WTC Show 30 – A Visit to the Longbox Graveyard

April 17, 2012
 Mo

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This is a very special episode of We Talk Comics as we present you with something most unique & very cool, a conversation with Appy Entertainment Brand Director Paul O’Connor.

 

 

Now don’t worry we didn’t forget to bring The Weekly News with Cub Reporter K or WeViews on Marvel’s Thor #12.1, Image’s debut issue of America’s Got Powers #1 or their new book from Jonathan Hickman Secret #1, Dark Horse Comic’s Alabaster: Wolves #1 and Rich Johnston’s Iron Muslim #1 from Boom Studios but…

 

This is largely about the chat Keith and Chris had with Paul discussing everything from digital comics and the future around them, how the app marketplace works, how Marvel or DC could and should react, what this means for smaller publishers, and about a billion other interesting topics. This is a simply amazing conversation that fortunately we all get to listen in on.

 

In addition to the knowledge Paul brings from working with an IOS app developer Paul has had published comic book work as a freelancer by such companies as Malibu (Ex-Mutants: The Shattered Earth Chronicles, Rune, etc)and runs a fantastic website with his blog http://longboxgraveyard.com/ where you can read his work and get all the social media info you need to follow him for more.

 

We want to thank Paul very much for his time, and hope to talk again real soon. So listen in on this conversation with a fascinating and brilliant man. As Harland Williams would say, What A Treat!

 

Mo
  • Mo
WTComics Podcasts

2 Comments

  • Jason Goldsmith Reply

    Thanks for the discussion on digital comics.

    You basically touch on all the pain points that we are working on with ComicBin. One thing that we see as a possibility to keep the comic stores in business and get digital comics to a workable price point is to make the digital option your very affordable option for reading and print focusing on very high quality collectibles. In this model we see variants becoming more prominent, but hopefully, less annoying as you can still read the rest of the books you like when you pick up a collectible edition. So, in this scenario, it wouldn’t be so bad to have “10,000 people paying $20 a copy” because there would be a much larger audience paying a much smaller amount to read the digital version.

    As far as the digital collection going away, this seems to me a fear based on how much you paid for the digital file. If I pay $3.99 a book and I buy a lot of them, I’m very upset if they all go away. But if I’ve been renting comics from the get go with a very good value proposition, then I don’t think this is so bad. Buying 10 comics a month I lose $500 after a year if ComiXology goes away, with a lower priced subscription I might be out $100. And the more I buy the bigger the discrepancy becomes.

    The new reader problem is a bit more difficult. However, again, a lot of the problem is a consequence of the pricing. If I can read all 25 different Avengers books for a few bucks, then I’m less likely to be driven off by confusion. That’s not to say that less confusion is bad, but eliminating the friction of cost is a step in the right direction. For big events, like Avengers, Dark Knight Rises or Green Lantern, it is pretty easy to deal with: curate relevant content and put it front and center. When there’s no special event going on, then you just need to get them to open a book and making the prices more attractive is your best tool.

    We offer a $8.99/month subscription for unlimited reading of comics. We work with about a dozen publishers and currently have 300 comics in the library and another 700 licensed and in production to move online. We’re constantly expanding our library with bigger name titles and smaller independent comics.

    There’s a 2 week free trail and we’re always looking for feedback and a chance to talk about it.

    Jason Goldsmith
    Founder – ComicBin

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