Comixology Launches New Digital Comic Subscription Service

ComiXology is strengthening its foothold in the comics marketplace with a new Digital Subscription Service.

The service will be closer to Netflix than to Marvel Unlimited, however, as it will regularly update its available titles with new ones, rather than just build a constantly growing catalog. ComiXology CEO David Steinberger shared his thoughts on the service.

“It sounds silly but our mission is to make everyone on the planet a comics fan. That’s really hard to do by just throwing them into the middle of 100,000 comic books,” Steinberger tells EW. “It’s a lot easier if people have a very low-risk opportunity to discover comics for themselves and just really take their time with the catalog.”

ComiXology Unlimited will cost users $5.99 a month (with a 30-day free trial). The service will include standouts like The Walking Dead, Hellboy, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and Gerard Way’s Umbrella Academy. Way’s excited to have Umbrella Academy so widely available to new readers (via Entertainment Weekly).

“I’m excited to be part of this service that’ll allow more people to try out Umbrella Academy. The Umbrella team really cares about our book and wants everyone to have an easy way to get started. As someone who has now introduced digital comics into my life, being able to sample comics to decide which books to follow is going to be a big help in finding new things.”

Even though users won’t be able to access Marvel or DC titles in the Unlimited Service, they can still purchase those books through ComiXology just like normal. Unlimited will be simply another part of the site. Unlimited will also have recommendation tools to help readers find interesting books to try. Steinberger shared some concluding thoughts.

“This program takes advantage of Comixology: download wherever you want, read offline, all the stuff you love about it. I hope that people who love comics take this as a tool to introduce their friends to specific content, and then because this is the inexpensive way to get to that content, help them explore even more.”