A DIGITAL DOOMSDAY
COMIC BOOKS ON THE iPAD
AND
WHY I WON'T BE READING THEM
by
Darrel D. Miller
SMASHWORDS EDITION
* * * * *
THIS POSSIBLY HUMOROUS EDITION PUBLISHED BY:
Darrel D. Miller on Smashwords
A Digital Doomsday
Comic Books on the iPad and Why I Won't Be Reading Them
Copyright © 2010 by Darrel D. Miller
Smashwords Edition License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.
* * * * *
A DIGITAL DOOMSDAY
Comics on the iPad
and
Why I Won't Be Reading Them
First the Kindle changed the way we read books, and now iPads are changing the way we read Comic Books. No longer do you have to read your Comic Books with a flashlight under your blankets. Now they can use their flashlight/music player/video camera/phone to read comics. That's right Comic Books have made their debut on the iPad/iPhone iWish iHad.
But reading comics on the iPad is not for me. I like new technology. I listen to mp3s. I twitter. I Facebook. I'm hip. I'm cool. I am handsome. I'm fit. (Okay, Okay, I am not very fit.) But I refuse to read comic books on an iPad.
And the reason why I won't read Digital Comics on an iPad hearkens back to the age old problem of new technology: I can't afford one.
So instead I used my iPod (a smaller version of the iPad) to test out the comic book app of my choice (I didn't have a choice there are only two.)
I downloaded the DC Comics app to my iPod to test it out before I condemned it (very 14th century of me, I know). I found the navigation of the comics fairly easy especially with the guided reading feature. The guided feature is like having a librarian in your iPod that reads to you (this one doesn't read to you).
Another positive for Digital Comics is their portability. But I ask how are they anymore portable than an actual comic book? Can I roll up my iPad and put it in my back pocket (answer no: I don't have an iPad, see my earlier point)! Of course I wouldn't do that to my comic either (dammit I spent money on that thing.)
I would then put the comic in a bag, with a comic board, encase it in a thick plastic sleeve, prop it up on my desk, and look at the cover whenever I want to. You can't get that kind of feeling or experience from an iPad. That is because the experience of having your comics on your iPad is that you can also read them, not just stare at the cover trying to remember what the comic book was about.
Besides I like my comics collected in a nice small package called a graphic novel because they are easier to transport and don't get destroyed as easily as individual comic books. Why would I want to go digital?
Some of these companies have decided to back up their back issues (how modern of them). Yes, now you can buy that Superman #1 for $0.99 instead of $999,999.00 (It went for $1,000,000 but Apple made me write 999,999 so you thought you were getting a deal.)
Marvel currently has 900 comic book issues available on the iPad. You could carry everyone of those with you, wherever you go. Now when someone asks if you want to see their comic book collection you can't lie to them, telling them you have something else to do and can't come over to their house. Thanks comic book companies. Now we will be stuck in Nerd Limbo forever!!
I am not the only person to be dismayed at this turn of events, so are Comic Book Store Owners. They want to know who is going to come in and stink up their stores. At this point Comic Books stores may have to become Apple Stores. Other retailers aren't as nervous saying that the Digital Comics have brought new people into their stores, though they did try to download the comics from the shelf.
One reviewer of the iPad Digital Comic app thinks the app will be a weapon of mass destruction, and I agree. All of those comics no one will ever want, can finally be thrown away, after being downloaded.
* * * * *
NOTE TO THE READER:
This essay, as well as others (soonish)
available on Smashwords.com
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/DarrelMiller