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MARVEL goes Digital

Started by Mister_Comics,

19 posts in this topic

Mister_Comics

Mister_Comics

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Not sure if this has been brought up before. Just seen on the internet welcome screen this announcement about Marvel Comics going digital. For a monthly fee of under $5 you can read comics on your computer, kindle, or sony book. For those that like, print them out if you perfer. Both new issues and old. If you like goldenage or silverage they are available. If you want to read new you get to read them before they hit the printer. Here's a link below.

 

http://marvel.com/digitalcomics/

 

So is this the end of going to the comic store? How will this effect the hobby?

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Krypto Super Dawg

Krypto Super Dawg

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I think digital comics will compliment real comics and I don't think this is going to be the end of the LCS (for a while anyway). I think collectors will still want real copies of titles they love to collect (at least I will). There is a lot new stuff I would like to read but just can't drop $4.00 a pop for (like cross-over tie-ins etc)....but I would be willing to pay 5.00 a month to read unlimited number of digital copies. Also, there is a lot of old stuff that I would like to read that's too expensive and really don't want to spend the money on trades either. This may affect some of the weaker comic shops because people might not pick up that extra issue hear and there.

 

Also I collect a lot of independent stuff so you start adding up digital prices and it can get expensive for something you don't own physically.

 

From the description on their websites its mostly back issues that are available. Are new issues available the same time as they hit the stands?

 

Now in another generation.....that could be a different story.

 

My 2 cents but what do I know....

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Mark 1

Mark 1

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I bought some key silver age back issues for my iPad and read them to my 5 year old. He loves thumbing through Spidey #1 on the iPad!

 

I think it's very cool for Marvel to accept the technology and offer great products for fair pricing.

 

 

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shortstack comics

shortstack comics

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I think it's very cool for Marvel to [...] offer great products for fair pricing.

 

This is my biggest disappointment with Marvel in the digital realm right now. They aren't offering fair pricing. I choose not to use the Marvel Digital Comic program, but use the Marvel App on my iPhone and iPad. I am of the opinion that Marvel is trying to fulfill its own original prophecy that digital comics are not a viable sales option when I see them selling the same issue digitally at a cost that is higher than the physical copy.

 

Digital comics are going to be the wave of the future (read that as "the way to draw new readers"), but the big publishers are too keen on "partnering with" and "protecting" the Direct Market. They need to realize that physical comics and digital comics ARE going to cannibalize the sales of each other, but that having a digital option grows the end result.

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Mark 1

Mark 1

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I paid $1.99 for each Silver Age Spiderman on the iPad.

 

That's cheaper than any new hardcopy comic I see in the LCS.

 

I think that is fair pricing.

 

I didn't buy a lot of them..just about 5.

 

 

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ComicConnoisseur

ComicConnoisseur

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I have a free two year subscription to Marvel Digital that I won with the Ironman 2 Dr. Pepper game, I have read hundreds of Marvel comics since then, It has been worth it for all the space I have saved plus I don`t have to worry about packing up junk and shipping off of Ebay.If you want to subscribe its 9.99 dollars a month and you get to read as many comics as you want. I wish DC had a similar set up other than thier PSP digital comics.

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nwpassage

nwpassage

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If I could download them and read them offline I might subscribe for a few months to read the golden age stuff. I've read most of the silver, and own enough to keep me from wondering what it was like if I get nostalgic, but I'm just not interested enough in marvels bronze and modern fare. It may well be the wave of the future though, who knows. I'd love for DC to let go of the golden and silver age titles they've decided to keep locked up.

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Doctor Svord

Doctor Svord

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If I could download them and read them offline I might subscribe for a few months to read the golden age stuff. I've read most of the silver, and own enough to keep me from wondering what it was like if I get nostalgic, but I'm just not interested enough in marvels bronze and modern fare. It may well be the wave of the future though, who knows. I'd love for DC to let go of the golden and silver age titles they've decided to keep locked up.

 

(thumbs u

 

I'd happily pay DC for complete issues scans of Action Comics 127-251. Tommy Tomorrow, Vigilante, Congo Bill... gah, there's some great stuff in those books. Why they have them moldering on a shelf somewhere in this day and age is beyond me.

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dupont2005

dupont2005

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To me, a dollar an issue is fair. It would encourage me to buy a lot of comics digitally at that price to try them out and see if I want to shell out the cash for print. I really don't enjoy reading comics on my computer though. Maybe if I had an iPad hm A dollar an issue is what I limit most of my back issue purchases at though.

 

 

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Mister_Comics

Mister_Comics

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Now that comics are digital I'm reading more of a variety of new books. Its like going back to the old days for me. I'm getting more issues for the buck now and not having to run to the store to buy them. I don't care that I don't hold a paper product in my hands. Most of the new comics coming out just don't seem collectible anyway. Unless your looking for varient covers, which don't meen beans to me. They'll probably show all the different cover versions someday anyway. So no big deal. I can see this digital thing doing something to the hobby. Good or bad, I don't know?

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Claudio

Claudio

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This might get me reading some too. I'm afraid to open up actual books nowadays! :) I'm trying to keep my place simple and organized. I'd rather have all my comics on a computer than lying around in 10 long boxes in the garage!

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sterlingcomics

sterlingcomics

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The price of comics is doing a good enough job of killing comics, thank you very much. To me this is a convenience to a more savy technological age we all live in. Neglible impact (at first), but I suspect it will catch on over time. Remember Blockbuster? Almost bk, now everyone loves getting DVDs in the mail or even better, streamed to their digital device of choice. Comics (and media in general) is heading in this direction, no doubt about it.

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Icculus308win

Icculus308win

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Like I ranted in another thread until the books I buy on my computer can be viewed on my iPhone I won't do it! It is so stingy of them to have a separate iPhone App. Hell, I'd pay whatever they charged just as long as I have one Marvel account that can be viewed on different devices.

 

Also, being a Marvel reader/collector and not a DC one for the most part....I really wish DC would get into the game. Cause I would really love to read some DC Digital books.

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