Tech Blog

[#1]

    

Earlier in the month, Kobo announced their latest partnership with Dark Horse Comics, showcasing their best-selling comics on the Kobo Vox eReader.  I had the chance to check out this new addition to the Kobo library firsthand and with some very good results!  

If you're not familiar with Dark Horse Comics, they are one of the most innovative comic companies out today, bringing readers several popular titles like Sin City, Hellboy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Goon and many more, each focusing on much darker themes than your typical superhero fanfare.  While these comics can also be found on iPhone/iPad and Android devices, Dark Horse's partnership with Kobo seems all the more fitting.  

“All of us at Kobo are thrilled to add Dark Horse’s amazing titles to our library,” says Michael Tamblyn, EVP Content, Sales & Merchandising. “Based on strong visual storytelling, comics are a great fit for the eReading industry. This partnership truly marks a continuation of Kobo’s ‘Read Freely’ philosophy, where we’re dedicated to providing a world-class catalogue of titles suitable for any market.”

While only available on the Kobo Vox, this 7" touchscreen eReader is a perfect way for readers like you or me to experience a comic in vivid colour. I'm sure this eReader has already been covered extensively on Future Shop, but for me it was a first-time affair.  I tend to be pretty old-school when it comes to reading (you should see my book/comic book library!) but there is a real convenience in having digital copies of all of your favourite series.

While a colour touchscreen is an automatic bonus when it comes to eReaders nowadays, the Vox also features outdoor screen optimization and extra-wide viewing angles -- perfect for people on-the-go.  While I won't go into too much more detail about the Vox (I mean, it's already been out since May 2010!), I'll focus more so on the comics themselves and how they look and feel on the eReader.  

   

I had the opportunity to check out Volume 1 of Hellboy on the Vox and I was absolutely amazed by how vivid the colours truly were.  The creators behind Hellboy payed careful attention to colour and shading in the series and this was perfectly displayed on the eReader.  Even when viewing at different angles, the extra-wide viewing feature made it so that I could read the story freely without any annoying glare. 

One thing missing was the ability to pan from frame to frame -- one of my favourite new features in digital comics.  Sometimes, it can be hard keeping track of which frame comes first, especially for those not used to reading graphic novels, so I feel this definitely could have come in handy for some fast reading.  I suppose to compensate for that is the sharp, clear text so you'll almost never have to actually zoom in on any of the text boxes.  Hellboy's framing is never too abstract either so it shouldn't be too hard to pick up for first-timers.  

It's also nice to see such quick page turns when tapping the screen.  With about a 1 second response time, the last thing you'll have to worry about is gut-wrenchingly slow lag.  

That all said, this is a must-see for anyone interested in comics and own a Vox or plan on owning one in the future.  While there are definitely those who prefer trade paperbacks over digital copies, this will save a lot of time, money and space so it's worth the look.  

If you check Kobo's website, you'll find nearly 100 titles from Dark Horse with new titles to be added monthly. If you don't already have a Kobo Vox you can find them at Future Shop at the below product page: 

Kobo Vox 7" Touchscreen Colour eReader with Wi-Fi - Jet Black

SKU: 10180848

The Kobo Vox combines everything great about the Kobo with amazing new features that bring your reading experience to new levels. You'll enjoy hours of reading on the 7-inch colour display, downloading from a selection of 2.5 million titles, and even surfing the web and downloading apps from the Android market. The Kobo Vox is the eReader that does so much more.

  Read reviews (33)

[#2]

I personally love my KoboVox. I used it mostly for comics so I do appreciate the color display and the added Android apps are a nice touch, even though I don't use them that much.

The tablet looks pretty darn sleek, with a clean design and smooth edges. The screen creates a bit too much glare sometimes, but that's ok.

The most important feature for me is cloud storage. Really love the fact that it allows me to download my fav comics and books from all you can books directly to my Kobo, so I don't have to go around pluging it into computers and such. 

[#3]

I only got to test out the Kobo Vox in limited settings so I didn't really experience any of the glare issue.  I'll have to look into that more.

You're right, the tablet is super sleek and just really pretty to look at.  I wasn't aware of the cloud storage but that is definitely a plus, especially for fast and effecient downloads of your fav books/comics.  I'm honestly thinking about purchasing my own after having such a good experience with this one, even though I'm not usually into the idea of e-reading.  Really glad to hear you're enjoying your Vox, that's awesome  

[#4]

Can Vox access ComiXology, or the Marvel/DC/Image apps, or is it just Dark Horse right now?

Even with day-and-date digital, I can't seem to jump on board and give up my weekly trip to the LCS or my impenetrable fortress of longboxes, but the big two are starting to package digital redemptions with the hard copies on some titles, which is great. I like the idea of supplementally archiving my collection digitally Although I suppose a license to view isn't really archiving in the truest sense...  

[#5]

It might be fair to note too that while the Vox and other digital devices do indeed save "time and space", they don't necessarily save "money"... yet. Unless you're referring to gas money to and from the LCS

None of the major publishers yet offer a lower price between hard copy and digital on new releases. DC does drop the price of digital copies on the New 52 after 4 weeks by $1, but if you want it day-and-date, digital users pay the same as everyone else.

It's actually a pretty big point of contention in the industry right now. Digital adopters feel the price of digital should be less, given the perceived savings in production, distribution, etc. However, publishers also owe a dept to the local comic shops, as well as Diamond (the one and only major distributor of comics), who have solely supported the industry over the past 2 decades since the speculator crash of the 90's (you may recall, Marvel actually went bankrupt in the 90's, before they hit it big in Hollywood). Undercutting them on the price issue would be a huge slap in the face to the struggling backbone of the industry.

Not to mention the creators who still need to be compensated. Believe it or not, unless you are a big name like Grant Morrison or Brian Michael Bendis, most writers and artists in the industry struggle, and work exceptionally long hours, in order to eek out a middle class living.

[#6]

You think so?  The list price on trade paperbacks tends to be around the $15-25 mark and by shopping on Kobo you definitely get some good deals (comparable to prices you might pay at an independent comic book shop or bookstore).  

I have a few friends who are writers and artists in the comic book industry and, you're right, it's definitely difficult to make a living doing so. Even so, it's a labour of love for them and many others in the industry.  The same can be said for authors writing fiction/nonfiction since the industry can be so finnicky.  I support these talents every chance I get by purchasing physical copies but, like many of us, sometimes even that can be hard to do when struggling with money. Personally, I feel like we need to look out for ourselves just as much and if we find good deals like those on Kobo I say take advantage of it if you need it, yet still support the people making these comics/books whether it's by suggesting them to friends, talking about them on Twitter, etc.  It's easy to be an influencer and it's worth doing any way you can to help those businesses thrive.  A little can go a long way sometimes. 

[#7]

Oh definitely. There are always going to be deals to be had on bundle, or trade collections. Technically, my local comic shop or convention has those too... but that's not really what I mean to say. More or less I just mean that for those of us who still buy floppies every Wednesday, the cost is the same, whether we go digital or not. Animal Man #8 is 2.99 this week, cover price or digial. Avengers vs. X-men #1 is $3.99. When a new trade comes out, say like the next volume of Walking Dead or Sweet Tooth, The digital price in my experience is generally set to match the cover price as well.

Right now, if you're holding out for bargains, or reading based on what's bundled together for a good price, then definitely there are a LOT of deals in digital, and good stuff too. Dark Horse actually seems to be one of the frontrunners in offering digital discounts. But if you're someone who is reading in current continuity, at this point there isn't really a difference in cost. ...which I totally get isn't really in the scope of what you were saying in the first place, I'm just kind of on my own tangent about same-day digital releases now

Also, right now, digital sales are really just as beneficial for creators at major publishers as hard copies are, so buy away! At DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, IDW, etc creators generally get paid on a per-page rate. So at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if you're buying digital or not. However, what I was speculating toward, was the future. Right now artists at DC, for example, get their negotiated per-page rate, regardless of sales. If Batman #9 sells 100,000 hard copies at $2.99, then DC makes X amount of dollars, and Greg Capullo still makes his X per page rate for 22 pages. But if the future shifts toward digital, and consumers demand that the price be lower, then that rate per page may well drop. Most people seem to be at a general consensus that a digital issue should be at least $1 less than a hard copy. Unfortunately, DC does not save that much per issue printed. It costs less than $1 to print, ship, and store a single mass produced comic, plus you have to add in the costs of servers, scanning and formatting, etc...

So down the road, if next month Batman #10 sells another 100,000, but 80,000 of those become digital sales and a market-demanded rate of $1.99 per issue, then DC is going to start to see a drop in revenue, then Greg Capullo's contracted per-page rate is inevitably going to go down.