Marvel Entertainment Panel at SXSW Could Be Revolutionary

Austin, Texas South By Southwest (SXSW) Festival has expanded exponentially the past few years.  With the addition of the Interactive Festival, SXSW has opened up to the digital age and birthed an abundance of new ideas and technologies.  After all, SXSW is where Twitter was born.  And this year, Marvel Entertainment might take a revolutionary step with digital comics. The 'Marvel: Digital House of Ideas' Panel will take place Sunday, March 11th at 1pm on the IGN Stage at the Palmer Events Center. The panel includes Axel Alonso (Marvel Comics Editor in Chief), Jeph Loeb (Head of Marvel Television) and Peter Phillips (SVP & GM, Marvel Digital Media Group).  According to Marvel, the group will 'unveil Marvel's new multimedia plans that includes the premiere of Marvel's revolutionary new ways to read comics.' Did you catch that, old-school print comic fans?  This is the latest step in the industry to move away from print and toward digital comics.  Of course, Marvel, like other publishers, say that digital comics are complementary to print comics.  "Marvel's always been the industry leader in graphic fiction & digital media and with the announcements we've planned, we couldn't have picked a more appropriate show than SXSW," said Dan Buckley. Publisher & President of the Print, Animation & Digital Divisions, Marvel Worldwide, Inc. "We're big believers that both print and digital can work hand-in-hand to bring more readers to comics than ever before—and if you're at SXSW Interactive you'll be the first to see just how we're going to do that." Um, no.  They can't, and they won't.  I'm on record as saying that print is dead (but doesn't know it yet) and that Marvel's push toward digital is the RIGHT move.  It will be very interesting to see what premieres at the panel.  Will we see some new technology that will push print lovers over the edge and make them take the plunge to digital? ComicBook.com will be at SXSW, so we'll have a report immediately after the panel (which is free to the public). After the Marvel: Digital House of Ideas panel concludes, fans in attendance will receive a limited edition lithograph (while supplies last) and a chance to have it signed by Alonso & Loeb in a special Marvel signing session.