Online Comics - piracy at its finest

I haven't really been one to download much media off the internet. Sure I have some mp3s but I'm not really a music guy. I have some TV shows that aren't available elsewhere, but I usually go for boxed set DVDs. Recently I have downloaded some comics, but I'm more of a staple-and-paper type reader. That being said, I stumbled onto a torrent site (the Pirate Bay) where a user named Devourer combines many scanned comics into one torrent so that you can download all the new comics that come out every week. I believe he collects individual torrents from many other users (as scanning 70+ comics in a day would be a lot of work) to provide this lump sum of issues.

So far I've download things that are expensive that I was thinking of buying (Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall and Pride of Baghdad) and some issues from new series that I didn't want to spend money on before I knew if I liked it or not (Pirates of Coney Island, the Escapists, and Dr. Strange: the Oath).

I think this use of torrents is worthwhile and justifiable. I prefer my comics as real, physical objects as opposed to images on a screen so I think the downloading is an excellent way to see if expensive items are worth paying for and whether or not a mini-series is worth getting in the trade. As well, it's a nice way for me to sample things I wouldn't get normally (like Pirates of Coney Island, which was pretty good) at no cost. Image Comics is a good example of a company trying to do this by offering many first issues of series as online freebies.

Of course there will be nay-sayers shouting that downloading comics is hurting the industry. That you're taking money away from small comic shops that are struggling as it is. Well I have a question for those people: do you enjoy spending money on things you don't enjoy? Do you regularly go into a CD shop and pick out random stuff because the cover looks cool? Of course not. You buy things that you like or have a good idea that you will like based on previous experience.

Even if you buy that CD, most of it is likely crap and you only like 2-3 songs. That's why I don't buy CDs. However, if you can sample CDs for free to filter out that crap then you ensure that you will have a quality listening experience. The same is true with comics. 90% of the comics out there (and there are a lot of comics out each month) are garbage. There has to be a filter there for the consumer to know what they will like. Thus downloadable comics. Items that would have passed through my real-world, in-store filter can now be trapped and viewed from the comfort of my faux-leather desk chair.

To sum up: I now download comics. If I like it, I will buy it. If it was something that I wouldn't normally have bought to try out, then an angel gets its wings.