Dear Blog,

I apologize for neglecting you. The truth is, I may continue to neglect you for a while. It turns out that having a boyfriend is a lot more fun than having a blog.

Sincerely,

B.G.

Diving Into Digital Part 4: Welcome to Pixelated Panels

The downside of buying comics online--whether digitally or through an online store like G-Mart--is that you don't get the social connection that you might from the weekly trip to the comic book store. To be honest, the only comic book store, of all the comic book stores I've frequented over the years, where I made any kind of social connection was Drom's Comics in Davis, California, where each week I'd chat with the owner, who was a really cool guy, about everything from who Bruce Wayne's replacement would be after "Batman R.I.P." to the woes of trying to raise children in today's modern world. As uncommon as that experience was for me, it was a good experience, and I miss it.

The upside of the internet is that it provides opportunities for social connection that those of us who aren't exactly social butterflies might not get otherwise. When I discovered Living Between Wednesdays a few years back, I was ecstatic to learn that there were people out there in the world who not only cared about comics in the same way I do, but who also said really clever, funny things about them. I quickly discovered several other blogs in the comics blogosphere, like Green Lantern Butt's Forever, Every Day is Like Wednesday, and the Absorbascon. Inspired by these blogs, I tried starting my own comics-themed blog, but then I discovered that I didn't have much to say that other comics bloggers were not already saying (my friend, Theric, now uses that blog to review mostly indie comics; check it out).

With all the buzz around digital comics lately, though, and my own immersion into the new medium, I'm hoping I've found my niche. I'm taking my cue from another comics blog I follow, Collected Editions, except that while Collected Editions is the "wait-for-the-trade headquarters," I intend to make Pixelated Panels the read-it-digitally headquarters. What does that entail? I imagine this blog will evolve over time, but at least right now, these are the regular features I have planned:

• Day-And-Date: Yes, I know "day-and-date" is an absurd, redundant term, but I'm embracing the absurdity and using it to describe reviews of titles that are released (and which I buy) digitally the same day they're released in print. You can expect to see these reviews every Wednesday night. 
• A Month Late and a Dollar Short: Reviews of comics that I wait a month to buy, in order to get them a dollar cheaper. Consider these reviews your reminder that Hey! These comics are a month old now, and maybe worth checking out for a buck less than cover price.
• Digital Dollar Bin: Reviews of comics that you can get for $0.99, either because they're on sale or because they're old enough that this is the designated price point. 
• Digiversity: As you may have guessed by now, my thing is superhero comics published by DC. In order to broaden my horizons, and perhaps yours, I'm challenging myself to regularly sample new things, whether it's a Marvel or Vertigo or Archie comic I can get through Comixology, or a webcomic on some random dude's website. I'll report back on my findings. 
• Digital Horizons: A weekly roundup of news related to digital comics, and my ponderings thereon.
• Unpixelated Panels (with a tip of the hat to the Collected Editions feature, Uncollected Editions): This is where I'll talk about comics that are not yet available digitally, but should be. And eventually this blog will be so popular and have so much sway with digital readers that the powers that be will have no choice but to respond to my call to action. 

So there you have it, folks. If you're not wowed by the awesomeness of Pixelated Panels yet, just wait. I'm sure I'll come up with something. Hopefully. Maybe. Pretty please?

Diving Into Digital Part 3: Why Digital?

In order to understand why I'm going digital, you have to understand first that I am a very practical person. A practical person who, as a thirty-one-year-old professional and father of three, still reads superhero comics religiously, but practical nonetheless. Every decision I make, whether it involves marriage and children or simply getting breakfast items from the fridge to the dining room table in as few trips as possible, is made after analyzing all alternatives and their possible outcomes. At work, I'm praised for my efficiency. So when it comes to buying comics, my goal has always been to maximize enjoyment while reducing cost.

When I was a kid, I took a half-hour bus ride to Gecko Comics in Kaimuki every week because they gave me a better discount than Jelly's Comics, which was just down the street. The better discount meant I could buy more comics with my limited budget (a very small monthly allowance plus paper route earnings). When I was in college I discovered G-Mart, a really great online store that offers 35% discounts on DC advance orders and free shipping on orders of $85 or more. Depending on my budget, $85 usually meant a month or two of comics for me, so I got my comics shipped every other month or so, the most recent comics just a week and a half after their release date. I also discovered during this time that I didn't really want to move nine long boxes with me every time I relocated, which was pretty often, so I started downsizing my collection. I sold comics on eBay and replaced them when I could with more durable and re-readable trade paperbacks. Then I decided it was silly to buy comics, read them once, and sell them for less money, only to spend the money again on trade paperbacks. Why not just wait for the trade in the first place?

I've tried waiting for the trade for the past six or seven years now, with varying degrees of success. The problem is that the practical adult in me is constantly at war with the eager fanboy who wants to read that latest issue of Teen Titans right now! So while I was in grad school in Seattle, I checked out the local comic shops (there are several) and found Comics Dungeon, which offered enough of a subscribers' discount to appease the miser in me. Then I moved to Davis, California, and was equally happy with Drom's Comics. I enjoyed making the trip to the comic shop every week, chatting with the owner, and knowing that I was as up-to-date on the happenings of the DC Universe as my inner fanboy needed to be.

Who returns from the dead in this issue? I'll have to wait a month to find out if I don't buy it now. Oh, who am I kidding? I read the spoiler online the day before it was released.

Then I moved to Orem, Utah, where we have some decent comic shops around, but nothing like Comics Dungeon or Drom's. And worst of all, no subscriber's discount. I just couldn't justify spending three bucks for a comic book (this will be ironic in just a minute). So I went back to G-Mart, ordering floppies of the most important series I couldn't trade-wait for, and trades for all the rest. So now instead of living between Wednesdays, I live between the random day every month or two when my G-Mart order has accumulated to $85 and a shipment of comics arrive. (Please note that G-Mart does offer other, faster shipping options to people less practical-minded than I, but those options cost money and we've established that that's a bad thing, right?)

Then along comes Comixology. As I mentioned in Part 1, I've been checking out digital comics for a few months now. I realized at one point that in most cases it's cheaper to buy individual back issues at $1.99 a piece than to buy the equivalent trade collection, even with G-Mart's advance order discount, so I've been buying series that I otherwise would have trade-waited for, like Green Lantern and Gotham City Sirens. And I've decided I kind of like getting my comics this way. Generally I've been able to get comics earlier than the trade release, and a little cheaper, and I still get to keep them forever without the hassle of long boxes. (Never mind the fact that you don't actually own comics that live on Comixology's servers; that's a post for another day.)

So I was already digging digital when DC announced the New 52 would be available digitally the same day as print. This seemed like a good time to make the full plunge into digital. I have all the benefits mentioned above, plus I get to read comics on the day they're released, without having to go anywhere (as I've mentioned before, I work from home; the longer I do so, the more of a recluse I become, and going places is such a hassle). But then there's the price issue. Mems how spending three bucks for a comic is ridiculous? How about spending three bucks for a comic I don't really own? But the fanboy really really wants to read new comics now. And Mr. Practical really doesn't want more long boxes. And the lazy part of me is kind of tired of buying comics, reading them, then scanning the covers and listing them on eBay so that I can then replace them with trades.

So I made a compromise: The few comics I'm really excited for, the ones I have to read the day they're released, I'll pay full price for. The rest I'll read a month later, when the price drops a dollar to the same price I would have paid by pre-ordering through G-Mart. We'll see how long this appeases both sides of me.

[Aside to G-Mart and the other comic shops I've linked to above: As soon as you decide to participate in Comixology's Digital Storefront program, I will totally buy my digital comics through you. I'd just as soon give part of my money to you as give it all to Comixology and DC.]

Reading over this post now, I don't believe I've convinced anyone that I'm a practical person. Hopefully, though, I've convinced you to at least read the coming conclusion to my blog intro, Diving Into Digital Part 4...

Diving Into Digital Part 2: Size Matters

I read my digital comics on the 17.3" screen of my HP Pavilion dv7 laptop. I had to buy a new computer for work recently (I work from home for a virtual company) and I specifically looked for a large screen laptop with comics in mind. Until then, I'd been reading either on a desktop, which had a large enough screen, but who wants to read comics while sitting at a desk?, or on a 15.6" laptop. I found the 15.6" screen just a little too small. Viewing an entire two-page spread, I could make out most of the print, but I had to squint in some cases and in other cases it was just plain impossible. You can zoom in on any part of the page, but then moving around the page is cumbersome--with so much clicking and dragging, I can't just enjoy the comic.  

I experimented with Comixology's Guided View, which shows the panel one by one so that they can be displayed larger, but I found it too constraining: I felt claustrophobic, like I was trapped in this little box and I knew something was happening outside, but I wasn't sure what. Guided View zooms in and out of panels and pans across the page as it goes from one panel to the next, but you rarely get to see the entire page as a whole, unless you exit out of Guided View. This would be fine with comics that were created to be read in Comixology's Guided View, but so long as comics are created to be printed on paper, Guided View simply doesn't capture the full experience. Part of comic book art is the page layout--you couldn't shift panels around on the page and have the same work of art.

To see what I'm talking about, take a look at this two-page spread from Flashpoint: Hal Jordan #1, by Adam Schlagman and Ben Oliver:

These two pages are meant to be seen side by side, so you get that zig-zag effect. Each panel tells part of the story, but together they tell a larger story--not just sequentially, but also simultaneously. Here's the same page as seen in Guided View:

You get an idea of the overall motif, but just barely.

So I decided I needed a big screen. This ruled out that iPad I'd been coveting but couldn't really afford anyway. (Yes, the laptop cost more than an iPad would have, but I needed the laptop for work, remember? Plus, my employer paid for the laptop. [And if you're reading, dear employer, rest assured that I do use the laptop for work nine hours a day. You aren't paying me to read comics. (But if you ever want to, just let me know.)])

The 17.3" screen works well. It gives me 8.5 inches of height, compared to the average 10" comic book spine, which means I'm seeing comics at 85% of their natural size. Definitely readable, no squinting necessary. At 6.72 pounds, the laptop is a little heavier than the average comic. Okay, a lot heavier. I won't be reading digital comics in the bathtub. And laptops do get hot when you actually have them atop your lap for an extended period of time, but a lapdesk solves that problem, and alleviates the weight with a little cushioning. I bought the LapGear Deluxe Computer Lapdesk on Amazon for twenty-five bucks, and it does the trick. I can now comfortably read comics sitting on the couch, lying in bed, or, most likely, slouching in such a way that will have me looking like Harold Allnut by the time I'm forty. (Who knew his last name was Allnut? Wikipedia is awesome.)

Still, I'll be the first to admit that reading comics on my laptop is not quite as natural-feeling as reading comics on paper. I think my ideal would be an iPad with a 20" screen. Until Apple makes one of those for me, though, I'm willing to make the compromise. Why? We'll get there in Part 3.

Diving Into Digital Part 1: Batman and Me

My first comic was Batman 476 (Apr 92) by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle. The cover shows Batman unmasking himself before a shocked Vicki Vale. I remember picking up the issue and thinking how momentous it must be, as surely Batman had never revealed his secret identity to anyone before, and how lucky I was to start reading Batman on this important occasion. I bought the issue and brought it home, only to find out that the cover was a bit of a white lie. Yes, there's a scene in which Batman unmasks himself to a shocked Vicki Vale, but it only happens in Bruce Wayne's imagination.

Taking my cue from Batman 476, I've also started out with a little white lie. In truth, I had read and even owned a few comics before this one--as an elementary school kid, I'd dabbled in G.I.Joe, Transformers, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. But it was not until as a twelve-year-old I bought Batman 476 that I truly became a comics reader. Despite the cover's deception, I was entranced by Grant's mature, witty script, and by Breyfogle's crisp, dynamic line work. This was a sexy, mysterious, captivating Batman unlike either the Adam West version I'd watched in old reruns or the Michael Keaton version I'd seen more recently. Although the issue was part three of a three-part story, it was easy enough to jump right into it, with enough of a hint of the greater universe it existed within to make me want more. 

And more is what I got: Armageddon Inferno introduced me to others in Batman's universe, not only familiar faces like Superman and Wonder Woman, but unfamiliar ones like Starfire, Guy Gardner, and Lobo; Justice League Spectacular showed me an entirely different group of heroes than I remembered from Super Friends; and Batman: Shadow of the Bat gave me more of the Grant/Breyfogle Batman I'd fallen in love with. From there I worked backward, browsing through the local comic shop's back issue bins, and forward, using the Advance Comics catalog to plan my monthly purchases. 

Nearly twenty years later, I'm still here, immersed in the world of comics. I've tried other genres and fictional universes, from Vertigo to Ultimate Marvel to Craig Thompson's Blankets to Art Spiegelman's Maus. My buying habits have changed as disposable income has ebbed and flowed and interstate moves have given me better or worse access to decent comic shops. I've even tried waiting for the trade. But the constant has always been Batman and the other heroes of the DC Universe. 

It's only appropriate, then, that the impetus for the newest change to my comics buying habits stems from a related change for the DC Universe: next month's New 52 and the accompanying same-day digital release of all DC titles. I've been testing the waters with digital comics for several months now, so when DC announced the relaunch I decided this would be the perfect time for me to complete the switch from print to digital. This blog will chronicle my foray into this brave new world, with reviews of digital releases, news, and musings on the evolution of digital comics as it happens. 

Today seemed like a good day to start the blog, as this morning I bought DC Retroactive: Batman - The 90s and felt like I was twelve again, reading Alan Grant's clever script and seeing Norm Breyfogle's sleek Batman--with the subtle difference that this time it was on a screen instead of on paper.