iPad & Digital Comics

So Apple has its latest shiny offering for all of us to play with, so how will it affect comic book readers? Well, the news is coming in, and soon it should be a deluge from developers as Apple unlocks the SDK. Meanwhile, if you listen to comic book podcasts for the past 2 years, you have been hearing about the digital comic book medium and how this messiah for comic books has yet to come. With Marvel’s launch of Spider-Woman on iTunes, and the growing community of digital adopters, it would seem that the new iPad would finally push us all over to the digital side.

So what’s the scoop? Over the past 2-3 years there have been several innovators and as time has gone by, naturally several of the players have dropped off the map for offering digital comics. My own opinion has been simple on digital reading; why read on a small screen when I can flip through the pages, smell the ink, and keep it in a long box for future flights and power outages?

My answer came to me not 8 days ago. I wanted to read a book offered on Amazon, that I could have read instantly if I had a Kindle, but instead had to wait for the USPS to deliver it to my home 5-7 business days later. I wouldn’t have to find shelf space, catalog it with my Delicious Library, or worry if a friend would borrow it forever. So I’m starting to come around. But reading comics on a 2” x 3” screen is bullshit. How the hell would I be able to see the detail in the artwork? What would the final issue of Ultimates Vol.2 look like on an iPhone if you can’t unfold the majestic 8-page battle scene? So, digital comics have had a way to go to impress me, but the iPad is starting to make a strong case for them. 10” screens are easier to read than 3” screens, and it would be considerably lighter to tote around the entire Sandman series in a travel bag, as opposed to lugging around a small library, or stack of Absolute editions.

The case is becoming clearer, but where should you get these digital comics? And will they even work on the iPad? Well Comixology, the leading app in the iPhone community, announced Wednesday that it has been developing a special app for the iPad and its readers. Details are sure to follow as we get closer to product release, but the digital funny book provider has developed their app across platforms for Android and Blackberry.  Apparently current subscribers’ log-ins will be recognized, and transferrable to the new iPad, and the quality will be the same as you currently experience.

Comixology’s closest competitor Robot Comics currently offers comic book subscriptions on iPhone, Android, Nintendo’s DSi, and the popular Amazon Kindle, and they too will be offering their services on the iPad. Digital Longbox, is picking up steam digitally with its Facebook and Twitter following, and will be developing an app for the iPad as well.

Apple had reached out to several mediums before launching their new iPad such as leading newspapers and periodicals. The print medium could use a boost considering its decline in advertising revenue from print advertising, and the New York Times had announced last week that it would even charge for web readers to view the entire news story. Perhaps Apple and it’s new iPad will be able to give the print media industry a shot in the arm, and help usher them into the digital age. After all, the largest question left behind the wake of the internet revolution is how do you make people pay for content?

Several other questions are still up in the air, but for now, the digital medium is positive news, and comic book readers should be happy. As a comic book reader in a small town, I don’t have access to comic book shops with a vast array of titles to choose from, and the iPad might be the best way to finally get my hands on elusive titles. The Wells-Fargo wagon has now turned into the Apple iPad.