For small publishers, digital piracy may pose big threat

As if a dwindling readership weren't problem enough, The Los Angeles Times reports on the next potential threat facing comic-book publishers: digital piracy.

Oh, it's not as widespread as music file sharing, the newspaper notes, but the comics industry is much -- much -- smaller. "Although the top 10 comic books may have runs of 100,000 to 150,000 copies for each monthly issue," The Times writes, "giants such as DC Comics and Marvel Publishing have books that sell about 20,000 to 30,000 copies."

There's nothing particularly revealing or new here, but it's probably noteworthy that the illegal downloading of comics has grown to the point that it registers on the radar of The Los Angeles Times and the newswires.

The focus of the article is the small comics publisher, such as Los Angeles-based Ludovico Technique. "Comic-book piracy for us would be a problem," company founder Robert Burnett tells The Times. "Our retail price is $3. Every book that we sell matters."

Interestingly, Marvel and DC Comics declined to comment for the article. However, The Times mentions Marvel's efforts to offer some of its comics online (they can't be downloaded, though).