Comments on: Digital Comics: Level the Playing Field, Part II

By: Ed West

Ed West — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 03:31:57 +0000

I don’t understand the adversarial approach. Independent print comics have had years to prove themselves. Web Comics are doing whatever they want. It would be nice to hear about how comics can be “reinvented.” The reason Marvel and DC have a stranglehold on the market is because people buy their work. Digital comics producers are missing out on learning how to market their work and they are missing out on understanding the storytelling process. Putting amateur work on the web does not magically make it professional. Too many web comics are unreadable even though they are free.

So it’s not just a matter of putting your work out there. It has to be compelling. It has to be worth the time. One way to do this is to put out professional quality work where word of mouth tells others: “This web comic is great!” Instead, everyone does whatever they want and are puzzled when very little happens.

Marvel and DC practically own the print comics market because they are delivering what people are willing to buy and they have years of marketing and storytelling experience. If Digital Comics are going to go anywhere, the producers need to know at least as much to capture and retain readers.

By: Digital Possibilities for Indies « The Digital Comics Review

Digital Possibilities for Indies « The Digital Comics Review — Sat, 29 May 2010 11:40:09 +0000

[...] Jim Fallone, Director of Publishing Coordinationa at Andrews sees it differently: [...]

By: Pallas

Pallas — Fri, 21 May 2010 15:18:01 +0000

“That is why thinking about your metadata is so important. A lot of people read comics digitally, but not enough on any single device to make digital distribution viable unless you’re able to make your content available on multiple platforms.

”

I agree in principle about the metadata issue, but I also think that its always going to be an awkward work around for longform comics.

In print, the basic unit of story telling is either the page or two page spread. Unless the reader is using a large screen ebook reader, any translation to a smartphone is going to be some degree of awkward.

“Think of the amount of backlist they would have to convert. What has traditionally been their greatest strength, in this case is a burden. Converting to digital means everyone starts from scratch.
”

Marvel and Dc’s greatest strength is the fact that they have goodwill from a large body of comic fans who prefer to read about the characters they grew up with. I don’t think the backlist really has anything to do with that.

Another way of putting this is, I think comic readers grade the quality of Marvel/DC books on a 20% curve over indie books.

By: Level the Playing Field with E-Formats « Grrlbibliophile's Blog

Level the Playing Field with E-Formats « Grrlbibliophile's Blog — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 16:07:47 +0000

[...] I know they are adapting to the increasingly digital formats out there. Reading Jim Fallone’s “Digital Comics: Level the Playing Field Part II,” I was really struck by how much opportunity there is to be creative. I like the optimistic tone of [...]

By: Guy L. Gonzalez

Guy L. Gonzalez — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 18:39:11 +0000

3-part digital comics series by @jfallone is the most fun I've had editing for #DBW! Here's the last installment: http://bit.ly/9d73DK