The french comic pirate scene has an interesting rule where they keep a ~6 month time lag on what they release. The scene is small enough that the rule generally works.
It's a really good trade-off. I would never have gotten into these comics without piracy but now if something catches my eye, I don't mind buying on release (and stripping the DRM for personal use).
Most of my downloading is closer to collecting/hoarding/cataloguing behaviour but if I fully read something I enjoy, I'll support the author in some way.
I have heard that Marvel & DC, don't care about comic piracy at all. Comics are a cheap loss leading funnel for what actually makes money: movies, tv, video games, & especially merchandise.
However, smaller publishers like Titan Comics care about piracy a great deal and attack it somewhat successfully with gusto, because that's the only revenue.
The fact is that those comics are sometimes not available AT ALL anywhere apart from eBay (or equivalent). It is alreadu VERY tricky to learn that those items exist. And then, determining their value for you is simply not possible without those kind of "alternative" delivery solutions [aka piracy].
It's a really good trade-off. I would never have gotten into these comics without piracy but now if something catches my eye, I don't mind buying on release (and stripping the DRM for personal use).
Most of my downloading is closer to collecting/hoarding/cataloguing behaviour but if I fully read something I enjoy, I'll support the author in some way.