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Feb

19

You Would Want to Own It

Filed Under Books, My Comics, Online Comics | 15 Comments

I’ve been reading a lot of things about the death of the traditional publishing industry (print), and what it means for comics. It’s undeniable now, specially after witnessing newspapers after newspapers take hits with plummeting sales and laid off employees. The book publishers have similar gloom and doom stories, and yes, even comics publishers.

I’ve read opinions that print is truly well on its way out, and comics will now and forever be digital. Either on the web, or on mobile phones, or the new fangled readers they have now like Androids and Amazon’s Kindle.

Efforts are being done to make the digital display look and feel like paper, and yeah, I can see this kind of thing becoming more popular as time goes on.

I do have some thoughts on the matter, substantiated by nothing but my own opinion. Feel free to agree or disagree.

In recent years I’ve taken stabs at doing comics online. I’ve recently begun doing a weekly strip where I transfer my old print character Johnny Balbona onto the web. You can find it here.

Even WASTED can now be read completely online, and ELMER #1 can be downloaded for free as a CBR file.

But I don’t believe that print comics will ever be replaced completely by digital comics. There will always be print comics, and people will continue to buy them.

There is no other reason for this than people wanting to own their comics. They want to own it, and they want to keep it. They want it to tuck it in their shelves, forget about it, and come back to read it when they’re sick or when they’re doing their business in the crapper.

But who wants to own newspapers? Nobody wants to own and keep them, unless you’re somehow featured there and you want to keep the clipping and frame it. From where I’m standing, newspapers may well be on their way out. They’re the ones in most danger of going out because their value is so transitory. I don’t really read newspapers anymore. I just read the news online. Once you read a bit of news, it’s old, and it’s quickly forgotten. Do you care about reading yesterday’s newspaper? You don’t. And all you get in the end is a growing stack of newspapers in the back, gathering bugs.

But don’t make the mistake of equating the death of newspapers with the death of print comics and books.

Books and comics you can read once, and then you want to read it again. And again. You want to keep it in the best part of your shelf, covered in acid free plastic. If the copy gets mangled from too much reading, you go Mile High Comics or Ebay and get a brand new old copy.

And to be honest, you really can’t own digital comics. Because those things are just electrons taking the form of your comics until the power goes out or the batteries run out. Its existence will always be dependent on some kind of power source. Once that power source is gone, your comics are gone. And in the back of your mind you know this. Its ethereal and temporary nature keeps you from having the sensation of really, and truly owning it.

Books and comics may also be temporary, but at the very least they grow old with you. There’s nothing like seeing a very old copy of my Red Rackham’s Treasure, yellowed and cracked with age, and seeing my slimy fingerprints with the peanut butter smudges I made as a kid. They become part of your life in a way a forever young digital file can never be.

I can no longer tell you how many times I’ve been approached about the availability of WASTED and when I say it’s out of print and it can be read FOR FREE online, they say they prefer to read the print version. Same is true for ELMER. They say they’d rather wait that I reprint it.

It’s about owning it. And having it as a true and concrete part of your life. This is something that we really can’t discount as we blunder so arrogantly into the digital world and saying that this is now and forever the only way it will be.

Comments

15 Responses to “You Would Want to Own It”

  1. dexter on February 19th, 2009 10:00 am

    I completely agree with you Gerry.
    Nothing compares to the sense of touch we get from a print comics. And it’s an easy access you can just read it anytime in your room with out the need of plugging.
    And don’t forget about the scent of a new comic books. You can’t smell a digital comic. If you smell the computer monitor you’ll end up sneezing with all that dust. ;)

  2. Gilbert on February 19th, 2009 10:41 am

    Comics is NOT comics if it is NOT in comic form. Simple. A digital Diamond ring is NOT a diamond ring. Try proposing online hahaha!

  3. Ed on February 19th, 2009 10:51 am

    This is what some people are trying to convince me to do; download and read on computer. I never tried downloading scans of comics but I tried previewing before the pages at Top Cow. Honestly, I never satisfied reading it on screen.

    I like the idea of just preview of the interior pages rather than reading the entire book. Also, there’s something about the smell of newly printed comics…makes me HIGH! :D

  4. Jose Mari Lee on February 19th, 2009 10:59 am

    Oh, well.

    When RADIO was first invented, the whole world said: There will be no more newspapers and books because everything can be heard now. The movies are entertaining, but they’re silent! The radio is playing music, we hear the newscast, drama and what-have-you.

    Then, the movies became talkies.
    Oh, my Gawd! Stage actors will be annihilated! The theater will die! Yeah, right. Stage productions are as sophisticated as ever.

    Then came TELEVISION!
    Leapin’ lizard! The movies will die now! The radio needs its last rites! Television is right in your living room. You can see dance, you can hear music, you can even watch movies! Everything the movies and the radio can do, the TV can do.
    Oh, well. Bakit hanggang ngayon may radio at TV pa rin.

    Then came the computers. The cell phones. Multi-colored condoms with different flavors… ay, bakit ba napasama ito…
    Now, TV will disappear on the face of the earth. Computers can do EVERYTHING!

    But…

    The newspapers and books remained, the radio is still there, the movies are even getting bigger and better, the telephone is as strong as ever pati nga aso’t pusa ay may mga cell phones na, eh. O di bah?

    Basta ang alam kong namatay na ay isa lang… TELEGRAMA. Mabuti nga’t namatay na iyon. Harbinger lang naman iyon ng bad news eh. Di ba, noong sanggol pa lang si Sabel, kapag nanood tayo ng movies ay biglang may darating na telegram at siyempre, ginagawa itong ARMAS ng napakaraming mga writers na medyo kulang sa imagination. Tiyak, kapag may telegram sa eksena, ibig sabihin, may NATIGBAK sa pamilya.

    I think natural lang sa mga tao ang magkaroon ng doom and gloom na mentalidad. They emphasize the negative, instead of the positve. Tingnan mo na lang itong BAD ECONOMY raw sa buong mundo. Nakakasawa na talaga na bawa’t minuto ay may mga economic experts daw na ang mantra ay paulit-ulit na: BAD ECONOMY! BAD ECONOMY! BAD ECONOMY!

    Ang mga hunghang namang mga diehard followers ay biglang tugon ng: HUWAG gumastos! Huwag Kumain! Huwag magbakasyon! Huwag uminom ng tubig! Huwag mag-flush ng toilet! Huwag nang gamitin ang toilet! Huwag nang umihi! Sayang din at masama ang economy! Tipirin ang Ihi. I-recycle. Sa halip na buksan ang gripo para uminom, ipunin ang ihi at iyon ang inumin. O, laban kayo diyan?
    Ewan ko lang kung nanonood kayo ng reality show na CONFESSIONS OF A TEEN IDOL. Mangyari, si Eric Nies (dating popular MTV host) ay IHI niya ang ginagamit na shampoo dahil nagpapakintab daw sa buhok niya. Nakatutuok ang camera habangg nagsa-shower at iyon nga, ibinuhos sa buhok niya ang sarili niyang ihi. Tuwang-tuwa siguro ang mga taong mahilig sa doom and gloom. Ayan. huwag nang bumili ng shampoo. Ihi na lang at matipid. He-he.

    kabaliw talaga kung minsan ang mga tao sa mundo.

    Aya’t kay ganda ng komiks na hinahawakan mo’t binabasa, tapos, ilalagay na lang sa internet? Bagay lang itong internet sa ganito. Kuwentuhan, murahan, insultuhan. Though maganda rin dahil nakakapag-trabaho ang lahat sa computer. Napapadali ang mga bagay na dati’y tila pagong na pag-usad. Pero, may puwang ang komiks na sarili din nitong kinalalagyan.

    Kaya nga si Stephen King, halos sumumpa na hindi na siya uulit na maglagay ng novel sa internet. Sayang lang daw ang pagod. Hindi naman nag-take-off iyon. May mas gaganda pa ba sa hawak mo ang libro at madadala mo sa kung saan at buklatin mo na hindi na kailangan ang battery na tulad ng laptop?

    Ang libro o komiks, hindi mo na kailangan pang i-recharge.

  5. Gilbert on February 19th, 2009 11:31 am

    Beeper lang ang napatay ng cellphone sa pinas hehe.

    Snail mail din humina dahil sa email.

    Patintero at sipa sa labas ng bahay dumalang dahil sa videogames.

    Komiks mahina lang dahil mahirap ang distribution sa bansa. Pero pag makakarating sa maraming lugar ang komiks? may bibili pa rin, tiyak yun.

  6. ROMIWORKS® on February 19th, 2009 11:43 am

    grabe nga ang telegrama ang isa sa mga pangit na form of communication napakaikli na nga ng mensahe ay aatakihin ka pa dito hehe.

    Pero grabe nga ang pagkakaimbento ng computer dahil halos lahat ay pwede nang gawin dito lalo pa’t sa larangan ng internet lahat pwedeng gawin walang namang nawala kundi naagawan lang ng eksena ng computer andyan pa rin ang mga tradisyunal na bagay na kinagisnan natin kaya nga’t ito na ang pinaka peak invention sa 20th century na naabot ng tao ngayon may pangit din at maganda ding dulot kahit yung mga 50 anyos na na wala namang computer sa panahon nila ay gumagamit na rin ngayon kaya lahat ay kayang abutin ng computer at internet. At yang mga hacker laging online yan… ONLINE sa katarantaduhan hahaha!

  7. rey siasar on February 19th, 2009 12:31 pm

    i totally agree! walang katulad ang amoy ng bagong comics! and kakaiba din if me isang comics na tumanda with you. parang pag nakikita mo ang old comics mo, parang naaalala mo ang pagiging bata at gumaganda pakiramdam mo. ang makukuha mo lang sa digital format eh luha sa sakit ng mata.

  8. kc cordero on February 19th, 2009 2:33 pm

    kahit ngayon may subscription pa rin ako ng paborito kong broadsheet. hindi ko ma-enjoy magbasa ng balita online kasi may paborito akong puwesto sa pagbabasa ng balita na hindi ko magagawa kung sa computer ko babasahin. saka ginugupit ko pa rin kasi ang magagandang articles and photos, para pag naalala ko for reference di na ako magbubukas ng PC. kasama pa siguro ako sa mga natitira na may love affair sa print medium kahit nag-e-enjoy na sa computer.

  9. Markus on February 19th, 2009 2:55 pm

    Speaking of actual copies of comics, yang Lastikman comics, tagal ko na ring gustong magkaron ng ganyan eh. Heheh… Yeah, alam kong meron nyan online sa site ng Mango comics pero ilang pages lang yung sinilip ko run at ayokong basahin ng buo. Parang di ako kumportable magbasa ng comics online. Di ko alam kung masyado akong old-fashioned eh pero yun nga, ibang-iba pa rin kung yung hawak ko mismo at maisasama ko pa sa ibang collection ko.

  10. Markus on February 19th, 2009 3:03 pm

    By the way, I’ve already e-mailed Mam Gina from Mango days ago about that Lastikman issue. Banggitin ko na rin lang rito baka magmukha akong nananawagan eh. Heheheh…

  11. Alex Cipriano on February 19th, 2009 4:34 pm

    With the low availability of comics in our area, I’m pretty much ok with reading and sampling books in digital format. But I eventually buy them when the trades come out.

  12. Gerry Alanguilan on February 19th, 2009 10:27 pm

    Medyo matagal na since nakavisit ako ng mga National or Powerbooks, pero minsan may nakikita pa rin akong Lastikman sa mga likod likod kung nasaan ang mga local comics.

  13. Ralphie on February 19th, 2009 10:46 pm

    kung pwede lang; i’d buy all my comics, Manga and western.

    masmagandang tignan pag meron kang kumpletong serye ng comics dahil pwede kang mag boast na nandun ka nung una syang na print or alam mo yung original the storya or whatever.

    pero minsan binabasa ko yung mga comics online dahil madalas hindi pa na re-release dito sa australia young issue na yun or masyadong mamahalin. mabubutasan yung wallet ko, kumbaga.

    i dont think the print medium will die; iba lang ang method of use niya later on. comics however – as long as meron mag-pi-print; there’ll always be hard copies.

  14. Eusebio Yu on February 20th, 2009 5:26 pm

    Of course the print media will never be obsolete. It may take a few hits here and there, but it’ll hold. Those who keep saying that comics in its present form are doomed are those who never really read them and are deprived the enormous pleasure of owning classic pieces of work. Modern isn’t necesarily more convenient or practical. Remember the Y2K scare?

  15. dB on February 23rd, 2009 7:34 am

    i agree on this Gerry…an officemate offered me once a digital comics (even novels)…it doesnt give you that sense of feel when reading it in the palm of your hands =)

    nostalgia or what but nothing beats printed books….comics specially =)