January 25, 2009:

THE BLUEWATER COOLER: Publisher Darren G. Davis rants and raves about the comic industry: ISSUE 6

Digital comics…Maybe I am getting to old to enjoy the novelty of reading comics on line. I want to go into a comic book store and piddle around for a while. Then flip through them in my car when I get back into it. After that I go home to read them in the privacy of my home. This is a ritual I have had to relax for years.

I just looked at “Wrath of the Titans” that I downloaded for FREE on I-Verse on my IPod. I do have to say it was pretty cool reading this in the car but it does not take the place of holding the physical comic. There is a cool feeling when you open a brand new comic. The only negative about the floppy comic is when you pick up your comp copies at the mail place, then tossing them in the back of your car only to get the high of the ink.

For the longest time I have always tried to understand Wowio. I thought I would share an email I got from them this week. Part of me feels bad for them, but it is the main reason I am not rushing to post any new books. At this point I use Wowio for reference for the Bluewater titles. If an artist needs to see what Isis looks like, I will send them the link to view the book for free.

We asked Wowio to offer our books to download for free and this is the response I got.

FROM WOWIO IN AN EMAIL DATED LAST WEEK:
“The reason we don’t have sponsors is that we don’t have the manpower to sell sponsorships right now. We are at skeleton crew status here, and have been working essentially on a volunteer basis since August to try to keep things moving forward until this gets worked out. As soon as Platinum gets the capital, the first priority will be to pay all back royalties and then to staff up so we can get the sponsorships rolling in again.”

“The plan is to pay Q4 on time or early. Q2 payments however are contingent upon either landing some financing, which has proven difficult to come by, or payments from several of the big movie deals that they have in the pipeline (e.g., Cowboys & Aliens). The Platinum folks are working very hard to generate the needed funds in a number of ways, but times as you know are tight. We believe it will get worked out, which is why the entire WOWIO staff is still here. As soon as I get any concrete information about anything, I will share it with you and the other publishers.”

This is not what I signed up for We have over 130 books up on Wowio and we only made a couple hundred dollars under the new way they are doing thing. This is not a great place for Bluewater to rush to upload books at this point.
We have had a lot of success so far with I-Verse. They are starting up where I think Wowio failed. They have a good business plan in place.

The main problem with Wowio is they do not communicate unless they are badgered. I do feel bad for some of the people that work there because they do not have the control. I do have the problem with their owner, which is Platinum. I wish someone in a higher-ranking position send an email out. Platinum has owned it for all most a year and really let it fall apart. One has to think why buy Wowio and destroy it? Does it have anything to do with the other site they own “Drunk Duck”? http://www.drunkduck.com/ (which has right now the DVD for MAX PAYNE as a sponsor).

Are the future comic books online, I hope not? After the Diamond announcement, we might see more independents going this route. I think there is a place for them to add to the medium.

Until next time….

Darren