Will Kindle and its kin kill comics?

As Amazon touts its Kindle 2 - founder Jeff Bezos even made an appearance on The Daily Show earlier this week - and Apple is poised to dive headfirst into the e-reader business, Vaneta Rogers of newsarama.com wonders if the new format spells doom for the comics industry.

Read more here.

Comments

[Harrybro]

Right now the Kindle reminds me of a b/w iPod circa 2005 -- it's got a way to go before it's mature. If, as the story you linked to suggests, Apple comes through with a 7-by-9-inch iPod Touch, it will blow the Kindle away if Amazon hasn't seriously upgraded it by then. Marvel Comics already offers electronic subscriptions to its comics, and if something better than a desktop screen or a laptop comes along as way to read them, that really could be the end of four-color pulp comics...even though old-timers like me still like the touch, feel and smell of the tangible product.

Now, imagine this: In 2011, downloading the Watchmen movie to your giant iPod Touch and having the printed version on it as well -- and then being able, with the flick of your finger, to switch between the two at the exact same spot in the storyline to see how one version matches up with the other.

The only problem would be -- don't lose or break the damn thing, or your entire collection will go poof if you don't have it backed up on your 20-terabyte hard drive...

[can't fight this feeling anymore]

I think there will always be a market for the actual comics, or at least, for a long time. Comics fans are often the sorts of people who like to hang on to something. And I think visually the ereaders just aren't going to cut it with something so art-driven...

But I do agree once Apple gets theirs up and running it's going to kick amazon's you know what. I've seen one of the apps on a Touch and it's not THAT much smaller than a Kindle.

I of course will still be reading actual books, like the dinosaur that I am. But then, I don't wanna watch movies on my iPod now that I have an HD TV...

[Howard Cohen]

I bet Marvel and the comic companies will at least CHARGE for the Kindle/iPod comics unlike newspapers which continue to give away its product online.
As for reading comics in this fashion: I've never seen a Kindle. I don't like reading too much text online (unless it's Facebook). I like the smell of musty old comics. It's comforting.

I adapted quite well to watching movies on my iPhone as, for me, it's preferable to sitting in a movie theater with irritating noisy strangers and spending $10 on a movie ticket and another $10 on popcorn and a drink. But I can't imagine getting my Amazing Spider-Man comics on the iPod and feeling the same cozy connection I get when turning the pages of a paper book.

[can't fight this feeling anymore]

A lot of people use the ereaders as supplements to the actual physical books; maybe that happens with comics, too. It's a lot easier to go on vacation w/ a full Kindle/iPhone than it is to lug a bunch of books.