It's like the old days. If rich people liked the work of a poet or artist, they would give him (or her) money, and the poet or artist would create more art for the entertainment of the payor. If you didn't get paid, you didn't create more art; you starved, or got a real job.

Steal all the comics you want, just know that you lost your right to complain when something you like gets cancelled or someone you like quits working on them.

what peers said.

Only if that happens because people chose to steal those comics and it caused a series I love to die Id be extra mad at those people who felt the need to steal it. I have no sympathy for someone not affording something and deciding its okay to steal it.

wow, shoulda known he was an 'entitled' kid

the sad thing is that the attitude he is showing is not at all uncommon in the current generation of kids. They feel entitled to their hearts desire and if they don't grow out of it there could be a lot of industries that go belly up in 10 to 20 years.

Kids, hell, 20-year-olds and even some early-30s feel that way.

true but there are less of them that do. each progressive generation feelings of entitlement are growing. I realize that there are those in my generation which is about to hit our 30's that feel that way and I feel terrible for society that they likely will have kids one day that they will teach to feel that way as well.

I will point out that the DC App and the Marvel App for Android has SOME free issues on it - generally firsts of popular story lines with links to download more issues (for .99 to 4.99 / issue). It's a good starting point:.

And the Apps themselves are free. So, that meets the free criteria.

And it's legal.

First and foremost: "Your wrong" should be "You're wrong" - you want the contraction form meaning "you are." And that is only the start of how wrong you are.

You want to read 'free' comics, go check out Webcomics. We'll address that later with your preposterous notion of ad revenue...but there are some good ones out there. Personally, I like Questionablecontent and El Goonish Shive. http://www.questionablecontent.net and http://www.egscomics.com.

You're absolutely right. It isn't your fault. Unfortunatly, that's not the issue. It's their JOB to make these comics and hope to make a profit off of them. Your arguement is the like saying that it is OK to steal a car because it isn't your fault that the auto industry can't find a better way to EARN money than the make cars.


They do - they have apps available for mobile devices (Android and Apple (I prefer the Android personally) that stores the comics online. You can get SOME free issues and purchase the rest - some at discounted prices, some at full cover. They don't bother with Ad space, because they pay the programmers out of the profits (I assume) from the app. A lot of the comics you purchase physically also have the 'download' code for the mobile app so you get two versions of the comic for the price of one (encouraging digital sales as well as physical in many respects).

Now see, here's where you are truely wrong. Ad space? Yeah, it CAN generate profit. But not nearly enough to create a significant income. ALL major webcomics exist off of two income streams - Ad Space and Merchandising. And the big ones - the ones that generate a LOT of profit and are able to support big artists and big projects - don't get NEARLY as much from their Ad Revenue as from their merchandising.

Penny-Arcade, for instance, does not operate off of its Ad Revenue alone. In fact, they recently held a project to survive a year without having ANY Ad Space. Of course, you had to give them money first...up front. And no where in there did they say they would lay off of the Merchandising - which IS their significant revenue stream at this point - so really, the Ad money is nothing. Not for big comics with quality production and a regular schedule.

Other webcomics - the majority of them of which operate off of ad sales - aren't professionals. They miss updates, the miss opportunities, their servers go offline, or they can't produce. And everyone is OK with that because they aren't held to a professional standard. For some reason, the interenet audience has accepted incompetence, failure, and inability to hold to self imposed deadlines as acceptable. Which, to put it bluntly, is bull-hockey.

DC and Marvel? They don't have that option - not typically (there are exceptions) because they are professional organizations. They have to turn out their work consistently and readily if they want to keep making money and turning out profits. If they don't they lose. Everyone loses.

Your petulant sense of entitlement doesn't change that.

They've had a good long run of it, and, to put it bluntly, I disagree. I don't really want to pay $5.00 an issue, so I tend to buy from IDW and read the rest at the library while I wait for the collected volumes.
The issue of per issue pricing is one that can be debated elsewhere, and its a big thing, but it's not the sole reason comics are having some troubles. The media and medium are changing and they're a bit behind, in my opinion, but that's a seperate debate.

It also has nothing to do with your sense of entitlement.


You're wrong here too. I believe you meant "...but I'm not going to buy them...." Given that no one is forcing you to buy anything. I assume. Or is a DC marketing person holding you with a gun to your head. If that's the case, and he's letting you post online, simply reply to this topic with the phrase "Redwing has landed" and we'll know to call the cops. It'll be our little secret though. Don't let him see this message.

Assuming my correction above is correct:

Good, buy the ones you want. That only makes sense. In theory, the ones that people buy continue and the ones they don't end. This happens in EVERY industry. Except maybe porn. Maybe.

A) Again, you're using the wrong words here. It should be "SOPA (the first letter of each word in an acronym should be capitalized) and PIPA were created....
And that's an easy way you're wrong. Let's continue below with the slightly longer version of why you're wrong.


No, they weren't. SOPA and PIPA were designed to stop piracy - which is a significant problem and, with this new generation (here comes my teacher side) it's only going to get worse. I see it consistently in my High School students and Freshman as well.

SOPA and PIPA would have been passed - the internet was in agreement that their purpose - stopping online Piracy - was sound. They were too over reaching and too overarching in their power. Which is why 99% of the internet rose up to stop them. If sites like Google and Wikipedia hadn't chimed in to point out how over powered the two acts were, they would have passed easily. As it was, someone was watching the law to stop the power grab.

To put it bluntly, your interpretation of the events is wrong. Most of the organizations that 'blacked out' had no problem with the goal of SOPA and PIPA and agree that piracy online is a significant problem. What they didn't agree with was the amount of power those two acts yielded and how it was wielded.

Your sense of entitlement not withstanding.

I think my dog should crap gold and generate electricity for my house.

Yes, that's how rediculous that sounds.

Things on the internet cost money - server costs, bandwidth allocation, DNS registry, site promotion, all of it. And that's just the cost to the PIRATES.

The cost to the legitimate makers of material? Go watch a making of feature somewhere and see how many people it takes to actually make a movie. The Avengers didn't have its huge budget JUST because of Robert Downey Jr and Jackson (though it was a significant part) but because of how many people worked on it. Artists, lighting designers, motion capture, caterers, mechanics, auto workers, coffee providers, and HUNDREDS of other people.

Yet somehow, it's their fault they can't find some other line of work.

Bull.

Your sense of entitlement not withstanding.

Congratulations! Assuming you aren't refering to the free issues for the Mobile apps, you've confessed, in writing, to committing a crime.

Go read the rules forum. We do that a lot there.

In fact, that's HCRealms in a nutshell. To a fervent degree.

Go for it. I hate to say it, but I hope someone catches you in an IP sweep and you get charged for the media on your drive or network space. Up the wazoo. A lot. Then you can pay far more than the collection is worth in fines and fees and have it all deleted.

First of all, I am 21 years old. I am young, but I still now how our economy works. I'm also in college for computer programming. I did make a mistake with the things I said. I forgot about my local comics book store. If comics all went online like current magazines are, then the comic book store wouldn't be there. I would hate that. I want my comics book store to stay there. Actually, what I'm doing isn't illegal. I don't download anything. Nothing is on my hard drive.

Oh dear god -- kids like this are what give us programmers a bad name.

Like Webcomics?

Yes, you are wrong.

You mean "....but I still know how our economy works.

Yes, you are 21. Good for you. You sound like every other idiot Freshman that I work with at my college (I'm 28 for reference) who thinks they are somehow entitled to something for nothing.

I also work in computers and did so for 5 years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_infringement - this is a good place to start to understand how wrong you are that simply 'reading' the material (even if it is not on your hard drive) still constitutes the violation of the law and is chargeable.

Your sense of entitlement not withstanding.

let me put it this way too. I actually feel bad for people that can't afford to read the comics they want. Ultimately Ive reduced a lot of titles I follow on a regular basis because of per issue cost.

I used to buy each issue and then by the Trade when it came out. Now only the series Im very serious about do i collect issues. Otherwise if I really want the book then I just by the trade when it comes out on paperback.

This means I have to wait a few months longer than those that follow per issue but its worth it because Im still contributing to the industry I love. Id love to see less series being sold per issue and more just as trades every few months.

Though if they decided to go that route it would be harder on LCS'. Now if its an ultra popular series like Batman, Xmen, Iron Man, Spider Man, Justic League, etc then sell per issue because those titles can help to carry some of the titles that don't sell quite as well and make those that don't sell quite as well trade only titles to reduce printing costs on those.


So all that being said I do fell for you on the not being able to afford content you really love to follow but the problem with the attitude that seems to be prevalent these days is if you can't afford it then you shouldn't have to do without so its okay to take what you want.

This attitude of entitlement filters over into other things in life as well and its easy to become a drain on the system with an attitude like that. All Im saying is that there was a time in this country and heck all over the world where people felt responsible for themselves and did business in an honest way and there were far less people taking from others.

on another note as was stated above you did essentially just admit in writing that you commit a crime on a regular basis. If I were a conspiracy nut Id say the government has probably already read that statement and are going to start investigating you but I know they have better things to do than hang out on an internet forum.

Also I just want to point out that those people that have been caught pirating in the past have payed far and above what they would have payed for the content had they just payed for them in the first place and I can assure you that these comic book companies are more than happy to have charges pressed against those that are thieving their material.

I woudl highly suggest comixology and the marvel and dc apps. As has been pointed out before at the very least you can read a first issue of a run for free quite a lot and see if your going to really be interested in buying this series or not and if your not willing to pony up the cash for the series then don't pirate it just because you have a sense of entitlement.

First of all, this thread is hilarious!

Second, I have a very valid question for you. Why do you care if your comic shop closes or not? You get all of your comics for free, so you technically have no use for a store that is in the market to sell comics.

It's called back-tracking, because he's admitted to doing something that companies tend to sue over, and the publisher of Ultimate Spider-Man (the title that he says he's pirating - or maybe he's not) is now owned by a company that is famously litigious. Of course, I have no idea why he'd say that he's 21 and not 14 (the former gets *you* sued, while the latter gets your parents sued), when he could have just said that he's Swedish and a practicing Kopimist (really, you want to click that link).