At this February's New York Comic-Con, Marvel's Publisher Dan Buckley admitted something everyone already knows: that digital distribution of Marvel's catalogue was "a very real thing that we're all going to have to deal with, because whether we like it or not, our books are already on the Internet." This week, the company took a step toward dealing with it: they introduced the Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited subscription service, which offers all-you-can-read online access for about $10 a month (or $60 a year)--although the 2500 or so issues on the site can only be viewed as Flash files, and can't be downloaded.  

The big American comics (and manga) companies have been trying to figure out what to do about online sales for years. The 300,000-plus comics in the database of comics.org represent a huge quantity of intellectual property that someone, somewhere, is willing to pay for access to--they're a textbook example of the "long tail" waiting to happen--and the way a lot of new mainstream comics build on stories originally published ten or twenty or forty years ago makes easy access to back issues an even more attractive prospect for fans. But there's no iTunes-style marketplace for comics, because they're not quite a mass medium on the order of music or movies, and the industry is built on a retail network that fears anything horning in on its business. Meanwhile, the longer comics publishers wait to find a solution, the more deeply entrenched the community of fans trading and torrenting homemade scans of new and old issues becomes.  

At San Diego Comic Con, MySpace and Dark Horse Comics announced MySpace Dark Horse Presents, an online ressurection of the anthology title. A few weeks ago, DC Comics launched Zuda, an online "imprint" for new material. However, neither company's back-issue archives are yet available on the Internet. So Marvel's DCU (interesting acronym!) is a shot across the bow: they're the first major comics publisher to offer a significant chunk of their catalogue via Web browser. We spoke to Marvel's Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada and Vice President of Online Operations and Marketing John Dokes about the launch of the service, and about what comes next. -- Douglas Wolk    



How did you select the issues that will be part of the subscription program?  

John Dokes: A lot of it was based on fan feedback. We did surveys a while back to ask what people wanted on the site if they could read digital comics. So we have things like the first 100 issues of Amazing Spider-Man, the first 66 issues of Uncanny X-Men, and then key first appearance books, like Black Panther appearing in Fantastic Four 52. Also, we we have origin stories and amazing events like "Days of Future Past," from Uncanny X-Men 141 and 142.  

Joe Quesada: It was with the thought in mind of what a lapsed reader, or a new reader coming in to experience comics this way, would find really enjoyable, and a way to fill them in on the Marvel universe as a whole. Here's stuff that happened 40 years ago, and here's stuff that's happening relatively currently. It's a full immersion experience, as well as a fan experience.  

Are there any guides on the site for new readers?  

JD: We have a section on the digital comics area called "highlights." It basically outlines what I just talked about--the key books that people might be looking for. There are also things that are connected to our current events: New Avengers 1 is in the system, which kind of gives a hint as to what's going on with the "Secret Invasion" storyline that's coming out next year.  

Are new books going to be showing up as they're published?  

JD: Not as they're published. There's probably going to be about a six-month lag between the time a book appears in print and the time it appears in this service. In some cases, we will have books that are more recent than that, but that will be specifically promoting what's happening in the print books.  

Is the digital initiative mostly meant to promote the print comics?  

JD: That's definitely part of it, but when you're talking about getting access to over 2700 comics, with 20 new ones added each week, you're really talking about a whole new program. You're talking about getting access to a piece of the Marvel vaults. I think we're going to find that most people who get into this are readers who might not have picked up a print comic, but this might be their first introduction to reading comics. There are more people online than there are in the comic stores.  

Are all the issues that are showing up in the first batch already in print through Marvel's paperback and hardcover reprint program?  

JD: So far, I'm pretty sure, yes. There will be occasions that we put things in that didn't necessarily warrant being printed, but that fans are clamoring for, but that's kind of the second phase of what we're doing.  

Will there eventually be Marvel material that only appears online?  

JD: It's a possibility; it's not something we're looking to do any time soon.  



The movement in the music industry's online sales seems to be away from digital rights management and toward DRM-free downloads. The standard among comics readers right now is downloadable .cbr or .cbz files; how did you decide to go with Flash rather than a downloadable format?  

JD: This is a part of our business, and we think this is actually easier for the fans. We're giving them unlimited access; all they have to do is log in, and they don't have to worry about storing all these comics on their computer. I know that storage space is becoming a lot cheaper, but when you talk about 2500 or, by next year, 3500 comics online, you're talking about a lot of comics. In order to get the best bang for your buck, I think this is the best way to go.   

The music industry also sells everything they do in the same places online--there isn't, for instance, a single site that sells Sony BMG music and another one for Universal Music Group. Why have a digital initiative devoted only to Marvel instead of something that covers the entire comics industry?  

JQ: As Marvel, we are the leader in the comics industry--we're well over 40% of the industry at this point. But there are so many small and diverse companies, as well as a few larger ones, that that kind of a coordinated effort would be tough for us to do in our industry with any initiative, not just a digital one. At Marvel, we've always found it's better to be a leader and see where that takes us, and that's been a big reason for our success in these last 8 to 10 years. There's an old saying that I used to hear in the comics industry before I was even at Marvel, that as Marvel goes, so goes the rest of the industry. Marvel tends to drive our industry, and tends to help everyone just by pulling it up by its bootstraps. So I think the path of least resistance for us was to move ahead and do this on our own, in a way that we think will benefit everyone--our readers, our retailers, our publishing division--and go from there, and then see how the rest of the industry reacts.  

Was there any talk of going through a central retailer like iTunes--making issues available through other means, rather than directly through Marvel?  

JD: We explored a lot of different options, including partnering with other people. But at the end of the day, we felt like it was just easier for us to do internally--we have access to the files, we have access to the editorial team, and they can pick the best content to put up online.  

Marvel's comics are already circulating on the Internet--what's your take on the online file-sharing of comics?  

JD: I think the other thing that we're offering here is really a legal way to read our comics. I think there are going to be people out there who are going to go to those sites; I think most of our loyal fans, once they know that we have somewhere they can go to purchase comics online, and make sure that we're able to reward our fans with a large library, and our creators with a way to protect their investment, I think they're going to come and purchase comics through Marvel.  

JQ: Let me also say that as a creator, the whole bootlegging thing just doesn't hit me the right way. In the comics industry for the last 60 to 80 years, there have always been people who have been clamoring about creators' rights and making sure that creators get their due, and I can't help but think that every time someone downloads a comic for free and illegally, they're really going against that particular wish. As a creator, even outside of Marvel, that's always been troublesome to me. I think this is a much better system, where you can do this, do it legally, and the right way.  

Is Marvel paying royalties to creators when people read comics online with Digital Comics Unlimited?  

JD: That's part of our plan.  



Comics have a long tradition of "collectible" physical objects; what does it mean that this initiative turns Marvel's comics into something that's not physical and not collectible?   

JD: The experience of touching and feeling and holding a comic you've bought is completely different from the experience of reading a comic. You get a different look, if you read the comic online, but you don't get the feel of looking at that comic in your hand and going back to that page that you loved over and over again... it's a completely different experience. We wanted to create something for the people who wanted to read comics and may not have gotten their first experience looking at the magazines, but this might lead them to go out and read comics in print form.   

JQ: When Marvel really started to push into the collected editions and trade-paperback world, there was a big to-do within the comics community about "will these collected editions take the place of the monthly comics?" Why would I go out and buy the first six issues when I know it's going to be compiled several months down the road, and probably for a better price point? Will that put the monthly comic out of business? Well, what we found was that it actually increased the sales of the monthly comic. We ended up with people who enjoy both formats--buying the monthlies and the trades. It increased our business on the whole. I believe it's going to be the same thing with digital comics. There will be people out there who don't just view digital comics, but also want the experience of the hard copy, and seek that out as well.  

Moving forward, two or three generations from today, there will be people who will be getting material in other ways beyond the ones that we foresee. Music is a perfect example of that. I used to collect vinyl, and then I traded that in for CDs, and now CDs are going the way of the dinosaur and everything's on my computer. I really enjoyed those vinyl records, but at the end of the day, there are better formats--for me, at least. I believe that comics, because they have that collectibility aspect, will always have people who want those particular monthly comics.  

Another question for you as a creator, Joe: what's the difference between drawing something that's meant to appear in print and drawing something that's meant to appear on the screen?  

JQ: That is the great unknown. I do believe that as technology improves, down the road, it will affect the way that we draw things--the computer has already affected the way we draw things by bringing in this sensational new coloring of comics that gives this 3-D feel. It definitely affects me as an artist in the way that I render things. So with respect to online--we just don't know. I think we have to see where this takes us. We'll continue to draw our books and color them the way we've been doing, because it looks great online, but as the technology improves, who knows what's going to happen to comics when they're viewed online?  

Are you looking at expanding the Marvel online program to things like mobile phones?  

JD: Definitely--that's something that we're looking into. We're considering this the first phase of reaching out to consumers for digital comics, and we're looking at other things that may include mobile devices down the road.  

JQ: It's also important to note here that comics, over the last several years, have really been becoming a major, major part of the mainstream vernacular and mainstream entertainment business. I think the potential's already been seen and tapped into, and it's affecting everything from television to movies. This is that next step for comics, where we're going to discover a whole new audience out there that's really clamoring for our stuff, and wants to see it in multiple platforms.  

Douglas Wolk is the author of "Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean" (Da Capo). He writes about comics and pop music for Publishers Weekly Comics Week, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Blender, Rolling Stone, Salon and elsewhere.