Comics on DVD
I’m not really a huge comic guy. I largely stopped buying comics right around the time I was 13 or 14 and discovered computers. However I do have pretty fond memories of my comic days. Back when I was a kid I’d collect bottles at the tourist town I spent my summers in. I’d actually make quite a bit of money, all things considered. (And I worked pretty hard at it - going to all the dumpsters in the camp grounds for alcohol and pop bottles) Then I’d not only buy the new comics I wanted, but would get old comics from the 60’s. I don’t know why but I really loved the Marvel stuff from their golden age up through the first few years of the 70’s. After that I thought Marvel kind of lost it, with a few exceptions in the early 80’s. (X-Men was quite good there for a while)
Anyway I bring all this up to note that Marvel is now putting complete editions of comics on DVD. Personally I’d rather have a collection of a variety of comics from a particular decade. But hey, that’s me. I have to admit though that had I spare change laying around (which right now I don’t) I’d love to pick up a few of these.
I love comics. I used to think reading a comic on a computer would be a pain in the butt. Then I tried it on a laptop. Because the shape of the screen is similar to a comic when turned sideways, the comic page fits nicely and is comfortable for reading when you hold the laptop sideways like a book.
True having the actual comic would be much better, but It’s great for those comics you’d never be able to afford in real life.
Comment by jjohnsen — April 29, 2007 @ 7:26 pm
I actually enjoy reading comics via PDFs. I can’t speak for the interface for these DVDs, but there used to be comics up at some music sharing sites stored as PDFs. I’d load them up in Apple’s Preview which anti-aliased them and made reading them quite nice. I read The Dark Knight Returns that way. (It’d been years since I’d read it last)
I can’t imagine reading books online. (Although I do read a lot of philosophy that way) It’s just not natural. I prefer reading in the tub, laying on the floor or in bed. But with comics it seems different somehow. I almost like it better on computer. But, like I said, I’m hardly a comic guy.
Comment by Clark — April 29, 2007 @ 10:24 pm
Comics are meant to be collected then stored in old boxes to be pulled out and shown reverently to your son years later.
Comment by Ronan — April 30, 2007 @ 1:40 am
This makes a lot of sense to me. I’ve never bought a comic book in my life (that I can recall), but I might be interested in buying a collection to read. No way am I going to try to buy up individual issues, and even published collections would be expensive and unwieldy.
Plus, kids today don’t care about corporeality. That’s what we’ve learned from music downloads.
Comment by BTD Greg — April 30, 2007 @ 8:11 am
Having some of these, I’ll add a few thoughts:
1. It would be too expensive for most people to buy all the back issues of any given run of these comics.
2. These are great for archival research, as they contain something reprints don’t have - all the ads, letter columns, etc.
3. The only real limitation is they ignore crossovers, which becomes a serious problem in the crossover happy 1990s - many storylines are incomplete.
4. Physical objects may be the best, but as far as bang for the buck goes, these DVDs are great.
Comment by Ivan Wolfe — April 30, 2007 @ 8:38 am
I should add that I find comics on the PSP quite a pleasant experience.
Comment by Ronan — April 30, 2007 @ 9:40 am
You can print these out, as well.
I agree that it’s not a substitute for the totemic experience of passing on your mint cond. Spidey No. 232 to young Peter for him to revere as you once did. But these archives sound fun, nevertheless.
Comment by Supergenius — April 30, 2007 @ 9:51 am