Still not sure about Dynamite

Okay, well Dynamite is showing some activity in their efforts to make their comics DRM-free on Comixology.  I just looked at The Boys and it's all DRM-free, which is cool.  Expensive, but totally worth it and cool.  It didn't used to be, at least not right after the big DRM-free announcement.  To remind my readers, Dynamite responded to my earlier email inquiry to say they did intend to make their entire catalog DRM-free on Comixology, it's just taking longer than they'd like.  Seeing as how new Dynamite titles are showing up on the market not DRM-free, I'm not entirely sure what their game plan is.  But here The Boys is, proof that they are still freeing up more and more of their catalog.

Here's some math for you. On Comixology, buying every issue of The Boys breaks down like this:

Buying every issue as singles: $143.28
Buying all 12 volumes of the trades: $130.91
Buying all 3 volumes of the digital omnibus: $122.97

This is how it "should" be, meaning larger collections are cheaper per issue.  This is something you should watch out for because on Comixology buying single issues is regularly cheaper than buying digital collections, an artifact I think of digital singles being cheaper than paper singles, yet digital trades are usually closer to the (already reduced) paper trades price.

(BTW I'm sure The Boys wasn't one of the few titles available DRM-free at the time because it's one of the series I asked about in my email to Dynamite, along with Gail Simone's Red Sonja run.  That Red Sonja run is the title I really keep checking Comixology for.  When it goes DRM-free rest assured I'm scooping it all up.)

Side note:  The funny thing is Comixology has more Image titles available than Image's own digital store.  Yet when Comixology went DRM-free all of Image's titles were available DRM-free that day. Some people, looking at their Comixology accounts, said other publishers' books were trickling over to DRM-free on that day (and over subsequent days).  To be honest I don't know how any of this works, it seems largely counter-intuitive to me.  Is Comixology swamped and throttling the process?  I doubt it, all of Oni's (much smaller) catalog got switched over recently, as well as Valiant's catalog.  Maybe Dynamite is trying to provide better quality scans, or are trying to secure the legal rights on their end?  They are dealing with a lot of licensed titles, after all.

I suspect a year from now we'll be seeing an entirely different picture regarding Comixology and DRM-free publishers.  Hopefully each new DRM-free publisher causes pressure put on the others.  DC and Marvel will probably be the last ones to go, if they ever do.  If they did though, they'd gain themselves a boatload of my money in the process.  Just thinking of Icon and Vertigo alone, in addition to their more popular ongoing titles.  I don't know if my bank account could support it, to be honest.

BTW, I just noticed this article which says a handful of other publishers are going DRM-free too, Fantagraphics being among them.  Yay!

David