Wow...CBR Mods Are Scary

I waded into the thread CBR had in its forums for their article about the Blackest Night #6 leak after I posted my blog that questioned whether the author of the article inadvertently revealed that he regularly reads scanned comic books downloaded via torrent.

The whole thread was nuked when, at last check, there was only a discussion about the following:

• how it was questionable that they banned the member who originally posted some of the leaked images from BN #6
• accusations that DC purposely leaked or put BN #6 in position to be linked to reap the coverage it would get
• general discussion of the potential sales benefits of illegal downloads (not my position)
• the future of street-dating for comic books
• my question regarding whether the writer reads illegal downloads regularly.

To clarify: they nuked all user-contributed posts to the thread and then closed it. As of right now, there is still proof that a thread existed, albeit one that was closed days after creation without a single post.

Nothing posted today seems to be cached. But pages one, two (including where a member indicates the "lower quality" comment was off the mark), three, four and five are largely cached. Won't last for long, but it is proof that they destroyed a whole thread on a controversial topic generated by their own article.

Why Geoff Isn't Publicly Fuming About BN6 Leak

You see, he can't control it. While he might be a bit mad about it, lashing out over it would make him seem just a bit too much like Superboy-Prime.

Which brings me to something that really bugs me. I'm not a fan of the overly angry fanboy, but the statement he makes about getting mad over something you can't control, even something you love, rings false in this example.

In the end, the angry fanboy is the consumer and a passionate one at that. The consumer will have control over DC Comics product long after Geoff's candle burns out. The amount of pull Johns has gotten at DC Comics owes more to number of fans buying the product than the quality of the work.

I'm a big fan of a lot of his work, but STARS & STRIPE went the way of the do-do, I'd imagine, more due to the lack of fans purchasing it than the skill he demonstrated on the book. There are, also, many times where issues or arcs of his books sold very well even when the finished product didn't read like he put forth his best effort.

It is all well and good if he wants to tell himself that the segment of the customer base that is most disgruntled with his work just has some control issues they need to get a handle on. But when he crafts an entire issue of a comic book around it and has the consumer pay $3.99 to read it, there would seem to be a bit of pride and arrogance on display.

In this day and age where more of the readers are migrating to downloading illegal bittorrents of the books that they feel addicted to reading but aren't so happy with that they feel guilty for stealing it, you might not want to poke some of them with a stick.

With how small the group still buying comics seems to be getting, I wonder whether a H.E.A.T.-level motivated group of readers unhappy with the direction Geoff Johns is taking the DCU would be able to put a big enough dent in the sales numbers of his books by encouraging folks to download and not buy his work? I doubt we'll ever find out, but I am definitely curious.

The State Of Illegal Comic Torrents

This screen grab was pulled at about 2am EST, meaning the comic had been posted at approximately 1pm EST on Wednesday. That's earlier than a lot of shops have their pull lists sorted for regular customers. I'm sure it was available on Usenet in advance of that.

And these are just people that are dedicated to it as a hobby.

The comic book industry is losing a lot of potential money by continuing to ignore the market for making their books available directly on the internet. Availability online opens you up to customers where there are little-to-no comic books available.

I remember hearing from a Newsarama reader/poster located in Barbados (a lovely country that I'm enjoying some time in at the moment) who indicated he used torrents because it was the only way he could get timely access to comic books (or get them at all). This is purely anecdotal stuff, but I doubt that he's alone or that he represents a small enough group that it should be ignored.

How Will They Know?

From Geoff Boucher's HERO COMPLEX over on the LA Times website:

GB: There's wildly mixed levels of excitement about webcomics. Some people shrug, others see the future, albeit one that may be difficult to monetize. There's also the huge bookstore market now for trade paperbacks, hardcovers, etc. Talk a bit about format and the future -- what is the comic book of the future?

DD: Realistically speaking -- and this is just my opinion -- we're in the pamphlet periodical format right now and we're going to stay in that for the foreseeable future. Primarily for the reason that our consumer audience is accustomed to that, understands it and they are driven by the collectible nature of it historically. It's something you buy, something you own, something you possess. As new readers come in we will address their styles and their understandings. As people get more comfortable with reading material online, we will turn toward that expectation. There is a great improvement and growth in bookstore market and that is a key area. So we have three delivery systems: Online, in periodicals and in bookstores. Realistically, one of those could collapse and we could still be strong but it does require an adjustment in who and how you sell to them. No matter what, our future is in great characters in great stories created by great talent.

As far as I know, the only real online DC Comics material is all illegal scans found on bittorrent sites. So, I'm a bit perplexed at how they're supposed to know that people are more comfortable reading material online if they're not testing the waters similar to Marvel Comics' ironically named DCU (Digital Comics Unlimited) offering.

Surveys will only tell you so much. I know they've used some online surveys regarding such things, but we're talking about the same readers that make basement dwelling titles sound like they're in the top ten and top ten titles sound like they're in danger of cancellation.

Something To Remember When Marvel Shuts Down Demonoid

brianbendis NO! Im not goin to sand eggo. I get twitchy just thinking about SDCC! I'll be home watching teh Sex & the Citty movie (thanks demonoid!) about 4 hours ago from web

Demonoid is a great site, though. And I wouldn't pay to watch that movie, either, Brian! ;)