Freeing the mind is the toughest part. Another aspect people have a hard time getting their arms around is the organizational aspect; physical comics pretty much have to be organized in some fashion if you want to be able to ever locate them, but search engine technology has de-emphasized the importance of that in a virtual environment. The digital files can be scattered from here to a server at the end of the earth, but a search will yield whatever is desired and even give it that veneer of order.

Imagine all comics available digitally, fully tagged for content, and purchased through a slick user interface that is just applying some boolean rules to your subset:

“I want to read FANTASTIC FOUR, but only those issues that JOHN BYRNE worked on, however I want to include any important CROSSOVER/EVENT content that might be found outside the main title.”

“I want to read MARVEL CIVIL WAR, in its entirety through ALL TITLES, unless it falls below a THREE STAR COMMUNITY RATING.”

There’s no longer any such thing as being jailed inside one title, because that’s how Marvel decided to publish this particular trade paperback.

“I want to see content through ALL MARVEL TITLES that includes DESTROYER as a character.”

With a few clicks, you’ve got a reading experience customized to your taste. I could see a future “per page” (or whatever constitutes a unit of digital copy measurement) pricing structure that would give you a reading bundle as thick or thin as you want with the appropriate price tag.

It’s the same evolution as we travelled from fixed album to iTunes track-focused music purchasing. The suggested trade paperbacks will still be there for a one-click reading purchase, but under the hood I can see us being able to do some astounding things in organizing our reading.

I sympathize with Mr. Mullins; that EXACT same scenario with THE INVADERS happened to me!

Digital delivery should alleviate that problem, though. GT Labs package of AVENGERS did not include the Giant Size issues, for example, some of which were part of continued storylines. Their defense was that they scanned everything that Marvel supplied them. That’s plausible, I suppose, but it doesn’t do the eager reader much good!

…but, as with all things comics, what happens when your Avengers issue contiunes into WEST COAST Avengers (for example)? Having Avengers #1-500 is great, except when the story goes elsewhere! Just ask poor Mike Mullins, who has all the Invaders, but now need Marvel Premiere #29 & 30 (with the Liberty Legion…which crossed over with Invaders #5 & 6…and I won’t even go into how he needs Freedom Fighters #7-9, as they had the Crusaders, who were DC’s version of the Invaders, as an Invaders run had the Invaders fight the Crusaders, who were Marvel’s version of the Freedom Fighters!

Thanks, Doug. I remember when I got the Avengers #1 – #500 run from GT Labs on DVD a few years ago, it was awesome to finally be able to read those missing issues that I knew I would probably never own!

Well done as always, JJ.

My personal fave webcomic is currently on hiatus, but there’s plenty of goodness available at http://www.kukuburi.com/v2/2007/08/09/one/