[Groop] eComics: ethics, the future & ME

[Porter]

I sent this last night from the wrong email address. As a result I  
don't think it posted - sorry if you end up getting it twice.
  ~ Porter.



So I wanted to post a question and discussion-starter to the Groop.

I started this letter over a month ago but it kept on shifting focus  
to the point I decided to shelve it for another day. It is still far  
from the most coherent letter/op-ed I've ever written, but at least  
now it makes a little more sense. And now, since Mark's report from  
the CalgCon regarding Sergio's distaste for most webcomics, perhaps  
this is a good time to send it out anyway since it is at least  
somewhat related.

In writing this, I had originally intended to simply ask fairly  
straight forward questions about the ethics, legality and opinions  
regarding the sharing of eComics through torrent and peer-to-peer  
sites. Unfortunately I stumbled into a thought process I was not  
prepared for - the future of comic books in general. Ouch. So with  
apologies, a messy, two-fold commentary and exposition is what follows.


I've noticed a number of file-sharing sites with electronic comics  
available (.pdf's, .cbz's, .cbr's, etc.) and am trying to wrap my head  
around the ethics of trading/sharing such things. These are, so far as  
I can tell, mostly user-made - someone scanned the pages then compiled  
them all into a single file to read on their computer. It's a great  
idea in many respects and I'm sure it's been around for a long time.  
But sharing them - putting them up on torrent sites and peer-to-peer  
networks, etc... we may own the individual books, but the content is  
nevertheless still someone else's intellectual property. In this case,  
our pals Sergio, Mark, et al.

There may also be officially-released e-comics too, but that's frankly  
out of my scope of knowledge. If there are, and there's some kind of  
subscription/payment deal, well then it's pretty obvious we're talking  
straight up piracy if those are shared ("What pirates?").

Awhile back, I downloaded a file which I think has pretty much all  
Groo issues prior to, oh, I don't know - maybe 2006. And going through  
this database is fantastic - not as much as reading the book, mind you  
but still I do love having immediate access to Groo on my laptop.  
Depending on the format and one's inclination, a hidden layer could  
even be added to contain notes and all the text of the stories,  
letters, etc., making the books completely searchable - ever wonder  
exactly how many times someone called Groo a specific insult  
(mendicant)?  Seriously, having the entire catalogue right at your  
fingertips is very cool.

Nevertheless, both the ethical and legal aspects of this have come up  
on occasion to frustrate my inner dialogue: "Is it okay for me to  
download these files even if I already own the physical book?", "If  
the book just is not available anymore but I've tried really, really  
hard, then is it okay?", "If someone asks me really nicely, then is it  
okay to give them a copy of the file?", "Is this potentially robbing  
from those I admire, respect and want to support?"

These questions, though interesting to me philosophically, have  
ultimately given rise to others which are perhaps more important. Not  
being involved in the comic industry or more than marginally aware of  
other titles beyond Groo though, I have no sense if this is a well- 
addressed issue or not.

I think of comics as as a content and collector industry. Not owning a  
copy (or usually four or five copies) is unacceptable to me, as I  
imagine it is for all Groopers. But is that true for the business in  
general? Obviously it is for a vast number of comic fans as any comic  
convention is testament to, but does it remain so for the newer  
generations of comic readers, those who were raised on computers by  
computer-savvy parents in a computer-savvy world where (and I say this  
with equal parts scorn and admiration) it seems possession and  
appreciation of content trumps possession and appreciation of a  
physical medium.

Ten years ago I thought this materialism-based philosophy was true for  
the music and video industries as well, and it has become quite  
apparent that this is no longer the case. Owning the physical record/ 
cd/video/dvd has actually become immaterial and both industries are in  
trouble as a result (well, partially as a result). DVD sales are still  
doing pretty well right now, but if CD sales are an indication, then  
perhaps not for much longer. Both are available to buy electronically  
through iTunes or Amazon, etc., but they are all readily available  
through pirating sites as well. As a producer-type here in Los  
Angeles, I can't but notice the affects this has had on the industry.  
I don't want to speak for ME, but I imagine as a bigtime producer and  
writer he has felt this shift directly and personally, probably far  
moreso than myself in terms of residuals from DVD sales, etc.

But what about comics? A lot of questions come up for me about the  
current and future state of the comics business in general. Do online/ 
electronic comics already cut into sales of the physical comics  
themselves or are they primarily just ways of introducing new titles  
to a larger audience and providing bonus content to fans? As happened  
with music, does a similar shift to a high-quality digital paradigm  
loom ever-present or is it generally scoffed at by publishers? With  
ever-rising printing costs, if the comic industry has not yet fully  
embraced this notion, in the years to come can it continue to afford  
not to?

Tempting for publishers though it may become, I'm fairly confident  
that doing so would be the death-knell for the comic-book medium and  
perhaps for the industry as a whole. Copying the pages of your comic  
books, whether by photocopy or even homemade digital scans, regardless  
of quality, will always be a poor substitute for the real thing  
(famous last words?). I am sure that the vast majority of comic  
readers feel similarly - they simply could not compete against the  
quality of the real thing and only publishers have access to the  
original source for making high-quality digital releases.

And yet, to quote marvel.com, "Digital comics are online versions of  
your favorite Marvel Comics created from the original files used to  
print them" (their emphasis).  Were publishers to eventually sell  
officially-released electronic versions as a primary source, I have no  
doubt that it would be a matter of moments before we started seeing  
titles and publishers closing up shop left and right - it removes the  
"collector" aspect of buying comic books. Quite simply, pirating and  
illegally distributing a digital medium is easy, the theory of copy  
protection is faulty as these measures can and will always be  
hackable, and once the flood gates are opened, there is absolutely no  
stopping the flow.

Speaking of flow, here is my long-term doomsday scenario for such an  
event (oh how I do love an armageddon story):
Rising costs in printing leads to an increase in officially-sanctioned  
electronic production. Greater publicity of the electronic medium,  
along with younger generations growing up with with it, leads to  
general acceptance and public demand. This demand forces publishers to  
look at this as a massive potential revenue source for their cash- 
strapped account books. The digital format is so much cheaper to  
produce and buy that it becomes the primary source of distribution and  
consumption, rendering the physical medium an obsolete niche market.  
Illegal file-sharing and copy-protection hacks bankrupt publishers,  
writers and artists. All we are left with are stories from the past  
and the few individual authors who either have nothing to begin with  
or are willing to operate at a loss.


Or is the comic book industry doing quite well as it is, thank you,  
and this is jut a bunch of foolish speculation?


So where does this leave us now? On the one hand we have the nice (but  
legally and ethically questionable) idea of sharing buyer-made digital  
copies of Groo The Wanderer with fellow fans, and on the other we have  
the threat of the total annihilation of the very medium we all love.

This is of course just academic and probably a bit of a stretch; a  
major part of the allure of comics is the collectibility.  And they  
are afterall a visual medium and unlike music we have seen some  
resilience from the video market. As parity grows between the  
popularity of file-sharing and the increased size and affordability of  
computer hard-drives, I wonder how long that will last though -  
particularly in an economically-stressed time, can collectibility  
compete with free?


"But this is art!" So saith VanGough's self-portrait as he appeared on  
my living room wall-mounted large-format electronic picture frame in  
all his high-definition glory.

Fond regards to all,
  ~ Porter.

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