for a local comics retailer.
Plus, if you’re willing to wait a few weeks, $1.99 is a fine price, indeed. I like that Comixology has what seems to be a tiered system, where the newest comics are $2.99 from DC and $3.99 from Marvel, with the price on DC titles dropping after a month and occasional promotional sales that offer a slew of $.99 options. Dark Horse Digital has a good system, as well, where “bundled” sets of single issues are much cheaper than those issues individually. Simply put, they are finding ways to make digital comics affordable (or as close to affordable as they can get) whereas print seems like money wasted.
With every major publisher either fully digital or going that way, it seems like an OK time to jump in completely.
October 4th, 2011 at 12:44 am
The delay of four weeks for a decent price has meant a few books I would have bought new to try I won’t get at all as they aren’t any good.
I’ll get a couple (e.g. Batwoman) when they are 1.99.
October 4th, 2011 at 12:46 am
And it is true I think, some of the Comixology pages I have looked at have been around 700k. The various scans are usually considerably bigger than that.
October 4th, 2011 at 3:25 am
I started to read DC with this, since i live in Sweden it’s really hard to get a print copy of anything. Marvel has been kind to send copies of print to my local comics shop, but DC hasn’t. And the best part? Itäs cheaper in Sweden
the dollar vs swedish kronor makes that i save about 50 cent on every issue 
October 4th, 2011 at 3:32 am
I think dc and other publisher’s will stop pirated copies not increse them now they have a buissness model to go after people useing pirated copies.Would not be surprised if we see a huge decline in piracy in comic book’s,in the future.
October 4th, 2011 at 9:08 am
“How on Earth is a studio-produced song able to be produced more cheaply than a 20-page comic book?”
A his song will sell hundreds of thousands of copies, possibly millions. A hit comic book MAY sell a hundred thousand, likely much less.
It’s not how much the item costs, it’s how many people buy it. You make as charging a million people a dime than you do charging ten thousand people ten dollars.
The sales have to increase before they can afford to drop the price, or they have to be willing to make less money in order to get more people to pick up the books, and increase sales across the board.
But I agree with you, a comic book CAN be profitable at 99 cents, it just has to hit quite a high sales point to do it.
October 4th, 2011 at 9:11 am
Not to toot my own horn much, but I did a bit of research into the profitability of a 99 cent digital comic, and posted the results to my blog:
“On the latest threat to the survival of the Comics Industry. Not. ”
http://40yearoldfanboy.blogspot.com/2011/08/on-latest-threat-to-survival-of-comics.html
October 4th, 2011 at 9:41 am
I buy about 50 titles a month and I am strongly considering going all digital, that being said out of the 52 comics I purchased I got 26 in print and 0 in digital.
October 4th, 2011 at 9:47 am
Wouldnt buy a digital comic even if that was all that was available. Comics are a physical medium. This is sick.
October 4th, 2011 at 9:50 am
I’ve ordered all print for the first 3 months but kind of wish I hadn’t. I finally got an iPad 2 weeks ago and am thinking seriously about transitioning to digital.
October 4th, 2011 at 9:57 am
Zip in digital. All 52 in print.
October 4th, 2011 at 9:58 am
If I had a Ipad I would go digital, but for now print.
October 4th, 2011 at 10:06 am
I just took a job in Alaska so I don’t have a local comic store. And currently no desire to store a lot of comics. I DO have an iPad (yes, I am one of those people and I understand Apple &$@/- and whatever system you advocate is much better. I just don’t care.) I love the digital comics on it. I think this is what it was made for – the other stuff is just not as important. I guess the resolution could be better but honestly the limiting factor in that equation is my 42yr old eyes. When those are replaced by HDeyeballs v2.0 this may change. I love the sales for older series as I can get stuff I couldn’t justify. Recently picked up the issues of JLA with The Nail and the entire available Buck Rogers series.
Thinking of getting Morning Glories now. No storage closet, can read at my leisure, wife can’t see the stacks of “wasted” money (Although I got her hooked on Jonah Hex); I don’t see much downside at all.
October 4th, 2011 at 10:10 am
Oh, and I can bring my entire collection to work or on vacation. Try lugging a couple long boxes to work or through airport security. Love my iPad2.
October 4th, 2011 at 10:26 am
“How on Earth is a studio-produced song able to be produced more cheaply than a 20-page comic book?”
Economies of scale. A poor selling song will sell 100,000 downloads. It is also part of a full album that is sold by itself.
October 4th, 2011 at 10:56 am
“’How on Earth is a studio-produced song able to be produced more cheaply than a 20-page comic book?’
“Economies of scale. A poor selling song will sell 100,000 downloads. It is also part of a full album that is sold by itself.”
That is quite true. In addition, they are intentionally pricing new books at the same price digitally that they are in print and not lowering them too much below it so as not to steal business from retailers, if possible.
October 4th, 2011 at 10:56 am
I got 12 physical copies and bought 40 of them digitally. dual-booting my Nook Color to run Android Honeycomb meant a great all-around reading experience.
October 4th, 2011 at 11:01 am
I bought them digitally, but I going to skip this month in order to get a dollar off next month
October 4th, 2011 at 11:39 am
I see that Mr. Negativity-To-DC-Comics is back. How about you show some guts and comment if you’ve actually been buying digital issues or not, instead of trying to cast another black mark against DC Comics?!?
October 4th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
Count me in for all digital. I thought the new 52 would be a perfect point to do that. So far I’ve not missed the print versions. I’ll probably skip a month just to save some money, but then again that’s me saying that now.
October 4th, 2011 at 12:10 pm
Here in Spain you need to suscribe to a series two months in advance via Previews, otherwise you won’t be able to get it. I bought 26 out of the 52 new series, all in physical form, but if I had an Ipad or sometning like that, I’d definitely buy a lot of the other series now, like Animal Man, I Vampire and some others that I wasn’t sure to pick up before I saw how great the reboot is.
October 4th, 2011 at 12:10 pm
@Chris who thinks digital is “sick”. I’m sure those who were used to reading their stories on stone tablets said the same about print! Not giving something a chance out of some romanticized, everything-new-sucks mentality is “sick”.
October 4th, 2011 at 12:42 pm
“I see that Mr. Negativity-To-DC-Comics is back.”
That’s Mr.-Negativity-To-EVERYONE, thank you, Marvel included.
“How about you show some guts and comment if you’ve actually been buying digital issues or not, instead of trying to cast another black mark against DC Comics?!?”
Even $1.99 is too high for digital, so no.
October 4th, 2011 at 12:59 pm
I still buy only print, and don’t see that changing until the price structure of digital comics changes. I buy all my comics on-line through mycomicshop.com so I get a huge discount becuase of all the books I buy and never have to pay cover price. If there was a similar discount structure for bulk digital purchase I may consider buying some digitally, but still love collecting print copies of significant issues. The 75% of what I buy that ends up at half price books after I finish I would consider getting digitally.
October 4th, 2011 at 1:01 pm
I do both. Digital to read and paper to collect.
October 4th, 2011 at 1:07 pm
I backed off of print two years ago, and I’ve switched to digital only. But I won’t pay $2.99 period. When a set of digital issues go to $0.99 on sale, I’ll purchase ten or twenty new to me or ones I already own in print. It’s not the money, it’s the obnoxious price point of an individual issue. I’d even commit to a year subscription to get it at $0.99. If the new 52 were $0.99 each, I’d have bought all 52. As it is, I bought one issue of Wonder Woman just this once at full price. I’ll purchase others when they go to $0.99 and not before.
October 4th, 2011 at 1:16 pm
I bought in both formats most print as it fun to visit my comic shop guy and hold something in my hands printed were u ones I was considering but did not purchase or ones he sold out on .
October 4th, 2011 at 2:06 pm
No local comic shops, digital is too much. So I read all my comics by downloading scans. Make scans cheaper and I might buy… but for now, thanks for the free comics
October 4th, 2011 at 2:08 pm
None of them.
October 4th, 2011 at 2:12 pm
I live in Brazil. I do not want to wait a whole year for the Panini local editions. They wont publish all the 52 and they work with very cheap papper. To import a 3bucks comic costs 9 bucks here, a lot of government taxes. Now I can buy the titles I want in the same day they are sold in Usa. Digital is the obvious way for readers who live abroad.
October 4th, 2011 at 3:02 pm
Hey Mark, no one ever said that I never read a digital comic before. I have, its not the same feeling for me. OK. Is that fine? I find it sick that people are so caught up in their digital worlds with PDFs and digital this and digital that. Before you know it, your entire life is on your nook or ipad and when its gone, so is what you have.
And there is no value in it. If you are a collector, the fun part was always finding the old back issues. Now I can just deposit $2 and get the issue. No need to leave my house. No need to go to the comic store, no need to socialize. Now comic book stores will go under. Then what happens when print ends? Digital goes up in price.
Sorry Mark, Ive read digital comics. And its not the same.
October 4th, 2011 at 3:06 pm
“Before you know it, your entire life is on your nook or ipad and when its gone, so is what you have.”
Your house burns down. Then what do you have?
“And there is no value in it.”
Not all of us need to have some mythical future monetary value in our comics. But then, how much value is there in any comic bought in the last 20 years anyways?
I get value out of simply reading comics, whether they’re in my hands or on my computer.
October 4th, 2011 at 3:35 pm
Fully digital, but I’m open to buying the premiere hardcover of the runs I love.
October 4th, 2011 at 5:41 pm
I bought 47 of the 52 digitally and 1 physical copy of Aquaman. I plan on keeping about 40 titles (God help my budget!)and will exclusively buy digital going forward.
October 4th, 2011 at 7:10 pm
No paying for digital for me thanks… Nothing against the idea but frankly when i can pirate a comic book an get a better quality scan, the letter pages, the commercials (or not depending on your preference), i don’t need to be online to read them & they are free: Why would i purchase the official digital version?
But beyond that i prefer to have a real physical copy of the material, rather then digital, so its not like i plan on purchasing it twice… But thats not been a problem with the reboot, as there is very little i like in this reboot so far.
October 4th, 2011 at 7:59 pm
Digital for me. I’m not a collector, I’m a reader. And if DC or Marvel want to expand their readers they should be going after the “readers” and not the collectors.
And it’s these comments that show that there will always be “collectors” true to the comic medium and there will be people who just like to read them but not have stacks and boxes down in their basement or up in their attic. Sure you can sell them or do whatever, but digitally it makes it a lot easier to read them on your iPad and other tablet devices.
October 4th, 2011 at 8:06 pm
Print only! I will never buy digital. I prefer reading off of an actual physical book, the experience is MUCH better than reading off a screen. People spend enough time staring at screens and monitors all day anyways, between their tv’s, computers, phones, etc. Reading is a hobby for me, and I don’t want to have to spend any more time hooked up to an electronic device than I have to.
October 4th, 2011 at 8:40 pm
I went with digital. I have young children, so I am especially happy with that decision given Catwoman, Voodoo and Red Hood and the Outlaws. Reading off an iPad is incredible. I love the feel of holding a book and would consider buying favorite TCB’s, but the digital experience is wonderful now. It also cuts down the sheer volume of books we have here!
October 4th, 2011 at 8:46 pm
I’m doing a mixture of print and digital. There are just some books(Flash, Superman, Action, all Justice League books, Aquaman, Wonder Woman) that I want to only read in print. Others that I may enjoy, but aren’t too desperate to read (Blackhawks, Voodoo, Teen Titans, All Star Wester), I’m buying those in digital only. I don’t mind waiting the extra month to get them cheaper. If I had to buy them all in print only, I would skip the books I’m buying in digital form all together. So having both formats has encouraged me to buy more comics than before.
October 4th, 2011 at 9:00 pm
Haven’t bought any, in either form. Haven’t even been tempted to ‘try’ some of them via piracy (something I do occasionally). Just absolutely no interest in a reboot that’s put together by the very same people who brought DC to actually need a reboot.
That said, I am very curious about how many people are buying digital, and what sales are like.
October 4th, 2011 at 9:11 pm
I bought a little over 20 books the first month on the iPad and loved it. That’s 20 books more than I bought the month before. Now I think I’ll probably skip a month and collect books at the 2 dollar price point. My nephew is 2 and in a couple of years I’ll be able to lend him my iPad and let him read all weekend long… Well, some books at least. He’s probably got a while before he’d appreciate the delicate sensibilities of Catwoman.
October 5th, 2011 at 12:00 am
jh williams art doesn’t quite work digitally
October 5th, 2011 at 6:41 am
I’ve been out of the comics scene for 15 years, only reason i am now back in is because DC relaunched (accessibility from a story line point of view) and because they went same day digital (accessible from a physical purchase point of view).
I have zero interest in print and am super happy comics are finally coming around to the digital side of things
October 5th, 2011 at 9:16 am
Wait, WHAT! They will drop the prices on the digital after a month of release?! I bought all of my books digital this month, if I’d known that I could get them cheaper I would totally wait a month. I went the digital route because I found out too late that all the titles my kids were interested in were sold out or supposed to be sold out, and I didn’t want to waste a trip to the comic store. I figured digital would be easier, and there is nothing for the kids to rip.
October 5th, 2011 at 11:21 am
I’m all print right now, but that’s because I can get my $2.99 DC comics for $1.79 plus a little shipping from Discount Comic Book Service.
If digital pricing goes below $1.79 (or for some reason I lose the ability to get that discount), I may consider digital.
October 5th, 2011 at 12:21 pm
Yeah I am not big on the digital thing, and I know people are going to rip me apart for saying that but I don’t give a crap because in my little world… I am the only person whose opinion matters. I like print, and I will always be a print person. So if things go pure digital I will drop comics, at least the new ones.
But I think we are still a little ways from print completely dying out. I can see monthly comics going pure digital, but still putting out printed trades and graphic novels.
October 5th, 2011 at 12:57 pm
I’m buying it mostly digital. It’s all personal reasons really. I don’t have the room to keep all these comics anymore, in fact I sold off/gave away about 75% of my collection. As I’ve gotten older comics have become a pure reading experience for me and hold no monetary value in my eyes. If I really want to keep a comic I’ll buy the collection of it, the only single issues I’ve kept have been books that hold high sentimental value (like my entire New Mutants run) or you can’t get in trade (DnA’s Legion) or have great artist (Art Adams). If I get a physical copy of a comic after I read it I’ll give it to someone.
Digital won’t replace Physical comics anytime soon, and from what I can tell DC thinks the same thing. Digital was a push they made to reach people who just don’t read comics or don’t have access to them as easily as others. So for them it’s just extra money, not a replacement.
What I want is for DC to just do a monthly subscription so that I can just read stuff when I want to. I just have no desire to own them anymore, just to read them. Again this is my personal take on things.
October 5th, 2011 at 1:39 pm
I bought 47 print and 1 digital (but I ended up buying that one in print). I don’t like the way comics look on my phone or computer, but I may end up getting a Kindle fire.
October 6th, 2011 at 12:14 am
I buy all my comics in print. I see them as entertainment AND a collectible. I can loan my copy to a friend. Hey, can I borrow your $500 IPad for a week so I can read your new 52 DCs? I can even resell my books if I choose to. Sell me one of your digital books you no longer want. I will only spend real money on something that I physically can own. My comics also never run out of batteries!
October 6th, 2011 at 2:33 pm
Well there’s an artificial limitation here… digital only works for people who have tablets (iPads, and some of the better Android tablets).
I’m sure there are SOME people who are reading digital comics primarily on their computer or smartphone but I think its mostly tablet users. Artificial limitation there.
October 7th, 2011 at 9:23 pm
I went digital with the New 52. I buy the titles I’m most excited about on release day and wait a month for those I’m interested in but not so excited about, to save a dollar. The New 52 even inspired me to start a blog about digital comics at http://pixelatedpanels.blogspot.com.
October 10th, 2011 at 4:35 pm
I for one would sooner quit reading superhero comics than switch to digital.