Whining about digital comics distribution
On my RSS feed this morning (via Dirk Deppey), I found this link to Stephen Schleicher’s recent post on the (according to him) exciting future of digital comics distribution. To be perfectly honest, it filled me with dread.
I like reading books. A lot. I like the feel of them, the smell of the paper, the winning combination of portability and tangibility. I like being able to pass a book from one person to another–knowing that something that I’m reading has been read by someone else before me, or that it will be someday in the future. More than any of that, though, they are just plain easy to read.
Now I know that e-readers are a different animal, and you can carry them around like a book, but it’s hard for me to imagine that those readability problems don’t still exist. Small text, problematic toning, screen glare? Mr. Schleicher wants to be able to “zoom in to see the fantastic detail in the art” but I don’t want to have to zoom in. I would like to be able to just use my eyes, which allow me to easily view a two-page spread of printed material in perfect detail without having to scroll or zoom or interrupt my reading experience in any way. Digital music was an easy transition for me. My journey from Walkman to Discman and finally to iPod was completely pain-free, and each step was genuinely easier for me than the previous had been. Reading comics digitally, on the other hand, just makes me cry.
I know there are lots of you who love your e-readers, or even love reading from your computers, and I’m not trying to harsh your squee, seriously. I wouldn’t expect or want to deprive you from enjoying comics or any kind of books exactly the way you want to enjoy them. I just hope that whatever happens, it doesn’t end up making print books (and particularly manga in print) more expensive and less accessible for old fogies like me.
February 18th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Melinda,
It’s interesting that you mention Netcomics. I think their viewer is one of the best out there. I use the SXGA mode and don’t have a problem reading the text on my computer screen. I use a Dell with a 24” monitor. When I was doing some research for a review I came across Yahoo Japan’s manga viewer and thought it was excellent also.
I do agree that I prefer a wood product book in my hands to reading on a screen of any type. Most computer screen can’t give the same level of detail that a printed book can. (Maybe with the new HD computer screens this will become less and less of an issue.) I like the feel of holding a book and manually flipping through the pages. An ereader can duplicate that. Old fogies unite!
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Melinda Beasi Reply:
February 18th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Hi Ed!
You know, it’s possible that my frustration with NETCOMICS is mainly due to the particular comic that I spent the weekend reading 15 volumes of for review, which happens to have really heavy narration, much of which was gray on gray and virtually unreadable no matter what mode I chose. I think it’s probably more an issue of poor scanning of the source than anything else. It was a rough couple of days, though, with my face plastered to the screen as I attempted to make sense of all that text.
It’s also possible that I need new glasses. :)
One thing I mentioned over at the LJ mirror (and again, this is more about my recent experience than anything else) is that when I’m reading electronically, I lose any sense of when and where things happened within the volumes of a series. With books, my memory seems to retain a concept of which volume (within a volume or two) something was, and how far in to the volume it was–what pages came before it, etc. That is lost for me when I’m reading online. Most of the time, I’m not even aware which volume I’m up to. So that’s something I prefer with books too.
Of course there are children laughing at us RIGHT NOW. Heh. I may have to tell them to get off my lawn! :D
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February 18th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Melinda,
I have the same memory problem with online reading. Sometimes I can remember what section of the page the panel or paragraph I’m looking for is on and so can scan a book quickly to find what I’m looking for. I don’t have the same sense of page reading online.
I need to move to your LJ mirror where all the action’s at.
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Melinda Beasi Reply:
February 18th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
It’s sad how much more active commenting is at the LJ mirror, though I think it’s mostly due to the culture of the place. I’ve considered disabling comments there in order to try to drive the traffic over here, but I fear they’d all abandon me! :)
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Melinda Beasi Reply:
February 19th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
So, I feel kind of bad, because now that I lured you over to the LJ mirror with promises of lively discussion, I actually *have* decided to disable comments there in an effort to bring them all over here instead! I don’t know how will it will go. I guess I’ll see!
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