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Printheads: The LongBox Digital Comics thread

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      CommentAuthorCameron C.
    • CommentTimeJun 26th 2009
     (6217.1)
    I found myself wandering around a mall I hadn't been in before and found a place called GAMES WORKSHOP, I believe. It apparently only sells Warhammer figures and paints and kits and stuff. The merchandise is on the walls on shelves and hooks, the floor is mostly taken up by four large felt tables and kids playing Warhammer on those tables. I stood there watching them play, unfamiliar with this particular table top game. Shortly after I was there a sales associate came up to and started talking to me. He simply asked me if I played, if I lived around there. I told him I had played Mechwarrior Dark Age for a while, and DnD, etc but never Warhammer. We had a pretty nice conversation and at the end he gave me a flyer for his store.

    Apparently they run these "Academy Workshop" things where they give you a carrying case, some beginning miniatures to get you started, and in these six session workshops they teach you how to play the game, teach you how to paint the figures, and build terrain, etc etc. Sure, I'm a nerd who might be interested in this game anyway, but I think any interested passer by could EASILY just think "Hey,t his looks sort of neat" and have a simple way to get into the game and find a community to play with and meet people.

    I'm not sure how comic shops can really do the same, but Prof imagine reminded me of this pleasant experience I had last week. The workshops are a great idea, and could be potentially be very awesome and fun for new readers. My former LCS (For all of a few months, before having to move again) they had a barbeque in their parking lot with free food on the same day they had a massive half price sale on any comics/tpb/hc. Also, I'd love to see an LCS that periodically puts together its own minicomic of stories made by its customers. Maybe a neat way to foster an artistic community, help out local artists, etc.
  2.  (6217.2)
    Games Workshop stores are directly owned by the company itself, and a number of them in the US were closed as losses in the last five years.
  3.  (6217.3)
    Games Workshop is selling only its own product, much of which it manufactures, which significantly increases its profitability compared to independent stores. Even still, the company has been teetering on the brink of insolvency for years, and probably would have tanked had it not acquired the Lord of the Rings license. The stock has long been a joke among people who follow the British market.

    There are some private stores that have a similar approach, most notably the successful Game Parlor stores in Virginia or Dream Wizards in Maryland. But they really exploded in the 1990s heyday of CCGs and then rode the D20 and collectible miniatures waves. Since then the game companies really burned out their own market by pushing too much product to quickly and changing the rules of the games too often. Now there’s always the possibility of such waves hitting again, should someone come up with another big game idea—but I don’t think most people are in a position to try and work with that. Game Parlor is in the most affluent (per capita) area of the United States, is near Air Force, Army, and Marine bases, (and Dream Wizards is near a college town) and is located near a major city that has NO game stores. I’m not sure how many other people are in a position to do something similar.
  4.  (6217.4)
    One of the big things I am interested in here is the impulse purchase aspects of digital media.

    Really .99 is not a lot of money at 3AM when you are looking for distraction, so to speak. Itunes does a lot of business not on highly intentional album purchases but from people who but 1 song 3 or 4 times a month at random, becuase they can listen right away. The immediacy factor is a major influence on piracy too. Instant delivery of the desired work.

    The real opportunity here is going to be in creators being able to give an interview or say, have a residency thread here. And then people can buy the book at 3AM right when they get interested (that sounds a bit salacious, no?). It might not speak to virtues of patience, but the real boom of the digital has been the elimination of the need to find time to go to a store. And that does not even account for transportation costs in a recession...
  5.  (6217.5)
    @TechnocratJT

    YES, I couldn't agree with you more. Impulse buys play a huge part in consumer spending and it's something that's always been a little lacking in the comics industry. This is how the Amazon MP3 Store gets me. Not only are the albums heavily discounted, sometimes being $4 compared to a $15 or $20 CD, but I also don't have to drive anywhere or wait until morning for the stores to open up.

    At the LongBox unveiling, Rantz said there will be a discount involved who buy a larger amount of Comic Blocks (the LongBox currency, similar to Microsoft Points). The one I specifically remember is that if you buy 100 Blocks--$100, in other words--you'll get 20 additional Blocks for free. Additionally, I'm pretty sure (but not certain, my memory is sketchy on this point) he also said there'd be a discount for buying an annual subscription to a comic, like instead of paying $12 you'd pay $10. $10 for a year's worth of issues of a comic.
  6.  (6217.6)
    am I missing something, or will there be a social network aspect to Longbox as well?

    profiles, tweets, currently reading, forums, chatrooms, etc?
    •  
      CommentAuthorCameron C.
    • CommentTimeJun 26th 2009
     (6217.7)
    Ha! I had no knowledge of Games Workshop aside from that one experience last week. Kind of sucks to hear all about them now ><

    I haven't heard anything concrete about a social network aspect to it, but with a web version as well that would be potentially cool. I know that CBR news will integrated somehow, and CBR members get to beta test it. I don't know if it really goes any further than that, though. Public Reviews/Ratings would be interesting, along with maybe the ability to optionally make the books you buy/subscribe to public as well.
  8.  (6217.8)
    For all those people that are worried comic shops will wither away because of Longbox: iTunes was launched in 2001. 8 years later there are still music shops around, both large and small. There are also a lot of independent digital music shops. Hell, I can still buy vinyl. What this will do is open up the market. This is the front runner and a test case. If Longbox succeeds you will see the idea of digital comics distribution take hold - it might even launch new digital only publishers. And the most important thing of all: it will give people like Kieron and Jamie a viable model to work with.
  9.  (6217.9)
    @helloMuller

    well put.
  10.  (6217.10)
    I've thought about this allot over the last 4 years- ever since itunes, podcasting, media downloads and comics warez became more and more available. The industry will clearly switch to a "digital-first/print-collection second" model. I have a few comics stories that I'm slowly getting towards readiness but I certainly can't be concerned any longer with how my book will be seen in comic shops. Even if I could afford print costs for 3-6 issues without making a dime in cost recovery, there's little or no chance that the monopoly DIAMOND will be able to afford to take a risk on it. The state of the industry is matching the already-past writing on the wall. Local comic shops days are likely numbered(population density notwithstanding). Evolution Happened. As someone who wants to make and read comics in a country that consumes and values said artform less than shitty booze, nut-covered cheese balls and Bratz dolls- What choice do I have but make my comics as a webcomic, build readership and monetize through TPB and other merch? Besides, one benefit of this painful and regretful change is- I can get direct access and communication with my readers. Digitally self-published for free now/pay later is far better than making no money at an indy-mainstream publisher who cannot support a book due to sales drop off or an inability to afford promoting it. Phonogram's dilemma is the perfect example of why we all may have to accept the present situation (guess what? it's actually past inevitable).
  11.  (6217.11)
    Why do I support this?

    Right this second that is why. I can't sleep, my mood is poor and it is, in fact, 3AM. Dropping $5-10 on comics right now would be great.
  12.  (6217.12)
    @Josh:

    Amen brother.

    I've been working on a project some obscene hours this week and never got to the store (hence my yapping on here as break from drudge) on Friday as is my custom. The notion I could order up some Northlanders NOW, legally and such? That would be nice. I can't sleep and ordering up some comics right now would be very nice. Especially since I'm back at the project all day.

    Like when I discovered the all night thai place that delivered. and doubled my body mass in a month.
    •  
      CommentAuthorFinagle
    • CommentTimeJun 27th 2009
     (6217.13)
    What the last two guys said - and to add to that, I'm the kind of guy who gets obsessed with a particular title, writer or artist and will immediately go and get everything (or a significant chunk of) they've done in a chunk. When I first got started on /Cerebus/ somewhere around issue 70, I had a terrible time until Sim finally started with the phonebooks years later.

    If I was in the same position today - let's say, with /Fables/ or /The Walking Dead/ - and the whole run was available online, hopefully for some kind of discount if bought all at once? I'd probably give in immediately. Please let there be some kind of discount for "buying the trade" if you don't actually want to go buy the trade.
  14.  (6217.14)
    If and when (I realise this is a stretch) it goes worldwide, there'll be the whole expat market to tap into too. I cannot get English language comics in my city (of around 2 million people) for love nor money. Beyond the current movie tie-in TPBs in the biggest bookshop, there's nothing, and GODDAMIT I want to give Gillen and McKelvie my money! I have it! The money! It's here, and I want to put it in their pockets!

    But imagine being a comic book fan in a country in which comic books and comic book adaptations ARE the mainstream and there are huge towering comic book superstores and a billion billion different titles published every month and you CAN'T READ ANY OF IT. Christ. I am seriously rooting for Longbox.
    •  
      CommentAuthorRantz
    • CommentTimeJun 27th 2009
     (6217.15)
    ororwells_eyes
    @Rantz:

    Totally serious question here, are you taking investors?

    Yes, we're in the middle of that now...

    PJBurke
    Until we get some other venue for advertising, I think the local shop is still the best way for fans to find new books to check out - regular book stores don't or won't devote the shelf space necessary to stock very many if any indie books, and certainly don't cater to non-graphic-novel books. Longbox has the potential to change that, but until it gains the kind of market share and brand recognition of even something like the Zune Marketplace its not going to happen.

    The marketing plan for LongBox is... not trivial. There's a siginificant product awareness campaign that is in the works, aimed NOT at the current comic audience, but instead focusing on mass market consumers of 'portable affordable entertainment' (Hence why we are talking with investors.)

    TechnocratJT
    One of the big things I am interested in here is the impulse purchase aspects of digital media.

    Really .99 is not a lot of money at 3AM when you are looking for distraction, so to speak. Itunes does a lot of business not on highly intentional album purchases but from people who but 1 song 3 or 4 times a month at random, becuase they can listen right away. The immediacy factor is a major influence on piracy too. Instant delivery of the desired work.

    In doing the market research, multiple studies and analysis have borne that out... that places like iTunes, Netflix, WiiWare, XBox Live, ALL experience a significant upsurge in purchase and download of digital entertainment content between the hours of 1am and 3am (per time zone) From a personal POV, god knows as someone who gets done with work around 1-2am, and wants to chill for an hour, being able to instantly see what new comics are out there, having a cig, reading through the new books, that's a huge thing.


    am I missing something, or will there be a social network aspect to Longbox as well?

    profiles, tweets, currently reading, forums, chatrooms, etc?

    At initial, focused launch, no. 8-10 months out? Yes.



    Also, there are multiple structures we've put in place that LCS Retailers should be able to leverage off of in order to increase their sales. "Gift Cards" are the least of it. That isn't because, to use Warren's phrasing, we 'owe anything' to them. That's because we believe very much that the key role here is to GROW the market, across the board. If we can successfully grow the market, it will allow for creators to do more 'non-mainstream' books... allow for more experimentation and interesting takes on approaching the medium... without having to make the choise of 'well, I have to do this 'for art's sake', because i will lose money hand over fist doing it".

    Already I've had quite a few retailers ask me 'ok, how can I use this to increase my sales', and another group tell me that I'm trying to put them out of business. I don't want to put ANYONE out of business, but I want comics as a medium, a form of entertainment, and as a business, to not just survive, and eeke by, but thrive and grow.

    Ok, enough of my rambling for now...
  16.  (6217.16)
    @Rantz:
    I'm no whale, but I'll drop you a line.

    About the late night: The comic XKCD auto updates at around midnight EST and by the early morning it's usually at or near the top of Digg/Reddit.

    Comics Don't Sleep.
  17.  (6217.17)
    Another way in which this will result in additional sales is that I'm an idiot who forgets what comics he has ordered via his mail order company - and so I have gaps in my collections that I just can't be bothered hunting down.

    *Anything* that makes the buying of comics easier sounds good to me.

    (Also $.99, instant download, easy to link to comics are perfect for someone like me who doesn't read comics news blogs, but gets recommendations via friends).

    Please Rantz, make it available in the UK as soon as you can. I want to give you my money.
  18.  (6217.18)
    If it means that i can buy things like PHONOGRAM or Chew, which i cant pick up in any of my local shops, then im all for it.
    And i would imagine i would end up reading a far wider range of comics with a system like this.
    So please Mr Rantz, UK launch as soon as possible please. I have the money here waiting for you.
    •  
      CommentAuthorRantz
    • CommentTimeJun 28th 2009
     (6217.19)
    We definately plan on this being global. There are regional logistics and paperwork, etc to get through to make it happen, but we very much want this to be international and are working to make that happen as soon as is possible.
    • CommentAuthorATOM
    • CommentTimeJun 28th 2009 edited
     (6217.20)
    @tcatsninfan

    Just wanted to point out another competitor to ComicsXP and LongBox, which is Carbonated Comics. I won’t do too much shameless promotion, as I am one of the owners of the company, but we are in an open beta now and looking to begin hosting content within the next few weeks as we finalize some contracts with publishers and content owners.

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