First, thank you for the open-mindedness of your query. I personally haven’t tried your work – but after reading the comments in this blog, I’ll be downloading Agents of Atlas tonight – and trust me, that’s not a bad thing!

I’ve collected comics for 25 of my 29 years. My collection is at 31 longboxes, enough misc boxes to fill another 5 longboxes, and include a LOT of individual issues as well as trade paperbacks, including the newer black-and-white newsprint trades (Marvel Essentials, and DC’s counterparts).

To say that I’m a loyal collector is an understatement… but for me, digital comics is the future – though I still prefer the actual issues in my hands. Like many others, I use digital comics to read titles I dont like enough to buy, to preview books, and to keep abreast of what’s happening (because spoilers suck) – the closest comic shop to me is a 2 hour drive one-way, and I can’t make that trip as often as I’d like. Also, like some other people, I’ve found entire series that are well-established for the first time. Transmetropolitan, the new Garth Ennis Punisher series, Y the Last Man, Fables, Girls, Red Sonja, Dark Horse Conan… So far, I’ve purchased the entire runs of Punisher, Red Sonja, Dark Horse’s Conan, and Y the Last Man (and continue to buy the new issues as they come out). I’ve tracked down some back issues of Girls, and am on the lookout for the other series as money permits. I also was intrigued enough by 52 in digital format that I’ve purchased all of those issues as well. All in all, I spend probably $100 a month on comics – to me, that’s a lot of money to dedicate for what? 25 books a month that take me maybe 5 minutes apiece to read? It’s an expensive hobby… especially with the money-swallowing habit of the year-long, universe-spanning crossovers. Like baseball cards, collecting comics isn’t for kids anymore – who can afford it!?

I have downloaded and will continue to download comics online. In many cases, I’ve then went out and bought the actual issues, and I will continue to do so. I’ve purchased reasonably-priced official digital releases as well, even though they come in low-res, shoddy PDF format – I love the industry, and I want to continue to support it… I just wish it would support me as well – cheaper comics, allowing me to buy more, maybe even going back to cheaper newsprint rather than the slicks they’ve used for years now, lowering the price per issue accordingly. For the Marvel digital collections – wake up! The technology you’re using sucks, and the price you’re charging isn’t worth it. Encrypt an archive of JPGs, create a reader similar to CDisplay to decrypt and display the images, and MSRP the collections at $30, $20 for those comics 250 issues or less – I guarantee you’ll sell a lot more at those price points than you will at the $59.95 MSRP you have now.

Jeff.. again, thank you for your open-mindedness. If Agents of Atlas is everything the fans in this blog say it is, Amazon will have my order before the month is out.

Take care.

At that point I wasn’t happy with where a lot of the books I used to read regularly had gone. Also, I was taken aback by the sudden closure of my comics shop. I found another, which wasn’t the same, but it still sold comics, so I patroned it; however, I had cut down on the volume of comics I bought drastically. This left me hungry for more titles. While reading through a one I never paid much attention to, an employee once told me curtly that the shop wasn’t a library, to which I responded by putting the comic back on the shelf, saying, “Okay. I guess I’ll never know whether or not I would have wanted to buy it then.” purchasing what I had in my hands then, and walking out. Comics are cyclical in nature, I’ve noticed. They exist to catch your attention, break your heart, then woo you back with a revamped creative team so the cycle can repeat.

This is significant only because I went on another extended foreign trip shortly thereafter, and when I came back, the books I had loved just a couple years ago were very much on the break your heart phase of the cycle. As a result I virtually dropped comics altogether. There were a great many books out there, but I was just starting college, was short on time and money, and didn’t want to waste either adding a weekly out of the way trip to a comics shop where I would spend hours on my first few visits sifting through comics books, if they would let me, to see what was actually good. I certainly did want to cut down on that time by spending what little money I had on books I would end up not enjoying. On occasion, however, I would buy a graphic novel of a creator-owned series I enjoyed whose quality there was some certainty to.

A couple years later one of my friends introduced me to digital comics. He had a veritable digital (and physical, but that isn’t the matter under discussion here) archive and gave me a few disks of back issues he thought I would like. I was hesitant at first, but my friend asked me, “How likely are you to go out and buy these comics if you don’t read them now? Honestly? I remember at Borders you didn’t do more than skim through the graphic novels section. You can’t honestly tell me they’ll loose any money from you on this.” Honestly, he was right. What they did gain, however, was some money from me in collected trades.

I became a frequent downloader, after that. I checked up on some titles I had left behind years ago and found they had become even more atrocious. More importantly, however, I found a slew of different titles I did like, and though I couldn’t afford them all, I bought my favorites. I began using downloading the same way I used to use browsing the comic shop as a teenager. I would see a title that looked potentially interesting, grab it, and if I liked it pick it up on my next trip to the comic shop. Those I couldn’t afford I put back on the metaphorical shelf and told I would come back for them. Those I put back I usually bought in collected trades, which were cheaper in the long run. This got me into many titles I would otherwise not have given a second look. More importantly, it got me back into comics as a whole, and my behavior didn’t change much from what it had been years ago. I was even there to start picking up the series’ that had gotten me started on comics once they became readable again.

Recently, however, I have fallen on what might be called, “hard times.” I’m well because I’m healthy, but I also happen to be rather poor and have very little space. I’m working hard to pay off my regular bills and student loans. Unfortunately, this leaves very little room for the comics I enjoy. This means I’m currently downloading all the titles I would normally go the the comic shop to buy. With a few exceptions, I don’t really feel bad for this. I feel bad each time Manhunter, for example, almost gets cancelled because I know that while my four dollars wouldn’t stave off cancellation, they would, at least in some fractional way, help. The thing is, I don’t intend to just have this period be a one year or so stretch where I didn’t pay for comics. As soon as I’m able to, which is in the foreseeable future, I plan to buy up back issues and collected trades on everything I’ve enjoyed. I still feel guilty about books like Manhunter, however, because I know if it does get canceled, my retroactive patronage won’t help. Even if I could afford the books, however, I currently would have nowhere to put them.

I know some people will say none of my later purchases or current intentions matter. They would say whether I like it or not, I’m stealing. If I like comics so much I should wait until I have the money to buy them to enjoy them. If you want to call my actions theft, fine. I’m neither trying to exonerate myself nor do I have any illusions about the legality of what I’ve done. I would argue that the DMCA is broken, but that doesn’t really change things. In the end, regardless of anything else, what is preventing me from being sued into years of financial ruin is likely the good will of the comic book companies, which I greatly appreciate. It remains true that comics book companies have made hundreds of dollars off me over the years for what I could be sued for. It also remains true that if I had gone on another comic sabbatical, when the time comes where I can afford to look back and buy what I will have missed, there will invariably be books I will have otherwise wanted to buy will miss anyway. (Such as, perhaps, Agents of ATLAS, which was excellent, by the way. My apologies for not being able to buy it, but I promise to buy the trade as soon as I am able.)

So there you have it. It is far more than you asked for, but I thought you might appreciate the full perspective of my story. I will also agree that if more companies offered discounted digital issues online, the world would be a better place…that’s or I’d be rather happy with them and patron the idea readily, but that really doesn’t sound very dramatic. Also, I still do prefer holding a physical comic, but reading them off a screen isn’t too bad.