Kurt shits on the comics industry after iPad release?

[Rubicon]

So I happened to check the pvp site, cause its funny to see how far he's fallen sometimes. And I see a large "review" of the iPad typed up on his site, I was with him until the great tastemaker himself decided to lump all comic companies (not newspapers or webcomics but comic books) into one large collective luddite asshole gallery as he calls it and proceeds to flame away..

That Marvel app should allow me to subscribe to my favorite CURRENT title and deliver it to me the day it hits shelves. How about charging me a premium to get it before it hits physical shelves? How about TRYING ANYTHING you luddite assholes! Hey guess what comic book industry? The iPad is not going to be a game changer. No technology is. YOU are the game changer. You have to DO something with the techology that is presented to you. Think. Be innovative. Try something bold. Don’t give me Captain Amaerica from 2004. Even a noble failure would be better than playing it safe at this point. Don’t you think?

Poor Kurty-wurty wants comics and he wants them now now now on his iPad instead of buying floppies or trades like any regular comic fan. If you read his entire rant, you see he lumps "fans" as collectors who don't read comics..

Retailers want it to fail because they want to keep selling physical floppy comics. Diamond wants it to fail because they want to keep being a monopoly for physical floppy comics. Fans want it to fail because for them, comics is about collecting, bagging and boarding, not reading.

So as a "fan" I'm automatically the collector who never reads comic books.. My extensive knowledge of the DCU just happens to be from second hand discussion? lol Kurt, you clever minx!

Honestly is there anything left for the tastemaker to rag on? He already hates newspapers, he hates honest feedback (see forum exodus), now he's going after the very medium that inspired him to become a cartoonist and comic maker? Wow.. how the mighty have truly fallen.

 

[Andromache]

Kurt? who the fuck is that?

 

[Chazwozel]

So I happened to check the pvp site, cause its funny to see how far he's fallen sometimes. And I see a large "review" of the iPad typed up on his site, I was with him until the great tastemaker himself decided to lump all comic companies (not newspapers or webcomics but comic books) into one large collective luddite asshole gallery as he calls it and proceeds to flame away..

That Marvel app should allow me to subscribe to my favorite CURRENT title and deliver it to me the day it hits shelves. How about charging me a premium to get it before it hits physical shelves? How about TRYING ANYTHING you luddite assholes! Hey guess what comic book industry? The iPad is not going to be a game changer. No technology is. YOU are the game changer. You have to DO something with the techology that is presented to you. Think. Be innovative. Try something bold. Don’t give me Captain Amaerica from 2004. Even a noble failure would be better than playing it safe at this point. Don’t you think?

Poor Kurty-wurty wants comics and he wants them now now now on his iPad instead of buying floppies or trades like any regular comic fan. If you read his entire rant, you see he lumps "fans" as collectors who don't read comics..

Retailers want it to fail because they want to keep selling physical floppy comics. Diamond wants it to fail because they want to keep being a monopoly for physical floppy comics. Fans want it to fail because for them, comics is about collecting, bagging and boarding, not reading.

So as a "fan" I'm automatically the collector who never reads comic books.. My extensive knowledge of the DCU just happens to be from second hand discussion? lol Kurt, you clever minx!

Honestly is there anything left for the tastemaker to rag on? He already hates newspapers, he hates honest feedback (see forum exodus), now he's going after the very medium that inspired him to become a cartoonist and comic maker? Wow.. how the mighty have truly fallen.

Uh, he's 100% correct.

Also, I bolded the part I thought to be hilarious. Mav. Ph.D. (in Batman).

 

[Null]

Does he mean Steve Kuntz? I don't even read that comic anymore, so it's a non-issue to me.

However, tomorrow or day after we'll get a big post about how that wasn't what he was really saying, and this outburst will be erased...

 

[Chazwozel]

Kurt? who the fuck is that?

haha, you weren't around for that meme. A bit ago Kurtz had some issues with the promoters of a Con. They sent him an invitation and called him Kurt.

 

[Andromache]

ooohh, ok. thanks.

 

[Chazwozel]

Here's Kurts full segment on iPad comics:

And that’s why it’ll be so dissapointing when the comic book industry does absolutely NOTHING revolutionary with this device. God damn it. I don’t know why I’m so cynical about this, but everything I read from my industry about devices like the iPad make me want to start punching people in the crotch. Everything I read online points to an entire industry either adamatly denying that the iPad will change things for comics or actively praying it doesn’t. Then there’s the truly astounding group of idiots just sitting there waiting to see if it does anything.
Retailers want it to fail because they want to keep selling physical floppy comics. Diamond wants it to fail because they want to keep being a monopoly for physical floppy comics. Fans want it to fail because for them, comics is about collecting, bagging and boarding, not reading. Creators want it to fail because they’re artists, and they don’t understand new business models or how to make money, nor do they want to worry about it.
What about the big four publishers? I don’t know. I suspect they fear selling digital copies of comics will cut into their existing business. That’s why the Marvel app is pushing Avengers comics from 1998 on me. Guess what I don’t give a shit about? The Avengers from 1998. What’s happening to the Avengers now? And how would it be bad for business to offer me those comics for $1.99 a piece?
That Marvel app should allow me to subscribe to my favorite CURRENT title and deliver it to me the day it hits shelves. How about charging me a premium to get it before it hits physical shelves? How about TRYING ANYTHING you luddite assholes! Hey guess what comic book industry? The iPad is not going to be a game changer. No technology is. YOU are the game changer. You have to DO something with the techology that is presented to you. Think. Be innovative. Try something bold. Don’t give me Captain Amaerica from 2004. Even a noble failure would be better than playing it safe at this point. Don’t you think?

He's right. The comic industry is retarded if they don't get on the wagon with this.

A Netbook Replacement:
I don’t think the iPad could ever replace a laptop, but it sure as hell is better than any netbook I’ve ever sat down with. I’m not really that impressed by netbooks. The keyboards are impossibly small to deal with, I’m not excited about Windows or Linux and the resolution on them usually sucks. So I might as well surf and email on my phone.
The iPad, however is great at surfing the net and reading email and tweeting and chatting on Instant Messenger. I didn’t think an oversized iPod Touch would be but honestly, it’s a really elegant device for that kind of casual computing.
Safari doesn’t feel like a mobile browser at all. Surfing by touch is very intuative and immersive. I actually like it quite a bit. I woke up this morning, sat up in bed and checked my email, twitter and surfed the net for about 20 minutes. I even posted comments on a couple sites and I never felt limited in my experience.
Is the iPad a laptop replacement? No. But a netbook replacement sure. Absolutely. In fact, I think that unless I know I have to make comics on the road, I would leave my laptop at home and just carry the iPad with me on trips. If I’m just surfing and emailing, I don’t need anything else.

Here's were we actually get into stupid land. Netbooks are still better than the iPad, just because your meaty ham-hocks can't navigate around a smaller netbook keyboard doesn't render them obsolete.

 

[ElJuski]

ITT: Butthurt nerd whines about other butthurt nerd

 

[Rubicon]

Uh, he's 100% correct.

Yes and no. I agree the comics industry needs to move forward in ways to promote itself and get readers, putting 100% digital copies of current comics is a BAD idea.. Regular comics are already pirated enough online with scans and torrents of full issues / runs. If they make official online versions for sale, A) it'll drive fans away from the actual reading of regular comics and B) it opens pirating of them even more, which helps A a lot more.

Honestly, I'm a fan and a collector. I read and collect. And even if I could get a current issue for like, iTunes pricing of 99 cents an issue, I'd still want the regular floppy. I want to be able to hold the art in my hands, I want to be able to go to a comic book store and talk with other fans, hang out and talk to the staff about new releases, maybe spectate some guys playing Warhammer 40k or Magic the Gathering, etc The industry is so small now, going digital will destroy what is left..

And his rant on netbook is so biased...

A netbook is equally as powerful or more powerful than an iPad in terms of specs. It has a keyboard, which aren't small, even my sausage fingers can type on one. You don't have to worry about twisting and pinching and doing all kinds of charades type gestures to navigate a webpage. It can play games, regular PC games. you can run a variety of OSes, etc etc etc

oh yea, and a Netbook can handle Flash, so you can view youtube, newsgrounds, popcap or any website that uses flash, has flash content, flash games, etc

 

[MindDetective]

Uh, he's 100% correct.

Yes and no. I agree the comics industry needs to move forward in ways to promote itself and get readers, putting 100% digital copies of current comics is a BAD idea.. Regular comics are already pirated enough online with scans and torrents of full issues / runs. If they make official online versions for sale, A) it'll drive fans away from the actual reading of regular comics and B) it opens pirating of them even more, which helps A a lot more.

Honestly, I'm a fan and a collector. I read and collect. And even if I could get a current issue for like, iTunes pricing of 99 cents an issue, I'd still want the regular floppy. I want to be able to hold the art in my hands, I want to be able to go to a comic book store and talk with other fans, hang out and talk to the staff about new releases, maybe spectate some guys playing Warhammer 40k or Magic the Gathering, etc The industry is so small now, going digital will destroy what is left..[/QUOTE]

So you'd rather sit by the bedside, holding the hand of paper comics as it dies a slow death do anything to keep it alive longer? Kurtz is right in saying that doing nothing is a poor solution to the threats to the industry. That seems to be what you are in favor of, which is pretty short-sighted.

 

[Chazwozel]

Uh, he's 100% correct.

Yes and no. I agree the comics industry needs to move forward in ways to promote itself and get readers, putting 100% digital copies of current comics is a BAD idea.. Regular comics are already pirated enough online with scans and torrents of full issues / runs. If they make official online versions for sale, A) it'll drive fans away from the actual reading of regular comics and B) it opens pirating of them even more, which helps A a lot more.

Honestly, I'm a fan and a collector. I read and collect. And even if I could get a current issue for like, iTunes pricing of 99 cents an issue, I'd still want the regular floppy. I want to be able to hold the art in my hands, I want to be able to go to a comic book store and talk with other fans, hang out and talk to the staff about new releases, maybe spectate some guys playing Warhammer 40k or Magic the Gathering, etc The industry is so small now, going digital will destroy what is left..[/QUOTE]

What? Read what you wrote and ask yourself, havve novels and books vanished since the advent of digital readers like Kindle? The answer is no. As for talking to the staff... my cousin is part-owner of a comic book shop and assholes like you drive him and his partners nuts!

 

[Rubicon]

What? Read what you wrote and ask yourself, havve novels and books vanished since the advent of digital readers like Kindle? The answer is no. As for talking to the staff... my cousin is part-owner of a comic book shop and assholes like you drive him and his partners nuts!

Yes, obviously e-readers haven't destroyed the book format. But that doesn't mean given time they can't replace books, as more and more devices are made to render information in an easy way. I just don't think it's a good idea.

And you can tell your cousin if thats the way he wants to think of his customers, he's lucky to have any at all. If my local comic shop owner had that opinion, I'd find another place to purchase my books.

 

[Null]

It seems like being able to read comics on the iPad would be a good thing, and paying for current ones to be delivered on release day seems like a viable option. I can't help but thinking that taking advantage of new technology would be a bonus, giving eager readers another option and possibly even attracting new customers. Cause some comic stores are like the stereotypical Comic Store Guy / Snide Music Clerk experience - slack assholes who judge everything you buy, combined with an unappealing physical space. Bypassing that? Awesome.

 

[Chazwozel]

What? Read what you wrote and ask yourself, havve novels and books vanished since the advent of digital readers like Kindle? The answer is no. As for talking to the staff... my cousin is part-owner of a comic book shop and assholes like you drive him and his partners nuts!

Yes, obviously e-readers haven't destroyed the book format. But that doesn't mean given time they can't replace books, as more and more devices are made to render information in an easy way. I just don't think it's a good idea.

And you can tell your cousin if thats the way he wants to think of his customers, he's lucky to have any at all. If my local comic shop owner had that opinion, I'd find another place to purchase my books.[/QUOTE]


Who cares if books and comics get all digitized?

He loves comics and pop culture. He hates drooling, mouthbreathing basement dwellers that come in everyday, stink up the place, never buy anything, and bug him while he's trying to help customers. These people consider themselves 'customers' as well. There's a limit to how much a clerk will tolerate 'hanging out' with the customers before they get in the way and annoying ( but you wouldn't know anything about work, now would ya?) ;-)

 

[Null]

Actually, it occurs to me that the problem the big players have with this sort of application is that, if it works, it opens the door for the small comic artists, the way the internet did for online comics - you no longer needed the big syndicates to make your product available, you retain creater ownership and control your intellectual property.

 

[figmentPez]

Uh, he's 100% correct.

I tend to agree. I think he's using a fair bit of hyperbole, but he's making some very good points. It is unfair to paint all fans as caring only about collecting, but I really can't sympathize with "fans" who don't want digital versions of current comics.

I love sequential art. I like especially like superheroes. I read a lot of webcomics (and buy physical editions of Megatokyo and Applegeeks), and occasionally buy a trade of print comics. However, I don't read print comic regularly, and I never have. Here's why:
1. Way too expensive. I've never had the money to spend regularly on comics. I generally get a lot entertainment for my dollar out of video games.
2. I have no idea where the nearest comic shop is, and it wouldn't be easy for me to get there, even if I did. I have chronic health problems (see money issues above) so I can't drive myself, and going out at all is taxing. I love digital downloads for games. Yes, I know I can order comics online, but I think it's a pain to find comics on Amazon if you don't already know what you're looking for.
3. I have no idea how to subscribe to a comic, or if that's even possible. Plus, I have no idea how something like that would work with cross-overs. If I want to watch a TV show, I just tune in every week. If I buy a season of games from Telltale, I get the whole story. They make it easy. Anyone, even someone whose never played games before, can figure out how to get an entire season of Sam & Max.
4. Trades mystify me, as an outsider. Maybe this is my fault, but it seems hard to find out what's available, where it fits in continuity, and many times I end up buying a story that feels incomplete because there are so many side stories not included in the trade (DC One Million springs to mind as an awful example. Loved what I read, felt cheated because huge chunks were obviously left out). Of course, I almost entirely gave up on reading trades a couple years ago because of these issues, so maybe it's better now. I don't know.

I'd love to get into comics. Well, back into them, and more than I have in the past, but I don't want to have to work at it. Maybe that's lazy, but I've got far more important things to spend my efforts on, and a lot still goes undone.

 

[Rubicon]

He loves comics and pop culture. He hates drooling, mouthbreathing basement dwellers that come in everyday, stink up the place, never buy anything, and bug him while he's trying to help customers. These people consider themselves 'customers' as well. There's a limit to how much a clerk will tolerate 'hanging out' with the customers before they get in the way and annoying ( but you wouldn't know anything about work, now would ya?) ;-)

We will just agree to disagree, I'm not going to be drawn into a bickering contest after you destroyed my last thread. Back to games and media subforums for me.

 

[Chazwozel]

He loves comics and pop culture. He hates drooling, mouthbreathing basement dwellers that come in everyday, stink up the place, never buy anything, and bug him while he's trying to help customers. These people consider themselves 'customers' as well. There's a limit to how much a clerk will tolerate 'hanging out' with the customers before they get in the way and annoying ( but you wouldn't know anything about work, now would ya?) ;-)

We will just agree to disagree, I'm not going to be drawn into a bickering contest after you destroyed my last thread. Back to games and media subforums for me.[/QUOTE]

Haha, you destroyed your own thread, unionboy.

 

[Necronic]

He probably does have that opinion, he just doesn't share it because he wants your business.

And I agree with kurtz, its simply stupid for any serious comics seller to not get into this. Especially when you consider how many people already pirate comics on the interenet. Clearly computers are a perfectly acceptable place to read comics.

Moreover the whole netbook to iPad comparison is made of fail. The iPad is a thing in and of itself. Its not a netbook, its not a tablet PC, and its mostly not an iPhone. I guess the reason people can't figure this out is that its impossible for them to see a new product and not see it as another iteration of an old idea. The iPad isn't like this.

If you do want to make a comparison compare it to tablet PCs. Tablet PCs have never been even remotely succesful. Possibly this is because people would slap a normal OS on it, which doesn't make sense. Maybe the iPad is the appropriate replacement to the failed tablet PC. Honestly what I would like to see is something like the iPad but its designed to wire into your home network and treat your PC as a server. Basically a portable IO device.

k, guess I'm completely off topic now.

 

[Dave]

What? Read what you wrote and ask yourself, havve novels and books vanished since the advent of digital readers like Kindle? The answer is no. As for talking to the staff... my cousin is part-owner of a comic book shop and assholes like you drive him and his partners nuts!

Yes, obviously e-readers haven't destroyed the book format. But that doesn't mean given time they can't replace books, as more and more devices are made to render information in an easy way. I just don't think it's a good idea.

And you can tell your cousin if thats the way he wants to think of his customers, he's lucky to have any at all. If my local comic shop owner had that opinion, I'd find another place to purchase my books.[/QUOTE]


Who cares if books and comics get all digitized?

He loves comics and pop culture. He hates drooling, mouthbreathing basement dwellers that come in everyday, stink up the place, never buy anything, and bug him while he's trying to help customers. These people consider themselves 'customers' as well. There's a limit to how much a clerk will tolerate 'hanging out' with the customers before they get in the way and annoying ( but you wouldn't know anything about work, now would ya?) ;-)[/QUOTE]

A good friend of mine works at a comic shop and there's a group of guys who play D&D there every Thursday night. They won't buy anything and have even brought in their own soda/candy/etc even though it's sold there. To top it off, a couple weeks ago they needed a reference book so they just went to the shelf and got it, used it and then put it back! He told them that they could no longer play there if they weren't paying customers so one of them got pissy and bought a soda for $1 and sat back down.

I know how much they have to make per day average to break even and they are not doing it.

 

[Gusto]

The problem is there are two kinds of comic fans here:

The type that wants his comic culture to remain as it ever was - shops with knowledgeable clerks, dark basements, shelves and shelves of back issues, and a high gain-of entry.

And the type that keeps a wider variety of current issues, clean and approachable, family-friendly places that are maybe less nerdy but attract a wider scope of readers.

I suspect that Mav prefers the former whereas Kurtz prefers the latter and feels that it's the only way comic shops will be able to stay in business. Kurtz has made no secret of his opinions about the print market vs. digital distribution, as well as his thoughts on comic shops in general.

 

[Null]

The facts destroyed your thread, Mav. You were postulating an insanely bad course of action and everyone was telling you so.

 

[Chazwozel]

He probably does have that opinion, he just doesn't share it because he wants your business.

And I agree with kurtz, its simply stupid for any serious comics seller to not get into this. Especially when you consider how many people already pirate comics on the interenet. Clearly computers are a perfectly acceptable place to read comics.

Moreover the whole netbook to iPad comparison is made of fail. The iPad is a thing in and of itself. Its not a netbook, its not a tablet PC, and its mostly not an iPhone. I guess the reason people can't figure this out is that its impossible for them to see a new product and not see it as another iteration of an old idea. The iPad isn't like this.

If you do want to make a comparison compare it to tablet PCs. Tablet PCs have never been even remotely succesful. Possibly this is because people would slap a normal OS on it, which doesn't make sense. Maybe the iPad is the appropriate replacement to the failed tablet PC. Honestly what I would like to see is something like the iPad but its designed to wire into your home network and treat your PC as a server. Basically a portable IO device.

k, guess I'm completely off topic now.

I think the iPad has potential. With advances in the technology, I can see it a pioneer in things like restaurant menus, hospital and hotel room media centers etc...

 

[Null]

What? Read what you wrote and ask yourself, havve novels and books vanished since the advent of digital readers like Kindle? The answer is no. As for talking to the staff... my cousin is part-owner of a comic book shop and assholes like you drive him and his partners nuts!

Yes, obviously e-readers haven't destroyed the book format. But that doesn't mean given time they can't replace books, as more and more devices are made to render information in an easy way. I just don't think it's a good idea.

And you can tell your cousin if thats the way he wants to think of his customers, he's lucky to have any at all. If my local comic shop owner had that opinion, I'd find another place to purchase my books.[/QUOTE]


Who cares if books and comics get all digitized?

He loves comics and pop culture. He hates drooling, mouthbreathing basement dwellers that come in everyday, stink up the place, never buy anything, and bug him while he's trying to help customers. These people consider themselves 'customers' as well. There's a limit to how much a clerk will tolerate 'hanging out' with the customers before they get in the way and annoying ( but you wouldn't know anything about work, now would ya?) ;-)[/QUOTE]

A good friend of mine works at a comic shop and there's a group of guys who play D&D there every Thursday night. They won't buy anything and have even brought in their own soda/candy/etc even though it's sold there. To top it off, a couple weeks ago they needed a reference book so they just went to the shelf and got it, used it and then put it back! He told them that they could no longer play there if they weren't paying customers so one of them got pissy and bought a soda for $1 and sat back down.

I know how much they have to make per day average to break even and they are not doing it.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, running a FLGCS (Friendly Local Gaming or Comics Store) is a rough business. I think the Sandbagger's Game Club that the owners of 4WFG game with pays to have their club hosted at the store - storage fee for their accumulated library, and a reasonable per-hour rate for use of the back gaming room. And of course it's not at all unreasonable for the owners of a FLGCS to disallow outside food and drink. That could even be offered as a membership sort of thing - "Hey, subscribe to be a member of our gaming club and get a 5% discount on x products, and 1 free hour of gametime for your group per month. Or upgrade to our silver membership, get a 10% discount, etc..."

 

[Chazwozel]

What? Read what you wrote and ask yourself, havve novels and books vanished since the advent of digital readers like Kindle? The answer is no. As for talking to the staff... my cousin is part-owner of a comic book shop and assholes like you drive him and his partners nuts!

Yes, obviously e-readers haven't destroyed the book format. But that doesn't mean given time they can't replace books, as more and more devices are made to render information in an easy way. I just don't think it's a good idea.

And you can tell your cousin if thats the way he wants to think of his customers, he's lucky to have any at all. If my local comic shop owner had that opinion, I'd find another place to purchase my books.[/QUOTE]


Who cares if books and comics get all digitized?

He loves comics and pop culture. He hates drooling, mouthbreathing basement dwellers that come in everyday, stink up the place, never buy anything, and bug him while he's trying to help customers. These people consider themselves 'customers' as well. There's a limit to how much a clerk will tolerate 'hanging out' with the customers before they get in the way and annoying ( but you wouldn't know anything about work, now would ya?) ;-)[/QUOTE]

A good friend of mine works at a comic shop and there's a group of guys who play D&D there every Thursday night. They won't buy anything and have even brought in their own soda/candy/etc even though it's sold there. To top it off, a couple weeks ago they needed a reference book so they just went to the shelf and got it, used it and then put it back! He told them that they could no longer play there if they weren't paying customers so one of them got pissy and bought a soda for $1 and sat back down.

I know how much they have to make per day average to break even and they are not doing it.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, running a FLGCS (Friendly Local Gaming or Comics Store) is a rough business. I think the Sandbagger's Game Club that the owners of 4WFG game with pays to have their club hosted at the store - storage fee for their accumulated library, and a reasonable per-hour rate for use of the back gaming room. And of course it's not at all unreasonable for the owners of a FLGCS to disallow outside food and drink. That could even be offered as a membership sort of thing - "Hey, subscribe to be a member of our gaming club and get a 5% discount on x products, and 1 free hour of gametime for your group per month. Or upgrade to our silver membership, get a 10% discount, etc..."[/QUOTE]

My cousin's place actually stays afloat moreso because it's half a comic store and half hobby shop. The hobby shop side brings in WAAAAAY more revenue but a lot of the same customer base. A lot of folks into miniatures mingle with the guys that do modeling and visa vera. When I worked there as a kid, I was really into RC cars and had all the wacky engineering kids to talk to.

 

[Null]

I bet it does. See, Mav, the thing is, Hobbiests SPEND MONEY.

 

[Chazwozel]

I bet it does. See, Mav, the thing is, Hobbiests SPEND MONEY.

Heck yeah, and out of the hobby side, most of the income comes from the model train enthusiasts. Those guys will drop 200-500 bucks easy on a locomotive engine.

 

[SpecialKO]

Yeah, not to jump on the Mav-pounding dogpile here, but I agree with Scott pretty much entirely (at least up until the netbook thing). With digital distribution as the obvious future and clear path for cost-saving, combined with the print industry and comic industry current troubles, Marvel/DC/etc should be jumping into this with both hands and all 4 feet swinging. There is no better time to experiment with better models, re-capture old customers, and grab new customers, and they're really not putting in any effort right now.

I'm not sold on the iPad yet, but purely as a question of overall functionality. I think the 2nd/3rd-gen versions are going to be really sweet, and that's probably when I might be inclined to get one.

 

[Chazwozel]

Yeah, not to jump on the Mav-pounding dogpile here, but I agree with Scott pretty much entirely (at least up until the netbook thing). With digital distribution as the obvious future and clear path for cost-saving, combined with the print industry and comic industry current troubles, Marvel/DC/etc should be jumping into this with both hands and all 4 feet swinging. There is no better time to experiment with better models, re-capture old customers, and grab new customers, and they're really not putting in any effort right now.

I'm not sold on the iPad yet, but purely as a question of overall functionality. I think the 2nd/3rd-gen versions are going to be really sweet, and that's probably when I might be inclined to get one.

I don't really try to dump on Mav, he just seems to do it to himself. From his rants about employers requiring MLK day off to unionizing a telemarketing center and now this thread, where discussions about revamping and modernizing the comic industry - to him - are a horrible idea because he doesn't like change. Frankly, I don't know how someone can get so worked up over such a non-issue.

 

[Andromache]

i think kurtz's point stands regardless of the net book vs ipad issue. creators should look at every business opportunity, and netbooks or ipads just arent getting enough creator attention

regarding the ipad, the only thing i can say is try it before you dismiss it. not feasible for everyone not near any apple retailer, but it is a damn nifty device. its utility is higher than its luxury factor for me, right now. i think as a platform it gives developers many opportunities and maybe kurtz's screed will sway some creators minds about the changing industry regardless of whether the ipad or the netbook is the platform.

 

[wana10]

I don't like the ipad comic model for the same reason I don't like the itunes music model. However, I understand I'm in the minority with this feeling. So long as comics continue to have hard copies printed I don't care what happens in the digital market but when the last floppy or tpb rolls off the line that will be the last dollar I will spend on comics.

Edit* As for the back room gaming issue. I play miniature games at the local hobby shop every week. I realize that without that place finding games would be a lot more difficult and so every week I buy something. Those dnd players in the above post are assholes.

 

[Andromache]

i don't like the ipad comic model for the same reason i don't like the itunes music model. however, i understand i'm in the minority with this feeling. so long as comics continue to have hard copies printed i don't care what happens in the digital market but when the last floppy or tpb rolls off the line that will be the last dollar i will spend on comics.

without regard to the rising cost of paper and ink? or is the whole dwindling resources thing a nonissue for you?

 

[SpecialKO]

So long as comics continue to have hard copies printed I don't care what happens in the digital market but when the last floppy or tpb rolls off the line that will be the last dollar I will spend on comics.

I would be more than willing to pay 10-15 for a digital version of a tpb that I could carry around. And as Crone mentions, the rising cost and long-term resources issues are, well, issues.

Crone, if you don't mind my asking, what kind of direct utility do you draw from the iPad? I already have a laptop, desktop, and iPhone, so for me it seems more like an expensive toy at the moment.

 

[wana10]

Because a pad carved from a solid block of aluminum is so environmentally friendly...
But seriously, I've heard, and I'll fully admit I've not done the research to verify this claim, that reading a page on the internet is just as damaging as reading a page printed on a modern press.

Edit* Here's the thing, last year the Louvre at 8.5 million visitors. Why? Ten seconds on google and I can probably have a 1024*768 pic of any work of art there. Now I'm not going to be as crazy as to claim equality between all the works of art there and all the comics released tomorrow but there must be a reason people take the time to see the real thing. For me, it's more tangible to hold a book, to flip the pages, that's why i keep buying comics.

 

[Chazwozel]

Because a pad carved from a solid block of aluminum is so environmentally friendly...
But seriously, I've heard, and I'll fully admit I've not done the research to verify this claim, that reading a page on the internet is just as damaging as reading a page printed on a modern press.

Aluminum is the third most abundant element on Earth. It makes up like 10% of the weight of all the solids on Earth.