The Gutters is quickly becoming one of my favorite regular reads on the ‘net. If you haven’t checked it out yet, the comic is written by Ryan Sohmers and features a rotating cast of artists — including some big names in the print and online comics scene. Each strip is a standalone parody of the comics industry and its characters (both real-world and fictional).

Their recent comic about notorious Wizard head honcho Gareb Shamus was nothing short of brilliant, and this recent strip about the escalating digital publishing war is both hilarious and spot-on when it comes to how ridiculous the DC-Marvel “battle” has become.

Not to get all preachy here, but let’s face facts: going “exclusive” with one e-reader or another doesn’t encourage people to buy that device over its competitor. All it does is encourage people who own one of the devices to download pirated comics from the publisher who partners with the other device. Kindle owners will download pirated Marvel comics, and Nook owners will do the same for DC comics.

Sorry, but that’s the truth of the matter. And that also means that people who are (*gasp*) fans of both publishers’ comics and own a Nook or Kindle will be driven to find ways to get the comics they can’t get on their device legally.

So in the end, the publishers are just creating more demand for pirated comics.

But what do I know? I’m just some guy who likes comics, not somebody who gets paid lots of money to think about these things. *shrug*