Marvel Classics Go Online

There's an ongoing conversation among comics reviewers about the value of publishing comics on the Web. The most obvious benefit is the potential exposure that the Web provides--for up-and-coming creators too green to start thinking about book deals, the move is a no-brainer. Perhaps it's something of a generational thing, but the conversation inevitably comes down to the actual experience of reading comics on a computer screen.

More and more, works are being designed specifically for the Web. One of the major reasons that the strip format is growing in popularity is that it's easier to read a few panels at a time on a screen than to get through an entire issue, or god forbid, a story arc.

When works that were created to be consumed in book form go online, things get rougher. It's the literary equivalent of trying to surf the Web on your phone. The layouts just don't look right, and there's a lot of scrolling involved. I was discussing the matter a few weeks ago with a fellow comics reviewer; she said that after taking an informal survey of our peers, she discovered nearly everyone would rather receive a comic in book form or even as a galley (a paper-clipped preview of the book) than as a PDF.

That said, it's tough to argue with free. Marvel Comics, the home of Spider-Man and the X-men--and arguable the most popular publisher in the medium--has announced plans to republish original issues online.






Several years ago, the company re-released a good chunk of its back catalog in thick anthologies on low-quality black-and-white paper. The Essential books all carry $16 price tags and run several hundred pages a piece.

For anyone looking to catch up on or relive the early years of a favorite superhero, the guides proved indispensable. I don't read a lot of superhero comics myself, but I picked up several of the books in order to bone up on creators like Jack Kirby, John Byrne, and Chris Claremont. All things considered, the collections were quite possibly the most brilliant move the company has made in several years (killing off Captain America and dressing up Jessica Alba in a tight Fantastic Four suit were both lucrative moves, to be sure, but I don't think either qualifies as brilliant).

Pushing these classic issues online works on two important levels. First, it lets the company dip its foot in the Webby waters--something Marvel and other major comics publishers have largely been hesitant to do, in much the way that their counterparts in book publishing and the music industries have been. Granted, comics publishers haven't been nearly as lawsuit-happy as the music companies, but that likely is because the piracy of comics is a fraction of a fraction, compared to what is happening with MP3s (this, again, likely has something to do with the aforementioned aversion to reading comics on a computer screen).

DC Comics, the home of Batman and Superman--and Marvel's chief competition--recently launched Zuda, a social network that attempts to cash in on the (difficult to monetize) Web-comics phenomenon. The site has been met with a fair amount of criticism among those who see as an unsuccessful attempt by the old guard to make themselves hipper.

The second key to the move is that it exposes a library of amazing work to younger readers who aren't likely to drop even $16 to read works from a time when their parents were their age.

This work was created to be read--not stashed away in hermetically-sealed plastic bags. It's nice to see Marvel putting it back in the hands of young readers, where it belongs.