The iPad was released recently, supposedly heralding in a new market for print media gone electronic. Magazines, newspapers, and comics books. Yes, comic books. One of the mainstays of print media that still sells, comic books, while often associated with pre-pubescent boys, are still a huge market amongst adults. Marvel has already released their iPad app, selling digital versions of comic books for a few bucks a pop (slightly less then their print version).

I’m all for it. I still buy and read comic books on an infrequent basis, and if this makes Marvel enough money to keep making new comics, great. But what will it do for print distribution? Most comic book readers would prefer hard copies, there’s a strong collecting element to reading comic books that isn’t found in newspapers and magazines. This week, not only was the iPad released, but Action Comics #1 (the first appearance of Superman) sold for $1.5 million dollars. Which really makes one wonder what the value of digital media will be in the future. Old, rare print albums sell for money. Comic books which are historically important and rare sell for huge sums of money. But digital music, movies, and printed media are worthless after their purchase.

I’ve always found it odd that buying music through iTunes was accepted as quickly as it was. It’s not that much cheaper than a physical CD, and after purchase, it’s worth $0. I’ve bought a fair number of albums I’ve decided I didn’t enjoy five or ten years later, and sold the CDs for a few dollars. That can’t be done with digital downloads. You might say a few bucks per CD isn’t really worth it, and I would agree. But what about 90 years from now, when you own the digital version of a #1 comic, and someone owns the physical copy? If you want a digital copy of Action Comics #1, it’s easily found. If you want a physical copy, you’d better bring your big wallet.