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Home , Amazon Kindle, ComiXology, Digital comic

ComiXology and the Future of the

Hannah Johnston

Abstract

Since its launch in 2007, comiXology has been a key player in the digital industry. ComiXology acts as a mediator between readers and texts, offering unique features with a profound effect on the reading experience in a digital environment. The Guided View interface alters the relationship between content and form, and introduces a level of editing distinct from the physical comic book. Similarly, comiXology’s DRM-free backups and subscription service provide different models for ownership of digital content. ComiXology’s model can also be understood through analysis of e-book distribution; ’s Kindle provides a salient counterpoint. This paper incorporates the theories of multiple digital humanities scholars in order to explore how comiXology is influencing the future of the comic book.

Keywords: Comic , digital humanities, distribution platforms, comiXology

The digital comic book distribution platform comiXology is a valuable generative example in comparing various theoretical approaches to the medium. In this paper, I will analyze what reading experiences the comiXology interface inspires, and what relationship to the text it generates. By examining the digital comic book as a specific genre within wider discourse on the future of the book, this paper will engage with multiple salient topics: interface theory, e-commerce, and ownership of digital content. This holistic approach to digital comic books both examines how the medium is theorized in the digital humanities, and facilitates an exploration of its marketing and consumption as a mass-market product. ComiXology is an online distribution platform for digital comic books and graphic novels. Users are able to purchase texts to read on PC/Mac computers, an iPad/iPhone app or its Android equivalent, or an . ComiXology distributes comic books from a variety of publishers. JOHNSTON COMIXOLOGY AND THE FUTURE OF THE DIGITAL COMIC BOOK

These include large houses like DC, Marvel, and Image, as well as smaller self-published indie creators. ComiXology was founded in 2007 and acquired by Amazon in 2014 (McCracken, 2014). The platform released its iPhone app in 2009, and aided in software development for Marvel and DC’s digital comic apps (Wershler, 2011, p. 132-133). Contemporary digital culture and comic book scholarship make the significance of comiXology in the digital comic book market particularly salient:

Despite a 300 percent growth of $17 million in digital comics sale revenue for the industry as a whole between 2010 and 2011, by 2012 the market had begun to shake out with a single EST [Electron Sell-Through] service, ComiXology, accounting for approximately 76 percent of sales…by the end of 2012, ComiXology had signed exclusive distribution deals with both DC and …for the last few years its iPad app has been one of the top-grossing iOS apps in Apple’s App Store. (Steirer, 2014, p. 460)

For the purposes of this paper, I will focus on a few key features of comiXology, examining the relationship between the text and the form in which it is presented to readers in a digital environment. ComiXology’s patented Guided View reading mechanism is of particular relevance to interface theory. As stated on comiXology’s website, Guided View “allows readers to view a comic on a panel- by-panel basis suitable for mobile devices in a way that mimics the natural motion of the user’s eye through the comic” (comiXology Support, 2014). Rather than seeing a full one or two-page spread, the reader advances through the panels sequentially. This feature is optional and can be disabled by the user. By suggesting that Guided View creates a naturalistic reading experience, comiXology tempers resistance from cautious adopters of digital comics. This is part of a wider shift to market digital comic books to a broader, non-niche audience (Steirer, 2014, p. 465). The design of the Guided View feature is indicative of comiXology’s orientation towards mobile devices. Minute text and detailed illustrations are difficult to see on devices with smaller screen dimensions, and Guided View facilitates readability. From a practical perspective (and an accessibility one) this feature is beneficial. However, it also fundamentally alters the reader’s experience of the text; although the intention of Guided View is to mimic natural vision, the reader’s subjectivity is compromised. For instance, a sense of artificial suspense can be created, since readers cannot see the content of upcoming panels. When reading a paper comic book, the reader is aware (at least vaguely) of the content of all panels in the two-page spread open at a given moment. As comic book and markup language scholar John Walsh points out: “while the reader’s eyes and attention may focus on a single panel at a time, other panels on the page remain in the reader’s field of vision” (Walsh, 2012, para. 6). Walsh also suggests that the juxtaposition of different panels creates meaning in the comic book, and that presenting individual panels in isolation disrupts the original intent of the text (Walsh, 2012, para. 6). In certain panels – often full page illustrations – the digital image pans out from an affected zoom. This is an act of editing, creating movement not found in the original text.

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In 2012, Marvel released its first digital exclusive comic; a New York Times article on the release stated the following:

As each successive panel appears on the screen, each tap or click can reveal a new caption, subtly change an illustration or replace it entirely. Focusing and blurring effects can heighten the reading experience or simply allow one to appreciate the artwork, which is richer and more vibrantly colored than the printed page. (Gustines, 2012)

The article goes on to suggest that digital comics have the potential to alter not just the way that users interact with the text, but the way that authors write and design to take advantage of digital modality (Gustines 2012). Interface theorist Matthew Kirschenbaum (2004) criticizes the assumption that interface and content can be separated, suggesting that the two are intrinsically connected in the user’s experience of a text. This sort of logic is evident in comiXology’s Guided View: the idea that digital technology can seamlessly approximate the experience of human reading in a print environment. Other digital humanities scholars hold that it may be valuable to approach meaning in digital books differently than in their printed form. Johanna Drucker (2009), writing of e-books, argues:

There has been too much emphasis on the formal replication of layout, graphic, and physical features, and too little analysis of how those features affect the book’s function. Rather than thinking about simulating the way a book looks, then, designers might do well to consider the ways a book works. (p. 166)

Guided View emphasizes the way that a reader’s eye moves through a printed comic book, but it also contains the potential to rethink storytelling through . Use of intentional suspense is one possibility. Motion comics – which combine animation and sound with traditional illustration – are an exemplary form exploring the potential of digital tools. Exploration and innovation are made possible by considering the digital comic book as a distinct medium. Attempting to recreate a print reading experience does not take advantage of the affordances of a digital environment. Other features of comiXology have been salient to its commercial success. However – as with the sale of e-books – issues of content ownership are endemic to . ComiXology was acquired by Amazon in 2014, which prompts examination of the different distribution techniques employed by the two companies. Rowberry (2015) characterizes the launch of Amazon’s Kindle e-reader in 2007 as the “‘iPod moment’ of ,” marking a cultural shift that legitimized that digital medium (p. 6). In a similar vein, Maxwell (2013) suggests that sale of e-books and their printed equivalent is part of Amazon’s wider commercial strategy as a digital conglomerate (p. 36). Acquisition of comiXology fits with this monopolistic intent, as it allows Amazon to control to another medium. Doody (2013) argues that Amazon’s marketing of the Kindle employs remediation (situating

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a new medium in relation to an older medium) as a rhetorical strategy (p. 136). This is achieved by “combining homage to the printed book (assuring readers of the familiarity of the Kindle’s content) with rivalry with it (vaunting the Kindle’s technological superiority)” (Doody, 2013, p. 142). This is analogous with comiXology’s approach to Guided View. By suggesting that it mimics natural eye movement throughout a comic, comiXology positions its interface as both an ordinary progression from print reading practices, and an improvement through the use of advanced technology. Multiple e-book theorists argue that digital rights management (DRM) is significant to Amazon’s distribution strategy (Maxwell, 2013, p. 37-38; Doody, 2013, p. 140-141). Digital humanities scholar Ted Striphas (2009) suggests that the distributors of commercial e-book technology categorically maintain control over the transfer and manipulation of purchased content (p. 45). This functions to undermine the principles of consumer capitalism that define sale as the complete and perpetual transfer of ownership rights (Striphas, 2009, p. 45). A high level of access control is afforded by DRM tools and software. According to Maxwell (2013), the proliferation of DRM has resulted in “walled gardens” in the competitive e-book market (p. 38). He posits that DRM is “ostensibly aimed at preventing e-book piracy…but fairly transparently in the service of locking customers in to one or another retail platform – that is, of using technology to enforce customer loyalty” (Maxwell, 2013, p. 37). In many cases, purchase of an e-book amounts to rental; the distributor or publisher retains the ability to remove the text from a user’s device or account at any given time. In an infamous example from 2009, Amazon deleted copies of and 1984 from users’ Kindles, due to an issue of infringement (Doody, 2013, 140). For most of the comics available through comiXology, ultimate ownership of the files rests with the distributor. According to Steirer (2014): Although ComiXology informs consumers at the checkout screen that they are ‘purchasing digital comics,’ consumers never actually receive such a thing. Indeed, the construction of the service suggests that consumers are not actually purchasing objects at all – digital or otherwise –but are rather purchasing access rights. (p. 463) ComiXology’s Unlimited Service functions in this way, albeit more transparently. Launched in 2016, Unlimited is a monthly subscription which provides users with reading access to a selection of comics, but no rights of ownership. Some users expressed dissatisfaction at the offerings on comiXology Unlimited, because available titles are not as comprehensive as the entire catalogue of comics available for individual purchase (Leong, 2016). Complaints and critiques were also levied against Marvel’s Digital Comics Unlimited Service (a similar service launched in 2007), on the basis that it offered “pay-per- view” services rather than actual ownership (Stevens and Bell, 2012). Users were not able to download these comics, and thus had no claim to ongoing ownership beyond the subscription period (Stevens & Bell, 2012). Nevertheless, the Unlimited model makes explicit the relationship between users and comiXology, with the distributor functioning as service provider rather than traditional merchant. In 2014, comiXology began offering DRM-free backups of comics, at the publisher’s discretion. Users are permitted to download comics as PDF or CBZ files, allowing them to retain ownership

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even if they abandon their comiXology account (or, if comiXology deletes comics en masse in the style of Amazon). Both the Unlimited Subscription Service and DRM-free backups restore clarity to users’ ownership rights in a digital environment. This may also have connotations for digital piracy. Stevens and Bell (2012) suggest that “by insisting, as Marvel currently does, on proprietary formats or unprintable, non-savable files, the company may be pushing consumers away from legitimate venues to obtain their products.” ComiXology’s backup files have electronic watermarks (as a potential means of identifying parties responsible for pirated copies), and are a possible method of encouraging legal and legitimate methods of digital comic book ownership. Just as the physical arrangement of comic book panels informs the meaning of the text, numerous scholars have argued that the materiality of comics is essential to fan culture (Steirer, 2014, p. 455; Stevens & Bell, 2012; Wright, 2008). Stevens and Bell (2012) suggest that “in the past, comic knowledge alone did not grant one standing among comic book fans; the cache of cultural capital that one possesses was ancillary to the physical capital of property ownership.” In this paradigm, ownership of the physical text was the primary indicator of fandom and engagement with the genre (Stevens & Bell, 2012). User attitudes about ownership vary, but Stevens and Bell (2012) contend that many do not consider ownership of a digital copy to be equivalent to physical ownership. The authors cite Frederick Wright’s study, which found that 73% of respondents did not consider an electronic comic book library to be a legitimate collection (Stevens & Bell, 2012). Steirer (2014) goes into greater detail about the basis of this bias, arguing that electronic distributors like comiXology limit modes of consumption to buying and reading; digital comics cannot be organized, displayed, or resold, which removes major substantive activities of traditional comic book collecting (p. 465). He goes on to suggest that this “disabling of an entire repertoire of behaviours” represents a shift from collection based culture to “readerly, market- driven culture” (Steirer, 2014, p. 466). Guided View, comiXology Unlimited, and DRM-free backups all represent different facets of this new framework for understanding comic books, challenging the fundamental materiality that characterizes the medium. In this paper, I have discussed how the future of the comic book is being configured in a digital environment. ComiXology is an example of a digital distribution platform which has had a significant impact on how readers interact with comic books. The Guided View feature purports to recreate the experience of print comics, but alters the meaning of the text. This has the potential to redefine the design of digital-born comics to take advantage of digital technology. ComiXology is also part of the larger commercial framework marketing digital media to consumers. The Unlimited Service engages in the idea of media as service rather than content, but the availability of DRM-free backups of certain comics re-establishes a level of legitimate, outright ownership for digital comics. Like the future of the book, the future of the comic book is influenced by a range of actors and influences. Scholarly projects such as Walsh’s Comic Book Markup Language (CBML) demonstrate the potential for rigorous and engaged comic scholarship, facilitated by XML encoding and a digital environment. Further research into scholarly praxis and the digital comic book could provide additional depth in this field. Combined

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analysis of intellectual, practical, and commercial concerns can help define the stakes of the medium, and elucidate how this genre is affected by Web 2.0 and digital technologies.

References

Doody, C. (2013). Trying to “out-book the book:” Amazon’s marketing of the Kindle. Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada, 51. Retrieved from http://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ bsc/article/view/20765/17000 Drucker, J. (2009). Modeling functionality: From codex to e-book. In SpecLab: Digital aesthetics and projects in speculative computing (pp. 165-175.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Gustines, G. G. (2012, May 30). In new digital comic books, every tap brings a surprise. . Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/31/technology/personaltech/in-new- digital-comic-books-every-click-brings-a-surprise. Kirschenbaum, M. (2004). “So the colors cover the wires”: Interface, aesthetics, and usability. In S. Schreibman, R. Siemens & J. Unsworth (Eds.), A companion to digital humanities. Blackwell. Retrieved from http://www.digitalhumanities.org/companion Leong, L. (2016, May 26). ComiXology isn’t Netflix for comics – here’s why that’s ok. TechRadar. Retrieved from http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/comixology-unlimited-isn- t-netflix-for-comics-but-that-s-ok-1322262 Maxwell, J. W. (2013). E-book logic: We can do better. Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada, 51. Retrieved from http://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/bsc/article/view/20761/16996 McCracken, H. (2014, April 10). Department of inevitable acquisitions: Amazon buys ComiXology. Time. Retrieved from http://time.com/58561/comixology Rowberry, S. (2015). Ebookness. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies [pre-print], 1-18. Steirer, G. (2014). No more bags and boards: Collecting culture and the digital comics marketplace. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 5, 455-469. Stevens, J. R., & Bell, C. E. (2012). Do fans own digital comic books? Examining copyright and intellectual property attitudes of comic book fans. International Journal of Communication, 6, 751-772. Striphas, T. (2009). E-books and the digital future. In The late age of print: Everyday book culture from

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consumerism to control (pp. 19-46). New York: Columbia University Press. Walsh, J. (2012). Comic book markup language: An introduction and rationale. Digital Humanities Quarterly, 6. Retrieved from http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/6/1/000117/000117. html Wershler, D. (2011). Digital comics, circulation, and the importance of being Eric Sluis. Cinema Journal, 50, 127-134. “What is comiXology’s Guided View™ technology?” (2014, March 17). ComiXology Support. Retrieved from https://support.comixology.com/customer/portal/articles/768035-what-is-comixology- s-guided-view%E2%84%A2-technology Wright, F. (2008). How can 575 comic books weigh under an ounce?: Comic book collecting in the digital age. Journal of , 11.

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