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Comixology Unlimited, Netflix for Comics... Kind Of

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Holy shit. In the last 3 weeks I've purchased:

Pretty Deadly, ODY-C, The Beauty, Nameless, Descender, Rat Queens, and Prophet all from Image.

As well as 3 issues of Boom!'s Fall of Cthulhu, Poe, and a Michael Moorcock adaptation of the Elric saga



I wanted to start building a library since I drink too much and need distractions like books and comics, etc. This is EXCELLENT news. It means with all these series that I have Vol. 1 of I can continue on without paying for another huge sweeping round again.

And the ones I really like I'll buy phsyically.
 
try the 30 free trial. it is worth.

and not to be a fanboy or anything but Image is blowing the big two out of the water when it comes to quality titles.
Can you be a fanboy when it's an undeniable fact? :p

Like I don't mind the occasional Batman or Punisher, and the new Moon Knight looks really good, but the sheer uniqueness and compelling narratives in Images's wealth of sci-fi, horror, and crime/action series is astounding
 
Anyone else gotten the Android app to work with Unlimited? I've tried everything I can think of, but still can't get it to work. Account works fine online though.
 

DeathyBoy

Banned
I can't get on this because I live in England, but all you US chaps have NO excuse. And going 'well, no DC or Marvel' misses out on the BARGAIN you get with some of the best comic-books on the planet available for a total of $5.99 a month.

Kirkman's work alone is a bargain for $5.99 a month, let alone the ridiculous plethora of other content (from licensed stuff to the real indy material Gillen et al are throwing out.)
 

vareon

Member
As someone who doesn't read much Marvel/DC this is great news. Subscribing to Comixology Unlimited and buying whatever interesting Marvel/DC trades sounds like a good option.
 
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thepotatoman

Unconfirmed Member
The best thing about Netflix is being able to binge watch a whole series front to back.

The amount of stuff limited to 1-3 volumes and forcing you to pay for the rest is the main thing that kills it for me. I'm not going to pay for a subscription service when it seems like their main goal is to get you hooked so you pay more money for the rest of the series.
 

Vyer

Member
I just read an interview with the CEO. The lack of titles after a number of issues is deliberate and designed to drive sales.

So it's more "Comixology. The First Taste is $5.99 a month"
http://www.comicbookresources.com/a...ions-about-new-unlimited-subscription-service

I'm less interested now

it'll be more dependent on how available new series are for me. The $6 is worth it to try the first few issues and if I like it I'm happy to buy more from there.

but yeah, not really like Marvel Unlimited at all. It's too bad the Marvel apps can be so shitty sometimes.
 

Li Kao

Member
Oh, lol, I was gonna try it out, but here you go:

That's the end of that.

Hmm yep, as a foreign customer, the post-amazon comixology has really been breaking my balls at every turn with regional limitations. I understand the logic behind them, but for goodwill they will have to wait...
 

DeathyBoy

Banned
The best thing about Netflix is being able to binge watch a whole series front to back.

The amount of stuff limited to 1-3 volumes and forcing you to pay for the rest is the main thing that kills it for me. I'm not going to pay for a subscription service when it seems like their main goal is to get you hooked so you pay more money for the rest of the series.

Buying 1-3 volumes of a comic-book run will cost you at least $15, and that's only if there's a sale going on. It's a bargain regardless of how you spin it.
 
It looks fairly limited as of now. (First 1-3 volume of series). Will jump in once the library is more substantial.

But it's really annoying they do stuff like only have the first volume of Saga. Also I would hope they got the majority of Indie stuff if they're not getting DC and Marvel, but even most indie stuff is unavailable. Like why is there only 3 unlimited availible comics their list of 25 indie essentials?

At least it's a good bit cheaper than most unlimited subscription services, but i'd much rather pay a higher price for a larger selection.

So they only have the first 5 or so issues of all Image no matter how old the series is? Too much of a tease for me to jump in. I can understand holding back the recent 3 months like MU does but if the series is older than that...

Holy nuts. I just checked and most of the current image stuff I read is on there. This is the best news I've had in a while.

They're way behind from the current issues, though. Damn.

The best thing about Netflix is being able to binge watch a whole series front to back.

The amount of stuff limited to 1-3 volumes and forcing you to pay for the rest is the main thing that kills it for me. I'm not going to pay for a subscription service when it seems like their main goal is to get you hooked so you pay more money for the rest of the series.

So it's fucking worthless.

Whole series (and new issues within a month of release) or GTFO. Who the fuck only wants to read the first 3 volumes of a series?
 

Mindwipe

Member
That's not true. Licensing is needed for every region and clearly they've only worked all those out for the U.S. currently. I'm sure that they're working on other regions but rights issues can get super messy.

But Worldwide licenses are available, and there was no reason for them to only negotiate individual licenses.

For the avoidance of doubt here, this is not supposition on my part. Indeed, from having spoken to a few people in the relevant publishers, the licenses that they have acquired for this service so far seem to worldwide already. It seems to be entirely some CMX internal weirdness.

So it's fucking worthless.

Whole series (and new issues within a month of release) or GTFO. Who the fuck only wants to read the first 3 volumes of a series?

Why would anyone offer this? They'd be insane.
 

BruceCLea

Banned
They have got to implement a store function within the app with this. Having to go to their site and then jump and download things with the app is a pain in the ass. I have an iPad BTW. Unlimited should make this possible.
 

Mindwipe

Member
They have got to implement a store function within the app with this. Having to go to their site and then jump and download things with the app is a pain in the ass. I have an iPad BTW. Unlimited should make this possible.

Apple prohibits it. Talk to Apple.
 
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thepotatoman

Unconfirmed Member
Buying 1-3 volumes of a comic-book run will cost you at least $15, and that's only if there's a sale going on. It's a bargain regardless of how you spin it.

Buying a single season of most TV shows is $25-$50 depending on the length of the season, and yet you can still get every season of most shows on netflix minus the year long wait for the absolutely newest season.
 

TheFlow

Banned
Can you be a fanboy when it's an undeniable fact? :p

Like I don't mind the occasional Batman or Punisher, and the new Moon Knight looks really good, but the sheer uniqueness and compelling narratives in Images's wealth of sci-fi, horror, and crime/action series is astounding

Pretty much. I try not to be unbiased but Image really is the king atm.
 

Mindwipe

Member
Buying a single season of most TV shows is $25-$50 depending on the length of the season, and yet you can still get every season of most shows on netflix minus the year long wait for the absolutely newest season.

Netflix is unsustainably cheap (literally, it already has more content commitments than it's revenue for the next three years). People have got to stop benchmarking against it.
 
Buying 1-3 volumes of a comic-book run will cost you at least $15, and that's only if there's a sale going on. It's a bargain regardless of how you spin it.

Yes, but for a longer series if you want the entire thing it will end up being cheaper to get everything at, say, 50% off during a sale. To get the most savings out of trying things you'll need to determine which series you want to read more of from Unlimited and then wait for the rest of it to inevitably go on sale. Certainly workable but not ideal.

Honestly, a 6 month wait like MU would have been fine for me since it would let me easily catch up on a series I'm new to but like the first 10% of a series isn't that exciting to me especially when I have no shortage of backlogged physical and digital stuff to read never mind my pulls. So it's probably quite useful for someone dipping their toes into comics and/or looking for a lot of new things to read while it's seemingly less useful for people that already have a fairly established collection.

Edit:
I want to add that I totally understand that this is about as much as CMX can do and still even pretend to have a viable model. I don't have a problem with them doing it this way. I'm just saying that it looks like it's less useful to me and some other people I know than it had first sounded like.

But Worldwide licenses are available, and there was no reason for them to only negotiate individual licenses.

For the avoidance of doubt here, this is not supposition on my part. Indeed, from having spoken to a few people in the relevant publishers, the licenses that they have acquired for this service so far seem to worldwide already. It seems to be entirely some CMX internal weirdness.

Oh, well in that case it's strange, yes. Maybe Amazon internal weirdness instead of CMX, though. Not sure how firm a hand the former has on the other.
 

redlemon

Member
Buying a single season of most TV shows is $25-$50 depending on the length of the season, and yet you can still get every season of most shows on netflix minus the year long wait for the absolutely newest season.

The audience for most comics is miniscule compared to other mediums. It business practices reflect that.
 

DeathyBoy

Banned
Buying a single season of most TV shows is $25-$50 depending on the length of the season, and yet you can still get every season of most shows on netflix minus the year long wait for the absolutely newest season.

Kinda different given TV show rights are sold to include streaming fees, which comic-books (especially independent ones) aren't. Also, a lot of these smaller comic-book companies would die if they lost out completely on revenue and could only make a fraction of the money via whatever they're paid for streaming rights.
 
Kinda different given TV show rights are sold to include streaming fees, which comic-books (especially independent ones) aren't. Also, a lot of these smaller comic-book companies would die if they lost out completely on revenue and could only make a fraction of the money via whatever they're paid for streaming rights.
Honestly that's the main reason I don't mind this. Like with indie games, I want to support and throw some money at these awesome creators. There are a lot of series on my wishlist, and volumes can be relatively expensive to jump into a series you might not like or the art might not click with you or whatnot. Hell, even a single issue can be $3 or $4. Being able to see if a series is one I want to read more of, I'd gladly pay for more issues and volumes.
 

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
US-only. :( grandpasimpsons.gif

Marvel Unlimited is fantastic value and I'm happy to see more companies getting on board.
 

TheFlow

Banned
considering the price of this cost 2 regular issue it really is a still.

stuff like Archie and ect are still 4 dollars an issue. so just reading the first 3 issues of that saves you 12/8 dollars


Even if there is a CMX sale on a unlimited book the fact that you read the first 1-3 volumes of that title saves you money.
 
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thepotatoman

Unconfirmed Member
Buying 1-3 volumes of a comic-book run will cost you at least $15, and that's only if there's a sale going on. It's a bargain regardless of how you spin it.

Buying a single season of most TV shows is $25-$50 depending on the length of the season, and yet you can still get every season of most shows on netflix minus the year long wait for the absolutely newest season.

I'm sure people that are way into comics and would buy everything if they had the money for it are excited just to save money on stuff they might have bought anyway, but most subscription services are about finding stuff you'd never pay any money for individually.

Like I would never buy a Halo comic, but i'm interested enough in the lore to read it if it's available for no extra cost. But only the first of 4 volumes is available, so why would I even read the first volume, unless I was thinking I might pay the $35 for the rest of the series? Seeing as I'm never going to pay for the rest of the series, for me it's the same as never putting it the subscription service in the first place.

It's basically ensuring I'll only read the comics I was considering buying anyway, which what makes it something between an extended free trial and a limited subscriber savings program.

To be fair, there are a few that have the whole series available, but it seems to be extremely rare from what I'm seeing.
 

Mindwipe

Member
I mean this: if you have unlimited you should have access to your available comics you haven't downloaded yet in the app. Right now you don't.

Oh, that wasn't really clear. Well there's an app update in review, it probably fixes that. So it's still a "talk to Apple" thing :)

Like I would never buy a Halo comic, but i'm interested enough in the lore to read it if it's available for no extra cost. But only the first of 4 volumes is available, so why would I even read the first volume, unless I was thinking I might pay the $35 for the rest of the series?

Well that is what they're thinking.

Though I very much doubt anyone reading those first volumes carrying on with the Halo books is very likely.
 
Hopefully it expands but I can see that being difficult working with so many publishers. Just from a quick glance there's Image, Dark Horse, Fantagraphics, Valiant, IDW, Humanoids, and Kodansha. That's a LOT of pubs.

Easy way to check out some great books though. I'll probably sign up to read the first three BPRD Hell on Earth trades. The wait for those Plague of Frogs styled omnis is killing me.

DC has no interest in a sub service unfortunately and Marvel has Marvel Unlimited and Scribd, so I'm not surprised to not see them here.
 

Fletcher

Member
Yeah. I jumped the gun with my excitement. This is worthless to me. If I'm going to pay for the comics anyway, I'll just buy the paper.
 
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thepotatoman

Unconfirmed Member
Why would anyone offer this? They'd be insane.

Maybe they shouldn't go all the way to new issues being available at release, but it's not insane to get all but the newest volumes up there. That's no more crazy than every other subscription model out there doing basically that.

I wouldn't mind having to pay a higher price to get that either.
 

vareon

Member
So it's fucking worthless.

Whole series (and new issues within a month of release) or GTFO. Who the fuck only wants to read the first 3 volumes of a series?

I'm burnt out with collecting the entire Fables. Sometimes a series just goes on and on and on while losing steam so 1-3 volumes to read for me is enough. If I'm interested for more there's a lot of ways to buy it either physically or digital.

Except for Manga, though. The first 1-3 volumes are usually just them setting up things.
 
Was excited about this until I saw the selection. What's the point of paying a monthly fee if I'm only ever going to get the first few volumes of a title? Marvel Unlimited model or bust.
 
So it's fucking worthless.

Whole series (and new issues within a month of release) or GTFO. Who the fuck only wants to read the first 3 volumes of a series?

People like me who are interested in series but don't want to keep blindly gambling on word of mouth. I could just pirate first issues but then I'd feel like a dick. This way I'm contributing and still learning my tastes.
 
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thepotatoman

Unconfirmed Member
Kinda different given TV show rights are sold to include streaming fees, which comic-books (especially independent ones) aren't. Also, a lot of these smaller comic-book companies would die if they lost out completely on revenue and could only make a fraction of the money via whatever they're paid for streaming rights.

How much money does an independent comic make a year after it's release? I imagine it's miniscule for most of them. Subscription fees is more than they would make otherwise, and might create new fans.

I don't expect much stuff from the last year or two being free in its entirety, nor do I expect everything ever released to eventually become available to the point where you can expect to just wait and get it with the subscription later. There's a balance, and the way it's currently balanced is to only make sense for the die hard comic fans that buy everything anyway to have a way to save a little money, or to use it as a paid trial service.
 

Sandfox

Member
Maybe they shouldn't go all the way to new issues being available at release, but it's not insane to get all but the newest volumes up there. That's no more crazy than every other subscription model out there doing basically that.

I wouldn't mind having to pay a higher price to get that either.
Companies, retailers, and distributors would be taking big hits on that.
 
I was excited when I saw this update on my iPad, but I think I'm going to wait until it expands a bit. Right now it's basically just the first trade (or trade's worth of single issues).
 

LordRaptor

Member
Companies, retailers, and distributors would be taking big hits on that.

I like how you put on s on the end of distributor to imply that there's more than one and that they aren't at least partially responsible for the state of affairs comics is in.

because fuck Diamond.
 

ReAxion

Member
Edit: Also lol at anyone who thinks putting up with Apple's shit on in-app purchases is anything like a good idea. The people you are angry with are Apple for having such a terrible system, not CMX.

It was fine enough to get Comixology valuable enough for Amazon to purchase them and remove the ability to buy within the app. Apple didn't change a thing.
 

Timo

Member
Im hoping new number 1 issues start popping up like a month or two after release. Thatd save me a fuckton on trying a new series im not sure about. Im in tho for a while at least.
 
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