Yesterday the fine folks at Dark Horse put together a little meeting covering their new digital comics plans and in a clever, perhaps even revolutionary way, they decided to get us all involved. How, you might ask? By holding it on one of the most renown social networking sites of the day, Twitter.
Now as you can imagine transcribing an article from Twitter #hashtags is quite difficult however you guys are worth it so without further ado, here’s what you may have missed on May 18th, 2011 in the realm of Dark Horse Comics.
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Dark Horse Comics is featured in Bold. Dark Horse’s Software Development Manager Patrick Curtain in Bold/Italic, Dark Horse Coder Lennon Day-Reynolds in Underlined font, and myself in Regular Italic. Enjoy! – N
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@DarkHorseComics – Hey Everyone! Welcome to the #dhdigital conversation. Send in your questions and we’ll talk about the program.
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@trinhuskey – #dhdigital Do you plan on some material being strictly digital? Or do you plan on releasing on both digital and paper?
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DarkHorseComics – @trinhuskey We are exploring all our options, but for now Print and Digital will co-exist for the immediate future.
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trinhuskey- Ican’t see Marvel and DC putting older more “valuable” comics on digital wouldn’t that decrease their value? Same for DH? #dhdigital
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DarkHorseComics - @trinhuskey Putting our back catalogue on Digital gives more readers a chance to enjoy those titles. Especially Internationally #dhdigital
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BlaqueSaber -@DarkHorseComics @mikeyed #dhdigital will we see a re-release (and hopeful resurgence) in the CGW titles? #ghost #x #titan
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DarkHorseComics – @BlaqueSaber @mikeyed But no plans Editorially for those titles in the immediate future.
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BlaqueSaber - @DarkHorseComics @mikeyed #dhdigital I’d like to pay once and then get both: paper or digital, which ever I want @ that time (please) 
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@pcurtain - @BlaqueSaber @darkhorsecomics @mikeyed We like that idea too. The coordination task is tricky. But we want to. #dhdigital
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DarkHorseComics - @BlaqueSaber We are exploring options to partner with retailers on such deals. It’s a new frontier for us. We are cautious #dhdigital
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binarymutant – #dhdigital why not free for digital copies to drive up interests in the collectible, physical, copies?
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DarkHorseComics – @binarymutant We do however give away the first issue of a lot of series in the store which in fact drives interest to titles #dhdigital.
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trinhuskey - #dhdigital your thoughts on digital vs comic shops? Do you think digital will hurt sales for shops?
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DarkHorseComics – @trinhuskey Truthfully, I don’t think so. We’re finding that the demographics are actually slightly different. A lot more gamers and international sales in places where distribution of DH titles is not as strong #dhdigital
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binarymutant - #dhdigital free (with ads) also would bring ppl in that would normally have got the issue from scanners and/or pirate sites.
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nicolesixx_ – @DarkHorseComics @binarymutant Well, comic books place ads in hard copy. I think it’d be the same for most readers. #dhdigital
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BlaqueSaber - @nicolesixx_ @darkhorsecomics @binarymutant #dhdigital as long as the ads were “static” and not video or audio sure
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nicolesixx_ – @BlaqueSaber @darkhorsecomics @binarymutant #chuckle And preferably relevant to us geeks, like comic book ads. #dhdigital
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pcurtain – @nicolesixx_ @darkhorsecomics @binarymutant This one’s more opinion and “Just My View ™”, but.. i don’t want ads in my content.
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nicolesixx_ – @pcurtain I’m the same. But if they want them for free, they’ll deal with the ads. To the next gen ads are already everywhere anyway.
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pcurtain – @nicolesixx_ for the “Ads” discussion, has everyone see The Greatest Movie Ever Sold? #dhdigital
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BlaqueSaber – @DarkHorseComics @binarymutant #dhdigital I’d be bothered by ads – unless the comics are free & download fast
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DarkHorseComics – @BlaqueSaber I think that’s what @binarymutant meant. Free comics but with ads. #dhdigital
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binarymutant – so true. RE: @nicolesixx_ @DarkHorseComics @binarymutant Well, comic books place ads in hard copy [...]
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trinhuskey – #dhdigital Any general thoughts from the artists about going digital?
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DarkHorseComics – @trinhuskey I think creators are cautious. It’s a relatively new distribution model. They’ve relied on relationships with retail #dhdigital
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BlaqueSaber – @DarkHorseComics @mikeyed #dhdigital you could pioneer “original” dig comics by allowing for new creative teams 2 break in through you
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DarkHorseComics – @BlaqueSaber @mikeyed That’s what I am personally excited about. No plans right now, but digital opens a few doors to be sure. #dhdigital
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nicolesixx_ – @DarkHorseComics @BlaqueSaber @mikeyed I was wondering about that. Do you think #dhdigital should have a seperate submissions set-up??
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BlaqueSaber - @nicolesixx_ @darkhorsecomics @mikeyed not a completion at all but sort of Zuda-ish (yep I said it) ? in other words, yes
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DarkHorseComics – @nicolesixx_ It’s something we are exploring, but nothing concrete, yet. But it would make sense wouldn’t it? #dhdigital
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nicolesixx_ – @DarkHorseComics Yes. Also a great way for starting creators to build up their fan bases so they don’t bomb in print. #Lol. #dhdigital
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cyberradc – @DarkHorseComics How the bundled sales doing?
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DarkHorseComics – @cyberradc While we can’t give a lot of details about Sales. Better than we thought. #dhdigital
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BlaqueSaber – @DarkHorseComics @mikeyed #dhdigital curious to know your top title (by dl or $ or whatever) in the dig store?
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DarkHorseComics – @BlaqueSaber Again, can’t get into specifics, but Mass Effect has done well for us, which is why we think Demo is a bit diff. #dhdigital
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trinhuskey – #dhdigital I believe the I-Pad/tablet explosion has driven digital. What if tablets are a fad.Can laptops, PC, smartphones keep the market?
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DarkHorseComics – @trinhuskey We’ll have to see. Tablets are disrupting Laptop sales though. Market forces might push hard http://bit.ly/mwBFF1 #dhdigital
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rcoder – @pcurtain: I could try to come up with some questions, but I doubt the answers would surprise me. 
#dhdigital
#dhdigital_
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pcurtain – @rcoder @DarkHorseComics Ladies and Gentlemen! Our Origin story himself, Mr @RCoder !! #dhdigital
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BlaqueSaber – @pcurtain like what kind of geek questions? I like the interface, works well, did you have @comiXology build it? #dhdigital
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DarkHorseComics – @BlaqueSaber Uh Oh! @pcurtain has the Right hand of Doom out… Step back slowly #dhdigital
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pcurtain – @BlaqueSaber @comixology Dude! Them’s fightin words! All internally developed, lovingly handcrafted from quality ascii. #dhdigital
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BlaqueSaber – @pcurtain I didn’t think so, but it was the geekiest question I could think of #dhdigital
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DarkHorseComics – @pcurtain Nick Anello on Facebook asks “Nick Anello Is digital comic page layout the same as for print?” #dhdigital
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pcurtain – @DarkHorseComics #dhdigital It *can* be the same as for print, as a start, but doesn’t have to be.
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trinhuskey – #dhdigital I remember when new CD’s always came out on an Tuesday they still might. Any plans for a like a “new release Friday”?
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DarkHorseComics – @trinhuskey We currently release new Digital Comics every wednesday just like print comics. #dhdigital http://bit.ly/jKu1qi
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aniaherself – @DarkHorseComics are u planning on have any comics on spanish? #dhdigital cc @GuayaGeek
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DarkHorseComics – @Taniaherself @GuayaGeek Hmmm… Not sure if that’s in the immediate plans, but it would certainly be a good idea. #dhdigital
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GuayaGeek – @DarkHorseComics it’s a great idea! Here at @GuayaGeek we have 8K fans that we’ll be happy to read you in Spanish #dhdigital
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jlmcvay – @DarkHorseComics How about putting up a timeline for series like BPRD that have many multi-issue stories? Would help new readers. #dhdigital
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pcurtain – @jlmcvay @darkhorsecomics Love that, as a site feature with tie-backs to books. nice. #dhdigital
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nicolesixx_ – @pcurtain @jlmcvay @darkhorsecomics Anything that ties back to any issue in print is sure to increase sales and interest. Especially if it’s #EXCLUSIVE to #dhdigital purchase. I’d collect it. #grin
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DarkHorseComics – #dhdigital Well that about wraps it up everyone! Thanks so much for joining us. Thanks @pcurtain for your expertise and time…
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Tags: Comics, Dark Horse, dark horse digital, indie, Lennon Day-Reynolds, news, Nicole Sixx, patrick curtain, Twitter
About the Author
Written by Nicole Sixx
I'm a writer who loves to entertain and be entertained. My motto for life is the geekier the better!
I wish them the best of luck in with the digital format. Somebody is gonna make it work.
I believe in DH all the way. This team really knows what they’re doing too!
Great idea!!! Actually talk to your target audience to get them what they want. Brilliant Dark Horse!
Yeah, someone really needs to pound that idea into Marvel’s heads about these awful movies they make.
It was a brilliant idea and from what I hear very beneficial! I’m glad.