Oy! Scans Daily MADE comics fans!

[neotoma]

Someone unknown got scans_daily deleted off LJ for copyright violations. One of the mods explains what they currently know, and asks for everyone to refrain from pointing fingers.

However... if it was the work of an industry insider, that person is STUPID -- I've bought twice as many trade collections in the last six months than I did in the three previous years because of stuff I saw on scans daily. It was a wonderful way to get your friends into comics, because you could show them intriguing little bits.

Fortunately, there is an IJ asylum that can be utilized.

Comments

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Ok, you go on believing that if it makes you feel better.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

I think the situation is similar, though smaller in scale, to getting mp3 from friends and then become a fan of the band.

I certainly have bought records from bands I would have never heard of through my normal channels because someone posted an mp3 and said "this is great!" -- when I downloaded it and found I agreed, I bought the album -- and attended the concert if there was one in the area.

I certainly sought out and bought the first three Blue Beetle trades, two JSA trades, an Elseworld trade, the Thor hardback, the Runaways hardback, and the Xmen First Class hardback because of stuff I saw on scans-daily. So that's about $250 in 6 months that I wouldn't have given to Marvel or DC without that comm. If even 5% of the viewers of scans-daily (not the members, just the casual viewers who flipped to it once or twice a week) did something similar, that's probably a good chunk of money.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

And I don't doubt your individual situation but I honestly believe S_D faciilitated a culture of piracy on a far larger scale than it motivated anybody to pay for comics. And no, I can't prove that, but I know plenty of avenues for people to discuss comics that don't involve copyright violations and abuse. There are ways to do the first without doing the second.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

I don't doubt that there was a good bit of piracy fueled by scans-daily. I'll admit to even downloading a few comics to see what a total issue looked like before adding it to my pull list or getting the trade.

But until and unless there is a better study of the industry, I am going to keep thinking that it rather like the recording industry, which has a wonderful history of antagonizing fans.

Scans-daily was integrated into my fannish life because it was on LJ. It was very conveinent because I didn't have to sign up for and track half a dozen websites.

The only site that I've found at all useful as a comics fan is the IGN comics division, and even then I found it badly organized and almost useless for looking up older trades and storylines -- which is something that scans-daily excelled at.

This is why I've started searching out the Mark Waid run on JLA and on the Flash, after all -- I'm building a library of older trades, and favorite writers and artists, and it's been an interesting shift because there are stories (JLA: Divided We Fall, for example) that I would not have known about without an LJ comm that promoted them.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

If people want to start a comics community on LJ that isn't centered around piracy, there's plenty of room for that. We run xmen_on_lj based on official company previews and I think it's been pretty effective on a small scale. On the other hand, anything you do on LJ you don't own, that's a risk.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Xmen_on_Lj is also extremely narrowly targeted -- if you already are interested in the Xmen books, then it's a good comm.

But it won't do things like get me interested in THOR, or let me know something like TINY TITANS exists. Scans-Daily did that.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

We started that comm because we were interested in XMen. 3 of us started it and it takes about 15 minutes of work a week. My point is that if somebody wants to start a community -- any community they want with a means and purpose that is within TOS -- they can do it.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Can't speak for everyone but that's my experience too, and given all the comments I've seen both before and after the deleting, it seems like the usual way it goes. People who don't buy the comics are people who wouldn't have bought them anyway (meaning, for instance, they're not interested in let's say, Iron Man, but they will look at the scans). The scans are the only thing that might tempt them to buy comics they wouldn't otherwise have checked out, or else they keep an eye on a comic they otherwise would have just stopped buying and never thought about again, and decide to start buying it again when they see it's getting good.

That's just going by the regular comments that were always posted. Many people have posted how it got them back into comics, got them buying comics again, got them buying comics they wouldn't have bought otherwise. It seems like if you wanted to actually read the comics it would just be frustrating to only read part of it.

Mostly I'm sad because I loved the conversations there. I liked being able to discuss the comic that just came out. Not that every comment was brilliant or anything, but I got into a lot of conversations I loved there about characters, art etc. Also it was nice having people who could explain things, which I think also encouraged people to get into comics they wouldn't have understood otherwise.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

that might tempt them to buy comics they wouldn't otherwise have checked out

Most of DC comics for me, and THOR from Marvel (I learned that JMS was writing THOR via scans-daily).

I wouldn't have even HEARD about Agents of Atlas without it, and now I am a total Jeff Park fangirl.

and decide to start buying it again when they see it's getting good.

Yup, the various Xmen books go in cycles, depending on who is writing. I like to know when the titles get worth reading again.

I liked being able to discuss the comic that just came out.

And comics that were older than I am. The posting of old comics was one of the great things that I loved. It was a great resource.