Marvel’s got a new slate of online-first digital comic books being launched on December 17. The second wave of these books, it’s Marvel’s effort to get out ahead of the curve for digital distribution of mainstream comics product. Their Digital Comics Unlimited program, with all its limitations, is really the only game in town as far as most mainstream fans are concerned since neither DC nor Image has anything like it. The thing that’s most interesting to me is that the books themselves still seem to be more “novelties” than anything else, and their connection to current events and continuity are a bit tenuous. Probably a good idea, in the sense that readers who buy only onilne won’t have to wait six months for the new material to hit the Web in order for the books to make sense—but it also means that you’re unlikely to drag any of the paper-and-staples crowd kicking and screaming into the new digital frontier using these books as bait.
The Wolverine/Punisher story is the only book that could happen easily and fit seamlessly into any of the current monthlies—the Iron Man 2020 story, the Holiday Special and of course Mojoworld are fantasy/what-if/next-generation/bizarre stories that are really only appealing because the creative teams are good, and the Wolverine: Agent of Atlas freebie is a little iffy since the whole Wolverine: Origins thing has gotten a bit tired for me. But take a look for yourselves, ladies and germs, and know that I’m not usually in the business of printing big chunks of solicitations but I really think Marvel’s online-first stuff is a revolutionary piece of comics standard-setting that deserves more attention than it’s getting.
The solicitations:
Astonishing Tales: Wolverine/Punisher
Fan-fave C.B. Cebulski (X-INFERNUS) and the up and coming Kenneth Rocafort (MADAME MIRAGE) get gritty with a no-holds-barred Wolverine/Punisher tale you have to see to believe! Wolverine and Punisher go head-to-head on the streets of Madripoor, but can they stop fighting each other long enough to take down a certain green-haired femme fatale for good?!
Written by: C.B. Cebulski
Art by: Kenneth Rocafort
Debuts: Wednesday, December 10
Holiday Special Issue
Ho ho ho! It’s holiday fun in the Merry Marvel Manner, as the House of Ideas hangs the stockings by the chimney with care in hopes that Galactus won’t soon be there. The X-Men celebrate their first holiday in their new home of San Francisco—and their first without Kitty Pryde among them in X-MEN: Blue Christmas by Jim McCann and Todd Nauck. Meanwhile, in the days before Secret Invasion, one family finds even the most humble of holiday celebrations can be infiltrated by the Skrulls in a tale of holiday horror by Ryan Penagos and Juan Doe. And hey, what’re the holidays like for Jack Russell—Werewolf by Night? Find out in “WEREWOLF BY EVE!” by Marvel.com’s own Ben Morse with art by Stephanie Buscema. All of this, and…”Santa Claus vs. The Illuminati?!” ‘Tis the season, and Brian Reed and Val Semeiks will bring it to ya! So stop on by for some eggnog, dreidel spinning and probably a fist fight or two with your favorite Marvel heroes and villains in the Marvel Digital Comics Holiday Special!
Written by: Jim McCann, Brian Reed, Ben Morse and Ryan Penagos
Art by: Todd Nauck, Val Semeiks, Stephanie Buscema and Juan Doe
Debuts: Wednesday, December 17
Astonishing Tales: Iron Man 2020
In a not so distant tomorrow, Arno Stark, the Iron Man of the year 2020, prepares to launch the new heliliner, the Spirit of Free Enterprise…But Commodore Q wants to stop it. Who is he…And what are the Endless Stolen Skies?
Written by: Daniel Merlin Goodbrey
Art by: Lou Kang
Debuts: Wednesday, December 24
Astonishing Tales: Mojoworld
Jonathan Hickman (Secret Warriors) and newcomer Nick Pitarra roll the cameras as Cannonball and Sunspot (of the New Mutants) get sucked into the wildest adventure of their short lives when they spend their summer vacation in…MOJOWORLD!
Written by: Jonathan Hickman
Art by: Nick Pitarra and Jonathon Hickman
Debuts: Wednesday, December 31
Wolverine: Agent of Atlas
The jungles of Cuba, 1958: revolutionary forces work their way to overthrowing the government, while even stranger forces are at large. The FBI has sent Jimmy Woo’s secret team of paranormals, the Agents of Atlas, to investigate. The crack team gets more than they bargained for when they cross paths with the mysterious operative known only as “Logan!” This three part series debuts with a FREE first issue—available to subscribers and non-subscribers to Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited!
Written by: Jeff Parker
Art by: Benton Jew
Debuts: Wednesday, December 31 (Issue #1: FREE for all!)
December 1st, 2008 at 4:47 pm
That Werewolf By Night story in the Holiday Special sounds too good to miss!
December 1st, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Mr. Rocafort’s artwork for the Astonishing Tales wrap-around cover is of the type that makes me feel ashamed for reading comics. Specifically his Spider-woman is posed to show you her breasts and her posterior simultaneously.
Mr. Rocafort seems to fall into that category of penciller who lavishes “loving attention” on details of the female anatomy but does not expend the same effort on other things.
If you’re going to fixate on body parts in your drawing, please make the pose plausible (i.e., something a human being could do). Thanks.
December 1st, 2008 at 5:58 pm
I don’t think Marvel digital is the only game in town anymore. Several Image titles are coming out digitally through iVerse Media on mobile devices.
It would be nice if they had a desktop client, but at least with their stuff you get to own the books.
December 1st, 2008 at 7:13 pm
This is cool. I signed up for Marvel’s digital service the day they launched and I have loved it. It has been a year now and I have gotten to read a lot of good stories for very cheap.
December 1st, 2008 at 10:14 pm
looks cool to me. i’m the type who likes to read a bunch, but not interested in owning a series unless i’m likely to reread it. so digital is right up my alley.
December 1st, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Dave, I agree with you about the iVerse stuff, and I’ve got an interview in the works to talk to some folks about that, too. But I do think that it’s prohibitive because a lot of folks (including myself) who are too cheap to get a good cell phone can’t use them. Almost everyone has some sort of computer. Marvel’s rental program should have been better-marketed as such to begin with; I think if it were made analogous to Netflix instead of offered as an alternative to illegal downloading, people would be less offended by not owning the books.
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:40 am
If they can keep up this kind of original content, Marvel’s digital service might actually be worth the $60/year cost before too long. The Astonishing Tales print comic (in the February solcitations) is $4 an issue or $48/year right there — add in the other one-shots like the Marvel TV stories and whatever, and you’d actually end up spending the same by buying the print versions versus subscribing to the whole digital library.