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Marvel Comics Goes Online with New Subscription Service

by Tim Stevens on November 13, 2007 at 01:14 PM

Marvel Comics Offering Online SubscriptionsFear of digital piracy has also kept many comic publishers from the online realm. But that's finally changing for Marvel, who today launches a subscription-based online service for viewing 2,500 issues sampled from their massive back-catalog.

The service, called Marvel Digital Comics, will not cannibalize existing printed comic sales by excluding anything newer than six months old. Additionally, to help prevent copying, comics will only be viewable through web browsers. And, of course, this won't be free. The site will cost $9.99 per month, or $59.88 for an entire year up-front.

As a teaser, 250 comics are available for viewing for free -- or are at least supposed to be. As of now the Marvel site is offline, likely struggling to cope with the massive influx of demand. That could be a good sign for Marvel, but whether it can maintain relevance in a world dominated by imported manga and anime like 'Naruto' and 'Fullmetal Alchemist' is the real question. And perhaps as important: Will people pay for this after they gobble up the free 250 comics?

From Newsvine and USA Today

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Tags: comics, Marvel Comics, MarvelComics

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