Well it looks like they were for real on the digital comics thing, as Marvel has announced SIX MORE ORIGINAL digital comics. Some of it is normal Marvel fare — GALACTUS by Frank Tieri and Juan Santacruz — but some of it is encouragingly diverse — Jason Aaron on American Eagle,  Halloween Monster Mash by Dean Haspiel, Kid Colt by Tom DeFalco, and FIN FANG FOOM by Roger Langridge, We repeat — ROGER LANGRIDGE.

The end of the pamphlet draws ever nigh.

Marvel Entertainment is launching more never before seen digital comic titles exclusively for Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited subscribers. The Marvel Digital Comics Exclusive titles launch with the first issue of Marvels Channel: MONSTERS, MYTHS and MARVELS: Galactus on Wednesday, October 10/22/08 at Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited [www.marvel.com/digitalcomics].

This new digital comic initiative comes after the recent success of two exclusive digital comic tie-ins to the Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk movies. Digital-only exclusives will be published regularly on Wednesdays at the pace of three or more comics per month, adding to the ever growing collection of over 5,000 digital comics already online.

The slate of titles poised for release through the Marvel Digital Comics Exclusive program include top Marvel characters and creative teams, fan-favorite holiday-themed specials, explorations into science fiction, martial arts and Westerns genres and so much more. Here’s what’s coming:

Marvels Channel: MONSTERS, MYTHS and MARVELS

Coming up on Marvels Channel: MONSTERS, MYTHS and MARVELS: Galactus… devourer of worlds… embodiment of a cosmos… oldest being in the universe… totally made up? Join reporter Gordon Allsworth as he ventures to expose the lies and unearth the truth about the foremost foe of the Fantastic Four. Prepare for your world to be turned upside-down as experts de-bunk Galactus and explore the financial motivations for creating such a being. With limited (fake) commercial interruption, from writer Frank Tieri and artist Juan Santacruz

Halloween Special Issue

Frankenstein might be one of the most misunderstood monsters out there… so it’s just his luck when an overprotective mother temporarily blinds him, thinking he was attacking her daughter. Fortunately, Frankenstein stumbles into Jack Russell, a.k.a. Werewolf-by-Night, a friend who understands Frank’s plight. That is, until the full moon comes out… Make sure you sign-on for this special Halloween Monster Mash, from writer/artist Dean Haspiel! And make sure you check out Frankenstein and Werewolf by Night who each face-off against the Hulk in their own stories in MONSTER SIZE HULK – on sale now!

American Eagle: Just a Little Old-Fashioned Justice

Leaping out of the pages of Thunderbolts, Jason Strongbow aka American Eagle, tribal leader and former super hero, keeps the peace throughout Navajo lands. So when a super villain on the run crosses onto the rez, pursued by one of Tony Stark’s Initiative teams, Strongbow must give them all a hard lesson in down-home justice in a story from red hot scribe Jason Aaron and superstar artist Richard Isanove!

FIN FANG FOUR

There was a time when giants walked the Earth! Monstrous creatures! Products of science gone MAD!!! But what happens when some of these terrible titans try to play nice? Find out as Googam, Elektro, Gorgilla and the purple-pantsed Fin Fang Foom himself do the unthinkable and become functioning members of society. Well, not TOO functional…creators Scott Gray and Roger Langridge welcome back Marvel’s favorite enfants terribles in five gut-busting stories sure to unleash the Marvel Monster within!

Kid Colt

Tom DeFalco saddles up for a four-part western adventure featuring the classic Marvel western hero. Wanted by the law for killing a man in cold blood, Kid Colt thunders through the Wild West with guns blazing while trying to prove his innocence.

Amazing Spider-Man

Peter Parker’s life is very involved and even with three issues a month, there’s just not enough time to touch on everything or everyone. So to help solve that, Spidey Brain Trustee Bob Gale brings you an ongoing collection of stories taking place within and around current Spidey continuity, exploring his supporting cast and missed adventures. A lot can happen to a web-head in any given day…And it’s time you found out what’s missing!

1 COMMENT

  1. I wouldn’t mind monthly comics morphing into larger quarterlies or just OGNs. But comics on the computer simply suck. Even great ones like Shadowgirls that are done on and for the computer can’t hold a candle to the printed medium, imo. I just don’t like having to look at a screen to read anything if there’s a printed version instead.

    Am I hopelessly out-of-date here? Maybe. But lots of technological advances that seem cool and inevitable end up as dead-ends. And they seem silly to future generations as well. Digital wrist-watches? Punch-cards? Tang? Maybe that’s where this is heading too, but we shall see.

  2. I remember when Marvel started publishing direct-market-only titles like Moon Knight. While that drove a stake through the heart of the newsstand trade, it turned out the newsstand market was a zombie, not a vampire, as it continues to shamble onward, moaning softly.

    So the same thing will probably happen to comicshop magazines. Maybe there will be “paper only” titles not available to download.

    Anyway, thanks to webcomics, I was able to see Mr. Langridge’s art. I may just download the Fingster.

  3. The newsstand market was already moving away from monthly comic books even before the concept of the Direct Market was an ongoing thing. One might have accelerated the other, but I don’t think it was the complete cause.

  4. I would imagine they’ll do trade paperback collections if any of them seem to have the legs for it. But this IS an interesting move from Marvel, if they’re going to do in-continuity spin-off titles online.

  5. Digital Comics == Yes.
    Wrapped in a funky Flash interface == No.

    Though I am in agreement with Torsten Adair, that we are really starting to creep up to that time when we saw Moon Knight (and what where the others? Kazar? Micronauts?) go the Direct Market route. I don’t know how much going that route helped any of the titles mentioned, but it definitely paved the path for the eventual migration of all titles going that way.

    Still, I’d like to see a pay by the title / cbr option on these comics before I be convinced we’ve got a game changer here…

  6. That’s very true. The Jason Aaron book sounds interesting. The others… not so much, personally. Now, would I pay for six titles to get one? That’s not an especially appealing deal. And the more online titles they launch, the more unwieldy it becomes to insist that you have to subscribe to all or none.

  7. i don’t think printed comics will die anytime soon. i think there will always be an audience for the collector. a jim lee batman will never look the same on a computer screen as it does on the printed page.

    but there’s an audience out there who want to follow the exploits of their favorite characters without having to devote a room to longboxes. companies are doing themselves a disservice if they ignore that audience.

  8. I got a kick out of the monsters book they did a couple years ago. I assume this new one will be more of the same. But, I am an unabashed Fin Fang Foom mark.

  9. I think print will always be around as well, but I think digital serialization will eventually be, if not the norm, at least an equal partner with print serialization.

  10. Sales numbers decline, while printing costs remain static. More and more people “wait for the trades.”

    Predicting that mainstream comics will soon serialize online is about as risky a venture as predicting that the GOP is going to appeal to your sense of patriotism come November.

    You might not like it, but soon most of your monthly/weekly/daily comics reading is going to be online.

    And that’s awesome news about Roger Langridge.

  11. Roger Langridge fans might be interested to know Roger drew a 30 page story, written by me, as part of my just-released Rough Guide to Graphic Novels (from Penguin).

  12. I’m glad to see Marvel further embracing digital, I agree with JimShelley though:
    Digital Comics == Yes.
    Wrapped in a funky Flash interface == No.
    Hate that.

    And come on people, print won’t be dying. Look at newspapers.
    I’m another who will always prefer the printed product to anything produced digitally (even that epaper).