D.J. Coffman - Sequential Artist, Thinker

So I signed up for Marvel.com’s digital comics. Thought I’d leave my initial thoughts on it since I dabble in both of these realms. (Webcomics and Comic Books)

- I signed up mostly because I have kids, ages 10, 9 and 6, who have no comic shop around here for me to buy them comics. And thank god, because the few times I have taken them to shops it cost me an arm and a leg because comics are so pricey. But for 4.99 a month, it’s a bargain and my kids will eat it up being able to read some titles on there.

- There also seems to be a lot of old Kirby comics on there that I’ve never had the pleasure to look at or absorb, so I definitely wanted to check that out. I hope Marvel has found a way to compensate creators with some sort of royalty for showing these works online. I think Jack would only think that was fair, and it’s the least the house of ideas could do for these fine creators who helped build the foundations of what they are today.

- The Flash interface works well and it’s not annoying, the lettering stays really legible at different sizes, and it’s not as clumsy as the DC comics zuda player. In fact, this player reminds me A LOT of something I think Clay Yount showed me that he was designing for a big comics company (I almost wonder if this is it?) — but the navigation is nice, and when you’re done with the issue, it gives you choices to what to do next, you can read the next issue in that series if available, or you can use a little pop up that’s like “similar titles” or that are along the same taste of characters, creators, etc.

- The selection menu is pretty awesome, because forget about the fact that you can pick title o character favorites, you can also choose the creators and it lists all titles available so far from each creator. It’s like a history lesson in favorite comic artists. Beyond that, what makes that even better is, you can subcribe to individual RSS feeds for each category, so when something you like updates, you’re alerted. I’ve bookmarked the Ron Garney category, I’d like to see more of his Captain America work on there.

- The only downside so far… all the old ads from the golden an silver age aren’t in there anymore! Dammit, those are fun to look at and read. Xray Specs, hand buzzers… — I also wish I was able to download the Flash files to my computer for later use if I should not be online or something. C’mon Marvel!

Marvel is also very smart, that they have a pop up on back issues that says if you want to buy it in print, where you can find that story and more, and the Comic Shop Locater service pops up. This should make retailers a bit happy, because Marvel REALLY didn’t need to add that in there. I have to click it off each time, and from a marketing standpoint, its a reminder to me the reader each time that i X it off, that comic shops still exist.

I’m digging the Tim Sale category right now. Love his watercolor looking work on Hulk Grey. It’s also fun to go back and see some of the early work of some of today’s hot artists like Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri, etc.