By: Russ Burlingame on August 6, 2012
The Future of Iron Man is Marvel NOW!, but is the future of Marvel NOW! an increased integration of digital and print? It appears as though more Marvel titles will be including digital freebies with their relaunched Marvel NOW! books.
In a press release just e-mailed to the comics media, Marvel Comics announces,
“Each issue of Iron Man includes a code for a free digital copy on the Marvel Comics app for iOS and Android devices. Additionally, each issue of Iron Man features special augmented reality content available exclusive through the Marvel AR app – including cover recaps, behind the scenes features and more that add value to your reading experience at no additional cost.”
That led us to wonder: will this be the new normal? Marvel told ComicBook.com that, in keeping with what we’ve seen lately, the answer is yes for the $3.99 titles, of which Iron Man is one.
Will we see any major titles launched through Marvel NOW! at the fan-friendly $2.99 price point? Given the fact that Marvel’s premiere titles have been increasingly inching toward $3.99, it seems unlikely, but that’s certainly not anything we heard from official sources.
Starting tomorrow, we should get more covers, interviews and teases for titles like Thor, Captain America and Deadpool, which will likely help to illuminate what is title-specific and what is Marvel NOW!-wide, but given the push Marvel put behind the launch of their AR app and given how relatively little it seems to have been used during the Avengers vs. X-Men crossover that kicked it off in grand fashion, an integrated physical-digital relationship where the comic you buy in the direct market can translate to both AR and a ComiXology/Marvel App copy seems more in line with the massive paradigm shift promised at the time.
More on this as it develops…
