Marvel At SXSW: Quesada Opens The All-Digital "Infinite Comics"

[CBR News]

Marvel Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada opens up about the launch of Marvel Infinite Comics, a new run of stories created specifically for tablet devices tying into "Avengers Vs. X-Men."


Full article here.

[tesh_karde]

Looks awesome, I can't wait to check it out!

[FriendRoss]

sounds great.


i wish they had a small example we could check out. i personally am struggling a touch with what they have in mind.. i have the general idea, just curious if this is a gimmick or game changer

[Songbird/Diamondback]

Dangit! They got ahead of me when I created my moving comic Senior Thesis.
Ah well, pretty cool.

[chastmastr]

I'm interested in them being printed as real comic books, so I hope the new content makes it to print eventually.

[MuhollandDriver]

So this will offer digital-only comics plus behind-the-scenes information and extra pages from comics? Is Nova an official digital-only ongoing series? My apologies, lots of information to digest.

I don't have a ipad or a phone compatible for this. I wonder what else is in store for Marvel post AvX. Nothing against this event, but I hope there is more than what was announced.

[Relique]

You mean people at marvel will now be allowed to use Photoshop and everything will be thrown into after effects, bryce, or maya?!?!?

I can tell you one thing this is going to suck and suck hard.

I want to be able to read my comics WITHOUT an internet connection. Seeing how Comixology uses a internet connection to open comics, I have a bad feeling the same will be true for this.

Also... it might not be android or windows 8 tablet for YEARS. :C

[nomadic writer]

i wish they had a small example we could check out. i personally am struggling a touch with what they have in mind.. i have the general idea, just curious if this is a gimmick or game changer

Did you check out the link to the Yves Bigeral comic Quesada was talking about in the interview? It's worth reading it all the way through; I backed out after clicking through about two dozen pages the first time, but it gets more interesting once it's past the rather drawn-out intro.

It's pretty cool, though I'm not sure if the format will actually be quite as effective with a full-colour professionally produced Marvel comic as it is for a clean and simple black-and-white cartoon. I'd certainly be interested in checking out what Marvel comes up with - I just hope they make the comics available via a standard browser for those of us who don't have tablets.

[chastmastr]

. . . I just hope they make the comics available via a standard browser for those of us who don't have tablets.

Or, better, available with a pair of eyes and a light source, i.e. printed. :P

[drakeon]

I have been collecting in print all my life, so this is a no for me. its not that I dont like trying new things, but for me comic books are art, and it has a certain quality in ink on paper that seems to diminish when looked at on a screen, much less a small smart phone or an awkward tablet.

[manymade1]

I don't really get what they're saying to be honest.

[MarvelMaster616]

I've become very much a fan of the digital comics platform. I already get most of my comics digitally and no longer collect individual issues. It's much more convenient than having to store large boxes, although there will always be a place for my more treasured issues (I will NEVER part with my copy of Uncanny X-men 137). But the idea of a wholly digital series is intriguing. It opens the door to all sorts of possibilities for this medium and I look forward to seeing what comes of it. I would really like to see at one point an entire digital Marvel continuity, not unlike Marvel Adventures or Ultimate. But that's probably a ways off. As Quesada himself said, this is still in the early stages. But I think it has real potential!

[semicyon]

Yes, check out Yves Bigeral's comic... the intro sequence ran a little too long but I am glad that Quesada is starting to understand that's more what future comics should look like than the motion comics they've been trying. Critical aspect of why I like print comics is that I control the pacing, unlike YouTube videos or music and animation added to a pre-existing still comic book.

[Rasputin9977]

If you can buy these and download them onto your computer then I'll be checking them out. If they don't allow you to download them then I'll pass them up. I never liked the idea of paying for something I can't keep.

[cookepuss]

You mean people at marvel will now be allowed to use Photoshop and everything will be thrown into after effects, bryce, or maya?!?!?

As if they don't use those things now? Been living in a cave long? You might not see a whole lot of 3D in comics, but more and more artists are digital painting instead of using their old school pencils. Lots of comic artists have migrated over to the Wacom Intuos and Cintiq lines.

And who still uses Bryce? REALLY. I do CG for a living and only n00bs still living in 1998 use Bryce. Don't fight technology. Progress is a good thing.

I can tell you one thing this is going to suck and suck hard.

Holee sheeet! Looks like we got one a dem der boneeefide time travel-ers! Relique, your name seems a bit too appropriate. Don't be so inflexible and jaded. Wait and see. You never know how things will turn out.

I want to be able to read my comics WITHOUT an internet connection. Seeing how Comixology uses a internet connection to open comics, I have a bad feeling the same will be true for this.

Comixology will either bend to the needs of the consumer base or they'll make way for somebody who will. Adapt or die.

Paper feels so much more personal, but there's also no getting around the fact that digital is the future for comics.
- Printed comics take space. As a hardcore collector, my physical collection is just too big. I've amassed about 15,000 comics over the past 25 years. I've got no more space to put anything. None. It's either digital for me or no comics at all.
- With a struggling economy, brick & mortar comic shops are running on borrowed time. Just look at Atomic Comics. It's hard to turn a profit at these stores with all of the high overhead and razor thin margins.
- The analog world of my youth is just about dead. Digital is overtaking everything. Music. Movies. Books. Games. TV. Now is the perfect time for Marvel & DC to take their readership into spaces untouched by the local shops.
- You can't sell out of something that's digital. Ever gotten pissed that a high profile book sold out too quickly? With digital, there's no need to reprint. It's always there.
- Screwing over customers over variant covers will be a thing of the past. How many times have you gone to a LCS only to find out that the retailer jacked up the price of a $4 book to $20? Marvel doesn't see that extra $15 either. And what did it cost him to board and bag it? 50 cents maybe? Marvel & DC control the prices with digital.
- No printing = Change in profit structure. Granted, they've got to pay their middle men and cover bandwidth, but the cost for paper & physical shipping are probably higher. If enough consumers buy into the digital stuff, that can only mean good news for comics' future.

The obvious downside is that there is no back issue market for digital stuff. I doubt that Marvel would fix prices higher and limit supplies on older issues. It's more likely that they'll "screw" us over with DLC just like the game developers. Hold back bonus content that would've otherwise gotten included and make us pay for it later.

Also... it might not be android or windows 8 tablet for YEARS. :C

Assuming that Android & Win8 tablets make the cut. They may hold technological advantages to Apple's iPad, but history has shown that the superior product doesn't always win. Strong branding, laser focused marketing, and a loyal user base can turn an inferior product into the industry standard. For every MP3 vs CD there's a VHS vs Betamax.

Don't get me wrong. I don't like Apple as a company. I hate their computers and their OS. I hate their inflated prices. There's something to be said for going standard though. Apple does make good consumer products. As with the iPod, I held off on the iPad. I enjoyed using my younger brother's iPad 1, but I wanted the tech to mature just a little more before I made the leap myself. I'm happy to say that I plunked down the near $800 for the iPad3 already and I'm looking forward to embracing the futu....errr... present.

I don't like planned obsolescence. I'm not fan of Apple's annual upgrades. Still, the competition isn't much better. how many tablets have companies like Samsung and Asus released in the past 12 months? Definitely more than one. They're going to flood the non-Apple tablet market and confuse consumers. I'd like a good Windows-based tablet too, but I don't think that either Droid or Win8 will beat Apple. I think that we're seeing a repeat of the MP3 player wars. The iPad will probably see another 5 or 6 significant annual updates, but I think that it'll level out like the iPod did. Eventually, the market will be saturated and Apple will reach the limits of that form factor and price point.