Sugoi-Con - ComicOne

	Chibi-Pop Manga was one of the first to try to make the transition from print to online distribution of manga. ComicsOne is trying a new approach to the idea of getting manga to fans without using ink and paper. Most online manga has used the common JPEG image format. ComicsOne will distribute some samples in that format, but they're planning to sell their books online in a proprietary format. A special viewer is needed to read ComicsOne's manga, because the graphics files are encoded so they're all but impossible to print. The new company will sell dozens of manga series from Japanese artists that has been translated into English.
	Why go to the trouble of selling manga this way? Anthony Shumkas of ComicsOne is worried about piracy on the Internet and its potential to swipe profits from companies that want to build electronic distribution of entertainment, and he wants to avoid that problem for his new company. After seeing the amount of copyrighted material that shows up on Usenet newsgroups, and seeing images taken from Japanese games that are sold on CD-ROMs, Shumkas wants to keep that from happening to ComicsOne's material.
	Artie Whelan, one of Sugoi-Con's staff, questioned the "free stuff at all costs" ethic that is a big part of the Internet. "If I like something, I want to give my money to someone so they can keep doing it," Whelan said. "How can the pirates do something that endangers what they say they like?" Whelan worries that if too much material is pirated, the supply of music and art may dry up - and what remains will be more expensive.

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