Comixology Pullist/Older Fans/Marvel Unlimited/Scribd news!

[ComicTrekker]

John and Sam,

I've been away from this forum for too long...but I've been keeping up to date on the awesome CBP podcasts the whole time! You made a number of comments during the episode covering the January 2015 comics sales figures which I really resonate with, and thought I'd over some input. I'm actually only about 31 minutes into the podcast, but I had a few minutes and thought I'd just dive in!

First, John, you were asking for input regarding Comixology's Pullist service. I've been using it for at least six years now and, even though I have been an all-digital consumer since 2011, I find it to be an indispensable tool as I prepare for my purchases. I find the site to be easy to use, and when used in conjunction with the iPhone app, it serves as a great reminder of what I want to purchase any given week. There are some titles which I do want to buy, but don't buy day and date for whatever reason, and I find this app helps me keep track. What would be helpful is if they would add a feature that would help me keep track of books I've read (an archive option, like their digital comics service) and a place to rate the book (again, these are available on their Comixology digital comics service, but if this data were made available to all users, I think it would be cool for others to see what I've read and what I thought of the issue.)

Second, I am totally with each of your comments on being an "older fan"! My current status quo in life challenges my comic book hobby every single day. I have a full time job, am married, and have three kids ages 7-12, and it seems every year the amount of time and money I have available to me for my hobby dwindles even more. As a result, I recently made the decision to limit the amount of day-and-date titles I buy in an effort to stretch my comic book dollar a bit further. I only buy the DC titles I am really enjoying day and date. Otherwise, I wait at least two months when a particular title's price is reduced by one dollar, or wait for a 99 cent sale way down the road. This hurts a bit because I think while the quality of DC's titles has risen dramatically over the last few months (I almost gave up on them...that's how bad it was for me!), I believe Marvel's overall quality has been higher...especially since Marvel Now debuted. For indies, I usually wait for 99 cent sales now because indies seem to put their books on sale more often than the big two.

This ties in to my third comment about digital comics. I am doing something similar to what Sam said he was doing a couple months back. I am going to try to read all my Marvel titles through Marvel Unlimited. This will save me a ton of cash, and will essentially take the guesswork out of which titles to buy. If I buy a yearly subscription (which I am doing), it amounts to roughly $6.00 a month. Even though I'll be six months behind, I find that to be an incredible value for someone like me...especially since I decided to upgrade to a Samsung Galaxy 12.2 inch tablet for reading all my digital comics on. With the 12.2, there's almost a 1:1 size ratio between the screen and the size of the printed comic. This has been crucial to my enjoyment of Marvel Unlimited because I really don't like how they crop panels. On the iPad, I read in landscape "fit to width" mode, which is not possible on the Marvel Unlimited app. If you go landscape on the iPad, they split the comic into two pages, and in my opinion, that's just not big enough on an iPad screen. So I absolutely love the Galaxy 12.2.

Finally, another thing that might help me (and others) stretch their comic dollar is the result of pretty exciting news that came out this week regarding a subscription ebook service which has just added comics! Scribd has added more than 10,000 comics and graphic novels from publishers including Marvel, Archie, Boom! Studios, Dynamite, IDW/Top Shelf, and Valiant. The selection at launch is pretty impressive, too, even though Marvel Unlimited is better for the more die-hard Marvel fan. The service is $8.95 a month, and you can sign up for a one month free trial if you'd like to check it out, which I've done. So far, it works pretty well on both my Galaxy and iPad tablets. One thing I'll be doing right away is checking out the Valiant titles. It looks like they have almost every issue up until about three months ago. Pretty amazing! Here is a link to the article if you are curious: http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/10/scribd ... el-comics/

Anyway...John, Sam and Drew: you guys continue to knock it out of the park on your shows! You are still the first comics podcast I listen to. Thanks for the excellent discussion, and thanks, as well, to all the contributors here on the forum and on the Previews podcast episodes!

[drew]

Anyway...John, Sam and Drew: you guys continue to knock it out of the park on your shows! You are still the first comics podcast I listen to. Thanks for the excellent discussion, and thanks, as well, to all the contributors here on the forum and on the Previews podcast episodes!

Awesome to hear, thank you...love my Galaxy for digital comics for all the same reasons...hadnt heard of the sribd subscription but it sounds pretty awesome

[ComicTrekker]

I think the Scribd interface is kind of wonky and needs some work. I hope the service gives comics some exposure to a new audience.
Drew, I didn't know you had a Galaxy too. Glad you like it. It gets kind of heavy in my hands sometime, but I'll accept the trade off for a larger screen!
Daron

[fudd71]

Thanks for all the kind words and input.

I too read on a Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2 and love it, however must agree the one flaw is the weight. Laying in bed or on the coach reading for an extended period of time really tires out your arm.

[ComicTrekker]

Thanks for all the kind words and input.

I too read on a Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2 and love it, however must agree the one flaw is the weight. Laying in bed or on the coach reading for an extended period of time really tires out your arm.

Yes, it was surprising to me how the weight really can tire my arm...more so that an Absolute Edition! I think it has something to do with weight distribution. Still, I love it.

[ChrisMyers]

In answer to John's question about pull lists I use Charles LePage's ComicList: New comic book release list every week. It seems to be very accurate and it helps me coordinate what's coming out and my pull list at my LCS. John, your podcast is the first one I listen every week. You and Drew do a great job.