schmevil | Two more articles about the still-unfolding Scans Daily thing

Scans Daily Gets Crossed Out, And The Content War Continues

Whatever else you may think of SD, Gail is right in pointing out that it was a major comics community not beholden to the industry, as the major sites like Newsarama, CBR, etc. are. Just like the typical corporate media relies on business and government for “access” and exclusives, comics media relies on the goodwill of Marvel and DC to ensure it gets front-row seats at all the cons, exclusive previews, etc. That naturally leads to generally favorable (or at least not negative) treatment of the content itself. Places like SD, which did not rely on Joe Quesada’s or Dan Didio’s largesse, were free to call bullshit on bullshit, and give people who love comics but hate the industry as it stands a chance to vent in a friendly space. We need more places like that, not less.

Now, as far as the issue of infringing on copyright goes, this is another example of the vagueness and broadness of law colliding with entrenched business interests who are paranoid about their futures. What constitutes “fair use” when it comes to scanning comic pages, for instance? Is one panel okay? One page? Five pages? Where is the line drawn, or scanned in this case? Who decides when it’s okay to use something like SD to promote work and get people interested in buying a comic, and when it’s flagrant copyright infringement?

Marvel Shuts Down LJ Users

At this point anyone with an internet connection can in fact download the majority of new comics coming out on Wednesdays if not all of them. This has in fact been going on for a few years but people still do go to shops every week (or however you get your comics) and plunk down money for their favorite books, merch and what-have-you . Why do they do this if you can get them for free? People like paying for their books and supporting the medium they love, it’s that simple. People understand that if they don’t buy their favorite book with their favorite artists, writers, and characters they might not be on the shelf next month (though sometimes low book sales on fan faves can still lead to cancellation, no matter how much fans try to help promote their books). True, some do in fact download comics and do not in fact pay for them (and then go on the internet to complain about said downloaded comic), but I honestly can’t think of any way to stop them as do the companies producing the books (though Marvel may in fact be working on something legally actionable considering their Digital Comics). With that, nothing has been done by any companies (that I’m aware of) to stem the tide of new books available on torrent sites across the internet.

Two more articles about the still-unfolding Scans Daily thing

Re: “What the hell did he just say?”

Re: “What the hell did he just say?”