Ranting: Paper Vs Plastic

RANTING!!!!!

Paper Vs Plastic

This one has been racking my brain recently, do I continue to read comic books the way I always have, or do I convert and move to the screen. I've been running over the pro's and con's in my head but what has really started to pile on the pressure is Marvel's latest deal, a full year of comics for $60 (£45.89), $5 (£3.82) per calendar month! Now I know that's only one comic book distributor but that's a lot of reading for what I usually spend on a singular comic! I have not signed up to this deal so I can't in all honesty tell you exactly what it entails, but the offer does boast twenty five thousand plus comics available, now I don't think I need to tell you I don't have access to that amount of reading material on a daily basis. The deal also includes some exclusive loot but that doesn't exactly sway me, but I've gotta say I'm tempted.

Now for someone who ends each post with SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL COMIC STORE, it's incredibly hypocritical for me to be talking about this. And this is one of the biggest contributing factors, the amount of times I've been stood in the store looking at a title I would love to start reading but it's wallet over heart that win's occasionally, and let's be honest, this is not a cheap hobby. For those of you who might not know, trips to the comic book shop normally cost me about £50 (nobody tell my wife), and I'm not saying how often I go into the store, now a singular visit could be my yearly subscription paid! But I've also removed all human interaction from this avocation, may not be the worst thing in the world for some people but I enjoy that part of it, being part of a community and giving back into it.

Let's say one does decide to go digital, now the main thing you're going to need is a tablet or a laptop, and lets be honest you're going to want to get a good screen to be able to see the artwork properly. So let's say you get an iPad a very quick Google search gives a 7th gen iPad at £269 ($351.72), a laptop even more than that, so your not going to see saving immediately. Now when I first got my tablet a few years ago, I did have a look at what was free to view on the Marvel website. These are singular issues, obviously designed as a teaser, but I did go through as many as I could, I mean it's free why the hell not (see for yourself HERE). Now the advantages that I found are many but the big ones are; you can read in the rain, you don't accidentally see what's on a page you are are yet to read and spoil the book for yourself, and there's a lot less clutter around the house. Now I would not call a comic book collection clutter, but I can guarantee that anyone reading this has someone in their house that does. Now that has gone away with the digital world, no collection however, no pride.       

I know it's ridiculous to have pride in a collection, as it's only stuff you've paid for, but one does. you have something that you can hold in your hands and show people, "look what I own". You don't have signed first edition if it's all online, and it takes away a bit of the spark if everyone else does too. Remember some comics can fetch millions of pounds.

Now what a digital world at your fingertips does do is level the playing field for those who really need it, the people most of these stories are actually written for, kids. As I'd mentioned before this is not a cheap hobby, I started as a kid with the Beano which cost me fifty five pence a week, it's not exactly that cheap now. For the almost the same monthly cost of those Beano's I could have almost every Marvel title, now I don't have to tell the parents out there that's a lot of quiet time a lot of reading and a lot of expanding a child's imagination!

It does not however improve anyone's screen time. I think that is the main reason why I never delved deeper than the free issues back when I first tried it, it's just not the same reading on a screen all the time. To paraphrase a quote and to be slightly crude (I apologise if you're offended), t*t's are great to look at on a screen, but they're even better in your hands, now I don't remember who said that but it's true, depending on your preferred genitalia of course. Without physical comics there isn't the comic book shop, and without comic book shops many people loose dream jobs of working there. We would also loose comic book conventions to forums and livestreams. I think online does have some massive advantages and I'm still not one hundred percent sure I won't trial it sometime in the future, but for now I'll stick to the physical.   


See Marvel online deal HERE / DC HERE
and forever the hypocrite SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL COMIC BOOK SHOP HERE.