Marvel Comics Online Today

[Raven]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071113/ap_on_en_ot/comics_online;_ylt=AugoEc9Cw8dx5e39vkH5sgjqChkF

For Marvel, the general public has often already gotten its initial taste through movies like "Spider-Man" or the "Fantastic Four" franchises.

The publisher is hoping fans will be intrigued enough about the origins of those characters to shell out $9.99 a month, or $4.99 monthly with a year-long commitment. For that price, they'll be able to poke through, say, the first 100 issues of Stan Lee's 1963 creation "Amazing Spider-Man" at their leisure, along with more recent titles like "House of M" and "Young Avengers." Comics can be viewed in several different formats, including frame-by-frame navigation.

[Kep!]

Sigh. I give them props for finally jumping on the 1999 bandwagon, but this service has jumped the shark before the speed boat passes the ramp.

[L Jamal]

Didn't CrossGen do this?

[Kep!]

Didn't CrossGen do this?
Yup. They also did the DVD thing years before Marvel. To marvel's credit they at least released a LOT on their DVDs and it looks like they're releasing a lot on these. But I get the hunch they don't talk to anyone with experience in webcomics before they do things like this...it's a failed model four times over.

[L Jamal]

Yup. They also did the DVD thing years before Marvel. To marvel's credit they at least released a LOT on their DVDs and it looks like they're releasing a lot on these. But I get the hunch they don't talk to anyone with experience in webcomics before they do things like this...it's a failed model four times over.
If they were smart, they'd just offer them for free make the money back with advertising.

[Raven]

Yup. They also did the DVD thing years before Marvel. To marvel's credit they at least released a LOT on their DVDs and it looks like they're releasing a lot on these. But I get the hunch they don't talk to anyone with experience in webcomics before they do things like this...it's a failed model four times over.

Crossgen had better comics at the time and they put ALL of them up, I actually paid for that service and it was well worth it.

This just looks stupid. What is my incentive not to just download them? Other than the law and morals and stuff?

[Ian Ascher]

This is one of those things that's hard to nail down.

Yeah its been done before and failed but none of the companies that did it and failed were Marvel.

2500 comics a year for about two and a half cents per issue right on your computer for you to look at and download at your leisure ain't a bad deal IF your system is up to date and can support any browsers and programs needed to get the full enjoyment out of the books AND you can sit there and read a comic on a computer screen.

Im not one of the above people. I like my comics, printed, in my hand, for me to flip through and my computer is always one step away from crashing because I can't afford the latest tech each year (and it adds an element of danger to my writing at times).

The other thing that gets me is Marvel will wait six months before putting an issue on-line if its a newer book. Too many people already wait three to six months for tpb collections of books, slowly killing sales on monthy titles. This will just be another nail in the coffin if it takes off.

[HaphazardJoy]

Yeah, didn't they already release cd/dvd sets with hundreds of issues in them?

[Mungkay]

If they were smart, they'd just offer them for free make the money back with advertising.

Clearly this is the best way. Otherwise people who have downloading their comics for free are just going to keep doing it.

[Raven]

This is one of those things that's hard to nail down.

Yeah its been done before and failed but none of the companies that did it and failed were Marvel.

2500 comics a year for about two and a half cents per issue right on your computer for you to look at and download at your leisure ain't a bad deal IF your system is up to date and can support any browsers and programs needed to get the full enjoyment out of the books AND you can sit there and read a comic on a computer screen.

But the chances of GOOD content going up is slim. 1 of 10 Marvel books are good. They'll end up putting back issues of Blade up.

[Ian Ascher]

But the chances of GOOD content going up is slim. 1 of 10 Marvel books are good. They'll end up putting back issues of Blade up.


Marvel puts out a minimum of 1200 to 1500 books a year and has been publishing for 40+ years. That's a lot of books to choose from. Starting right now that's more 27 years of content if they put up everything they ever did (and you know they won't/can't).

Yeah... Im sure we're gonna get Blade at some point. Wouldn't surprise me if they put the whole New Universe up there in one shot. That also means we're gonna get everything good with Marvel as well.

Total cost for 2500 comics a year on-line is two and a half cents per issue. Even if you pay your $60 and only 10% of the books are "good" that's still only a quarter a book.

What I don't think a lot of comic book fans get is this move isn't for the comic book fans. Guys like you and me here... they could care less if we sign up for this. It's computer savvy kids and older adults that don't wander into the comics shops. That's the target here. Let's get the 50 year old Doctor who hasn't looked at FF since he was 5 and get his $60.00 or let's get the kid who just finished playing Halo 3 for the 1000th hour and see if he'll drop $9.99 because we put the Bendis Halo series up... maybe he'll stick around and find something else cool and >gasp< even wander out of the house to a comic book store.

[Raven]

What I don't think a lot of comic book fans get is this move isn't for the comic book fans. Guys like you and me here... they could care less if we sign up for this. It's computer savvy kids and older adults that don't wander into the comics shops. That's the target here. Let's get the 50 year old Doctor who hasn't looked at FF since he was 5 and get his $60.00 or let's get the kid who just finished playing Halo 3 for the 1000th hour and see if he'll drop $9.99 because we put the Bendis Halo series up... maybe he'll stick around and find something else cool and >gasp< even wander out of the house to a comic book store.

Well, if it isn't for comicbook fans, why charge money? Only fans pay for what they love.

Really this idea should have been implemented during Civil War, with Marvel offering all the previous chapters of the story online to keep everyone up to date. Just dumping back inventory isn't good enough, you need a strong marketing campaign tied into real world books that will bring traffic back to the site. Or at least start advertising in online gaming sites to get the people you mentioned.

[BIGROD]

Well, too bad the site is moving so slow for anyone who would be interested in checking it out. :yawn:

[Moonrider]

Yeah, didn't they already release cd/dvd sets with hundreds of issues in them?

I remember some of them from the 'nineties. Complete with commentaries by Stan Lee and stuff. Malibu Comics did a lot of these 'CD-ROMIX' for The Ultraverse as well before Marvel took over.

[kdmelrose]

Really this idea should have been implemented during Civil War, with Marvel offering all the previous chapters of the story online to keep everyone up to date.

Pitchfork-wielding retailers probably would've stormed the Marvel offices.

[Raven]

I remember some of them from the 'nineties. Complete with commentaries by Stan Lee and stuff. Malibu Comics did a lot of these 'CD-ROMIX' for The Ultraverse as well before Marvel took over.

They didn't have hundreds of comics on them, I got one for Christmas one year for Spider-Man and it had maybe a dozen issues and then a lot of filler crap. If you buy the WHOLE SERIES you get the lot, but there were multiple discs.

As for the pitchfork wielding retailers, well Marvel has to make a choice: move into the future or continue to support the direct market and retailers. Someone is going to lose money, you can't please everybody.

[L Jamal]

As for the pitchfork wielding retailers, well Marvel has to make a choice: move into the future or continue to support the direct market and retailers. Someone is going to lose money, you can't please everybody.

Marvel is unlikely to make a move to damage the one market that has sustained them for 30 years in favor of a market that they've yet learned to use to make money. That would be foolish until they make enough money from the new media to replace all the money that would be lost by not using the old media.

[Raven]

Marvel is unlikely to make a move to damage the one market that has sustained them for 30 years in favor of a market that they've yet learned to use to make money. That would be foolish until they make enough money from the new media to replace all the money that would be lost by not using the old media.

I agree, which is why I think it will fail.

[L Jamal]

CrossGen had much success with their version, but they also had many, many high traffic portals that sent them traffic like AOL.