The Longbox Graveyard Podcast: Show 3 – Digital Comics and the Illusion of Ownership
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The unique voice of The Longbox Graveyard returns for his 3rd monthly podcast looking at the comic book world in digital form.
After LBG gets you up to date on the latest happenings over at his fantastic Longbox Graveyard Blog and upcoming plans both written and recorded he gets to this week’s big topic on digital comics, where they’ve been, and where they’re going. This is great insight & the parallels between the shifts in our ownership of digital comics everything else we have, or perhaps don’t have at all will leave the words of LBG ringing in your ears as you come to terms with what you thought you knew, but maybe don’t know at all.
Also LBG gives his plug of the month to Mark Waid’s interesting digital comic Insufferable which you can all which you can check out at http://www.thrillbent.com/ and make sure to give Longbox Graveyard feedback by Twitter @LBoxGraveyard or email longboxgraveyard@gmail.com & check LBG out also at StashMyComics
But most importantly listen and share with the social media buttons another awesome show from the Voice of the Longbox Graveyard
After listening to your digital comics podcast I took some time to think about it. Although I agree with some of the things you touched on, I disagree with some of your ownership points, but first I do agree digital comics are a great way to explore titles that I would not have otherwise, especially indy titles. Most of what I have downloaded i probably won’t read again, but were worth a once through. I quit seriously collecting in the early 90s, but from time to time I will wander in a comic shop just to see whats still out there. I know I can’t take them with me, but the thrill of tracking a book down is quite enjoyable for me. You mentioned Marvel 2 in 1 and I have worked on that same run. I would sometimes buy issues I already had because of price or condition. Anything printed after the mid 80s is not worth collecting just because by then they were bagged and boarded soon after printing. Granted, some good books still came out and have value, but Mint copies are not hard to find like mid 80s and back. If I want to read those stories, I just bought a TPB of the collection, but I still went after the books. The hard part for me was you either collect or you sell. You can’t really do both and thats where the digital format comes in handy. Now the 25 cent boxes(or should I say Dollar or more) are disappearing or have toilet paper in them. One of my greatest finds in the 25 cent bins was Marvel Premiere #15 in Mint condition. I paid a quater and sold it years later for a little over $100. I once traded Punisher 1-40 for Hulk #181. I know this isnt an ownership quality, but you won’t ever get that in the digital medium. The people I knew that collected werent just out for number 1s or key issues. They collected complete runs and completeing a run, of say FF or Action Comics, was a great triumph and in my circle, was acknowledged as such. I even helped a few people track down books and in some cases, it took years, but the satisfaction is something I will take with me, even if i can’t take the books with me. The trips to my local comic shops and the people i associated with are great memories. We would spend hours talking about everything comics related. As a 12 year old kid I was told by a friend and major collector to abandon the new stuff and buy anything Marvel or DC with 12 cent cover price and hang on to it. That was 1981 and was really good advice because those books have paid for a lot of what I have needed in life since becoming an adult with kids. It makes me sad that future collectors won’t have the same experience, not just because over saturation or price gouging, but because of all the fun that was collecting and the local comic shops. I guess Digital Comics marks the end of collecting in the way I was brought up in the hobby. Enjoyed the podcast, especially hearing some of the older stuff you were into. You should dedicate a small segmant to that so younger collectors can get some knowledge on lesser known gems. Ive been hunting John Sable, Freelance and ROM Spaceknight on my semi-annual trips to comic stores. Not real popular titles, but great stories for that time period.