BOOM!
WARNING: This is – at best – peripherally related to WAR. It involves good friends of the project who I just happen to be a huge fan of, but folks seeking hardcore game-related data may want to back away slowly.
Our good buddies at BOOM! Studios (publishers of – among other fine products – the Warhammer: Forge of War comics) have made the bold and excellent decision (in my humble, funnybook-obsessed opinion) of making digital .cbz format versions of some of their books available online FOR FREE at the same time they hit shelves at brick and mortar stores.
Obviously, they’re going to get a fair number of free-loaders who grab the freebies and never bother to pick up a single issue at a store (shame on you), but they’ll also get significantly more eyes on their product than they would otherwise. If the product is good, that will pay dividends.
Comic fans are by nature collector/acquirer types. We love possessing tangible publications almost as much as we love the stories contained within them. I’m a huge fan of collected editions and will gladly shell out $30, $40, $50 or more for a volume that collects a story I really enjoy. Whetting my appetite for your product with a free taste (or in this case, a whole free meal) and proving it’s high-quality will make it VERY likely that I’ll send the money your way when a collection comes out.
So kudos to Ross and the gang at BOOM! I’ve spent some time with them in the past and you’ll never find a group of people that LOVE comics more than they do. Make sure you check out North Wind and if you like what you see, give some of the other books BOOM! puts out a look (I’m just going to assume you already own all of the issues of Forge of War).
I think this sounds like a great idea. My wife can attest to the fact that I enjoy collecting comics (an entire closet full of long-boxes proves it). Marvel and DC are starting to release certain titles online, but you can’t beat the experience of something tangible in your hands. I haven’t even taken advantage of their offerings.
You’ll definitely have freeloaders taking the books without purchase if Boom makes them available online, but at least they’re gaining Mindshare. Look how popular Radiohead and NiN became with their outlook on music distribution.
A friend of mine bough In Rainbows for USD $1.00 just because he could but I turned around and spent USD $12.00 in appreciation of their vision. The album is awesome and well-worth it.
I hadn’t even heard of Boom Studios, nor their Warhammer comic series, so thanks for posting this. I think I’ll pick up a TPB and give it a shot.
[…] Josh Drescher just wrote a little entry about Warhammer: Forge of War published by Boom Studios. Even as a fairly avid comic book reader (albeit Marvel and Dark Horse), I’ve never heard of Boom Studios, let alone Warhammer: Forge of War, so I’m very happy to have learned about them. I’ll have to check in with my local comic book shop to see if they plan on bringing this in or if it will be a special order. […]
[…] month, I pointed out that our friends at BOOM! were giving away free digital versions of their new book North Wind. […]