Mark Dudley, Illustrator and Sequential Artist, read Steve Bennett's latest column (see "Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--The World That's Coming Is Coming For You") and sent in the following comment:

I read Steve Bennett's "Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--The World That's Coming Is Coming For You" a couple days ago and it was an interesting take on things as is usual for Steve.

Steve is 10 years older than myself, but I to can remember hearing about how comics as a physical medium were doomed.  I agree with Steve's assertion that we have "heard the bells toll" on the physical comic book many times before.  However, I think that fate of comics is linked to larger market, that being periodicals.  So I think that one of the barometers as to the fate of comics is the goings on in the general periodicals market.

It is no secret that circulation is down in the periodicals market.  Even the good ole news paper has begun to spend more of its time online.  Major magazines like Time and Entertainment Weekly have strong online presences.  Because of the proliferation of porn on the net, Playboy has even been caught, no pun intended, "with it's pants down," losing more than it's share of readers.  Yet Borders and Barnes & Noble still have huge magazine sections with a diversity of titles.  Because these magazines are returnable the bookstores don't feel as if they are taking a huge risk on stocking them.  I believe that the comic market used to work the same way, or at least comics on newsstands.

I don't think that comics will ever go totally digital, or at least not as long as we got bathrooms.  However the digital medium can be used to the industry's advantage.  I agree with Steve that the digital comics medium is ripe for exploitation.  Especially for the "reintroduction" of lesser-known characters.  The key is putting these characters into stuff like motion comics and interactive comics that integrates them into already existing content mediums that kids already use like X-box Live, MySpace.  In Japan, the cell phone is becoming a very popular means of distributing Manga, but the complaints are numerous.  The biggest drawback is the screen size.  People just aren't enthused to read and navigate comic book pages at that size.  However, I think that comic strips are ideal for cell phones.

From a creators standpoint, the digital medium is a boon. It allows us to askew publishers all together and Diamond in specific.  It also allows for a larger following than printed books.  However, most creators I talk too still long to see their book in someone’s comic shop.  So as until they find a "more convenient" and comparable digital means of delivering Vogue or Oprah Winfrey's O magazine to the masses, I don't think us fans of the print comic have much to worry about.  The fate of the direct market, however, is another story.

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.