In the previous step in the journey to digital comics we looked at american comics — my main source of graphical entertainment. This time, we’ll look at mangas and its derivatives (manhwa, etc.), which used to be my close second until I became too old to read about high-school girls, alien high-school girls, demon alien high-school girls, and miniature gender-swapping demon alien hunter high-school girls. But then I figured, fuck it, I’ll just look like a creepy old guy in the bus. No worries.
The first step in the journey to digital comics was to figure out what kind
of hardware device to use. I concluded at the time that either the Transformer
Prime or the iPad were the best choices available (the first one for its ideal
aspect ratio and superior resolution, and the second one for its better use as a
general tablet device). Since then, the New iPad (or iPad 3 if you read this 2
years in the future… thank you Apple) was released with a new fantastic
display that makes it the best reading tablet on the market, so you may want
to look into this one as well.
The second step is to find out what channels are available to get your american
comics fix.
The first step in the journey to digital comics is to figure out what
you’re going to read them on. These days, the answer is pretty much going to
always be “a tablet”… but which one?
I had a quick look at the market back in late 2011 and here’s how I made up my
mind. First, I focused on the main ~10 inch tablets of the market. This included,
for instance, the Motorola Xoom, the Asus Transformer and the
Apple iPad 2.
You may have noticed that, a couple months ago, I bought myself an iPad 2
as an early Christmas present. This was the result of some market research
based on a few requirements I had for my next big household change:
transition from paper comics to digital comics.
The incentive to start reading digital comics was pretty obvious: after moving
my music, movies, TV shows and books to the digital world, it was only a matter
of time before I would do the same with my comics. Sure, just like I still like
to own some books in physical form, I will still buy some of my comics at my
friendly local store, but, realistically speaking, more than two thirds of my
collection is just enjoyable stuff I don’t care so much about — I want to read
it, but the book itself is not especially beautiful, and it’s not something
that would impress my guess when they spot it on the shelves.
For me, going digital is all about reclaiming space and uncluttering the
house where it makes sense.
As a result, here’s my “Journey to Digital Comics”, in the tradition of
Mike Vardy’s “Journey to…” series:
- The Journey to Digital Comics: Reading Device
- The Journey to Digital Comics: US Comics Apps
- The Journey to Digital Comics: Manga Apps
- The Journey to Digital Comics: Pros and Cons
- The Journey to Digital Comics: On Ownership and Stuff
- The Journey to Digital Comics: Conclusion
Edit: it turns out there’s a lot more to say than I expected, so I expanded
the series a bit.