Following up on a story from yesterday about Top Cow’s digital plans, the mothership spoke with Top Cow President Matt Hawkins about their deal with IGN.com to sell digital comics at, as was originally reported, full price. Hawkins clarifies what the deal actually is:
“Currently, the only thing we’re putting up on IGN are the materials that make up the three compendium books – Witchblade #1-#50, Darkness #1-#50, and Tomb Raider #1-#50; books that have been out for years,” Hawkins told Newsarama. “I don’t think there’s any material in there that’s less that five or six years old. That was something that was part of the deal we made – we didn’t want anything up there that was new. We want it to be in the direct market for comic book retailers to handle for at least a year – so not only do we want this material out in the 32 page format, we also want it out in the trade format before it ever gets to the digital version. We may change our minds on that eventually, and I know Marvel and DC are looking at an approach to it, but right now, we see this as a great place for readers to pick up the more archival material, and it’s not full price.”
The price of a per-issue download, Hawkins said, noting that more details will be forthcoming, is ‘full price’ in Top Cow’s Archival format. “For example, the Compendiums cover 50 issues and have a cover price, as a collection, of about $60, so the single issues will be about a buck a piece,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins went on to apologize to Newsarama readers and retailers, saying that they will not put any comics up that are less than a year old — unless Marvel or DC start doing it first.
In lighter news, maybe … Vaneta Rogers over at the main site talked to Bill Morrison about the upcoming Captain Carrot comic he’s doing with Scott Shaw, which spins out of the darker Captain Carrot comic that was seen in Teen Titans:
So yes, Alley is still in prison, Little Cheese is still dead, and American Eagle is the newest member of the Zoo Crew. But other developments have occurred that hinder the group’s ability to function. President Mallard Fillmore has resigned from office because the press discovered that he bribed Felina Furr (A.K.A. Alley-Kat-Abra) to give up the Zoo Crew’s secrets. The new administration is hostile toward capes, so the Zoo Crew is forced to operate more covertly, and without government funding. That means no Z-Building headquarters and all the cool, convenient stuff that goes with it.
There’s also a war brewing in the United Species of America between land and sea animals. It’s a war of words until a little goldfish girl dies from exposure to toxic waste and amphibian terrorists begin blowing things up.
I guess it’s not a good day for formerly fun superhero teams.
And lastly, if you’re looking for manga news, Brigid over at MangaBlog is kickin’ it with coverage from panels and on the floor. She also interviewed Wendy Pini about her new webcomic.
Other news from day two
Chris Mautner’s con adventures
Marvel’s Dark Tower panel
Jhonen Vasquez spotlight
Marvel’s Cup ‘O Joe panel
Avengers to meet the Transformers
DC’s A Better Tomorrow panel
DC’s Minx panel
Marvel’s magical characters get a makeover
CBR: Sub-Mariner creators talk
CBR: The Conan panel
CBR: Battlestar Galactica panel (with adult language!)
CBR: Tokyopop panel
CBR: Scott Allie talks Hellboy
Wizard: Frank Cho spotlight
Wizard: Reilly Brown Q&A
Wizard: Peter David Q&A
IGN.com: The Spirit
MangaBlog: CPM panel
Peter David on meeting two Stephens
Chris Butcher blogs from the convention
Oni Press on Stephen Colbert
Marvel.com: Halo ongoing
New York Daily News: Comics take over Javits
NorthJersey.com: N.Y. comic convention a big draw
