Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited
Responding to a post at THE BEAT about Marvel’s new online comic initiative, rounding up a number of reactions.
i see people complaining about the price point, but y’know, five bucks a month is a lot easier on my budget than what i typically pay for the material i buy from Marvel, and it gives me access to books that i would like to read (but don’t because of budget constraints), AND (and this is a pretty strong motivator) it keeps my home office from piling up with stuff i’ll never read again.
Put that five bucks against what i currently pay for my monthly dose of Marvel and it’s really a no-brainer. (i just counted and now i am surprised and feeling slightly guilty to find i actually have 10 Marvel books that i regularly buy. Is it really that many? i’ve been trying to cut down!). With Marvel DCU, i can cut back on the number of those books and get to read more.
What really surprised me is that the interface actually doesn’t suck. i get Brian Heater’s point about what happens when “works that were created to be consumed in book form go online” but here? It just didn’t matter much. For one thing, it’s space opera, and sometimes there’s good art. If it turns out that i really like it and want to hold it, chances are i’ll have already picked it up–i’m not going to use the web interface for material like that.
For another thing, the interface was actually really easy to use. All i had to do was press my keyboard’s arrowkeys. NO SCROLLING REQUIRED. YAY FOR NO SCROLLING!
In fact it’s easier than reading an actual comic because i don’t even have to move my eyes!*
i do wish there were bookmarking (a way to mark where i left off, and maybe that’s there and i haven’t noticed it) and bookmarking (a way to link to a particular page).
As for waiting to read something six months later–Heck, i already have to do that plenty, the way Marvel’s keeping the schedule, so not an issue.
My real question is whether or not it will actually provide EVERYTHING that Marvel publishes, rather than select comics. i want to go back and catch up on Brubaker’s Daredevil, and Annihilation, and Big in Japan (by way of examples). There’s a lot of stuff i’d like to buy but just don’t because of budget constraints.
But the inventory that i can see right now is pretty limited. i don’t want to read 2700 comics–i want to read the comics i want to read. Big in Japan? No sign of that. Agents of Atlas? Check, but only one issue. Annihilation? 2 mini-series (both of which happen to be the only ones i have). i’m not interested in paying Marvel for teasers.
If you view Marvel DCU (okay, the name makes me laff) as a way to replace print comics, you might be feeling hostile. But as a another way to get to material i’d otherwise ignore?
i plan to sign up. But i’ll probably wait until i can see more of what i’m looking for.
*Er, yes. That’s snarkasm.