Web Junkie: Digital Comics - Legally
It's Web Junkie Wednesday again and I want to talk about something very close to my heart: comics.
When I was a kid there was nothing better than a trip to the comics shop - I could spend hours sifting through dusty comics boxes, on the floor sifting through the bargain boxes, checking out the towering wall of new releases, talking comics with whatever crusty older comics guy was running the place.
And then, years later, when I began living on my own and moving, I found that the heavy boxes of plastic-wrapped comics I had (and have) were a huge pain.
Luckily, technology came to my rescue in the form of digital comics.
Like digital music, digital comics (in files you can keep on CD/DVD and read on your computer) have traditionally been much more plentiful illegally than legally -- and the legal offerings, to this point, haven't been that impressive.
But Marvel Comics is looking to change that.
Their new Digital Comics Unlimited initiative is a subscription model by which you can view vast and expanding swaths of the Marvel archives (including the first hundred issues of The Amazing Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four and the full original run of the X-Men) for as little as $4.99 a month. New titles are added too, so you can stay on top of what's happening now.
Not everyone will want to read their comics on a computer screen -- and I can appreciate that. I still enjoy curling up with a good stack of comics myself. But for those who enjoy the stories and art but don't have the collector's instinct that stuck me with boxes and boxes of the things, this is a good way to catch up on a title's history, appreciate classic stuff and read what's happening now without losing your entire attic to your habit.
There are a bunch of samples up at the Marvel site now -- go take a look. If you want to dip your toes in and see if it's for you a month's subscription will cost you $9.99. Even if you decide not to renew -- you can read a lot of comics in a month.