Welcome to a special shopping edition of Top Digital Comics News!
How much does a digital graphic novel cost? That may depend on where you buy it. As graphic novels proliferate on a variety of platforms—both e-book stores and dedicated comics apps—something interesting has happened: The prices vary, sometimes by quite a bit. Todd Allen investigates this for Publishers Weekly, and he has a nice chart that shows you where the best deals are. What’s happening is that the Nook and Kindle stores are doing some serious discounting from the list price. Allen also notes that the comics apps don’t discount, although they do have frequent sales. And some apps will only sell you bundles of single issues, rather than the collected edition, although the differences are minimal and sometimes the single issues are cheaper. It’s an interesting post and well worth a read. One question that rose in my mind is whether the price differences would be enough to make readers spread their comics purchases across a variety of different platforms, or whether people will prefer the convenience of having them all in the same place.
Best-sellers on the Kindle: Meanwhile, at The Beat, Heidi MacDonald looks at the 20 best-selling free and paid graphic novels in the Kindle store. The paid list is a mix of The Walking Dead and Big Nate, and it also includes three issues of Injustice: Gods Among Us, which is a DC comic that ties in with the soon-to-be-released video game of the same name. (More on that here.) The free list is weirdly eclectic, with bible stories, manga, and edu-comics, as well as a bunch of mislabeled books that aren’t really graphic novels.
Value priced: Jason Thompson was the editor of the manga magazine Shonen Jump back when it was a monthly magazine on paper and cost $4.95 for 250 pages, so the first thing he notes about the new digital version is that at $25 for 48 issues, it’s a much better deal. Thompson then critiques the magazine as a whole, looking at both the content and the interface with a critical eye.
DC’s dollar sale: In honor of Black History Month, DC Comics is running a 99-cent special on a variety of comics that feature African-American heroes. There’s a different batch each week, so check the list and plan accordingly!
A former book editor and newspaper reporter, Brigid Alverson started MangaBlog to keep track of her daughters¹ reading habits and now covers comics and graphic novels for Comic Book Resources , School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly Comics World, Robot 6, and MTV Geek. She also edits the Good Comics for Kids blog at School Library Journal. Brigid was a judge for the 2012 Eisner Awards. Send her an email to wordballoons@gmail.com