At the stroke of midnight on September 1, the comic world

changes forever. Yes, DC Comics

relaunched its entire line with the

new 52. But relaunches happen all the time, albeit not on this

scale. What will really shake the four-color universe is the fact that, for the

first time ever, full official digital versions of DC’s entire lineup will be available for download on the same day and date as the paper editions.

This is a bigger deal than the death of Superman, the new

face of Spider-Man, and every major “continuity event” of the past decade

rolled into one. That creaking sound you hear is the comics industry being

pulled into the future, bit by painful bit.

Why is a media entity as large as DC and an industry as

widespread as comics publishing still wrestling with the problems of digital

distribution in 2011?

The short answer is that the retail distribution system for

comic books is tied up in a fist-sized knot and has been for the last two

decades. Starting in the 1980s, most comic publishers discontinued newsstand

sales, where unsold issues could be returned for a refund, in favor of a “direct

market” system that shipped exclusively to specialized comic book stores on a

non-returnable basis.

But it turns out there is a problem distributing your

product exclusively through independently owned retail stores run by and for

your products’ biggest fans. Despite the efforts of some active and visionary

retailers, the odor of overgrown adolescent male hangs heavy over many comic

shops, creating a forbidding environment for women, kids, and casual fans who

might have an interest in the material but don’t want to put up with old-school

comic book culture. The Simpsons

character Comic Book Guy and his shop are, unfortunately, too close to the

truth to be considered a parody of many actual comic stores. The problem is, if

you don’t go to comic stores because you don’t like real-life Comic Book Guy,

it’s very tough to buy and become a regular reader of comics.

You would think that digital comics offer a neat way out for

the industry. Comics need to expand their audience; the web provides an easy

means of access. Tablets are a great way to read comics. Digital delivery does

away with the expense of printing and distributing paper copies, potentially

breaking the cycle of increasing cover prices without cutting the throats of

creators or publishers. Paid online channels like the Apple iStore and Netflix

are already well established in the minds and habits of consumers. It even

solves the problem of where to keep all those old comics once you’ve read them.