Are you looking to get into digital comics, but you just can't figure out which app you should
download, which service you need to sign up to ,or even if it's worth doing it over physical copies.
Well this is the video for you! WOOF WOOF! Hey guys, it's me Marcus aka The Maddogg, and we are
back with another video! When i did my beginner's guide to comics i didn't realize that i was shown
my age throughout it because i left out one of the most modern viable options to new readers
today digital comics looking at the apps and the subscription services the biggest name in digital
comics is probably gonna be comixology they're actually owned by amazon but they've got their
own individual app that seems like a one-stop shop if you do want to get all your comics in one place
there's no buys towards a certain company so you can get dc marvel image darkhorse and a few other
companies on there so it is convenient in that sense but one issue that i've seen when i'm using
this is that i have to go into the comixology website to buy comics from there to then have
it downloaded to the app rather than being able to buy it through the app however one great benefit
of this app is that they have comixology unlimited but it's only great benefit if you're in the us
unfortunately even though it looks like it's been out for a few years it's still not available in
the uk but for 5.99 a month you can sign up and get access to like i think it's 17 000 comics
because it's got all those different publishers you're not going to be restricted to what you can
read there's so many different genres and there's different publishers different writers different
artists so if you are in the us i do think this is a great option for you but if you're anywhere else
i don't think that comicsology is where it needs to be to make it something that i can recommend
to everyone else next up is marvel unlimited and if you can't guess from the title this is
entirely made up of marvel comics those setbacks for comixology aren't present in marvel unlimited
so you can buy comics in the app and then read them straight away rather than having to go to
a website they do also have marvel unlimited and even though the website doesn't adapt the currency
to wherever you're located it does still allow you to access this worldwide for only 9.99 a month and
besides the most recent releases it's difficult to not find something that's available on here
it's a very good app it's a very good service and i'd recommend it to anybody that's looking to get
into marvel comics as well this doesn't happen too often but i thought that i'd mention it they do
occasionally put free books on the app especially when lockdown started i remember that there was
quite a few that they just gave away for free and that once you've got them on your device they're
there for life after that we've got dc universe and this is the one that i know the least about
because of the fact that it's the newest but it's also another one that isn't available outside of
the us seriously though sometimes it feels like other companies forget that other countries exist
if this did exist in the uk from what i know about it i think i would give it a high recommendation
because of the fact that it's not just comics it's also got other dc related media like some
of the animated shows some of the tv shows and even some of the movies so it does appear to be
a more comprehensive product it's just unfortunate that like i said it's not available anywhere other
than the us like when i go on the website it doesn't even tell me how much it is and if they
don't want me to know that badly i'm not going to search anywhere else next up is the juggernaut of
ebooks but it's kindle i know that comixology is owned by amazon and obviously kindle's owned by
amazon but eventually everything's probably going to be owned by amazon anyway so i know it can get
a little bit confusing but what i've noticed which is a slight advantage i guess is that books that i
brought through amazon directly like i remember recently brought teenage mutant ninja turtles
the last ronin issue one and that went to both my comixology app and also the kindle app so it does
sort of give you that better value for money if you are gonna go down this route but realistically
i'm not gonna go on one app on the same device and then want to read it on another app altogether but
it's just nice that whether you buy so many titles through comixology and then you go across to
amazon you can still find them all in the one app now kindle has two different types of subscription
services the first is one that you might already have and not even know about but it's prime
reading these do tend to vary and it tends to mostly just be first volumes of stuff but you
can get some great titles like kiwi gill and darth vader batman u1 and i haven't even looked through
the entire list but i'm sure that there's going to be a couple of others there as well but if you
haven't signed up to prime just yet you can use the amazon affiliate link in the description down
below that does help the channel out and it won't increase the price but even better than that is
kindle unlimited which is a separate subscription that you would have to pay an additional fee for
but i don't think it's too much i think it's only something like 7.99 a month and there's even more
titles available here so if you've read a volume one or something that you liked as part of prime
reading then you can look at volume 2 and it's probably going to be part of kindle unlimited
so it's worth looking into because it might have been a title or a series that you were considering
picking up that was going to run you a couple of hundred quid but that entire series might be
available on kindle unlimited for only 7.99 a month and as well if you're just looking for a
cbr reader so that you've got the files and you just want to have them all in one place i would
recommend chunkyread it does also try to improve the resolution of the titles there's not as many
adverts and as well if you just turn your internet off whilst you're on it you're not going to get
any adverts anyway 4d chess i think it's worth touching on the formats as well because they are
pretty much similar to comics but it also doesn't make sense why they would be like that so you can
still get your single issues which will still come out week to week month to month but you can
also get collected editions so remember recently seen that superman the last one equipped on deluxe
edition did come up on comicsology but it's pretty much more expensive than the actual deluxe edition
hardcover and i didn't really understand why sure there's probably gonna be some explanation which i
know people are gonna enjoy correcting me on in the comments down below but when you're reading
digitally what does it matter if it's a deluxe edition because the size of the ipad isn't going
to change just because you brought a deluxe size you'd have to get a bigger ipad to actually get a
deluxe edition you are only really buying that for any extras that might be included on it so
don't fall into the trap of buying collected editions digitally if it is you might be able
to get cheaper through one of these subscription services so in those instances you might already
be paying more for that one boot than you could for the subscription that would give you that
book and so many others you are paying a 100 collected addition to tax next up and just for
the sake of being comprehensive i'm going to show you how to stretch the spine of a digital comic
next up's a bit of a discussion but it's will digital everkill physical and obviously this
is more opinion based but you might be watching this video because of the fact that you want to
transition from physical into digital you don't know if it's something that you're just going to
have to eventually do anyway so you might as well do it now and for me it's a bit of a tough subject
because i love my local comic shop if it wasn't for them i probably wouldn't have gotten into
comics to begin with but at the same time times do change unfortunately and certain things develop
to the point where other things become sort of obsolete i always hope local comic shops will
stick around but even in the uk i've noticed that in the last couple of years they've transitioned
out of comics so that they can continue to survive now comic shops are more just about collectibles
it's about funko pops it's about statues and other things like that rather than the actual printed
book so my eyes it's already a natural evolution that's already started to happen as well i feel
like comics was one of the entertainment mediums that was quite late to actually get into digital
because the main turning point that i remember is that when the new 52 started which as you
all remember is definitely my jam that's when dc announced that they were gonna go day one digital
alongside the printed copies at that point itunes was already pretty big i believe that
spotify already existed but netflix was already transitioning into becoming a streaming service
and youtube was already popular as well so it felt like comics was already quite late to that game
and they're still in the infancy even now even though it's been about 10 years since the new 52.
they are still trying to find the feat they're adapting to having these unlimited services but
think that when those really pick up that's when digital will end up progressing even further than
physical but i started reading comics when as me teenagers and if we're being honest with ourselves
how many teenagers nowadays would actually go into a local comic shop just randomly without having
any background knowledge and get into comics that way whereas the majority of them now have a phone
have access to the internet and probably have a tablet that they could read them on so although
it would be great loss if local comic shops ended up dying as a result of digital comics taking off
i also think it's essential for the hobby to continue surviving as a whole however i've
kind of found this happy middle ground that any single issues that i want to read i end up getting
them digitally and then i will buy the collected edition and i think people will find their own
balance i think collected editions are going to take more of a precedent over single issues and it
could be the case that single issues goes entirely digital and then it's only the collected editions
that people can get physically but obviously there are going to be people that have only read comics
physically and maybe they love going to comic shop every week and i hope that they can still
maintain that routine even if it is that digital becomes more popular so in answer to this question
i don't really know but i think it might but if you are one of those people who isn't sure
if they should make the move to digital comics here are some of the disadvantages that i found
as weird as it sounds it's not the same when you think about your collection i love having
the books around me that i can just look at them and remember the fun memories that i've got even
if i don't want to pick it up immediate at that moment and also sometimes i forget about books
that i really enjoyed because i look at them on my shelf and go oh yeah [ __ ] that was a really
great time the first advantage though is that there's no risk of deteriorating or damaging
the value of that book so because of the fact that something might have sold out of its first print
people will very delicately read that first issue and maybe miss out on some of the detail
they won't put it down and have a full look at it whereas with digital you haven't got that
issue you're never going to see somebody slapping a digital comic so you can just read it and enjoy
it for what it is and get more enjoyment from that actual book however if you do unfortunately
drop your device whilst you're reading it it's going to be more expensive than if you damaged
a single issue but the next advantage is that if you factor in the overall cost it's probably going
to be cheaper there's quite a few people in this community myself included who will buy a single
issue then they will buy the collected edition then they will buy the d-logs and if it's dc
and they come out with an absolute they will buy that as well however if the books that you like
are on some kind of subscription series you only have to pay that monthly fee and you might have
already brought the device for some other reasons so that it hasn't really factored into the cost of
this hobby but if you go entirely digital you are not going to get back any of the money that you
put into this hobby if it was that you wanted to leave it or maybe you didn't enjoy your book and
although i don't advocate for getting into comics as an investment it is something to consider that
if you wanted to leave this hobby if you spent thousands on it you might want to get some of that
money back if you wanted to sell everything not gonna happen with digital but one thing that every
collector needs to consider is storage space but myself including my shelves are full i'm already
stacking up stuff so that when i eventually do get more shelves i can finally put them on them
but i'm running out of space in the room what happens after that i'm gonna have to move house
just so i can get somewhere adequate from the collection but with digital you haven't got
that problem and it's worth considering if it's going to be something like you're going to end
up downsizing in the coming years but if you are somebody who's conscious about value for money
then digital might not be the way to go for you because of the fact that single issues cost the
same digitally as you do physically and at least if you go into a comic shop and buy it you can
say yes this is what i spent my money on rather than it just being pictures on the screen however
on the flip side of that i've noticed that digital comics often have more frequent sales so we talked
about cost and value for money but if you're not somebody who's actively invested in single issues
digital probably will be the way to go but if you're somebody who does like to share comics
and you like to give books out so that people can read them and get invested into it's not as easy
if you're a digital person i'm not too sure if it's like netflix and you can just give somebody
else your password to marvel unlimited and then they can read it but still i've got two editions
of preacher i've got me absolutes which are mine and don't leave the room and i've also got my
trade paperbacks so that i can lend them out to people and they can read them although if you're
a completionist it's gonna be a hundred times more easy to go digital because you can just complete
any series that you want say you want to read every issue of x-men well get marvel unlimited and
they're pretty much all there you don't have to go searching for an out-of-print book you don't have
to worry if something's going to get a reprint you can just all read it from the comfort of your home
without even having to go onto a different app unless like we said you're on comicsology i know
this only applies to a couple of people but if you go digital only you're not going to have as
cool of a backdrop on your youtube channel but if you've had that moment where you learn about
a series and you really want to read it but then you're not really sure which collected edition to
get or anything like that within five minutes you could be reading the title that just got you hyped
rather than having to wait a couple of days for something to be delivered or waste having to wait
a couple of years for something to get reprinted but this is coming from my experience with disney
plus before one division if you've got multiple subscription services which if you're in america
seems to be the way to go you might end up having so many of these that you don't use one or two of
them for a couple of months and then it's pretty much money that's been wasted because it hasn't
gone towards anything one massive advantage though that i thought i'd leave until now is guided view
different taps have different names for this but if you just click onto a panel it will zoom in and
then it will guide you through the comics so that you can read it in a much more clear way and you
also get to enjoy the art at a bigger size so that might be something that's worth considering this
disadvantage is really gonna make me sound old but i still don't trust something that i don't
actually have access to what's to stop some kind of hack accessing everyone's account and just
deleting all the comics that they've brought that kind of thing always concerns me like admittedly
as soon as skynet finally rises up i think the first entertainment property that they will go
after will probably be comics and yes even more so the movies because i think when they do finally
rise up they're gonna use films like terminator to show just how badly humans presented them one
major advantage is that ebooks are one of the only things that amazon can deliver without damaging
them big disadvantage for me and i'm not sure if this would be the same for anybody else but
there's no book smell good [ __ ] the advantage that not a lot of people would consider it until
you've actually read a digital book is the fact that you can adjust the brightness you might
also like to read at night in which case digital books would be a better option for you the last
disadvantage is also pretty much speculation on my part because there used to be a lot of prejudice
to people who only read ebooks in the book reading community i really heard too much about this in
the comics community but obviously everybody likes showing off the halls they like doing collection
videos and stuff like that you won't really get that experience if you go digital only one of the
biggest advantages though is that you can read on the move so you only have to take this with
you you don't have to take three omnibuses just so you can keep reading the series that you want
and this gives you more flexibility so say that you're going on holiday for a bit of time and
you want to read a few books at once you can just do it all digitally and you can have those series
and you can jump between them as much as you want you don't have to have that horror movie moment
where you brought the wrong book and now you're stuck with it actually i know that i said the
last disadvantage was the last disadvantage but this is the last disadvantage if you were somebody
who went to a local comic shop and you've been supporting them for years and now you go digital
you are actually here in that business i know a lot of people develop friendships with the staff
and the owners of the local comic shops and it is something that is going to directly affect them
but the last advantage whether you're a single issues person or a collective additions person
is that it's never going to go out of stock going back to my example of the last round in issue one
i managed to read that day one where i know a lot of people were waiting for that issue
to get reprinted so by the time that all the spoilers were already coming out i had
already read it and i didn't have to worry about it it happened as well with that recent issue of
amazing spider-man with that beautiful cover that that was in the middle of a series so you might
have been eagerly awaiting that next issue and then all of a sudden because new people
wanted that specific cover you all of a sudden can't get it but that's my video and i don't
really have a bias whichever way you decide to go i'm just hoping that this video has
hopefully helped a few people understand digital comics better and maybe giving them an idea on if
it's something that they should get into like i always say just find the way that you enjoy
comics the most and then that is the right way to do it for you but comment below what's your
experience being with digital comics and is there any recommendations that you could give to people
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reading the best books that you can find and stay mad all you dogs woof woof see the next video