Cranium Comics

The age of digital comics is upon us. While many still turn to their neighborhood comic shop for hard copy print issues, more and more comic fans find it easier to obtain their favorite issues via the web. Thanks to some impressive comic distribution web sites, this is an increasingly easy thing to do.

Along with on-demand printing, astute indie comic creators realize that a direct path to customers provides a level playing field against such industry giants as DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, Image and others. Content can now be circulated and distributed in a manner that affords them little overhead. Small shops have been using sites like Comixpress and Kablam for years, with profit margins being minimal at best. Digital distribution brings the costs of actually publishing and distributing down close to zero. While independent creators will never have the marketing budgets that industry leaders do, it does take us one step further to a level playing field. After experimenting with a few of the free options, I figured I’d share my experiences.

Graphic.ly

Graphic.ly quickly drew me in with its iPad app. Upon creating and logging into your account you are presented with a live stream of who’s reading what on their site. This is interesting in that it acts as a quick zeitgeist of popular titles being downloaded and viewed. From there, you can go to the store, view your collection, or chat with friend. The video on their website emphasizes the conversations many people have around their favorite titles and allows for users to comment on a variety of topics including individual pages. Despite this, the app seems focused on selling content through the store, and at $1.99 per title, provides a substantial savings the cover price. I was disappointed to find that the application doesn’t support dynamic readjusting of the page when I turn my iPad to portrait mode and I wasn’t able to view the comic panel by panel (only page by page). Additionally, it was difficult to find free titles, but I soon realized that the website offered much more than what was available on the mobile app. With desktop software for multiple operating systems, smart phones and iPad compatibility, this site will appeal to collectors who are looking to maintain a dialog with like minded enthusiasts while saving a few bucks. They even offer an indie publishers section, however it wasn’t obvious to me how one would go about getting listed as a publisher.

Wowio

Wowio.com isn’t just about comics. This becomes abundantly clear once you peruse the content of their website. They offer a variety of books, articles, and essays in numerous genres and categories. Their standard prices for comics are similar to other offerings ($1.99) but offer additional perks. Sending (e.g. “gifting”) a book to a friend along with providing donation services to many popular charities are just some of them. I found myself appreciating the philanthropic side of knowing part of my purchase could go to a good cause. I was a bit frustrated after discovering there is no iPad or iPhone app of their services. Instead, you must connect via your browser and view online. Your downloaded books appear in the “Library” link which resides on the main page of the site. The interface for viewing comics is very intuitive and packed with features. Everything from double-page spread viewing to three levels of zoom make the experience a pleasant one. One of the things Wowio does is keep the metaphor of the traditional book. Advances other comic readers have made in providing the option of panel by panel reading make this format feel slightly antiquated. As with other services, there is a good selection of free content to peruse before you decide to buy. Finding publisher resources was as straightforward as following a link on the main page of the website. The company provides detailed explanations of how they work and it was gratifying to see such support for the DIY community.

Comixology

Comixology is the engine that Marvel has built their application around. And after experimenting with its easy to navigate interface it is no wonder why. This is another shopping focused site and application. Specifically, the iPad app provides immediate access to categories such as Featured, DC Store, New, Popular and Free options. Prices range from $.99 to $2.99. You can peruse all issues and even select a few before the program prompts you to set up an account to start saving your collection. Doing so is a painless process and allows you to start saving your selections immediately. Comixology forgoes the Apple inspired bookshelf for something a little more reminiscent of the itunes music selection experience wherein you horizontally scroll covers of your selected comics while the details are presented below. Options are kept to a minimum, instead allowing the reader to focus on reading, searching, or purchasing. The “browse” option in the upper-left provides a few options such as Series, Genre, Creator, Publisher, and even offers a Storyline search. Despite this, I found that the options here were less robust than Wowio’s. The site seems to be geared to the major publishers, as I didn’t notice any smaller press titles available, although there were several great free options.

Comics +

Comics +is more of an aggregator than a stand-alone web app, which was refreshing to see upon downloading and syncing the mobile software. It provides iTunes style purchasing of comics in addition to relevant news about the comic industry in RSS-style format. While largely based around its store, I found the interface at once appealing and easy to navigate. This is the firs app I used that felt like it was an all-in-one place for me to get my comics and relevant news about them. Featured titles are easy to navigate and offer viewing by genre or publisher. As with the other offerings, there are free titles available. While not as many as some of the other sites, viewing your downloaded comics is easy. They appear in a layout similar to Apple’s iBooks, no doubt inspired by the ease of use and direct access of that particular application. They offer a nice mix of indie publishers along with more common titles. Overall, I felt comfortable with the comic viewing interface. Although minimal, the slide page effect and the tap to zoom feature felt natural.

Summary

It’s not easy to define any of the options as definitively better as it depends on your taste. All things considered, I found that Wowio provides great benefit to both creators and viewers through its diverse offerings and community outreach. For mobile devices, I really like Comics +’s approach to combining news with your purchasing experience. Then of course if you like the social aspect of purchasing comics, you can’t go wrong with Graphic.ly. I’d be curious to see what these new innovations are doing to the culture, cache, and collectibility of comics in general. Has the impact of online comics over the past 3-5 years detracted from sales at your local comic shop? I believe the jury is still out on those answers. What cannot be denied however, is that a new distribution model has taken major steps forward. What do you think?