So the big news, all over the web today is about Apple’s tablet product, now officially called the iPad.   Of course there are all sorts of detractors already, and all sorts of people ready to jump on the bandwagon for the product.  There are all sorts of articles online that talk about the positives and negatives, the battery life and blah blah blah …

What we really want to know, though, is…unlike the Kindle, which features a black and white screen, will the iPad allow me, with it’s pretty colors, to read digital comics in a more reader-friendly format than my small little cell phone?

A concept video (from Newsarama) provides us with a little bit of an example of how comics will be read on the new device.  Really though, the question that comes up is, with the iPad starting at $499 (for the 16GB version) and going up to $829 (which includes 64GB and 3G), what options are available to us comic fans?  $829 is a hefty price to pay, but if you through in a subscription to Marvel Digital Comics for a year, you get a practically unlimited library of comics already at your fingertips.

Current rumors have comics through apps such as Comixology available for about $3 a pop, which is pretty steep for a habit based solely on the concept of having something in your hands that you can hold on to.  The whole concept of comics includes the ability to hold a comic, file it away, come back to it later and re-read it.  Will comic fans embrace the idea that you can pay, essentially, the same price that you would for a paper version, but for something that will be stored on a hard drive?  And how fast will those hard drives fill up?

I’d venture to say I’m on board to find out, and am definitely intrigued by the premise of a digital reader that I can enjoy comics on.  I’ve not been able to get into digital comics, but a tablet is a lot easier than a laptop to hold, and a lot more reader friendly than a cell phone.  The judgement is still out, but if comic functionality is available at launch, I’ll definitely be pre-ordering one of these babies.

What say you?

Comics by comiXology concept from comiXology on Vimeo.