I mean, nothing is forcing anyone to use any specific product, and there are certainly smartphones with neither Android or iOS.
Personally, at some point I will switch from iPhone to an Android device that can work with something independent like /e/ or one of the other decent ones.
I offer an alternative ElementaryOS. It’s beautiful aesthetically and it runs basically an Ubuntu derivative.
I de-google everything I can.
You didn’t even mention storylines that continue across five different titles!
It’s all to keep people buying multiple books. It’s purely a sales thing.
I would maybe suggest looking into trade paperbacks, which are larger, bound books that are collections of all titles and issues that comprise a full storyline. Also, look into graphic novels, which are stand-alone books that are the equivalent of a dozen issues or so. There are tons of them out there with many types of story genres and styles.
When I used to collect comics, I more followed the artists and the art styles, being an artist myself, rather than following mainstream story arcs. There were some titles that I followed regular issues but those were ones that didn’t gimmick across the gamut of titles purely to sell more.
Also mini-series are a nice option - these usually can be found as TPBs later as well.
One more thing is maybe look at some other publishers too. I was extremely fond of Dark Horse, as well as some other smaller outfits. DC and Marvel are the two giants, and so they will always be going the mainstream route and that’s all built around massive sales. They’re still fantastic - but with some smaller publishers you might find a lot more gems that are easier to manage start to finish.
Maybe you were in some seriously shady subs with pimple nosed little snotbags acting as mod, but none of this was ever a problem for me in the subs I frequented.
It’s rather reassuring to see the FTC go nuclear on some companies, finally.
Wow, that’s Peter and Lois’s safe word, too.
It’s all greed. It’s been a while since this was discussed as far as I know, but wasn’t there talk about making Internet service into a utility and be regulated like the power and water companies? There should be a flat fee and that’s it. None of this tiered or capped bullshit. It’s alllllllll pure insatiable greed.
Oh dude I don’t spend a lot of time here. But I will look at what you said thanks.
That’s one approach but far more limited than just using a Google-free Android build like Lineage.