Marvel Launches Online Comics Initiative

[iSteve]

NOTE: This story is not accurate. Please scroll down to post #7 for the accurate story. - Conor

***

Newsarama (http://www.newsarama.com/marvelnew/Online/MarvelOnlinea.html)

According to the CBC (and citing information from the AP), Marvel will make a big step towards embracing the internet as a distribution source for comics this week.

Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley hinted at it in February at the New York Comic-Con, and now it seems that it will become a reality as Marvel will reportedly make roughly 2,500 back issues available online starting tomorrow in a format that allows the comics to be viewed online only - through a browser. Downloads will not be available.

The article quotes Marvel's Buckley as saying, "You don't have that spinner rack of comic books sitting in the local five-and-dime any more. We don't have our product intersecting kids in their lifestyle space as much as we used to."

Marvel will offer memberships to view the comics - $9.99 a month or $4.99 a month, for an annual membership. In addition to the 2,500 initial comics, roughly 20 more will be released each week, ranging from early Marvel issues, such as the initial runs of Amazing Spider-Man to recent titles - House of M and Young Avengers were named as examples.

The story quotes store owner Michael Ring of Portland, OR who called Marvel's plan a "feeder system" noting that the plan will give people the "initial taste" of Marvel Comics and make them want to buy more.

[dave-accampo]

I just read about this over on Newsarama.

Interesting.

I don't think I'd pay $9.99/month for issues that I can't download. I could see reading back issues for free, just to catch up or learn about the characters (sort of a way for people to discover the characters and then pick up the current books). I could see paying $10/month for a subscription that allows me to download 10-15 comics that I could then transfer to some kind of e-book reader.

But I honestly don't think I'd sign up for this.

[conorkilpatrick]

From Newsarama:

According to a representative of Marvel, the story published Monday afternoon at the CBC website about the publisher launching an online comics initiative (hinted at by Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley at the New York Comic-Con last February), "was filled with wild inaccuracies" in its details. As such, Newsarama has removed the story.

Reportedly, the official, more accurate story will be released late tonight/early tomorrow. Check back for the corrected story sometime overnight.

[dave-accampo]

Curiouser and curiouser...

[gungadin]

Wonder how it's going to work. Looks like Marvel's trying to profit from the internet... Where have I heard this story before?

[cormano]

I hope whatever they do has a good interface. That's what's really important for these kinds of services.

[conorkilpatrick]

Okay, here's the real story.

MARVEL LAUNCHES ONLINE COMICS INITIATIVE? (http://www.newsarama.com/marvelnew/Online/MarvelOnlinea.html)

In a story published at USA Today.com Monday evening, the apparently official word of Marvel’s new online publishing initiative (hinted at by Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley at the New York Comic-Con last February) has been revealed.

Called the comic book industry’s “first online archive of more than 2,500 back issues, including the first appearances of Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Incredible Hulk.”, Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited will offer the archive in a high-resolution format on computer screens for $59.88 a year, or at a monthly rate of $9.99, at Marvel’s website.

According to the national daily, “Subscribers will be able to access the first hundred issues of key titles, turn pages with a click of the mouse or navigate a battle against Dr. Doom frame-by-frame with a ‘Smart Panel’ viewing feature. The user can zoom in on details of art by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko from the 1960s or catch up with today's The Ultimates and New Avengers.

"We did not want to get caught flat-footed with kids these days who have the tech that allows them to read comics in a digital format," Marvel President Dan Buckley, told the publication. "Our fan base is already on the Internet. It seemed like a natural way to go."

To help market the initiative, To Marvel will reportedly offer a free sampler of 250 titles, and to protect current sales of comic books, new issues won't be on the Marvel site until six months after they are published.

Asked why people would pay for superheroes when newspaper websites have been unable to charge for content, Buckley said, "You can get the news anywhere. We're the only ones who have Spider-Man."

"If they put their monthly comic online at the same time, they'd be cutting their own throats and undercutting the retailers," writer Peter David told USA Today. "The material is owned by Marvel, and they can do whatever they want with it. This is just another means of reprint when you come down to it."

"About 90% of the comic books sold today are scanned and put online within 36 hours," Newsarama’s own Chris Arrant is quoted in the story.

"Our quality is much higher; the library is huge and will never go out of style," concluded Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada. "This is the legal way to do things."

News of the new Marvel initiative began appearing online Monday afternoon, via an AP wire story and sources like the CBC.com website, prompting Marvel Comics to request any version of the story citing the AP or CBC be removed from websites due to the CBC version in particular being “filled with inaccuracies.” It is not immediately apparent what was inaccurate about the CBC version of the story.

Look for more details as they become available.

[conorkilpatrick]

It's a huge mistake not to make these comics downloadable, as it seems to imply in the article.

An initial thumbs down.

[esophagus]

If you could download, I'd buy for a year. Now I may or may not test a month.

I understand though. Downloading would lead to a ton of people sending them to friends, etc. They should take a page from iTunes book. DRM!

[conorkilpatrick]

CBR says (http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=12370) they are not downloadable, only viewable.

Initial thumbs down upgraded to full thumbs down.

[esophagus]

Wasn't them not being downloadable why you gave an inital thumbs down? Whats the difference?

[fred]

I understand why they aren't putting new books up in this service.

However, it's the only thing that would make me consider buying this.

Potential subscribers -1

[dave-accampo]

Did anything actually change from the original story from Newsarama...?

Seems like all the major components are the same...


And I agree...to me, the critical component that's still missing in this model is a proper e-reader. And that would require a download. Even if I loaded em onto a small laptop, I'd want them PHYSICALLY there, in case I was someplace where I didn't have a connection.

Personally, if I were putting up non-downloadable back issues, I'd put a bunch of the back catalog up for FREE in order to get people to peruse...make it kinda like reading a wikipedia article. "YOu want to learn about Hulk? Read some of his highlights here, and then head down to your comic shop to find out what he's up to now."

[esophagus]

Remember when DC put up all the Veritog #1's up for free viewing. I thought that was epic.

But now, being charged $60 a year and not being able to leave the website, it seems ultra-lame.

[conorkilpatrick]

Wasn't them not being downloadable why you gave an inital thumbs down? Whats the difference?

It wasn't confirmed.

[esophagus]

Ooooh. I'm still hoping that will change before launch.

[cormano]

I understand why they aren't putting new books up in this service.

However, it's the only thing that would make me consider buying this.

Potential subscribers -1

This is my concern as well. Not being able to download it isn't a big deal to me because at this point, there's no good way to read it away from the computer which is always connected to the internet anyway. Once someone finally comes up with the "iPod" e-book readers, that will change.

I'm just glad to see some sort of large scale digital comics service coming from one of the big two.

[kevmann16]

Before commenting I will disclose that the company I run is creating a digital comic book reader so I maybe a little one sided.

I panicked when I read the story at first, I knew this would come eventually but we are a small company that have been working on something for the last year and it was a little scary. I have to say I was relieved to see that nothing had changed on the reader apart from a smart panel feature which doesn't seem to be working correctly.

I read omega the unknown #1 which I was over the moon to see online since I haven't had chance to pick it up and after Ron's glowing comments was excited to read. But the text is blury and hard to read maybe its just that issue because I haven't read bad things about the quality anywhere. The smart panel feature consistently cropped the panels at the bottom of the page meaning I had to switch to single page mode to finish which was a little annoying and in the Captain America issue I flicked through the smart panel feature seemed to jump about the page in a strange order.

All that said it does have a few nice things, the quality of the pages once zoomed in is very good and you have a couple of ways to read so if you don't like the smart panel feature you can change to a pdf style experience which while not ideal is easy to read. It has a large number of issues online already and I think the monthly subscription is not a bad price for unlimited access. The major problems are the lack of current issues and lack of downloading.

I cant reveal too much of our system because we are STILL waiting on the patent application to get moving, it has taken a really long time to get right but the first thing I realized when we started designing our system was that I would like to be able to keep the comics I pay for and take them with me on the move.

It is great to see a company of Marvels size moving to digital comics it is the way of the future. Hopefully this will help prove that they is a potential market for digital comics.

I also believe that the online format has a lot of scope for additional content and features which as a comics fan I would love to see. Our system adds a lot to the reading experience and hopefully soon I can get a testing version out for you all to try, it would be great to get some feedback.

[six-gun]

I like it, not sure if I'll subscribe but it's a good concept, I'm with eso on the browser limitation though

[sullivan85]

While the idea of having unlimited access to thousands of classic and recent stories may be, I can't say I'd pay the money and read the comics online. I simply don't want to read comics that way.

[davegraham]

I've been toying with the free stuff for almost two hours now. I like it. I am leaving this job soon and if this thing had come out any sooner, I might not have ever had gotten any work done.

Ideally, I would like the content to be downloadable but as it is. I can see taking an afternoon and sitting down to my computer to read through the first fifty some issues of the Avengers.

One thumb up. One thumb down.

[jimski]

So close.

So... I pay you, and in exchange I own nothing? Gotcha. I pay you, and I don't get the thing I paid for, but I get to look at it, provided I look at it online at my desk and don't take it anywhere else. Please, please tell me the reader is Flash-based.

[e-tagg]

IMO, reading comics online still doesn't work well. There's too much of a qualitative difference between reading a page in a book and on a computer screen. I read some comics off of Marvel's site previously with a viewer that sounds to be exactly the same, and zooming in and out while trying to take in the page as a whole just isn't the same. Maybe if the comics were better adapted to the constraints of the screen, it would work (like some webcomics), but until someone comes out with a good electronic book, I'll still buy my stack and kill a baby tree every week.
Also, if there's a six month delay, that's just extra incentive not to buy in. That's like 1 whole issue of Ultimates I'm missing out on!

[davegraham]

IMO, reading comics online still doesn't work well. There's too much of a qualitative difference between reading a page in a book and on a computer screen. I read some comics off of Marvel's site previously with a viewer that sounds to be exactly the same, and zooming in and out while trying to take in the page as a whole just isn't the same. Maybe if the comics were better adapted to the constraints of the screen, it would work (like some webcomics), but until someone comes out with a good electronic book, I'll still buy my stack and kill a baby tree every week.
Also, if there's a six month delay, that's just extra incentive not to buy in. That's like 1 whole issue of Ultimates I'm missing out on!

What I did is set the viewer to single page display. I have a 19inch monitor and it looks very nice. No lag issues with turning pages, like I used to have with Marvel's old set up.

Although, I haven't actually read an entire comic book. The samples I have clicked on only gave me about six pages. I haven't gone further than that, because I am reluctant to spend them money just yet. Although, I think I am going to give it a shot once I get home. I have been wanting to pick up the first Essentials volume for Avengers, but this might give me the same expierence.

I'd never replace going to the comic book store every Wednesday for this kind of set up.

[conorkilpatrick]

My fear is that this effort won't be successful and the major companies will use it as evidence that there is no money in online comics distribution.

[conorkilpatrick]

I just went to the website to check it out and got this:

Warning: mysql_connect() [function.mysql-connect]: Too many connections in /var/www/sites/toolbox/connect.php on line 8

Warning: mysql_select_db() [function.mysql-select-db]: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2) in /var/www/sites/toolbox/connect.php on line 9

Warning: mysql_select_db() [function.mysql-select-db]: A link to the server could not be established in /var/www/sites/toolbox/connect.php on line 9

Warning: mysql_select_db() [function.mysql-select-db]: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2) in /var/www/sites/marvel.com/htdocs/index.php on line 22

Warning: mysql_select_db() [function.mysql-select-db]: A link to the server could not be established in /var/www/sites/marvel.com/htdocs/index.php on line 22

Warning: mysql_connect() [function.mysql-connect]: Too many connections in /var/www/sites/marvel.com/htdocs/site/i_db.php on line 3

Warning: mysql_info() [function.mysql-info]: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2) in /var/www/sites/marvel.com/htdocs/site/i_db.php on line 3

Warning: mysql_info() [function.mysql-info]: A link to the server could not be established in /var/www/sites/marvel.com/htdocs/site/i_db.php on line 3
:: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)

Whoops. Too many users!

[davegraham]

Forgive me for stating the obvious, but I think this is mean as a healthy aleternative to bittorrenting. On that level I like this system. Then again I only bittorrented the Preacher series and couldn't get through reading the first issue with my laptop.

This may sound irrational. It seems that a great deal of my tech knowledge dwindled when TechTV went off the air. Can people get this on their iPhones? I ask, because if they can then it seems like all that is needed is an iPhone-like device that has the display large enough for a comic book page. Then again...thats almost a laptop.

[conorkilpatrick]

Forgive me for stating the obvious, but I think this is mean as a healthy aleternative to bittorrenting. On that level I like this system. Then again I only bittorrented the Preacher series and couldn't get through reading the first issue with my laptop.

Except not. With bittorrent you are downloading the file to you computer to do with it what you will. This content is only viewable.

This may sound irrational. It seems that a great deal of my tech knowledge dwindled when TechTV went off the air. Can people get this on their iPhones? I ask, because if they can then it seems like all that is needed is an iPhone-like device that has the display large enough for a comic book page. Then again...thats almost a laptop.

No, flash players don't work on iPhones at the moment.

[davegraham]

Except not. With bittorrent you are downloading the file to you computer to do with it what you will. This content is only viewable.

Hmmm...good point.

[jimski]

I just went to teh website to check it out and got this:

[I]Warning: mysql_connect() [function.mysql-connect]: Too many connections in /var/www/sites/toolbox/connect.php on line 8

I was just about to ask if this was happening to anyone else. A sign that it's a hit, or a sign of a lack of planning, or both?

You know, I shouldn't be so quick to snark. As I look around at the piles of comics in my office, a service that lets me look at them and then makes them disappear might be the greatest thing that ever happened to me.

[davegraham]

I take it as a sign that comic book readers check newsarama around 11 o'clock.

I can get through now, but it takes a lot longer than it did earlier in the morning.

[conorkilpatrick]

Marvel also put out a press release on the AP Wire so they are probably getting a lot of exposure.

[jimski]

Yeah, the AP was where I saw it, right between Britney's TMZ footage being subpoenaed and Kanye's mom dying under the knife. "Blah blah, writer's strike... wait, what the hell? 'Digital Marvel'...? How am I hearing about this for the first time from the civilians?"

Hey, True Believers, the response to Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited has been so overwhelming, we're just doing a bit of routine maintenance to make sure you have a great experience! We'll be back shortly. Thank you, Marvel.com.

Man... professionally, I have been on the other end of this snafu, and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Well, maybe one guy.

[luthor]

So this just hit the Digg(almost literally) front page...and Marvel.com has crashed. Marvel might've just hit onto something.

[baldmonkey]

Could have been good if the offered new books.
As it is now I will continue to torrent the issues and buy what I like in trades.

I'm over here in Sweden and it usually takes a week for the american comics to appear in the comicbook shop here. The spoilers online however get here really quick.
Why do they not offer new books? If the comics went online at the same time as they hit the stores I would have signed up without thinking twice about it. I would happily paid the double for the service.

[conorkilpatrick]

Why do they not offer new books? If the comics went online at the same time as they hit the stores I would have signed up without thinking twice about it. I would happily paid the double for the service.

American comic book store owners would have rioted, probably.

[baldmonkey]

Well, I'm very sorry if the stores business plan is outdated, but they will not be the first to suffer from new technology.
There are still manufacturers of typwriters, just not as many as it used to be.

I love my comic book store, and nothing would make me stop buying trades and hard covers. But I would also love an easy way to get my monthly issues on day one.

[conorkilpatrick]

http://marvel.com/i/2007/bits/down.jpg

[zombox]

This is, IMO, not a horrible thing. Its the kind of thing you can spend 9.99 on and readall the origins of your favorite books. I don't think there will be huge, long term subscribers but there will be people who come onboard to read the X-Men origins and then bail off after one or two months.

What I'd actually pay 10 bucks a month for would be a service that 'reprinted' the books for the last two years to, say, three months ago. That way I could pay a relatively small amount to be up on a book I don't really want to buy month to month. Like, say, Thunderbolts or Runaways. Books I'm not interested enough in to pay 3+ a month for, but I can read a lot of modern, pertinent history for what amounts to 50c or so an issue? I think we'd all use that from time to time.

[jimski]

I wait for the trades of the books I am not crazily enthusiastic about. Invincible, New Avengers, these I have to get as each issue comes out; Heroes for Hire, say, I'm curious about but can catch later.

Seems sound in theory, but this results in my having nothing I care about in collected editions, and Heroes for Hire on a shelf in my house where people can see it.

So what if, for the exact price of that trade, I can read everything that trade contains online and lots more trades besides?

Hmm. I might be coming around, depending on how the reader works and, you know, whether I ever actually get to see the site.

[bogotoko]

I don't think this is not going to kill comics in print. If reading books online was really bad then they wouldn't be building a Barnes and Nobles, Borders, or Amazon selling like a kazillion books.

While reading things online is nice, actually holding a new comic and flipping through it is something a computer can't replace. Plus, I don't need electricity and dial-up / DSL / Broadband when I want to look at my collection.

[cam-]

I don't know, feels like the beginning of the end for Floppies to me.

Or the end of the beginning of the awesome age!

[bogotoko]

Floppies!? Are we talking 5 1/4 or 3 1/2? So you've at least moved on beyond the COBOL cards, right? :)

[snooganshooligan]

Well I can't wait to check it out, except for the fact I can't for the life of me get on any part of the site. Hopefully I can check it out soon though!

[mharrison]

I can't even get to www.marvel.com, it redirects me to http://www.marvel.com/doctorstrangedoctorstrangedoctorstrangedoctorstran gedoctorstrangedoctorstrangedoctorstrangedoctorstr angedoctorstrangedoctorstrangedoctorstrangedoctors trangedoctorstrangedoctorstrangedoctorstrangedocto rstrangedoctorstrangedoctorstrangedoctorstrangedoc torstrange
and I get a "The page isn't redirecting properly" error.

Has their site been hacked? It's been like this for days now.

[conorkilpatrick]

Works fine for me.

[labor_days]

I just typed Marvel.com in and got the same strange re-direct. My thinking is that they are doing some work on the site.

Marvel's web site is flaky at times. Check again later, maybe?

[six-gun]

I just typed Marvel.com in and got the same strange re-direct. My thinking is that they are doing some work on the site.

Marvel's web site is flaky at times. Check again later, maybe?

yeah I've found the site to be a bit odd at times as well

[kahunablair]

Well I don't know if this was talked about, but apparently Marvels put out a bunch of videos "explaining" why the site crashed. They made me chuckle, so I figured I'd share in case anyone miss them...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jXGlT3Mn2Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jXGlT3Mn2Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQr6f7Z8-bI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQr6f7Z8-bI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO3W8zE02M0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO3W8zE02M0