Digital Comics News Round-Up, 7/26/10

"The big question is, can the industry walk a careful line, expanding digital comics while not utterly decimating the money it makes from print retailers? Already every comic that’s published is scanned and posted on pirate sites within hours of release. It’s very much a situation analogous to what the music industry faced during the Napster era. Meanwhile, the legitimate means of buying comics digitally are hopelessly out of date, offering up ancient issues rather than the latest and greatest. Publishers fail to properly bundle up stories and market them more effectively toward the an audience that isn’t aware that Amazing Spider-Man #542-545 encompass the complete “One More Day” story arc. Most people who want their comics digitally aren’t going to be satisfied by a free 10-page teaser and an exhortation to visit their local comic-book store."

"Will iTunes replace comic stores?" Australian MacWorld

In addition to the excellent article above, we have a few SDCC wrap-up stuff to cover...let's get to it!

SD10: The Comics Piracy Panel: The Beat covers what is described as a "hastily thrown together" panel hosted by Techland.com's Douglas Wolk. Jake Forbes and Deb Aoki discussed the Manga "scanlation" community, and comiXology's David Steinberger gave his views on the piracy issue. Some really important points from Steinberger:

• There is a disconnect between ever-rapidly advancing technology and the pace at which the large publishers operate.
• He would like to do more day-and-date releases, but the publishers fear cannibalizing the direct market sales.
• He feels these publisher's fears are "irrational," since comiXology's top sellers are properties with a higher profile from movies and other media; these buyers are not from the "new comics Wednesday" crowd.
• Over 40% of comiXology's customers are located outside the U.S.

"Epic Mickey" Digital Comic Series On Its Way: A six-part series based on the upcoming videogame Epic Mickey, dubbed "Tales From The Wasteland," will be available as a digital comic. Peter David will be writing the series, as well as a 64-page graphic novel re-telling the story of the game. Kotaku

Marvel's Digital Plans: A few tidbits from Marvel on their digital comics program, as collected from around the web by Geek Syndicate:

• There won’t be many day-and-date releases from the company in the near future.
• Ultimate Thor will be the next day-and-date digital comic, to be released in October.
• Hit Monkey was released one week after the print edition.
• There will be a number of motion comics released in the Fall, and more planned for 2011.

My overall impression of the news coming out of SDCC in relation to digital comics is that of an industry at the start of a transitional process. Digital comics providers like comiXology are very gung-ho and excited, but the traditional publishers are -- at least publicly -- taking a far more cautious "wait and see" approach.