The creeping horror of 4.99$

[Reviresco]

So do you think it's a fair statement to say that if it was available people would subscribe to digital series for the same price.

Before Comiology sold out, you could subscribe to digital series, but I don't think it was as discounted as the print subscriptions through Marvel, because they weren't coming directly from Marvel and cutting out the middle man. I often wonder, if the biggest obstacle to digital comics being a bigger percentage of sales, is piracy. People who are used to online content, are also used to getting it for free. I've often heard creators bemoaning how many, many, many more downloads of their comics they have than sales.

Comic shops are limited in just how many they are and lets be real digital is only about 10/15% because that is where marvel limits it to make their print seem feasible and price hikes worth it.

How is Marvel limiting digital sales? My understanding, which could be wrong, is that digital is an additive sale.

But i can't think of a single person on this board that if they could register to a series digitally to support it the same way shops do at their discount they wouldn't.

I'm sure there are some collectors here who prefer the physical to the digital copies.

my digital pull list would probably be a lot longer than a print one. And again location, who is going to hunt down these comic shops in the middle of bo bunkin and those of us that tried were definitely disappointed when we see the material matches the political overview of the area. Ala there being no House of X to find in three spots in flordia from the tip to the top of the state. But again i have no love loss for shops at all and have said many times can really care less about a model that is just inherently not set up to support a diverse reader like me.

Comic book shops are another matter, and while there is a reason for the stereotype, I wouldn't say they were inherently that stereotype. I've been fortunate to always find a good comicbook store with a staff I can talk books with, where ever I've lived, because I've usually lived in cities that support multiple comic stores. But I do understand that's not the case every where.

As far as renting comics I feel you on that but if you have unlimited which I do that can be also turned into sort of your own cloud storage for your books. I rarely go back to read books I have personally purchased unless they are really good and actually gave away all my print comics from the last two years recently.but I do get your point as i would never rent games such as PS5 etc but it's a different kind of medium. With unlimited eventually what you buy will be in marvel online database anyway so unless they scrub that the means is already there for semi permanent storage or at least my life time. Those still wanting to collect can do so and the books would most likely be more rare and less in bins

I do re-read, but Marvel Unlimited does make it easier for me to NOT buy physical floppy comics, and still keep up with things -- especially when they cut the delay window to 2 or 3 months, instead of 6 months. I'm fine with 'rental' / streaming service there, and I still buy what I want to support / re-read in trade, because I'm really not fond of reading on my computer / tablet. I really only like digital so I can grab screen caps.

I am curious how they make money off Marvel Unlimited, though. I don't think it counts in the 10 - 15% that say is digital sales.

[Reviresco]

Yes marvel doesn’t sell drm-free comic but there are ways…. And and least everything you buy in the marvel ios app is available on every ios device you have. And lets be realistic do we really think disney or amazon is going to go bankrupt??

And we can say look at want happend to comixology but the owner sold it to amazon and it always was going to be intergraded with kindle after that.

I know of a few people that lost books, if not their entirely library in the switch over to Amazon.

I haven't checked out the Marvel store. I thought it had basically went over to Comixology several years back? May have to check it out.

I shouldn't say it will never happen, as it does seem unlikely that Disney or Amazon will go under. That said, things can change. The ToS can change. Plus, we get a Chicken Little almost weekly telling us that comics or the MCU are dying. It might be possible that Marvel comics, as we know them, might not be published -- so there would be no need for them to support a digital comic book store.

[Anduinel]

I know of a few people that lost books, if not their entirely library in the switch over to Amazon.

I haven't checked out the Marvel store. I thought it had basically went over to Comixology several years back? May have to check it out.

I shouldn't say it will never happen, as it does seem unlikely that Disney or Amazon will go under. That said, things can change. The ToS can change. Plus, we get a Chicken Little almost weekly telling us that comics or the MCU are dying. It might be possible that Marvel comics, as we know them, might not be published -- so there would be no need for them to support a digital comic book store.

I didn't technically lose my Comixology library when Amazon finally subsumed it onto their site, but it was so decentralized that I might as well have. I can still technically read the comics I own on Kindle, but it's a miserable experience compared to the old Comixology web viewer. I just threw in the towel. I buy the books I want to support in paper format and get the digital versions via other means.

[rcaguy]

How many people is this affecting? Honestly i need to know. Such an arbitrary question isn't really worth a focus analysis. No shade but it's an inherent point left and explain the dynamics of something that doesn't matter rather than looking for a solution to something that may be affecting once again, how many people?

Are you actually this clueless? Go ask Google if the latest version of Chrome supports Windows 7,8, or older versions of Linux.

[ARkadelphia]

The 4.99$ situation reminds me of a Didio quote from a recent interview.

I paraphrase, but basically if you increase the price by, say, 10%, and as a result lose 10% of you readership, money-wise you're doing okay. But you've just decreased your consumer-base, and where that eventually leads is making 99$ books for like a hundred die-hard fans. It's not a model aimed at inviting new people; more like it's squeezing who you've already got for all they're worth

It’s a death spiral is what it is

[Winter_fury]

I know of a few people that lost books, if not their entirely library in the switch over to Amazon.

I haven't checked out the Marvel store. I thought it had basically went over to Comixology several years back? May have to check it out.

I shouldn't say it will never happen, as it does seem unlikely that Disney or Amazon will go under. That said, things can change. The ToS can change. Plus, we get a Chicken Little almost weekly telling us that comics or the MCU are dying. It might be possible that Marvel comics, as we know them, might not be published -- so there would be no need for them to support a digital comic book store.

The marvel ios store is the same as the old comixology app. It even says is powered by comixology/amazon.
You can link you amazon account with your marvel account so everything thing you buy is also available in the marvel app.

You marvel app is linked to you apple id so all in app purchases/or marvel comics bought in ibooks will show in you marvel app even if you dont have a marvel account. If you have a new tablet you just need restore puchases for that to work if you neither have a marvel or amazon account.

So with marvel i have a little faith that they wont screw this up when they start selling digitally by them self which they basically already are they just pay amazon to manager there app it look like.

[Reviresco]

Are you actually this clueless? Go ask Google if the latest version of Chrome supports Windows 7,8, or older versions of Linux.

Google isn't going to tell us how many people are using obsolete software / hardware and trying to use the digital comics apps, which was the question. It is annoying as hell, but accelerated planned obsolesce is a staple of computers and software.

The marvel ios store is the same as the old comixology app. It even says is powered by comixology/amazon.
You can link you amazon account with your marvel account so everything thing you buy is also available in the marvel app.

You marvel app is linked to you apple id so all in app purchases/or marvel comics bought in ibooks will show in you marvel app even if you dont have a marvel account. If you have a new tablet you just need restore puchases for that to work if you neither have a marvel or amazon account.

So with marvel i have a little faith that they wont screw this up when they start selling digitally by them self which they basically already are they just pay amazon to manager there app it look like.

Hmmm. Thanks for the info. I'll see if it works on my old iPad. I'm pretty sure I did link up accounts at some point.

[JB]

The marvel ios store is the same as the old comixology app. It even says is powered by comixology/amazon.
You can link you amazon account with your marvel account so everything thing you buy is also available in the marvel app.

You marvel app is linked to you apple id so all in app purchases/or marvel comics bought in ibooks will show in you marvel app even if you dont have a marvel account. If you have a new tablet you just need restore puchases for that to work if you neither have a marvel or amazon account.

So with marvel i have a little faith that they wont screw this up when they start selling digitally by them self which they basically already are they just pay amazon to manager there app it look like.

I use the marvel app as well and I didn't realize you could link it to your amazon account so thank you. I prefer reading on the app but sometimes it takes longer for new comics to show up compared to comixology, so this sounds like the perfect solution.

[rcaguy]

Google isn't going to tell us how many people are using obsolete software / hardware and trying to use the digital comics apps, which was the question. It is annoying as hell, but accelerated planned obsolesce is a staple of computers and software.




Hmmm. Thanks for the info. I'll see if it works on my old iPad. I'm pretty sure I did link up accounts at some point.

This wasn't the claim being made here and you know it.

This is the claim being made:

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I don't understand what your saying to be honest. I mean i don't know many people who don't have access to some kind of browser. i mean there is no answer to this because there is no question here. How may people don't have access to a browser that allows them to go to websites? And that's not even getting into logistics. Like if you don't have a browser or the energy to find out how to use one on a device i don't see you having the energy to google a comic shop or book store, get up out of bed, shower, get in vehicle and drives who knows how many miles to spend gas when you could have just rolled over and opened a browser for a fraction of the price and time.

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If there is no update to the browser you are using for the computer or device you are using , you literally cannot connect to a site that will not support the version of the browser you are using on the computer or device you have despite of what is being claimed here by you guys.

[jwatson]

Are you actually this clueless? Go ask Google if the latest version of Chrome supports Windows 7,8, or older versions of Linux.

A better question question to ask google would be which browsers support windows 7 and 8 and older versions of linux or are you that clueless or willfully helpless?

[rcaguy]

A better question question to ask google would be which browsers support windows 7 and 8 and older versions of linux or are you that clueless or willfully helpless?

So much for yours and others claims that these digital comic books *CAN* be universally accessed by browsers,regardless of platform isn't it?

[JB]

I just noticed that this week's X-Force is $4.99 on the Marvel digital app (which incidentally is shutting down on June 2nd). It's $3.99 on Amazon so I'm curious what the cover price is on the physical book.

[cranger]

I just noticed that this week's X-Force is $4.99 on the Marvel digital app (which incidentally is shutting down on June 2nd). It's $3.99 on Amazon so I'm curious what the cover price is on the physical book.

The physical book has a $3.99 cover price.

[JB]

The physical book has a $3.99 cover price.

Thank you kindly!

[Devaishwarya]

Nightwing is currently $4.99 but they've added a back-up story so...there is some justification. As with extra page-stories.
But...I do recall when they switched from $2.99 to $3.99 they were selling that extra story "See? More bang for the extra buck!" plus the digital code for the issue in-hand, that only last a very short time until they reverted to the regular 21pg story (plus the digital cide) and of course the price remained the same.

I don't think they're "testing the market". They've already decided there will be a price increase to $4.99, they're just doing it incrementally instead of all at once.