Are you a collector, or just a fan?

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Yes, paper comics will always be the real deal, and rightly so.....however I personally have went the 'comics on DVD route' despite it's bad reputation and obvious limitations: it simply allows me to access vastly much more material, and hardly takes up any space.

But all you paper comics enthusiasts out there, I totally 'get' your preferences.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

These points remind me of the declaration from D C Thomson that 'non-stop scanning of vintage comics was well under way en masse' which now seems quite a while ago, the assumption being that DVD sets of complete decades of BEANOS/DANDYs etc would be availible quite legally for sale through this channel: all has gone quiet on this front, sadly.

Any DCT 'insiders' [who I know read a lot of the posts on here] have any news on this score?

Won't these be downloads? With the advent of 4G large files can be downloaded in a matter of seconds plus it will save the producer in this case DCT a lot of money in packaging and distribution costs

If I could convert these files to my own home-made disks collections, this would do me nicely, Dandymad...however, isn't this idea a bit like itunes, where they try to just lease out 'instant copies' of songs, but the buyer doesn't really 'own' them, in the real sense?

[dandy mad]

It depends how DCT digitally distribute them they'll more than likely go the iTunes Google play store route to combat piracy etc

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

If you had to keep paying each time you wanted to access the digital versions of comics, [which makes great business sense for the copyright holders, if not for the buyer] then I'd rather shell out for the paper permanent versions....but it's early days, I will wait and see what transpires on this.

If it was a one-off payment for the files and you could strike your own hard copies, I'd be interested,,,but as you say, there's the age-old problem with piracy this way.

[dandy mad]

You won't need to keep paying as these will be like the digital beano app DCT has on the Apple and Google platforms which are just PDF files that cost £1.49 every week and depending on how many comics they put in each download of the vintage comics the cost will be higher by how much who knows? If they decide to release these then on the Apple platform it would be iBooks I reckon

[philcom55]

I disagree with the digitalized format. I've been to Mexico and touched pyramids: see them on a brochure - there's no comparison. Within a centre dedicated to comics, the high grade copies of course would be preserved and out of bounds from itchy fingers, but lower grade copies could be available for anyone to rummage through at their leisure. Remember that thrill, when you're rummaging through the back issue bins, and discover an issue that you've long sought after?

The trouble is that I'm not at all sure if future generations will still feel that thrill, having grown up in a world where everybody learns to read on an Ipad!

On the subject of 'touching pyramids' it's interesting to note that people used to express similar objections to earlier forms of mechanically reproduced art - like printing in fact. Now it amazes me that one can buy some pieces of original British artwork more cheaply than the comics they appeared in!

- Phil Rushton

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

On this subject, there was a newspaper article recently which stated that some very young kids in Primary One had no idea of HOW TO USE A PENCIL!

[dandy mad]

On this subject, there was a newspaper article recently which stated that some very young kids in Primary One had no idea of HOW TO USE A PENCIL!

The pen will really blow their minds...

[Muffy]

Thanks for the Sonny/ Marney artwork examples, Phil [philcom55] -

[Ginger]

I disagree with the digitalized format. I've been to Mexico and touched pyramids: see them on a brochure - there's no comparison. Within a centre dedicated to comics, the high grade copies of course would be preserved and out of bounds from itchy fingers, but lower grade copies could be available for anyone to rummage through at their leisure. Remember that thrill, when you're rummaging through the back issue bins, and discover an issue that you've long sought after?

On the subject of 'touching pyramids' it's interesting to note that people used to express similar objections to earlier forms of mechanically reproduced art - like printing in fact.
- Phil Rushton

Yes, with respect, Geoff, I don't think your comparison quite rings true. Comic pages on printed, folded paper is just one way of reproducing them. Another way is on some form of digital medium.
The equivalent of your comparison would be closer to a comparison of a photograph of a pyramid held in your hand and a picture of a pyramid on a computer screen.

By the way, I speak as someone who doesn't like reading comics on a screen, either, and fully appreciates what you say about the joys of rifling through a bunch of paper comics. But in the future I believe they say we'll have screens that are more like paper, so it might become a more pleasant reading experience as digital media evolve.

[Lew Stringer]

But in the future I believe they say we'll have screens that are more like paper, so it might become a more pleasant reading experience as digital media evolve.

Yes, plug a memory stick into the spine, choose your comic, and the pages appear on a flexible, non reflective screen.

It really is about time they invented it.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Computer screen technology will doubtless evolve a lot further than what we have today, and eventually an inbuilt camera in the computer may track your eyes darting around the screen, and instantly produce a hi-res, magnified section of the comic page that fills up your natural field of vision, as your eyes dart around, rather than be saddled with the static single pages we get onscreen today.

Just the typical sort of thing I sometimes think about, as I curse the restrictions of these 'early internet' days........

[Phoenix]

By the way, I speak as someone who doesn't like reading comics on a screen, either, and fully appreciates what you say about the joys of rifling through a bunch of paper comics. But in the future I believe they say we'll have screens that are more like paper, so it might become a more pleasant reading experience as digital media evolve.

What exactly is the point of producing screens that are more like paper without producing the frames of the digital viewing device that themselves will also be more like paper? It seems to my limited intellectual gifts that to achieve the genuine appearance and feel of paper it might just be preferable all round to use, oh, for heavens' sake, what is that stuff called? Oh yes, I remember. It's called PAPER. The word is riffling, by the way, Ginger, not rifling.

[Ginger]

I'm no expert, but I think the point is that you would, as Lew says, have a paper-like screen on which anything and everything would/could appear.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Many sci-fi films set in the future depict future computer screens as wafer-thin transparent sheets, mounted on glass or even projected---it's a possibilty.