August Frank/Inland 360
Will Thompson looks over a comic on a tablet, right, next to a physical comic book Monday.
I’ve spent my life sliding VHS tapes out of cardboard slipcases, prying CDs from jewel cases, folding down page corners of paperback books and getting light-headed from blowing on video game cartridges. Even while moving around as a military kid, my physical media collections remained largely intact. And like any collector, I had a stack of comic books from childhood.
As the cycle of life sees things we thought we’d outgrown return, I recently got the itch to read some Batman. I hadn’t read comics since college, when the only way to read collected issues of a series (called trade paperbacks) and graphic novels (a self-contained story released in a single volume) was to buy them or have a friend who would loan them out. It was expensive and risky, similar to blind buying CDs in the ’80s and ’90s when all you could hear was a song or two on the radio.
Thankfully, comics and graphic novels were legitimized in the eyes of culture at large in the 21st century. Library shelves are now teeming with titles in all genres. Thanks to interlibrary loan, I devoured several hundred dollars and half a shelf’s worth of Batman in a few weeks’ time.
I must pause here for a big kudos to the Valnet librarians who keep the shelves stocked, especially whoever does the ordering at the Moscow Public Library. You have excellent taste. (The Valley Automated Library Network is a consortium of nearly 50 school and public libraries in the region).
And just as anyone who has had a huge helping of exactly what they desired, all I wanted was more. I knew that buying physical collections was out of the question, so I looked into digital options.
Many digital comic book reading apps offer a guided view that automatically zooms in on panels and smoothly transitions from panel to panel, so reading on any device is easy on the eyes. Most apps sync across devices, too. Switch from full-page mode on your tablet to guided view on your phone or web browser in seconds. No bookmarks, no fussing with keeping things pristine or worrying about cover variants and shipping.
“Not one more subscription,” you scream. A subscription is not required, though the value of a digital comic book subscription can add up quickly, and there are plenty of options.
The broadest, catch-all service is Amazon’s Comixology. For $6 a month, dear reader, you can help yourself to an all-you-can-read buffet of top titles from the Big Two (Marvel and DC), as well as hundreds of others from independent publishers, including originals from Comixology’s own Comixology Originals line. Subscribers also get a 10% discount on all digital comics purchased for their digital library.
Marvel and DC also have their own subscription services and accompanying apps. The libraries are more extensive than Comixology, but only contain titles from their respective companies. Larger indie comic publishers, such as IDW, Image and Dark Horse, all have their own apps that offer their respective titles for purchase, but not subscriptions.
Lastly, Substack, the writing-focused publishing platform, and Patreon are excellent ways to support known comic creators and discover new ones. Comic writer mainstay Brian K. Vaughn (“Y: the Last Man,” “Papergirls”) is publishing his graphic novel “Spectators” solely via Substack. The first 150 pages are available for free, and new pages are published weekly for subscribers. He’s stated it won’t be published physically until it’s complete.
Not into comics? You should be. It’s far more than “just superheroes” and there’s something for all tastes. If the idea of another superhero makes your toenails curl, check out most anything from Vaughn, particularly “Saga,” which has as much heart as it has depth.
Another option: Daniel Clowes’ “Patience” is time travel noir with a psychedelic streak. DC fans will want to check out Scott Snyder’s run on “Batman,” which balances deconstructing the Dark Knight while maintaining his humanity. Start with “Court of Owls” or “Zero Year: Dark City.” Sean Gordon Murphy’s “Batman: White Knight” uses current events as a jumping-off point, but keeps things grounded to the world of Gotham City.
Writer Ram V reinvented Swamp Thing, and the results are beautifully transcendent, weaving cosmic mythology into the legacy of the green creature. Start with the first trade paperback in the series, “Becoming.” For the Marvel folks, Vaughn put his stamp on a limited run of Dr. Strange with “The Oath.” It’s short and fits well within what modern oeuvre for the Sorcerer Supreme. To be honest, I’m mostly a DC reader, so this is as far as I can take you here.
In an age where we’ve got more content than we can possibly consume, let alone store in the average home, the local library and digital comics are an essential component for any connoisseur of the sequential illustrated arts.
Thompson, VHS.D, holds a doctorate of cult media in pop culture from University of Maine at Castle Rock. He delivers lectures on movies and other pop culture topics under the moniker Professor VHS. Find him on Instagram as @professorvhs and reach him via email at lcvrecordswap@gmail.com.
