ComiXology

Products

History

The company was founded in 2007 by CEO David Steinberger, CTO John D. Roberts, and Peter Jaffe. Subsequent to winning the business plan competition at New York University, the company received seed financing from Kit McQuiston, New York Angels and Rose Tech Ventures.

In May 2016, the company launched "comiXology Unlimited," a subscription service that gives access thousands of comics to read from most major publishers for a monthly fee of $5.99, however Marvel and DC are not included.

ComiXology Unlimited

ComiXology Unlimited, is an online subscription service by ComiXology, a cloud based platform for digital comics The service offers more than four thousand issues to its subscribers and launched on May 24, 2016.

ComiXology Unlimited contains a selection of titles from Image Comics, Dark Horse, IDW Publishing, BOOM! Studios, Dynamite Entertainment, Kodansha Comics, Oni Press, Valiant Entertainment, Archie Comics, Fantagraphics Books, Humanoids, Action Lab Entertainment, Aspen Comics, Magnetic Press, Zenescope Entertainment and more. According to the company, ComiXology Unlimited offers the widest subscription selection of digital comics in the world. However, the service does not include Marvel, who has its own subscription service or DC Comics.

For $5.99 a month customers can explore thousands of titles, like The Walking Dead, Attack on Titan, Hellboy, Adventure Time, Peanuts, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lumberjanes, Saga, The Umbrella Academy, Outcast, Transformers, and more. ComiXology Unlimited is available on the comiXology app for Fire Tablet, Android, iOS and on the web at comixology.com. The company offers a free 30-day trial at comixology.com/unlimited.

ComiXology Unlimited is currently available in the U.S. and ComiXology plans to expand to other regions in the future.

ComiXology updates the content included in the program on a monthly basis.

The press reception for the launch was mostly positive, with journalists and bloggers focusing on the low price point, the 30-day free trial and the diverse collection of independent comics, graphic novels and manga available at launch.

Some critics pointed out, however, that only some trades in the series are available in the program, undermining the “unlimited” aspect of the subscription.

Patent

ComiXology's patent-pending Guided View technology allows readers to read through comics in full screen or from panel-to-panel, mimicking the natural movement of the eye as though readers were experiencing reading a print comic book.

Content relationships

Controversies

In March 2013 during SXSW, an issue arose when Marvel Comics attempted to distribute over 700 comics for free via ComiXology for the Marvel #1 promotion. The ComiXology servers were unable to keep up with user demand, preventing users from obtaining the promotional comics, as well as from reading comics they had purchased. This led to a formal apology and the promotions being delayed. Soon afterward, the promotion was offered again and was reported to have "worked flawlessly". In the aftermath of the ensuing difficulties some users have raised concerns regarding access to their files should the platform ever shut down. To respond to this concern, in July 2014 selected publishers allow for DRM-free downloads of their comics.

On April 9, 2013, writer Brian K. Vaughan issued a statement on Fiona Staples's blog that Apple Inc. had prohibited the sale of Saga #12 through iOS. This statement was quickly reported by the media, the impetus for the "ban" was speculated to be in response to two panels that depicted oral sex between men in a small, inset image violated Apple's restrictions on sexual content. The issue was available through the ComiXology and Image Comics digital comics website stores. The ban was criticized by artists and writers, who pointed to similarly explicit content in previous issues and in other works sold through iTunes. William Gibson and others suggested that the restriction could have occurred specifically because the drawings at issue involved gay sex. A day later, Comixology announced that it had been they, not Apple, who had chosen not to make the issue available, based on their interpretation of Apple's rules, and that after receiving clarification from Apple, the issue would be sold on iOS devices. Brian K. Vaughan then issued a statement apologizing for the miscommunication.

After Amazon's controversial purchase of ComiXology, the company removed the option of purchasing comics inside the iOS app. This change resulted in immediate internet backlash from the comic book reader community, criticizing Amazon's acquisition of the distributor. This change to ComiXology's structure has made readers concerned about the future of digital comic distribution.

Reception

In September 2011, ComiXology's Comics application was the highest-grossing application in the App Store, and together with the branded applications for other comics publishers, accounted for a majority of the five top-grossing iPhone apps.

Having consistently ranked as one of the top-grossing iPad apps in iTunes, ComiXology was called the "iTunes of comics" by The New York Times in May 2012. In 2011, comiXology ranked as number 10 in the top 20 grossing iPad apps for year and also powered two other apps in the top 20 — Marvel and DC. In 2012, comiXology was ranked as the number 3 top grossing iPad app — the only app from 2011 to stay on the top ten list.