I've been saying for years that comics publishers should -- at a minimum -- put up downloadable comics after they disappear from the stands, so that people who are coming to the serial after it starts can catch up. The trade paperbacks help here, but usually there's a 2-3 issue gap between the collection and the singles. That means that if you're not a Comics Person and you walk into a bookstore and buy the first collection of Thrilling Underwear Pervert Stories (issues 1-6) get hooked, and decide to brave a comics store for the first time to pick up issue 7, you'll generally find that they're up to issue 9 or 10, and that 7 and 8 aren't for sale and can't be ordered.
The result? You go back to the bookstore in a couple months and look for the collection -- maybe. If you remember. The alternative? The publisher could spend approximately $0.00 and post downloadable singles 30 days or even 60 days after they hit the stands. Now when you go to the store and say, "Have you got TUPS #7?" the Comic Book Guy can smile and say, "Nope, but you can get it free online, and when you've read it, come on back here and I'll sell you #8. By the way, did you know that new comics come out every Wednesday? We usually get a lot of people in on Weds, spruce up the store, set out some collections of other comics you might not have heard of. Also -- would you like me to set aside future TUPS issues for you? As well as collections?"
