Digital Comics Coming to Sony PSP, Are eReaders Next?

Tuesday at gamescom in Cologne, Germany, Sony Europe announced that the PlayStation Portable will be gaining a digital reader this December. Sony knows its audience well, because concurrent with this new reader comes the launch of Digital Comics. That’s right, eComic books. Sony has several partners in this venture, including IDW Publishing and iVerse Media, but the big gun is definitely Marvel Entertainment.

PSP owners will have access to a library of classic titles like Spider-Man, X-Men and the Fantastic Four plus digital-first comics. They’ll be able to purchase titles, updated every month, from the PlayStation Store over the device’s Wi-Fi connection.

I have my doubts about the comic reading experience on so small a screen as the PSP, but this news excites me nonetheless. This is the first major step forward in digitized comics, and I doubt this service will stay tied only to the PSP for long. Beyond the color eReaders on the horizon, there will probably be an eager market amongst tablet and netbook users since eInk isn’t as important a factor with comics as with books. And if Digital Comics work out on small screens, then iPhone and other smartphone users are going to want in as well.

I expect DC and other indie comic publishers to get in on the game fairly soon. Graphic novels and manga titles are taking over more and more shelf space in brick and mortar stores. Once a readership heavy with early adopter-types discovers that they can get a satisfying reading experience on a screen (be it 4 or 10 inches) we’re going to see a significant shift in the eReader space. Maybe one that will heavily benefit the comic book’s less graphic-heavy cousin, the book.