ComiXology Now Offers Exclusive Original Comics Content

After becoming the most popular hub for digital comics online and on mobile devices, ComiXology has revealed its plans of creating original comics content. Dubbed as the ComiXology Originals, this brand new program will highlight comics produced by both creators and publishers. Soon, titles will be debuting from Boom! Studios, Valiant Entertainment, and even posthumous work from Mad editor Harvey Kurtzman.

The digital only original comics content will be made available by ComiXology to both its customers as well as those of Kindle. Included among the new comics content will be Adventure Time Marshall Lee Spectacular by the highly acclaimed author Mariko Tamaki, featuring Cartoon Network’s immensely popular character Marshall Lee, and Marley’s Ghost by the aforementioned Kurtzman, which will be a finished version of the author’s first attempt at writing a graphic novel.

As explained by David Steinberger, the chief executive officer of ComiXology, the aim is to increase appreciation of the comics art form, and to provide a venue for a diverse range of comics creators, and then deliver content with ease and convenience through ComiXology and Kindle using the advances of mobile technology.

ComiXology actually already has a catalog of self published work from several comics creators, but with its newest initiative, it shows a willingness to collaborate directly with the comics industry in order to reach wider audiences, through digital means, of course. On top of that, the company also debuted its ComiXology Unlimited subscription service earlier this year, which lets readers enjoy access to titles from leading independent comics providers such as Image and Dark Horse.

In more ways than one, what ComiXology is doing is similar to what Amazon and Netflix did a few years ago when they started offering original content. The goal is the same, of course -- to expand its customer base. When it first started almost a decade ago, ComiXology began with just over 100 titles. Now, it offers between 300 to 500 comics on a weekly basis. Its library now houses more than a hundred thousand comics, manga, and graphic novels.

As mentioned earlier, the comics offered on the ComiXology Originals program will be made available only on ComiXology and Kindle, and will be captained by Chip Mosher, the head of content and senior director of communications of ComiXology. The comics are yet to have an official publication date, but they will be selling for $3.99, while the graphic novel (which comes out in the later part of next year), will be available for $9.99.