Digital Comics Are Coming [해외논문]

 

Digital Comics Are Coming.

저자:

Macdonald, Heidi

수록 출판물:

Publishers Weekly. 7/19/2010, Vol. 257 Issue 28, p4-5. 2p.

문서 유형:

Article

주제어:

*PUBLISHERS & publishing
*ELECTRONIC publishing
*STRATEGIC planning
COMIC books, strips, etc.

기업/법인체:

DC Entertainment Inc.
DC Comics Inc.
MARVEL Publishing Inc.

NAICS/산업 코드:

511120 Periodical Publishers
323111 Commercial Printing (except Screen and Books)
323119 Other printing
511130 Book Publishers
511190 Other publishers
511199 All Other Publishers

인명:

ROOD, John

초록:

This article reports that a growing number of comic publishers are launching digital initiatives for their titles. In June 2010, DC Entertainment launched its digital program by making its titles available through the iPad, iPhone and Sony PSP. There is a plan by DC Comics to use its digital initiative to support traditional retailers. According to John Rood of DC Comics, digital will create new comics consumers. Both DC and its rival Marvel have started offering same day-and-date releases for digital and print editions.

 

>>digital이지만 모바일 기기 위주인 것 같은뎅?

 

 

전문▼

 

Digital Comics Are Coming

The last major comics publisher ro
launch its digital program, DC
Entertainment made hundreds
of its titles available last month through
the iPad, iPhone, and Sony PSP. Despite
concerns about the viability of digital
comics, publishers are gearing up, DC
Comics plans to use its digital initiative
to aiso support traditional retailers,
and both Marvel and DC plan to release
digital and print comics simultaneously.
Many publishers believe desktop computers
offer a larger potential market
for comics than handheld devices, and
publishers are also taking aim at digital
piracy, which some think threatens to
have more of an impact on the bottom
line than legitimate digital sales.
  DC Comics copublisher Jim Lee and

executive v-p of sales and marketing John
Rood said they were excited about the
possibilities for reaching new readers
while looking to make their traditional
retail partners relatively comfortable
with the change to digital. In DCs case,
this took the form of a retail advisory (=gives suggestions and help to people or organizations)

committee looking into ways to put some
of its digital profits into strengthening
retail stores.
"Retailets know that digital is here to
stay," said Lee, who is also one of DCs most
popular artists. "They want a way to survive

survive
and grow within this new market."
Rcx)d said the retailer program will entail
"a mixture of things, from shared revenue
to consumer incentives that draw
attention to the comic book shops as the
epicenter of fandom." Rood, like many
others, believes that digital will create
new comics consumers, and Lee pointed
out that Neil Gaiman's Sandmcin HI,

which has sold hundreds of thousands of
[irint copies over the years, still became
;in early bestseller on the DC app.
Most importanc, DC and ics biggest
competitor. Marvel—which launched
its own popular app with the ¡Pad in
April—have also begun offering, for the
tirst time, same day-and-date releases for
>>first 오타 아님?

both the digital and print editions. Marvet
released its bwimihle ¡run h\cw Annual
11, while DC has made its biweekly
sfricsjmlii'e ¡wa^ue: General/on Losi availiible
as well. Both are priced well above
the digital norm of $1.99, ¡ron Man is
posted in three parts for a total of $5.97

as opposed to $4,99, while JW/KÏ League
costs the same as the print version, $2.99.
Among independent houses, IDW
Publishing (which uses digital comics
vendor iVerse Media) plans to sell digital
editions of its comics 30 days after
the print editions hit. And last month
Boom! Studios became the first publisher
to make all of its catalogue available for
saleviadownload.
But Boom! publisher Ross Richie
called the move more of a "pre-emptive
strike" against digital pirates. While
Boom! has had success boosting print
sales via digital sampling, Richie called
digital a "sideline" and plans to maintain
a strict window between print and digital
release, "Digital is a place you have to be
in," he said, but he does not plan to offer
original digital content until the audience
is big enough to justify it.
Despite the focus on handheld devices,
many publishers believe the home computer—
desktops and laptops^—to be the next frontier. Comics app developer
ComiXoIogy has launched a Web-based
digital comics store, and other longanticipated
digital retail ventures like
Longbox and Graphic.ly are currently
in public beta testing. Although the latter
two are late getting into the game
and don't ofiferas wide a range of content
as ComiXoIogy, Longbox CEO Rantz
Hoseley said that the desktop and laptop
market—150 million Windows 7 users
versus about seven million iPads sold in
2010—dwarfs the handheld market.
Publishers acknowledge that digital
sales are still a very small part of their
business. At the Diamond Retailer
summit in April, IDW's president Ted
Adams said digital makes up only 1% of
JDWssales. Everyone knows that digital
distribution is going somewhere, but no
one really knows what will be the breakout
event, device, or channel. "Its a ftontier
right now," Richie said.
—-Heidi Macdonald