Will Printed comics still be around in 20 years from now...

[Lord Blackbolt]

What do you all think? With the rise of digital comics and the sales of printed comics going lower and lower every year...I just don't see it possible for my grandkids to read a simple printed comic in their hands 20 years from now.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Yeah, they'll still be around. I could see them being lessened, but I think you'll still be able to get the major stuff in some physical form 20 years from now. Digital stuff is on the rise, but I don't see physical media completely vanishing in such a short time.

 

[The Question]

Yes, they'll still be around. There are loads of reasons why printed comics are more practical than digital ones. If you don't have a kindle or an iPad, e-books aren't portable. If you do, then if you loose your kindle or iPad or loan it to someone so they can borrow a book, your whole library is gone, wheras if you straight up have a physical library, you don't have that problem. And there are people who simply find that reading comics and books on screens hurts their eyes.

 

[IDrawDeadPeople]

I'd say yes for varying reasons, but if I wanted to single out one, solitary justification, I'd go with "collecting". People will always collect something, and those people that collect comics want to amass physical specimens, not bytes.

I love my golden age collection, and have worked for decades to build what I have, and I will be honest, I'd be far less enthused about showing it to people if I was merely holding up a backup harddrive.

 

[CConn]

Yes, but I'm sure they'll be like what CDs are now. Yeah, they're around. But how often do you see someone say "Hey, I'm going to buy a CD!"

...yeah.

 

[Tron Bonne]

I don't know, I still know a lot of people who buy CDs. Is it that out of style?

 

[Franklin Richards]

CD's are still in heavy rotation. Maybe a better analogy would be vinyl. They aren't produced much any more but fetishists collect them all the time.

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

I think you'll see a lot more of stories premiering digitally, then going to print later, maybe just as a collected trade. I think if anything published is going the wayside it'll be the floppies.

 

[The Question]

CD's are still in heavy rotation. Maybe a better analogy would be vinyl. They aren't produced much any more but fetishists collect them all the time.

I think that's an extreme analogy. Vynil, CDs, and MP3s all pasically do the same thing, but each one is more compact, reliable, and easily transported than the next. That's not thecase with comics. You get e-comics, then there's only two places you can put them: On your computer, or on an iPad or Kindle. If they're on your computer, you can't take them anywhere. If they're on an iPad or Kindle, then yeah, they're portable, but if you lose them you lose your enyire library, and if someone wants to borrow a book, they have to borrow your entire library. Printed comics don't have these problems. So I think that while e-books will become a big thing, they'll never overtake printed ones completely, because it's a trade off between storage space and maneuverablity.

 

[IDrawDeadPeople]

^^ I agree. ^^

However, insofar as vinyl is concerned, I think FranklinRichards was focusing more on the following/collectability of the items. Vinyl has grading values, conventions, price guides, etc. Some cds go for higher prices, but it's not nearly the phenomenon that vinyl collecting is. Which is why records are still produced while every subsequent 'techonological advancement' that has attempted to replace them has come and gone, from 8 tracks to cassettes to slowly, but surely, cds.

Printed comics mean a lot more to certain people than just the stories contained within. People with collecting mentality are more interested in tangible items than bytes.

When I first posted that above, I was actually considering vinyl and all of the technological attempts to make records obsolete.

But, maybe, just like with modern records, if you buy the physical copy, you get the digital download with it. Records do that now.

 

[CConn]

I don't know, I still know a lot of people who buy CDs. Is it that out of style?

CD's are still in heavy rotation. Maybe a better analogy would be vinyl. They aren't produced much any more but fetishists collect them all the time.

That's kind of part of my analogy. CDs are still purchased and still have a place in major retailers, but they're a dying technology. I work in retail, and thusly have access to a lot of sales information. CD retail sales have fallen by 15% per year the past three years. And most of those sales that were captured in those years were actually itunes giftcards.

I'm not saying CDs are dead, I'm saying they're dying. Quickly. And that's probably printed comics will be in 20 years.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Right, I could maybe see something like that. I still don't think they, or any physical media, will be completely dead at that point, though.

 

[kguillou]

I still think they'll be around in 20 years....but they'll be in a very weak state, economically i mean. I predict that the highest selling physical comic will be selling roughly 30-40 k each month. However, I do think that people will gravitate more towards graphic novels and the industry will adapt to that somehow. I think its just becoming more attractive to consumers to see a book-size versions of Ironman, or Spidey or whoever in their local barnes n nobles and Borders as opposed to searching for single issues at at one of the few comic book stores left. People want whole stories and dont really have the patience anymore to shell out $4 each month for another "piece" of a story.

So with GN's are getting more popular (thanks to the movies)i think "physical" comics will be around a long LONG time in that sense. Its kinda baffling though how regular novels like Twilight and Stephen King books are still selling in the millions to this day yet graphic novels are lucky if they surpass 20 k. You would think books with pictures would be more attractive to consumers than 300 pages of just words. Not dissing books or anything, just sayin. lol

 

[Chris Wallace]

God, I hope so. It's still far more satisfying & enjoyable to hold a comic & turn a page than it will EVER be to click a mouse.

 

[Cobblepot]

I'm not sure that they would still be around. I hope so, but I think not.
Eventually they'll come up with a foldable e-reader that looks als though your reading from actual paper.

 

[Tron Bonne]

They already have, kinda. Stuff like the Kindle and Nook aren't perfect replicas of books, but they are an incredible simulation.

 

[Chris Wallace]

I don't see it being the same with a comic. Kindle books are just words.

 

[Tron Bonne]

They're just words? Isn't that what books are

I had my doubts about them, but I got to sample a Nook at a local BAM and a Kindle at a local Staples, and I was surprised by how well it simulated the experience of reading a novel. It really feels like holding and reading a book, and after a little while clicking just kind of eased into a substitute for page turning. I mean, personally, I still prefer physical copies, but I don't know...I could see myself getting one of those and reading it just as well as a novel, comic or trade.

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

Are books still here? Then yeah, printed comics will still be around.

 

[CaptainCraig]

CD's are still in heavy rotation. Maybe a better analogy would be vinyl. They aren't produced much any more but fetishists collect them all the time.

Exactly, beat me to it. This is a good example.
Vinyl as a primary medium faded out in the 80s when cassettes took over then of course CD's did away with cassettes. Vinyl is still produced but in very, very low print runs for a niche segment.

I see monthly printed comics going that route but perhaps collected volumes having more widespread distribution.

 

[Heretic]

While cds are dying...vinyl sales have been on the rise for many years...

Comic books have something that magazines don't (in most cases)...they are collectible. People want to OWN the first appearance of Flaming Carrot, not have a digital download of it.

Sales will definitely continue to go down for actual comics, but occasionally you'll have a mega issue that will be seen as valuable and worthwhile to have...and the few copies out there will skyrocket in price.

Like vinyl, it'll come back in vogue from time to time and you'll see sales go up...but probably never to what they once were.

 

[Chris Wallace]

Yes, but I'm sure they'll be like what CDs are now. Yeah, they're around. But how often do you see someone say "Hey, I'm going to buy a CD!"

...yeah.

I still buy CD's. I prefer them to downloads.