Marvel has announced it is taking its comic line and releasing it digital day and date with the print edition. This isn’t anything that should come as a big surprise, the company has been hinting at it for a while with many of its individual issues, and with pressure from DC and other publishers, it was something that needed to be done.
But hold on, the news isn’t perfect.
The digital day and date release won’t be one massive flood of comics on your digital device, instead, Marvel will be rolling out the titles slowly between now and March 2012, which according to Gizmodo, should coincide with major story arc moments from the company.
While this is a huge deal for Marvel fans, Marvel won’t be sending everything to the cloud. Marvel will not be releasing third-party works like The Stand and the MAX imprint, the later more than likely due to Apple’s anti-adult content policy.
The transition is almost complete, folks. There are a few publishers that are still dragging their heals, but for the most part, by this time next year, if you want to ditch print for digital, you’ll be able to do so without missing a single issue.
7 Comments
but will it encourage marvel to alter their pricing schemes at all?
that’s what’s inhibiting me from buying their digital content as is!
Personally, I think that they are just kissing “rich kids'” asses. Not everyone has a gizmo to download a book. Some people want something in their hands. That they can collect. Newspapers, magazines, paperbacks, and comic books aren’t going away any time soon. (Unless they just want to sell to the top 1# of the population.)
Most kids in America don’t even have a TV!!!
Get REAL dammit!!!
I know that the “suits” study “trends”… but, we are in a recession… kids need comics that they can afford!
Forget the flash and shiny covers… give us some stories with pictures!!!
A 99cent comic could still be made and sell TONS! (If it was done well!!!!)
This pure greed is more than I can stomach.
And, it will the death of comic books that I have loved (And collected.) for over forty years.
The only good thing about the DC reboot is that it has forced the other companies to move into a more electronic digital era. That is the only good thing about it.
Good on ya Marvel! Good on ya!
I look forward to this. As I told many people when I stopped buying physical copies: “I collect The stories, not the comics.”
I think the pricing is going to be an issue for everyone, it’s a little more expensive for me to get comics in general as I live in the UK, but I feel Comixology has hit a happy medium with their pricing (About $3.19 for brand new releases before dropping to $2.39)
The Delivery method will always bother people, particularly those who have such fond memories of the previous method, but as always Your Mileage May Vary.
Price for most comics is still too high based on the entertainment value of said comics. 5-15 minute reading experience is not worth $3-4 in my opinion. Figure a 15 minute read for a really dense issue of a comic (a best case scenario). A movie at the theater closest to my house is $10 and provides 90 – 120 minutes of entertainment. To get 90 minutes of comic reading entertainment, I have to spend almost $18.
Granted I get to keep the physical book, or the digital copy for re-reading, but if I’m willing to wait for a movie to come out on DVD, I can own it for an additional $10 and I get bonus features. So for $20 I can see it in the theatre, then buy the DVD at a later date for almost the same cost as the comparable $/time value in comics. I also get a complete story in a movie (most of the time) where with modern decompressed comics it could take 6-12 months to get the full story (if the creative team stays in tact or a crossover doesn’t jack the whole thing up, AND everything ships on time). This is one of the reasons I wait for the trade.
And for $10 a month I can get unlimited Netflix streaming for all the movies I can stomach, if I don’t mind older fare (with some newer releases). Most physical comics get more expensive as they develop a shelf life, not less, so if I want back issues on the secondary market I can expect to spend even more. Digital helps here, with price drops over time on older issues, but digital back issues still seem high priced to me.
Perhaps I’m just a grumpy old man now, and remember buying books for 75 cents off the stands when I was in Jr. High. A $1-2 digital price point seems like the sweet zone for a guy like me to consider making the investment in the hardware to go digital, and I think the physical monthly product will never again be at a price point I’ll even consider. I’ll still pick up trades or OGNs for a satisfying beginning/middle/end read. In the meantime there are piles of high quality web comics that I can sample for free, and when I find a really good one I can support those creators by purchasing their collected works in a trade.
Perhaps I’m just a grumpy old man now, and remember buying books for 75 cents off the stands when I was in Jr. High.
Some would say real grumpy old men remember 30 cent comic books. :)
Although, I think a couple of our reg’lar commenters will correct ME, and remind me about 12 cent Silver Age books.