Marvel’s DCU - part 1

When I first read the headline “MARVEL LAUNCHES ONLINE COMICS INITIATIVE?” at Newsarama, I thought it was going to be the same old stuff going online. Either some brand new web comics or some very obscure stuff that anyone can get in any back issue 5 cent bin. Another thought that crossed my mind was that Marvel was finally going to release whatever has been gathered on their DVD-ROMs and put them online. It would make sense. It’s already been packaged and being sold as a digital product.

It turns out I was partially right. Marvel states that they will have an, “archive of more than 2,500 back issues, including the first appearances of Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Incredible Hulk”. Later they go on to say that they plan to, “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”.

For those of you who want to purchase your comics digitally this seems to be a good model. However, six months is right about the time a collected edition will hit the market. How will this impact THAT sale? My initial thought is not that much. Marvel will continue to produce monthly comics and then a collected edition in the same manner that they always do. The only difference I see is that Marvel will undoubtedly offer the “extras” that you usually find in a printed publication and probably not online. For example, sketch pages and commentary by the writers or artists. This will entice readers to but the printed project.

Secondly, notice the titles and the timing of these books. Almost the entire ”first wave” of 2500 classic comics has already been reprinted many times over. Masterworks and Essentials are the two most popular brands when it comes to reprints at Marvel. You can throw in the Omnibus line, too, as they collect roughly three Masterworks in one. Thanks to the “re-Mastering” restarting of the Masterworks a few years ago, the reproduction on these timeless books have never looked better (and that includes when they first came out). Essentials, too, have seen a new light of day and even that line has been given the care that it needs like placing the comics in the right order and touch ups here and there.

The new Digital Comics Unlimited line is just a natural progression and one that I intend to explore further. I plan on paying the monthly rate just to see what all the hubbub is about. One thing is for sure, I will have a tough time reading on my Dell. My eyes are not that great and after staring at the computer screen all day long, it’ll be tough to sit down, relax and curl up to my screen.