retailers that need to adapt to the digital marketplace, we need to adapt to the idea that torrents will always exist and work on a way to turn it to our advantage the best we can, instead of using it as an easy target to blame. Joey Esposito, writer of Footprints, Pawn Shop, Comics Editor at IGN I’m kind of torn on the subject. On one hand, I’ve met a lot of fans that were first introduced to CHEW via illegal torrents, but then went on to buy the comic. So in that way, sure, it worked in our favor. On the other hand, I have friends whose creator-owned books have died because people didn’t buy it, BUT their illegal download counts are in the thousands. So really it boils down to: Should people pay for the experience of consuming media, the fruit of someone else’s hard work? My gut says “Yes”, but it’s a damn sticky topic. Rob Guillory, artist of Chew Digital piracy is a big topic in the comic community because it is an easy scapegoat that allows us to ignore the real problems with our industry. Primarily that the majority of what we produce is out of touch, misogynistic, and lacks broad appeal. Also, the mainstream comics community is no longer a community of readers, but a closed community of collectors. That’s a huge problem. I have never seen a single shred of documented evidence that correlated one pirated comic to one lost sale. I have had people come up to me at a convention and tell me that they’d pirated my work, and could they now please buy it from me. Atomic Robo shows up on fifty file-sharing sites every time an is-
sues drops -sometimes before the issue drops, so you know at least a few comic shop and/or Diamond employees are pirating our work. I see this as nothing more than free advertising. Our fans have made it very clear that they love supporting what we make. And if piracy gets us a few more fans then that’s just great.
Geek Syndicate
do harm. Sure, the big name companies don’t feel the pain as much as the independents or self-publishers, but there is still a negative impact. There is enough of a problem with legit purchase of digital comics “stealing” business from print comics and the ability for Local Comic Shops to stay afloat, addition of digital comic piracy just makes that whole mess worse - in essence, it has made it much easier to pirate - no one has to sit at a scanner all night turning pages, there is no fidelity loss, so much more volume can be cranked out. It is a shame really. I can sort of see the other side of the coin. Comics are expensive. Comic collecting and reading is an expensive habit... err... I mean hobby. That does not justify theft, and it never has. Now, there is the argument of, “I download comics (pirated), then I go buy them if I like them” - sure, I am sure for some percentage of the population that is true, but most people wouldn’t bother. It is just too easy to access the information any time... Do I have a print dictionary on my desk? No, I go to the internet, type in, “define: tchotchke”... it is way easier. Which brings up a point... has Google/Bing “stolen away” business from Webster? Yeah, sure it has. But that is different, I guess. Hmm. Sigh. Maybe I should go buy a dictionary. Charles Joy, comic reader, reviewer, podcaster So, there you have it. By no means an exhaustive survey, but enough to get a general feel for how the creators feel about digital comics and piracy, while keeping the “normal”
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Just as piracy failed to topple the music and film industries - (in fact they made record profits while screaming and crying about the rise in online piracy) - I think it has a minimal effect on the comic book industry. At worst it’s a neutral factor, and at best it leads to a few more sales. I think that digital comics can go a long way towards curbing piracy as more and more people start seeing them as a viable format. But making them available is not enough. We also have to price them in a way that makes them appealing. Retail print price for a digital comic? Hell no, I’ll pirate the hell out of that. But a buck? Or two bucks? Okay, now you are in the realm of impulse purchases, and I will, (and have), buy a dozen digital comics at a go for those prices. And because digital comics do not require paper, ink, shipping, or storage, publishers can actually earn more money per book sold, even at these lower digital prices. Scott Wegener, artist of Atomic Robo Piracy is going to happen, regardless. Before comics were easily available for purchase online, people were still scanning and sharing. People love to get stuff for free. They don’t even see it as theft. That is the bad part. The either do not care or realize that by pirating something, they actually