Comixology has launched a new initiative titled Comixology Unlimited where readers can obtain digital comic books in a Netflix kind of a manner. Included in the mix are Transformers comic books by IDW.
Comixology stated:
ComiXology Unlimited is a new service that allows you to read freely from thousands of titles, including comic books, graphic novels & manga. You can read offline on any device. ComiXology Unlimited is available for $5.99 a month and you can cancel anytime.
“It sounds silly but our mission is to make everyone on the planet a comics fan. That’s really hard to do by just throwing them into the middle of 100,000 comic books,” Comixology CEO David Steinberger tells EW. “It’s a lot easier if people have a very low risk opportunity to discover comics for themselves and just really take their time with the catalog.”
You can learn more from the official Comixology website.
Starganderfish
Well one good thing about this service is it will solve that issue for you! Once you sign up on the website for your "unlimited " subscription, you're no longer buying issues, you're borrowing them. The subscription payment is managed through the website so Apple doesn't take a cut, but day to day you can do everything you need through the App!! The iphone app now includes a "Borrow" button next to eligible issues so you can borrow and download them from the app.
Geez… re-reading that it totally sounds like an infomercial for Comixology.
Incidentally, testing this on my iPhone this morning at work, just discovered I don't even need the DNS/VPN to borrow! May be that you just need the US address on your account? We'll see if Amazon/Comixology comes back at me with a warning. That's happened sometimes with Amazon stuff.
I like this service for the cheap price and access to early issues. Already started reading random comics I'd never even herd of. Some are actually quite good.
I'm just hoping it's successful enough that they can convince DC to come on board, or failing that, provide further evidence to DC that this kind of service works and encourage them to do their own!!
G.B. Blackrock
Thanks. I'm a DC guy, first and foremost, so that makes this a non-starter for me. I already do better with my local library.
SleezyB
Is MTMTE actually apart of comixology unlimited? I looked on the app and it doesn't seem to be available, ex – RID seems to be though.
Booster Gold
I'm not going to disagree with you that Apple can be just as greedy and anti competition as Amazon…plus I stand corrected, I had thuoght that Amazon redesigned the app for all platforms removing in app purchase across the board, it seems I was incorrect. So I will concur it's an Apple thing more than an Amazon thing. I'd still argue that regardless of who's greed it was that prompted the change it was a change for the worst. I hardly use Comixology now due to the clunky way I'm required to make purchases, I used to regularly impulse buy in app, having to open a browser go to the website and browse there killed that. In some ways this subscription service might fix that for some?
I know its off topic a bit but…why is it that the Amazon app on iPad does not require payment through iTunes but Comixology did? Couldn't Amazon have built a new Comixology app that accepted payments via the same system as the Amazon app? Wouldn't that have been a better solution?
unicronic
Well it's not illegal.
However in 2016 these services need to stay behind locked doors until they can actually launch into more than one country or continent.
All this does is give the pirates more justification to do their thing.
Starganderfish
For my fellow non-americans, comixology unlimited will work with a DNS redirect service like Unblock Us as long as you ensure a US address is linked to your Amazon account. Doesn't even have to be a real address! Just a us city, state and zip code with a fake street number and name.
These DNS services are the same ones used to access US Netflix and Amazon Prime already so the cost should be reasonable. Plus you get a 30 day trial to play with.
You can download up to 50 comics for offline access so this should work perfectly.
Not that I would ever condone such an act. Purely theoretical.
Starganderfish
Sorry but I gotta disagree here. Amazon has done a lot of shitty thing to authors, retailers and customers sure, but the in-app thing is 100% Apples fault not Amazons. Apple demands a 30% cut of every single in-app transaction. If someone signs up for a monthly subscription to a service through an app, then Apple skims their 30% every month that subscription is active. Smaller companies don't mind too much because they get the benefit of Apples payment services and distribution/market through iTunes and App Store. Amazon has their own robust payment service and their own distribution platform so would basically be paying Apple 30% on every single transaction for virtually nothing. Key point here why it's an Apple thing and not an Amazon thing? Google doesn't skim off in app purchases on Android and you can still buy books through the android kindle app and buy comics through the android comixology app. This comes down to Apples greed not Amazons (again acknowledging that Amazon is greedy, but in this case it's simple common sense to not pay Apple for nothing)
Booster Gold
I'm aware of their reasons and I still think it puts Amazon first and customer convenience second. Comixology were able to turn a profit whilst giving Apple, google or whomever a cut of their profits, Amazon (who let's face it are not struggling for money) should have no trouble whatsoever. They were not protecting customers from a price hike, they were maximising their profits, it's what Amazon do. Yup I really don't like Amazon.
Ah I was not aware of that thanks for the heads up. I used it for a month or two and quite liked it but, like I said before, I read so much physically that I didn't have the time to take full advantage of it. I totally see your point on the convenience of such services, it's a good move for digital readers so long as they keep both payment models (subscription and pay per issue).
Jalaguy
I'd imagine that rather than Takara specifically having a problem with it, it's more like IDW would have to negotiate a separate license with Takara to sell Transformers comics in Japan, and they just haven't chosen to do that.
Presumably when a company purchases a license from Hasbro to make Transformers comics or pencil cases or statues or whatever, it's always going to exclude Japan because it's Takara's right to manage that kind of thing in their own "jurisdiction".
SouthtownKid
And now, Comixology seems to be broken in general. Every comic in my current library that I try to read sends me to a broken link! Way to go, Comixology!
SouthtownKid
Doesn't even matter for me. I'm in Japan, and for some reason, Comixology doesn't offer ANY of the IDW TF comics for sale here. Never mind Unlimited; we can't even get them normally.
It's weird, because we can get the GI Joe comics here, and many are listed as being part of Unlimited, including the classic Marvel series along with Hama's IDW continuation. So that's cool. But zero Transformers for some reason. I'd love to get an explanation for this from Hasbro or IDW or Comixology or whoever. Is it a licensing thing? Does Takara somehow have a problem with it?
Starganderfish
Basically you do a search for a series/issue and you'll see an "Unlimited" banner across the cover image if it's included. Looks like RID is free up till issue 27, after that you pay. MTMTE is not included.
Like Marvel Unlimited, I think it's only older issues, up to certain cutoff age. Unlike Mavrvel Unlimited though, it's only a limited number of series included at this stage. If it's a success, hopefully they will expand the selection.
I look at it this way – for the price of 2 issues of a comic I can probably pick up a couple dozen early entries in series I'm interested in, get me up to speed enoughto decide if I want to continue. Plus I'll probably get to check out a few hundred other comics I might otherwise never have bothered to even look at? May find a few hidden gems. I view that as a solid investment – I pay for Kindle Unlimited and have picked up a bunch of fun books I never would have come acroos, and most of that content is self-published rubbish! At least comixology is proper publishers!
NB: this is from PC, I assume the App is similar?
Thorhammer
There's tons of comics in each genre (how I sorted) but it seems only a few per page are marked as "Unlimited." Disappointing, to say the least. I'll be canceling, seeing as it looks like 90% of what's offered is for sale rather than a flat-fee sub service.
Starganderfish
Okay, bit disapointing. No DC, limited releases from IDW or Dark Horse, and a bunch of minor comic's publishers.
Gizmodo list's the titles included.
Comixology Launches All-You-Can-Eat ‘Unlimited’ Subscription Service
Hopefully this will be a success and DC will get on board with it.
Looks like you can read offline (based on their page) so could theoretically set this up and download through my VPN from home, red the comics offline on tablet while out and about… interesting! may have to give this a go to catch up on some IDW and Darkhorse stuff. Most of the other smaller comics don't interest me yet, but that may change if I get them for free…
Starganderfish
I love this idea and have been waiting for it to happen with other comic publishers for years. Marvel Unlimited has introduced me to dozens of series and characters I've never had the time or money to read before. If Comixoligy can include DC comics in this as well as IDW, it'd be a sure win.
Sucks that its only for US though. Have to try and work out a way to use this through VPN/DNS proxy like Netflix.
Generally the in-app purchases are removed from mobile apps because Apple demands a cut of every purchase made through an App (I think 30%?). That's why you can no longer buy books through the Kindle app on iPhone and have to go to the site. I would assume Amazon implemented the policy on Comixology for the same reason. It's not really Amazon putting profit first so much as them refusing to pay Apple 30% for doing next to nothing. The alternative for Amazon was to hike up the prices of everything to pay Apple's "management fee".
And as for Scribd – They gutted their "all you can eat" membership a couple of months ago. You now get a maximum of three books and one audiobook a month. And yes a single issue of a comic is counted as one of those three books.
Best thing about these subscriptions is you pay by the month. Feel in the mood to binge read some comics? Sign up to Marvel Unlimited for a month or two, read a coupe hundred issues on your tablet till fatigue set's in, then suspend your membership till the comic bug bites again. That's what I do. Got itchy again after Guardians of the Galaxy movie and spent two months reading through the Marvel cosmic Thanos Imperative – Nova, Guardians, Ronan a whole bunch of characters I didn't know much about!
If Comixology Unlimited has the books and stories to make this worthwhile I'll definitely be in for it… if I can work out how to access from Aus.
Splendic
I imagine that's a bug\design oversight that will be worked out quickly.
Thorhammer
I actually don't understand how this works and can't find a "How To" on the site. I signed up for the 30-day free trial to see if I like it or not but I still see prices on every comic. Why? Is that only if I "Add to Cart" instead of "Borrow"? I'm afraid to click on anything because I don't want to get charged $5 for every comic I read.
Murasame
Awesome!
Fuck!
warhide
sadly for US fans only… it seems the rest of the world is never good enough!
Booster Gold
I stopped using Comixology as much as I once did when Amazon took over and redesigned the app to take away in app purchases. Amazon took a good platform with an intuitive UI and put profit over customer convenience by basically downgrading the app. It left a sour taste in my mouth, as do a lot od Amazons practices.
The 'Netflix for comics' idea is nothing new, Scibd have been doing it for a bit now and I'd be more inclined to sign up with them if I wanted that. Personally I prefer to read physical comics and trades anyway and really only bother with digital comics when traveling. I don't think I'd pay a monthly subscription as I read digitally so infrequently, it just wouldn't be worth it for me. The concern here is that this is the first move towards a subscription only service, at which point I imagine I'd stop using Comixology all together.