For all of these reasons I’ve generally been against getting rid of print media.  I am one of the few people I know who still buys music magazines in addition to reading blogs and have learned to expect the looks of pity I receive when I tell people my post-graduation aspirations include writing for said magazines.  Out of all the print media I consume, I was most disturbed by the idea of paperless comic books.  For one thing, when I had disposable income I was a pretty avid collector.  We’re talking bags and boards of course and comic boxes but I also made up spreadsheet wishlists and cataloged my collection and tried to keep tabs on what I’d paid for them and their Overstreet values.  While my room was in shambles I would pull out my boxes and neatly alphabetize my comics.  I’ve tried to distance myself from the collecting mindset over the last couple of years and realized its silly to pick up an arc I’m not feeling so much simply to keep my complete run going or to even keep getting a series because “I’ve already got the first three and it’s only going to be six issues.”  I swear, I’m never getting sucked in by another Marvel “event” ever again.  Basically, the point of all that was I like having comics as “things” that I can look at like a painting or regular piece of art not to mention cool artifacts.  I like to think that reading older comics gives me at least a little glimpse into what my dad’s childhood was like and some of my favorite aspects of my older comics are the ads.  Comics used to be five cents!? You could buy x-ray specs?!  What happened to correspondence ninja training schools?

The .cbr format had a lot of obstacles to overcome if it was going to persuade me to shift my allegiances and while it certainly hasn’t made me want to stop going to my local shop, I feel obliged to recognize its right to exist.  (That’s another thing I forgot to mention, half the fun of reading comics is going to your comic store and arguing/complaining/commiserating with the staff and patrons.)

I experimented with two different programs for this project CDisplay and a reader which I deleted and forgot the name of.  While the latter was prettier and had seemingly beneficial features like a library function and playlists which allowed you to go past the library’s author or title groupings it was too heavy and when it wasn’t taking forever to load the different groups so I could pick an issue it was frozen.  I quickly dropped it and switched exclusively to the simple and nimble CDisplay which allowed for plenty of sizing and other display options.

My first test was the “academic test.”  I pulled out the Derrida essay of the comic book world and tried reading Alan Moore’s “From Hell.” While the layout was certainly straightforward, the book was simply too dense.  I messed around with the settings on my programs of choice but just couldn’t get into it.  I quickly discovered that I am not a fan of the scrolling zoom and that was the only way to be able to decipher the text comfortably for me.  I didn’t like alternating between looking at the image and then obstructing it with my magnifying glass like text box.  I didn’t last long enough to need to bookmark my spot and come back to it later but the mystery reader had that feature and CDisplay allows you to “Resume Reading” so provided you didn’t read a comic in between, you could pick up and leave off easily.

Next I tried the “series test” with Brian Wood’s “Pounded” If you don’t read Brian Wood’s stuff you’re missing out. I was only fair on Northlanders and stopped picking it up for economic reasons but “DMZ” is one of the more interesting and thought provoking comics out there and it’s one I’m still willing to throw money down for when I can.  While I was relatively disappointed int he comic itself and found it to be a pretty good example of how the 90′s neutered most subcultures in an attempt to create a veneer of edginess through torn clothing and obscenity, which is still an ongoing problem as seen in David Lapham’s “Young Liars,” (also out on Vertigo) the experience in CDisplay went swimmingly.  I read the whole series with no fatigue of any sort.  The pages were conveniently split down the center and evenly separated horizontally.  I did have to do a little U shaped scroll pattern down-right-up-down next page but I didn’t find it bothersome at all.

The third test was less of a test and more of an impromptu situation that lead to a realization.  The “mobility test” was born when I took my laptop to the laundromat the other night to do a little work.  I quickly realized I was too tired to work and I was stranded without any wireless internet.  FUUUUUCK right?  Normally I think of a computer with no internet connection to be a really expensive paperweight.  Especially because in this case I didn’t have any headphones so there was no hope for listening to my music or that lost venture bros. commentary (which holds up even when separated from the video.) But then I remembered that I had a bunch of comics on my computer.  I selected from my new digital library Bill Willingham’s “Jack of Fables” despite the fact that “Fables” had not been so fun to read on my computer (more on that in a minute)  Laundromat “Jack of Fables” was downright delightful. I was reading a comic outside of my room.  I stopped short of Calvin’s insistence that Hobbes use tongs to turn the pages but I definitely feared bending corner in transit.  It was a whole new world where suds and speech bubbles could peacefully co-exist.  Where my wrists no longer smarted at the bite of the CGC’s plastic sealed shackles.  I imagined myself reading a comic on a train, a plane, a hotel lobby…I had to stop at this point because my brain hurt from the strain of such fantasy but it was enough.

I think I spent enough time talking about cons beforehand.  Here’s a list of pros.

One of the best things about reading these .cbr files is the fact that it made me pay attention to layout and a way that I’ve never really done before.  Probably the only time I’d given much thought at all to it was when I heard David Lloyd from “V for Vendetta” talk about the layout as one of the primary causes for the book’s crossover success.  The experience raised a few questions for me and I now wonder how much of that process is decided by the artist and the writer together.  Like I mentioned before, “Fables” wasn’t as easy to read, it has funky and intricate layouts and epic double pages far more often than it’s spin off which is generally blocked evenly in a single column.  Since Willingham is a constant I have to wonder if it’s a result of different artists or if Willingham realizes the different nature of the books.  And thinking about comics is good for comics.

The switch to digital obviously makes piracy an issue and I’ll admit that not every comic I read for this experiment was legally obtained or involved a cash for goods transaction.  I don’t see the potentional for a real con here.  People make the logical sounding argument that when comics lose their revenue they lose a way to quanitify what should and should not be supported and titles will get cancelled or recieve budgetary cuts.  Here are my counter-points.  1 each comic is not a one time purchase like an album arguably is.  By providing readers a way to stay in a title when they either can’t buy an issue or just don’t think it’s good enough you’re leaving the door for re-entry open.  For example, I don’t read any X-Men titles because I feel like I’ve missed too much and it would be too daunting a task to catch up.  2. unlike CD’s owning a comic actually has a point because it’s a tangible product, people like holding their stuff and our nature leans toward squirrel like hoarding.

Mobility.  The idea of being able to whip out a kindle like device and settle once and for all, right then and there, the debate whether Captain America had a boner while looking at Bucky in that one frame is exciting enough to necessitate debate over whether I have a boner right now.  Sorry, unless this Hyatt has some secret surveillance there will be no photo evidence.  I honestly don’t think I’d be willing to make the size sacrifice.  Right now I wouldn’t want to go much smaller than my 17″ laptop screen but then again I’m always amazed that I can watch TV shows on my ipod.  Maybe in the future we will have adapted our eyes for tiny screen and laugh at those idiots that bought wall sized flatscreen TVs.  In the end I think the convenience factor of having your entire collection in one place will be too hard to deny.