Newsarama.com : Why Marvel Comics Thinks DIGITAL Is the “New Newsstand”

Digital … digital … digital…

Its all the rage in the world of comic books, yet there is still so much that readers and even close observers of the industry don’t know about what sort of sales impact the distribution channel generates. If judged by how hard the publishers are chasing the market, the answer would be “a darn big one,” but the attention digital distribution gets could also be driven by publishers anticipating how big it could eventually become.

In an interview with Marvel Senior VP of Sales David Gabriel, the Marvel executive told Newsarama their current digital sales equates roughly to that of a “ new top 10 retailer”.

While that doesn’t seem like a game-changer, the truth is digital distribution is still in its infancy, and publishers and digital distributors like comiXology are still discovering what works and what doesn’t.

Marvel’s latest test-of-the-digital-waters launches today, as the publisher is offering a free, redeemable code for a digital copy of the debut issue of Zeb Wells and Joe Madureira’s Avenging Spider-Man in the pages of the print comic book itself.

DC may have beaten Marvel to the general idea – they’ve offered a “Digital Combo Pack” of Justice League with a redeemable code since that series debuted in September – but Marvel will point out DC is charging a buck for that, whereas they’re offering it at no-charge (aside from the $3.99 cover price of the issue, that is).

And as you’ll read in the next few moments, Marvel already has plans to expand the concept that they’ll announce over the next 2 days.

In the following interview with Gabriel, we discuss why Marvel thinks digital will feed and not cannibalize comic book stories, why digital comics cost what they do, and why Marvel thinks digital is the “new newsstand.”

Read the interview at:

Newsarama.com : Why Marvel Comics Thinks DIGITAL Is the “New Newsstand”.