Recently, Marvel.com went live with a revolution in online comics!  A step forward into the future!  A lot of press release enthusiasm!  And… well, something I thought they had already been doing.

You might have already flipped through a digital comic on Marvel’s website before, a newly released #1 you didn’t get a chance to pick up in the shop, maybe a relevant issue to a popular storyling or movie tie-in, or even just a book Marvel  just wanted to get a little more press on.  I had seen a couple myself, but the interface was a little weird and I’m rather spoiled in that I can just go to my local comic shop and pick up the book instead.  Now, instead of these select few issues, Marvel is offering a database of 2,700 comics (with more added weekly) for you viewing pleasure.  Right now, there are 250 preview samples and a select list of offerings to tempt the palette of the discerning Marvel zombie.

But is it worth the subscription price?

Just from checking out the preview issues, this could honestly be a rather handy resource for a variety of reasons;  from people who don’t have a regular comic shop to just wondering who was next to Miek in Incredible Hulk #103 when they found the space ship the Hulk has been exiled with in Planet Hulk (answer: the ‘No-Name’ Brood), this could be used as a search engine for the continuity-compulsive like myself to the curious comic fan looking to find out what the first Omega the Unknown was like after reading the newer revamp.  Going through the list, there doesn’t seem to be any Marvel MAX titles listed; the Punisher issues were mostly from earlier years gone by or from the first Marvel Knights series which is understandable considering content concerns.  The books they offer (at least the samples) are varied from golden to modern age and are listed by a cover gallery to just a text list, making finding issues fairly easy when you know what you’re looking for.  There’s also a ‘highlights’ section that groups particular comics by #1 issues, first appearances, kid-friendly comics and “first runs of top titles”.  A little redundant, but this is still a work in progress (or one would assume) and for a night of clicking around the internet, the lists can be a few hours worth of enjoyable entertainment.

And on that subject, the comic reader isn’t half bad.  It loads quickly and painlessly on a cable modem at least and the interface is pretty easy to get the hang of with just a few clicks.  The older books seem to have been recolored and the artwork is realy clear, a far sight better than the scans featured in Marvel’s DVD-Rom released comic collections.  Of all the viewing options, the Smart Panel style probably has the best readability, though I wouldn’t recommend it to those who get motion sickness really easily.  Reading Joss Whedon’s first issue of Runaways, I could see a clear drawback to the ‘wordy author’, the Flash viewer really working well for more moody and atmospheric work like Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee’s Sentry #1.  Either viewing in Smart Panels, Single Pages or Double Pages, the style of reading takes some getting used to, but my guess is that it might be a little easier on something more heavy-duty than a laptop monitor.  Also, I should note that there are no ads in the actual comic you view, a welcome respite.

Now, back to the issue of bugs, as every few clicks of trying to hunt around on the sample database hit a snag with something.  Either the subscription ad on the right would be misplaced or images out be out of order or a search of ‘Civil War’ would lead me to broken links (thought I might not have been able to access those in Sample mode, so to speak).  A lot of information on the comics, especially earily issues, still needs to be filled in; this might hamper someone doing a search on a particular storyline or creator.   To tell you the truth, Marvel.com has always been sort of a buggy site for me, a lot of Flash, a lot of cool things like the editable wiki and special desktops, but a lot harder to find more simple things like a list of release dates or a series of trade paperbacks by volume number.  To see that the Digital Comic Database is rather similar isn’t that much of a surprise.  The Database is rather handy, but can only be accessed from the internet, so no saving to your computer or any ability to print out an issue like on the DVD-Roms.  This I don’t mind as much because we all know this is no replacement for the local comic shop; having access to the comics when curious is one thing, owning the issues is another.

So, would it be worth the subscription fee?  Well, there’s a $9.99 a month option or, for the particularly brave, a $59.88  for a full year (working out to $4.99 a month).  Most of us spend more than $9.99 a week on comics, so getting the access to thousands of books is a pretty sweet deal.  Even the yearly fee when looked at in the broader sense isn’t that bad.  But even with the broader sense in mind, the valuable resource for my nit-picky mind to remember who was where in what issue, I just couldn’t do it.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great service, even with it’s flaws.  The idea of having digital long boxes worth of comics at hand is fantastic and I thank Marvel for going through what is sure to be long, hard work in bringing it to the fans.  But no matter what the comic pundits say, no matter what theories arise, there is simply no substitute for the comic book in hand in all its ‘archaic’ glory.  I’m not sure how a irregular fan might view the site, if they’d be willing to take the $9.99 plunge to read about something that had just recently caught their interest.  My guess is no, no matter how curious they were after checking out the Iron Man trailer, so to speak.  The database is most certainly for the comic fan, someone who enjoys a hunt through the back issues or is on the fence about buying Annihilation: Conquest, for example.

Maybe when I have some spare cash and don’t fear the idea of an automatic renewal of my subscription at the end of every month, maybe then I’ll take a look and see what the full version has to offer.  Maybe in a few months the database will have had sometime to knock out the dings and bugs and will have a richer stock than it does now to truly make it worth the fees.  But for now, I’ll be running the register on new comic day and picking up new books in complete security.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 14th, 2007 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Features, Internet, Marvel, News & Views, The Fifth Color. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.