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Strategy

The Future of Comics in the Web Ara – Part I

There are currently several phenomena converging to change the comic-book industry. Daniel Champion pinpoints one of these in “Will the Digital Age in comics give birth to a new animal? “ (“The Digital Age,” www.comicbookdaily.com, December 13, 2011). We believe one of the top issues of the digital era should be to refocus on regularity of publication. Historically, comic books were published consistently: every month, the reader would find a new issue of his or her favourite hero. In recent years, publishers have been slacker about scheduling, and analysts wonder about the impact of this.  (“Creators, Deadlines and Consistency,” www.comicbookdaily.com, November 25, 2011). The Web makes this even more important. Creating faithful readers requires discipline about publishing at a frequency that’s suitable for this new environment.  As Todd Allen said, “Baldwin points out that if this is how people are reading the content in digital format, maybe the 20-22 page comic isn’t the way to go online.  The science of branding is all about repetition.  If you want to get people into the habit of buying your comic, Baldwin reckons it will take 6-8 touches to make someone a fan, so it might make more sense to release 8 pages 3 x a month (almost weekly) or maybe 5 pages each week.  (“How Many Pages of a Digital Comic Get Read in One Sitting?” comicsbeat.com, February 24, 2012).