Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio. This week, Bennett talks about comics on tablets.Back in 2012, over the course of entirely too many columns, I revealed that I had decided I liked reading digital comics enough to invest in an "electronic device" of my very own. To recap, at the end of the year over the course of a couple of weeks I tried out a defective Toshiba Excite 10, then bought a Nexus 7--which was promptly stolen. Then just when it looked like this poor orphan boy wouldn't have a very Merry Christmas someone sent him an iPad 2. This was without question the single most gracious and generous thing anyone has ever done for me and it remains much appreciated.
It also changed my life, which may sound a bit over the top as well as more than a little sad, but it actually kind of did. For someone with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)* stuck doing 9-5 office work, it provided the perpetual distraction I needed to survive. I know to some this modern obsession with our screens seems like a sign of impending societal collapse, but for me it just feels like the world has finally caught up with me. I was there, so trust me, along with being dull, gray and overwhelmingly Caucasian, the past was desperately pokey. I can't go back and nobody can make me.
There were podcasts, videos, new forms of social media and, of course, comics. Archie has regularly been releasing digital exclusive collections of some of their B-list characters; Marvel often offers digital editions of their trade paperbacks for only $3.99. And these days my favorite DC Comics are digital exclusives; in particular, Scooby-Doo Team-Up and of course Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga. I've got to admit that having read Chip Kidd's book Bat-Manga I thought I knew what to expect from the weekly comic, but what I received was a whole lot weirder.
I've been thoroughly happy with my iPad. Over the last two years it's never given me a moment's concern or cause to complain. My eyes, however, haven't been doing quite as well. I just got a new prescription and while my comics were still eminently readable on the iPad 2's 10-inch screen I found that I wasn't enjoying the reading as much as I used to. So I felt it time to upgrade the apparatus. There've been rumors that Apple will be producing a 12-inch tablet but there still hasn't been an official announcement, so for Christmas I got myself a Samsung Galaxy Pro 12.2. It's a bit pricey but I managed to buy a refurbished model from Amazon at 40% off the SRP; my new pair of glasses cost more.
You wouldn't think that the addition of a mere 2 inches of screen would make that big of a difference, but I quickly found that (at least for me) the reading experience was greatly improved. Reading digital comics was fun again, especially Cinebook's output of translated European comics which really need the extra space. And I also found that I could easily put copies of my own public domain comics on DropBox and then read them on any number of comic book reader apps available from Google Play.
* It's something I've had to deal with all my life which I've always thought of as being a shortcoming. However, according to an essay written for the New York Times by Richard A. Friedman, recent neuroscience research apparently shows that people with ADHD are "actually hard-wired for novelty-seeking--a trait that had, until relatively recently, a distinct evolutionary advantage." Apparently I have "sluggish and underfed reward circuits, so much of everyday life feels routine and understimulating." Who knew?
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
