DC and ComiXology Bring Digital Comics To Retailers

Digital comics have often been criticized, and the debate on whether it is a good idea for creators and publishers to go digital has been a heated topic of debate for the last several years. It seems, however, that now more than ever the move to digital seems inevitable. Yet, as a consumer, how do you justify purchasing comic books and graphic novels digitally without feeling like you've turned your back on your local comic shop? In an effort to combat this problem, Comixology has teamed up with DC comics to create a Digital Storefront Affiliate Program. The program will essentially allow local shops to obtain a profit from the sale of digital comics by integrating Comixology's technology on their respective websites. In addition, retailers will also have the opportunity of signing up for the exclusive DC online store. 

“Publishers have quickly recognized that the Digital Storefront Affiliate Program is a win-win situation for both themselves and the retailers to sell more comics,” said David Steinberger, CEO of comiXology. “Having DC, Image, BOOM!, Dynamite and all the other publishers on board shows their continued commitment to the vibrant retailer community and ability to continually innovate.” 

Additional publishers involved in the program include Image (including Shadowline and Top Cow), BOOM! Studios and Dynamite Entertainment. The purpose of this venture is to reinforce and strengthen the relationship between retailers and publishers, and enable the stores to profit from digital sales. While this is big news, there does seem to be a catch. It seems that the only way this will benefit retailers is if they already have a strong online presence- which most LCS' do not have. It will certainly be interesting to see this new step in the expansion of digital comics. Do you think this is a good move for retailers and publishers? 

wonder if itll come out as an Ebook

Did you upload that story summary through your NIC card?  ;)

I think this is something of a step in the right direction. this may benefit some of the stores i know that run online websites and send their monthly and bi-weekly shipments of comics to customers.

I think he meant, "Win/Win and Lose/Lose" because while the retailers and publishers win/win the readers and creators will only lose/lose.

this looks like a great move. I have gone to 100% digital comics but I missed the interaction with people at the store. I think this will blend both worlds better.

" I'll only go completely digital when they stop printing comics on paper. I like going to the shop every Wednesday, laying on the couch with my cat and reading my new books. Sitting hunched over a computer reading doesnt sound as appealing. "

I hate this digital shit. No offence.

I tried it as it so much part of having an Ipad and being a comic reader.. and i have to say.. comics look great on an Ipad.. they really work.. i wasn't expecting that at all.. but after a week of using it... i started to miss the feel of the book in my hand.. and found myself in a comic store buying the comics i liked the most.  
 
Next day i deleted all bar one of the Comic Apps on my Ipad and kept Xcomics so i can get the free previews... and got ComicBookLover app and started to digitize my own comics and put them onto my ipad so i don't have to pull them out and thumb them every time i want to read them. 
 
So i think theres a place for digitized comics.. but really.. they are a lot less satisfying in the long run.  
 
It got also got me thinking about premium covers and special issues.. would i really pay more or double for 2 copies of the same comic just for the cover variant?... and i just don't think i would. 
 
Thats mt 2'peneth anyways.

There really is room for both, and although digital will inevitably change the market as we knew it, the books aren't going away. 
 
It's like cd's these days. Granted they don't sell like they used to before the mp3 player, but they haven't been discontinued as of yet. The decisions to move to digital distributions are usually made to lower costs and resource to produce material and make it more available to a larger market. 
 
I do think local shops with little or no online presence won't benefit from this, but then again avoiding having an online front these days in that business is ignoring an important role it has in connecting with your customers more. Not just for selling digital media, but extending the atmosphere you have in the store to an online community.

No digital for me that for sure.I like the touch and the smell of my comics.Its like when a man cannot have a woman and go for internet/movie/magasin porn.But that is my crazy opinion....

Still not really fussed thanks.

@BADJERMIE lmao, that's a hilarious analogy although I disagree a little bit. People mainly do that to get off when they can't "do it" with someone, but reading words on a page with still images I don't see nearly as big a difference. Unless you're a comic collector then I can see wanting to hold/own the book itself otherwise, I find it convenient :) There's a lot of people out there that don't live near comic shops that would find this nice, but just about everyone has access or owns the internet by now.

I really only use Comixology for the free stuff. I like it ok, but it still has a LOT of problems and until it's stable, I'd rather not invest.  So I guess this article doesn't apply to me.
 
I use the iOS app on my iTouch, and it crashes straight away, or as soon as I try to download something a good 90% of the time; the past 3 updates have all supposedly fixed this... guess not. It takes forever and a day to load all the updates, or navigate away from the Featured start page. Some panels, especially with large text bubbles, cuts off parts of the panel, and unless you do full page view, you can't tell. Plus about 6 months ago I suggested on their iPhone/iTouch forum that they add navigation for "Unread Comics" instead of "Previously Read" (because seriously, if I download 8 comics at once and read 4 over the course of a month, they won't stay in recently downloaded that long, I might not remember which ones I've read, and I'm not going to reread a digital comic EVER.) They said they liked the idea and would implement it, but that was 3 or 4 updates ago and since they never fixed that stability issue I'm not sure if they'll ever get to Unread as a category.

" Tonis brings up some great and valid observations.  I am still stuck in the stone ages regarding a lot of the current advances and trends with computers, mobile devices, and the like, but am slowly beginning to realize and admit, having comics in a digital format isn't necessarily a bad thing.    Why can't consumers have both worlds; print and digital?  "

I personally can't wait until I can read all my comics on my computer or my kindle. I love collecting comics, but I don't have a lot of space to store them all in and I'd hate to have to sell off or God forbid throw some away to make room.

"I personally can't wait until I can read all my comics on my computer."

Digital is the way to go, i'm not worried about my LCS, is anyone really concerned and feel any loyalty towards a shop? (that just sounds weird to me)
I think it's strange that some people have the feeling that we need to preserve the comic book shop.
It's called evolution man, they need to evolve or they will just dissapear and i just don't see why i should buy digital comics from my LCS when i can buy it digitally direct at DC or Marvel itself (hopefully at a better price)
Prices would be higher if you buy from a LCS cause they have to calculate their rent, electricty, taxes etc. for a building that's not used for storing those digital comics.
 
Like regular newspaper it's just not off this time anymore, let them evolve or go extinct, it's that simple.
Btw it would be nice to have more space in my house when i don't need to buy paper comics anymore, my wife will be happier too. 
 
(btw digital comics isn't a new concept, they have been around for years, sure they are not legal, but only now Marvel and DC have finally caught on!!)

" @longbowhunter said:

" I'll only go completely digital when they stop printing comics on paper. I like going to the shop every Wednesday, laying on the couch with my cat and reading my new books. Sitting hunched over a computer reading doesnt sound as appealing. "

"

Honestly, the success of this program relies on the online presence of a local shop and how much money they actually make from it. 
 
With any luck, both digital and paper comics can co-exist. Currently, I still buy my comics the old fashioned way.

Great topic Sara!
 
Digital comics is the future.  But it won't be the present until:
1) Prices are better than and availability is equal to printed comics:

• Digital should be cheaper, otherwise why not own the physical thing. 
  
• Right now, if I wanted to go all digital, I could not.  There is not content parity on a weekly basis.

I can see it now, Paper comics is better, Digital comics are crap....
 
Digital comics are better, paper comics are crap...
 
Its gonna be the Console/PC War in the Comic Community. BTW doesn't the comic community already have enough to argue about that doesn't include the medium in which they are read?

Ordering back issues that I can't get in-town, is about as digital as I'd like to get with regard to my comics.  Like many of the commenters, I like the feel of the paper, and the social discourse at the store.
 
I do however like the idea that digital comics take less space and won't degrade with age.