Digital Comics!

[Tony]

I have become an almost exclusive digital reader.

New comics are more convenient, slightly older books enjoy nice sales, and old books can sometimes be had crazy cheap. I also like that my tablet holds huge collections of comics and when traveling I have a lot of choices for what I will read in a nice small package.

I thought it would be nice to have a place to talk about digital comics, post deals you might come across that people might otherwise miss like a random amazon deal, problems with a digital book like if it's a bad scan job or covers not framed right ect, books you think people should try out that maybe are more obscure or digital exclusive, complain about DC not lowering the price on rebirth books

Anyway not really sure if this has a lot of interest here or if being a classic comic/collection forum people tent to buy mostly physical books.

[Mr`Orange]

I go through phases where I binge on digital comics, either via the Marvel Unlimited app or the Comixology / Humble Bundle books I've bought. It is a great way of testing the waters with new titles and I've moved from buying the first volume of Image books in tpb to digital as they are a lot cheaper and more convenient. I will inevitably buy the HC collection of the Image titles I really enjoyed.

[Tony]

Image is great about lowering the price especially on the first trade.

I give them a lot of credit along with with Archie for kind of pushing digital forward. Archie was the first big company to put the digital issue up the same day the physical issue hit, as well as both of them leading the way when it comes to downloading a CBZ file for personal back up that I think helped a lot of people get comfortable with the idea of paying for a digital file since they could burn them to disk or what have you.

Valiant is another company you can download backups of purchases for, and they are currently doing a line wide sale $.99 on single issues and trades starting at $3.99 on Comixology

[Punjabi_Hitman]

I wish the app was better. Why won't they put in an option to make a custom reading order, so I can read events without searching for books, especially when you have to scroll through a largd amount of them to find the next book

[Mormegil]

I know this is focused on building a digital collection, but i always like to point out the free Hoopla digital library app.

It has a ton of free comics on it with no adds. The catch is that you have to be a member at a library that works with Hoopla. Even if your local library doesn't support it, a lot of times you can become a member of a neighboring county/city's library that doesn't support it. You can borrow 15 titles a month and download them for offline reading.

I don't know if the app works with mainland Europe or Great Britain.

Its a great way to try comics for free to see if you'd want to buy them. Most of the dark horse Conan material is on there. Savage Sword, Marvel Conan, and the new Dark Horse Conan series. At least half of the new Valiant Universe is on there as well.

[Tony]

I love Hoopla. I can borrow 12 books a month through my area not 15 but basically tons of Image, Darkhorse, Vertigo book is there. They have lots of DC and Marvel but no where near as complete. I did get a Hoopla email the other day letting me know the Rebirth special was now on Hoopla with a release schedual for all the rebirth trades that are coming.

It almost feels like a secret because I have to wonder if everyone who trade waits finds out about/starts using Hoopla just how much business will theses publishers lose. Then again the Library by me has a fantastic graphic novel selection and we are connected to 22 other libraries so I've gotten most any books I want for free.

For me Hoopla has been great for stuff like new Archie that I think is digitally over priced, the 40 some creepy and eerie archives I wouldn't actually want to pay for, the Earth One books I didn't want to actually own. My next big thing will be Hellboy and BPRD they seem to have the complete collection and I've never read any of it.

So yeah, Hoopla is pretty amazing. Overdrive is another fantastic way to get books digitally through the library.

[Brewman]

I love Hoopla. I can borrow 12 books a month through my area not 15 but basically any Image, Darkhorse, Vertigo book is there. They have lots of DC and Marvel but no where near as complete. I did get a Hoopla email the other day letting me know the Rebirth special was now on Hoopla with a release schedual for all the rebirth trades that are coming.

It almost feels like a secret because I have to wonder if everyone who trade waits finds out about/starts using Hoopla just how much business will theses publishers lose. Then again the Library by me has a fantastic graphic novel selection and we are connected to 22 other libraries so I've gotten most any books I want for free.

For me Hoopla has been great for stuff like new Archie that I think is digitally over priced, the 40 some creepy and eerie archives I wouldn't actually want to pay for, the Earth One books I didn't want to actually own. My next big thing will be Hellboy and BPRD they seem to have the complete collection and I've never read any of it.

So yeah, Hoopla is pretty amazing. Overdrive is another fantastic way to get books digitally through the library.

I am going to have to look into these at my library! I don't necessarily love digital, but free shoooot...

[Tony]

I wish the app was better. Why won't they put in an option to make a custom reading order, so I can read events without searching for books, especially when you have to scroll through a largd amount of them to find the next book

If you mean the Comixology app it hasn't been a problem for me. Looking at my collection on a kindle fire the books are grouped together by series when you look through my books. I don't think your going to get the ability to make a crossover that runs through 5 different titles a seamless experience without buying a trade of that crossover. For a company like Image you could download the CBZ backups and create your own megafile I suppose, but Marvel and DC don't give the option.

I have not bothered to use it but I believe Kindle books can be organized in custom folders but, you'd still be clicking on each book in the folder.

[Tony]

.......................oops

[Mormegil]

As far as i can tell there aren't any Marvel comics on Hoopla.

[Tony]

HA! I guess I'm showing my preferences since I just assumed Marvel was there without ever actually wanting to read anything they put out. I shouldn't assume lol.

To Brewman I'll say if you're in the Olympia area I think your going to really enjoy the selection.

[Punjabi_Hitman]

If you mean the Comixology app it hasn't been a problem for me. Looking at my collection on a kindle fire the books are grouped together by series when you look through my books. I don't think your going to get the ability to make a crossover that runs through 5 different titles a seamless experience without buying a trade of that crossover. For a company like Image you could download the CBZ backups and create your own megafile I suppose, but Marvel and DC don't give the option.

I have not bothered to use it but I believe Kindle books can be organized in custom folders but, you'd still be clicking on each book in the folder.

I know but when you got a hundred books in the list, it gets annoying. Scrolling through the Archived books is even worse, especially of you feel like re reading something. Every music app lets you create a custom playlist.

[Brewman]

HA! I guess I'm showing my preferences since I just assumed Marvel was there without ever actually wanting to read anything they put out. I shouldn't assume lol.

To Brewman I'll say if you're in the Olympia area I think your going to really enjoy the selection.

I'm in kitsap.

[Tony]

I know but when you got a hundred books in the list, it gets annoying. Scrolling through the Archived books is even worse, especially of you feel like re reading something. Every music app lets you create a custom playlist.

It might be worth the time to write to Comixology I know they are pretty responsive. They also have a lot more competition now from Google Play so offering new features would be a good way to keep loyalty. I'm not really sure how dificult a playlist for comics would be to implement.

[Tony]

I'm in kitsap.

Nice. I haven't really spent much time there, but West Side! I need to get back up north when summer hits, I miss the water. Maybe go up to PA and hit Hurricane Ridge and Lake Crescent area.

On topic, I finally finished Velvet with the Ed Brubaker sale going on on Comixology. What an amazing book. It felt like a classic movie. and if your thinking of getting it I recommend the 99 cent single issues since you get the essay's from each issue that way that I don't think the trades offer.