This month I made a decision that I had put off for months - With a few exceptions I will only buy digital comics.

There are a lot of discussions out regarding about this topic so I decided to share my decisions and thoughts about that theme.

Background Information

I am 42 years old. I have been reading and collecting comics for more than 30 years. In the beginning collect was difficult because my mom used to donate my comics to the less fortunate ones.

As soon as I became economically independent from my parents I began to read more titles and therefore collecting more titles.

During all these years many things happened to my life (as it happens with anybody`s life) and my interest in comic books reading suffered many variations caused by time, money, artistic and story constraints. Additionally, my beloved character “Flash” had died in Crisis on Infinite Earths and I really felt betrayed by DC Comics.

Of course, I supported “Flash” New Series (Wally West) and this title was basically the only DC Comics title that I cared about.

As time went by my trust in DC Comics increased and I became a regular reader of many of its titles.

As as serious collector I always follow these rules:

Important Tips in Collecting Comic Books

• Storage - Storage is always a problem - Not only space allocation but keep the collection safe from common things like bugs, humidity and excessive light is very importing. (“Bag and Board” politics) 
• Organization - To keep your collection organized is important to ease any search into the collection and a key factor to double check if you lost any monthly issue. In my personal case I use an excel file to manage from the comic book issue arrival in my home until its storage.
• Collection Update Status - At least once a year review all you collection. It is a preventive work to keep your collection safe.

Important Facts that Drove my Decision

• Time - As I said I am a serious collector - I believe things have to be done right and I really don’t have enough time to dedicate to my collection as I should.
• Storage - Storage comic books in my apartment has been a constant nightmare. As many of the collectors I know, we collect other things besides comics books.
• Cost - I live in Brazil. I use the TFAW service to ship my comics to my country in a 4 -week basis. This cost me around 60 dollars per month - It is not TFAW fault it just international shipping costs.

The Decision

• Tablet - I had tried to read comics in my laptop but at the end I have decided to buy an Apple Ipad 2 (the most simple - Wireless and 16G)
• Digital Service - After some research I have decide to acquire my comics book exclusively at Comixology.

Benefits of the Decision

• Mobility - Now I can take my collection anywhere I go.
• Search Time - Now I can search for any event that happened in previous issues much faster.
• Cost - As explained before, shipping cost always caused some impact in my financials. Saving 9 months of shipping costs allowed me to buy an Ipad.
• Time Saving - Instead of waste time managing my collection I can read more titles.
• Publishing Date - Now I can read (DC Comics) my comics at the same time people in US are reading.
• Back Issues - Comixology and DC Comics are doing a great effort to digitalize all “70s until now” issues. It is a chance to the new readers (and the old ones who missed) experience the great comics of the old days. 

Downside of the Decision

• Investment - The value of anything is measured by the rarity of the item. It is a universal belief and it applies to comic books also. If you can’t resell or rent a comic book its value tends to zero. It is about the same case with music files (Here we have a question of DRM, but I will not talk about that today) - So, if you think in financial return, think about print copies.
• Reading Experience - For some guys Ipad (or other large tablet) comic book reading experience is not good because the screen is smaller than original. To solve that, Comixology has a “Guided View” technology that gives a zoom to show first the part of the lettering ballons and after the big picture - It is really a nice feature, but again some people don’t like it.

Final Thoughts

My belief is that in some years all DC Comics comic books will be available in Comixology. I know that for guys of my generation this can sound strange and sometimes we tend to feel a little hurt to see our beloved #1 issues available for everybody. 

This must be seen as an evolution where information can be accessed by anybody for a few bucks. It happened with music, it is happening with regular books (and newspapers) and will happen with comic books.

In a few years, many of the low-selling titles to be available digitally. Who knows how long it takes until all of the production of comics be available exclusively in digital media?

So, my advice to you is: Clear your mind and embark on this train while it is in the station.  We cannot stop the progress.

(This blog does not have any commercial agreement with companies Apple or Comixology. All information provided above is based on a personal experience of the author of this post.).