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A couple of things came to mind reading Downloading comics: threat or menace? over at Boing Boing.

One, some comics - namely Queen & Country - I prefer to read in the TPB. I think that reading an entire story arc at once can really enhance the experience. If you don’t believe me: go buy the first Y: The Last Man trade.

Two, my local comic shop is great. Great people, great selection of new and old titles, really great prices. But, their subscriptions aren’t worth a damn… I mean, if I don’t come in for a few weeks, none of my titles have been pulled or worse some have and some have not. So, I started thinking: there has to be a Technical solution for this. I’ll spare you the details, but I quickly went from envisioning ways of programmatically managing my subscriptions to designing my own Online Comic Shop. I can’t imagine that running a comic book shop is the most lucrative business. Online competition - be it from a “Amazon” Comics or P2P - is only going to hurt these local shops… but they have to compete more effectively…

Which brings me to my last point: sometimes online is the only place to get a comic… There is no way around it. For example, I missed Issue #4 of Powers Vol. 2 and now it’s out-of-print. Where’s the next place I looked? Ebay.

I generally agree with the notion that downloading may (eventually) drive business. In fact, I got hooked on Fables after downloading the (here it is again) out-of-print first issue. Great idea, Vertigo! Next?