This Is The First Time I’ve Noticed A Digital-Only Announcement

I have no idea if it's the first time someone has done a digital-only series from one of its print-series aimed properties, but IDW's announcement today of a digital-only Transformers series -- something that a few sites picked up on before the announcement -- is the first time that specific kind of press has made an impression with me.

I imagine we'll see more than a few comics like this this year, if not outright campaigns featuring a half-dozen comics or something along those lines. I figure that's likely at mainstream comics companies with some select titles, and possible at the alt-/arts- companies with some titles they'll pursue specifically for their digital programs with no desire to invest in a print version. The profits don't seem to be there right now for digital to sustain a series in the same way that a successful print comic book will show profit -- it's the inability of such series under most models to pay for the costs of the company's involvement that's the big factor, really -- but the costs folded back into a mostly-print effort don't seem like they'd be so bad, and I think a lot of people feel there may be a trigger out there for someone to find in terms of a series that would appeal that way.

It's worth noting there's seemingly a lot of room for editorial initiatives left to come to digital comics in a sustained, forceful way. Just to name three: there's digital-only series like this one, subscription models bolstered by free access to back-issue libraries as is done with movies, and even 99-cent republishing of old series in a digital format as if they're new comics. It should be a fun year.
 
posted 5:20 am PST | Permalink
 

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