How do you handle hybrid reading? (Digital & Physical Comics)

[TheDragonKing]

How would go about reading both Digital and Physical comics? How would you choose what comics to collect and what comics to read online? What about collected edition vs single/floppy issues compare to digital comics? What would you do about new comics?

[WebLurker]

I would subscribe to the library apps, so I could test read everything, then buy the trade paperbacks of stuff I liked the most.

[Adset]

I need my weekly fix so I’ll by new stuff digitally. Stuff I love I’ll later nab as an omnibus or deluxe edition if possible.

[armlessphelan]

I'm mostly digital, but if I love something enough (like the JHW3 Batwoman run), I'll buy it in trade.

[Noodle]

I buy physical. If an older comic I want to read is obscenely expensive for a physical copy I'll buy it in digital.

[Ascended]

I read digital, trade, and floppy, depending on the book.

The stuff I really, really want to read and support I'll buy in floppy. It's gotta be either a all-time favorite character or a all-time favorite creator and it's gotta be something I'm not just interested in, but truly excited about.

If a book seems like it'll read much better in trade, and/or it's a book I want to read but don't feel an imminent "need" to read, then I trade wait.

Everything else is digital.

[Robanker]

I buy most things in physical. Digital is for when I'm unsure and give it a blind shot, it doesn't exist in print, or if I'm too impatient to wait a day to pick it up at my LCS and I need to know how something unfolds/ends.

And then there's DC Universe. That service is invaluable. I got a tablet for Christmas last year and have been using it as my reading device before bed most nights. No fear of passing out and waking up to a creased/ruined book and you can read with the lights off so others aren't hindered. Just overall a really solid way to read books I missed for various reasons or rereading something when I can't be sure I won't just completely knock out before finishing them. Or stuff that isn't in trade or hard to find (looking at you, Spectre, Starman, The Question!)

I try to buy all the books I want to support in physical (and yes, storage is killing me). I rarely trade wait, but I do for some books (The Terrifics is one, so I'm partly to blame for why that wonderful book went extinct).

That said, new readers I suggest going digital. Storage is a huge issue and 99.9% of your comics are worth exactly how much you quantify the joy they bring you and nothing more-- that is to say, they're not worth shit financially. Storage can and will eventually be a big problem. Take it from a long-time reader and collector. Yes, that hurts the LCS. Yes, it hurts me because I adore the printed product and I want all these to be something I can touch and own, but it's objectively the better experience for most readers not already married to the medium in the form they encountered it.

If you're on the fence about "can I enjoy digital," try DC Universe for a month. Costs about what two new issues does and there are thousands of books on there, many with complete runs. The value really comes through if you've got a tablet, some of which you can get relatively cheap.

[Restingvoice]

Digital for artworks and covers I don't like.
Hardcopy for the shelves showcase.