

Amazon to acquire Comixology - ImJasonH
http://comixology.tumblr.com/post/82316305607/amazon-com-to-acquire-comixology

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cwal37
I've used Comixology and Marvel Unlimited before. Marvel Unlimited is a
travesty on Android tablets, which is really unfortunate, because a
subscription service like that is probably the only way I will consistently
read comics.

Comixology's app is certainly better, but it's tough to shell out the money
for something I could be done reading 5-10 minutes later. It'd be nice if they
could get together a subscription service like Netflix, but for the smaller
publishing houses like Image, since DC and Marvel will obviously go their own
way.

~~~
egypturnash
I'm an independent comics creator who does graphic novels that take a while to
read, not single issues. I'm also someone who spent all day Thursday trying to
get my GN into a .mobi, without much success:
[https://vine.co/v/M5M3lLEwz6E](https://vine.co/v/M5M3lLEwz6E)

I am really happy about this. Because perhaps it will mean I will soon be able
to just upload a .pdf of my comic to Amazon and not worry about anything
beyond how much to charge for it.

~~~
celerity
Publishing on Amazon is currently quite horrible, so I am sorry to say that if
you use history as a guide, then you are in bad luck. For example, current
publishers get less money if they use bigger data. The result is blurry
pictures on hi-res screens. Awful policy.

~~~
sadfnjksdf
I've not had a problem with the comics we've gotten from Amazon. If anything,
the reader on the Kindle Fire HDX takes a little getting used to because you
need to click to zoom to read a good bit of it. I've tried reading them on my
laptop but can't get into it; I can't read books on a horizontal screen.
Things will be much better with electronic paper, so it will be like a comic
book again. Sure, I could buy an actual comic book, but what fun is that?

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dantiberian
It's surprising that Marvel and DC didn't purchase Comixology to prevent this
from happening. We've seen what Amazon did to book publishers, I don't see any
reason to believe they won't do the same to comic book publishers.

On the other hand, perhaps lower pricing/subscription services is just what
the comic book industry needs to get more people reading comics.

~~~
sliverstorm
That's pretty much my guess, Marvel & DC might be hoping there is growth
potential.

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dantiberian
But surely they would want to be the ones in control of this?

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rverghes
The price of this might be the destruction of comic book stores. It's often
hard for companies to bypass retailers, because the retailers will get mad at
them, and the retailers are the majority of their (direct) customers.

This way, Amazon does Marvel/DCs dirty work, but Marvel/DC still gets paid.

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relaxatorium
The people who are probably shitting right now are the local comic shops and
Diamond Distributors.

Comixology, whether due to temperament or just due to size and leverage, was
playing fairly nice with the existing comics ecosystem. Now, they're owned by
a middleman that makes Diamond look positively cute by comparison, and one
with a fairly explicit goal of crushing all local shops of all types.

~~~
MattGrommes
I came here to say just this. I wonder how long the cute distinction
Comixology makes by splitting the digital and comic-shop sides of their
website will last. There's also no reason Amazon doesn't just put Diamond out
of business by putting one team on making a Previews-like ordering system.

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Andrex
As long as their content doesn't become Kindle Fire exclusive, I don't mind
this change.

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LaSombra
I agree. It's getting weird how many Kindle Fire exclusives applications are
out there with no Android equivalents. UK newspapers come to mind.

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moskie
The biggest aspect to consider here is that Amazon already sells digital
comics that are usable on Kindles and in Kindle apps. I don't imagine that
feature going away, in the place of Amazon promoting the use a separate
Comixology app.

Which makes me inclined to believe that Comixology will be phased out, and its
features incorporated into the Kindle comics features.

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jonlucc
Why not the other direction? I think Comixology has a bigger backing, so they
could merge their stuff to Comixology. This might be similar to how they run
IMDB or Zappos.

~~~
hrktb
I downloaded the Comixology app just to try. And I don't think the Comixology
way of thinking for their app works for non american comics. Japanese comics
can't be viewed bubble by bubble, that would be just a horrible experience,
and there doesn't seem to be two-pages side by side display handling, or right
to left page order option either. The Kindle handles this kind of things
gracefully.

BTW they really should have something free in their store or directly in the
app, even an illustrated guide of how to use the app, just to give an idea of
the experience. No one asks their users to buy 5~10$ content just to see if
the app is comfortable to use.

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ndrake
[https://www.comixology.com/free-comics](https://www.comixology.com/free-
comics)

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shawnc
This may be a weird reason to not be happy with this, but I pay for my
subscriptions and purchases on Comixology with PayPal, and I'm pretty certain
that will go away pretty soon now.

I'd love to think that this will stay the same, but I see lots of changes
happening from this, most not so great.

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chrisege
Zappos has been owned by Amazon for years now, and they still accept Paypal.

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shawnc
Thanks for the reminder. You're right.

Well, if anything then, this could signal that 'owning my digital content
that's really owned/held by Comixology' means it'll be around longer.

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zmanian
It is amazing that this company succeeded. One would have expected that the
comic book store owners would have effectively resisted but DC wanted
something in place for the iPad launch and it just started the ball rolling
down hill.

Haven't been to a comic book store since the Android app came out.

~~~
jordo37
I think you are misunderstanding that most Comic Book Store Owners are also
fans, and are always eager to get the most ways to access content out there.
Also, Comixology (currently at least) has their Comics Retailer platform (ie
[https://isotope.comicretailer.com/](https://isotope.comicretailer.com/) for
my shop in SF, Isotope) that allows these shops to make some (admittedly less)
money per issue with no inventory, no pre-ordering and no liability for unsold
comics.

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crummy
If they add the Comixology library to Prime subscribers, I would pay double!

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motdiem
I would go for adding "1 issue of your choice per week" as part of prime (a
bit like the kindle lending library) - this would work great for occasional
readers, and I could see this generating significant sales for people who
binge-read

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bueno
I wonder if this opens up the possibility of a Comixology API similar to IMDB.

My side project Longboxed.com could really benefit from a better datafeed.

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jordo37
Longboxed seems pretty neat! Where are you currently pulling that data from?

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fernly
I'm using a laptop. Is there a significant difference in the reading
experience between their "immersive and cinematic" one and just looking at,
e.g., Questionable Content on Firefox?

(I ask because I was going to try reading one of their free comics and they
want me to "register" with email and date of birth and password and oh give it
a rest for pete's sake...)

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rdl
Amazon seems to be really good at acquisitions, sort of like 1990s Cisco,
although in an entirely different way (Cisco integrated well; Amazon leaves
them alone, but provides services).

I'm much happier to see Amazon buy a company for product, as I then have even
more confidence it will continue to operate, than virtually any other
acquirer.

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sliverstorm
In a past life I worked for a company that was acquired by Amazon. It was like
what HBO talks about, how cable companies deal with infrastructure &
advertising & distribution, letting HBO focus on making TV- As we were taken
into the fold, exactly that sort of thing began to happen for us, as the
mother ship shouldered infrastructure burdens & so forth.

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zengr
Maybe this was a defensive move by Amazon as eBay was partnering with
Comixology: [http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/05/ebay-pushes-into-
curating-a...](http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/05/ebay-pushes-into-curating-and-
selling-digital-goods-launches-dedicated-marketplace-for-digital-comics/)

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bane
On a similar note, I'd love it if there was some kind of media server for
documents, pdfs, cbz, cbr files etc. that has an android/ios app and web app
(like plex) to stream to.

Anybody, know of anything like this?

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aidenn0
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPDS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPDS)

~~~
rat87
FBReader's Android version lets you add a local ODPS server manually or scan
you local network for one. Calibre a fantastic ebook collection
manager/reader/converter/sync lets you run a server.

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aidenn0
I've been using FBReader since PalmOS. I don't use a cbz reader for anything,
so I don't know if there is a ODPS client that can read .cbz files (but ODPS
is really straightforward, so if there is an OSS cbz reader it would be easy
to add).

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rat87
I think Moon+ Reader(closed source ads/pro version ebook/comic book reader)
supports ODPS and cbr/cbz files.

