ComiXology and Amazon: A New Comic Book Pairing

Amazon announced the acquisition of comiXology, one of the biggest platforms for digital comics in the world, further amplifying their presence in the online marketplace.

According to the company “comiXology revolutionized the digital comic reading experience with their immersive technology, and made it easier and fun to discover, buy and read comics and graphic novels.”

For the president and cofounder of comiXology, David Steinberger, Amazon is the ideal place for the platform and, working together, the companies will rush in a new era for the industry.

“The two companies share the passion in reinventing reading in a digital world. We invest in this market, building a team and bringing comics to more people”, confirmed David Naggar, president of Amazon.

ComiXolgy was founded in 2007, releasing comics from the principal publishers of the United States and also other parts of the world. The releases are available on platforms simultaneously as the printed versions arrive at comic book stores.

(Original article: Amazon compra plataforma de HQs digitais comiXology, written by Samir Naliato on April 11, 2014. Republished and translated with permission by UniversoHQ)



ComiXolgy, with Amazon’s visibility, could mean great things for the industry. ComiXolgy offered self publishing, retailer perks, and huge sales-not to mention free comics. ComiXology has been inching into the international community, with an office opened in France. Amazon’s Kindle offers books in many languages from all over the world. Read David Steinberger’s message on the merger on the comiXology website.

 Amazon has a fan-fiction initiative for the Kindle which “authorizes anyone to create and sell fan fiction” inspired by certain properties. Among the open properties are the Valiant Entertainment characters including Archer, Armstrong, X-O Manowar, Shadowman and Bloodshot. Find out more about that here. 

Free Comics Galore

With Free Comic Book Day less than two months away in the US...Comixology is picking up the slack at the annual SXSW Fair. Fair-goers will be rewarded five dollar gift cards for the online app. Last year, Comixology partnered with Marvel to promote their MarvelNOW! Initiative, offering 300 free comics to all users for the SXSW weekend, crashing their system in the process.

This weekend, Comixology’s offerings are a bit more tame, rolling out a free comic code every few hours. Their Friday codes(8 in all) include collected editions of Ninjago(Papercutz), My Little Pony(IDW), and New York Times bestseller Locke and Key(IDW) along with DC’s first issues of Batman ’66, Injustice: Gods Among Us, and Batman: Arkham City. Two other codes will be announced today. These codes are able to be redeemed until midnight on Saturday- New York time.

Locke and Key by IDW. Do yourself a favor and download volume 1 today for free!

The event page also has seven offerings for Saturday and seven more for Sunday. Take a look at the Geek Stage Giveaway here and enjoy a comic download today!


This comes after a breach in security over the week that Comixology is still trying to resolve. So far, only passwords were leaked . The application sent out emails to users to change their passwords and put up a warning on the main page.

Kadokawa

Also down the line is the launch of a new app for Manga- ComicWalker. Run by a Japanese publishing company, Kadokawa- the app will offer titles in Chinese, English and Japanese. They plan to offer 40 works on their March 22nd launchdate. Kadokawa also has plans to have a digital first selection on the app. Only drawback? The website AND the app menu is all Japanese! This is only temporary as the developers are working on an English menu.

Kadokawa publishes Cowboy Bebop, .hack//, Ludwig II, Trinity Blood, and Mobile Suite Gundam. The titles will be available for free and even can be combined into an anthology magazine(in traditional Manga style) to make reading your favorite titles easier and more convenient.  For more information on titles look here.

Indian Comic Con Showcases a World of Talent

India held their own Comic Con in New Delhi this weekend at Thyageraj Stadium. It is the fourth convention of its kind for the country. 

Guests include Mark Waid( Kingdom Come, 52,Irredeemable,Daredevil ), David Lloyd(Illustrator, V for Vendetta), John Layman(Image Comic’s Chew, Gambit, Detective Comics), Brazilian twins Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba( Collectively: Daytripper, Casanova, The Umbrella Academy) , and Indian creator Pran(Chacha Chaudhary and Sabu). Comixology also visited to give a talk “Digital Comics & It’s Scope”. The Comic Con had a lot to do:Screenings Sherlock and Supernatural, PS4 game station, Peanuts Museum, “Learn to write comics”, grass root comic campaigns, and “A chance to visit New York”. The 4th annual Indian Comic Con connects the international community with India's rich comic book culture. 

A staple of Indian childhood since the 60s: Amar Chitra Katha comics created by Uncle Anant Pai, educates children in multiple languages about a variety of Indian folklore, mythology, biographies  and history. Their online store offers international shipping.

Pran, present at the Con, has been called the “Walt Disney of India” . He has created many diverse characters and his flagship property: the mustached super genius Chacha Chaudhary, has 600 animated  episodes under his belt. Learn more about the characters and the creator here.

Chacha Chaudhary, created by Pran

Spider-Man:India, published Gotham Entertainment Group was a 4 issue Indian adaptation of Spider-Man. Released in 2004(2005 Stateside), it was created by Suresh Seetharaman,Jeevan Kang, and Sharad Devarajan. In the story, Pavitr Prabhakar lives with his Auntie Maya and Uncle Bhim, he crushes on Meera Jain. Nalin Oberoi(Green Goblin) and Doctor Octopus(with magic tentacles) threaten the young wall crawler.

Marvel/ Gotham Entertainment Group

Marvel Global Comics released their app this week, featuring multiple titles in Hindi. Viz Media is heavily pushing Manga in India. With multiple Indian publishers accepting and embracing Digital Media, their future is as bright as ever. 

Marvel App Sells Digital Comics in 12 Languages

Marvel Global Comics

It was just a question of when, and its time has arrived. Marvel announced the release of the Marvel Global Comics app, which will offer comics translated in 12 languages.

With the ease of making titles available in digital format, there has been speculation for a long time about the future possibility of publishers offering their products in different langues. The “House of Ideas” decided to do just that.

"Marvel has incredible fans all around the world, and we're excited to bring digital comics to their mobile devices in their native languages. This partnership with iVerse allows us to introduce Marvel’s rich history of action-packed stories to new audiences worldwide who want to know more about the Avengers, Spider-Man, Wolverine and the rest of the vast Marvel Universe,”declared Kristen Vincent, vice-president of digital products at Marvel Entertainment.

iVerse Media is a translation management service for digital content.

For now, Marvel Global Comics is available just for products with iOS operational systems, by Apple, like the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. To install, go to the Apple Store. Some free issues are available.

(Original article  Aplicativo da Marvel vende HQs digitais em 12 idiomas, inclusive português by Samir Naliato on February 6th, 2014. Reprinted and translated with permission from Universo HQ)

Chinese (traditional and simplified), Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, German, French, Hindi, Russian, Hindi, and Italian readers will have digital access to comics! Launching today, I am hesistant to see the library offered (and the prices). iVerse seems to be a pretty established company and one of a kind in digital comic translations.They are doing a great service to the comics community and I expect other companies to quickly follow suite(ComiXology, DC..). Read the press release here and download the app today!

ComiXology's audience...on a map.

ComiXology, the number one non-game app in the US and preferred book app in France, Germany, Spain, Britain and Belgium. So what? Comics are a high art in France and Belgium. BD (Bande dessinée) is known as the 9th art. From the countries that brought the world Tintin, the Smurfs, and Marsupilami and popular comic albums are released yearly...this is surprising that they have accepted the new technology with open arms. The fact that 49% of ComiXology users are outside the US make me curious to see tablet sales worldwide, but wifi, internet access, and availability(and affordability) of tablets need to be factored in all the data. I am curious about what languages the releases are in. 15 Cuban users qualifies as "needs love" but zero is "send help" (North Korea, Yemen, Eritrea)...does language, poverty, popularity and politics factor in? How many comics were sold in other countries that needing "love"? I will be reaching out to ComiXology for more information on this. Does the catalog offerings change from country to country? India, Spain, The Philippines, Mexico, Australia, Brazil, Italy, China and Japan all have relatively strong domestic markets. One thing is for sure: where comic book stores may have limited distribution, digital offers have truly become world wide(minus 3 countries).

According to Robot 6, 20% of its readership is female. The anonymity of online comic book buying may account for its popularity (think of how Redbox took away the shame of the check out person judging your movie taste). Check out the ComiXology website for great deals on bundle packs, including many free and discounted issues.