Marvel Takes Superheros Online

Hit hard by Internet, comic business hopes fans pay to subscribe
By Jane Yager,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 14, 2007 5:50 AM CST
Marvel Takes Superheros Online
A promotional poster of Hollywood film "Spider-Man 3" at a multiplex in Bangalore, India, Monday, May 28, 2007.(AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)   (Associated Press)

Comic giant Marvel will soon launch a website where fans can access thousands of new and vintage titles featuring Spider Man, the X-Men, the Avengers, and other iconic superheroes. The Internet has dealt a heavy blow to newsstand comic sales, and Marvel hopes to recoup some of the loss with $4.99-$9.99 monthly online subscriptions, Reuters reports.

The site will offer over 2,500 comics, 250 of them free for a limited time. The site hopes to appeal to die-hard comic fans with vast stores of such vintage comics as the first issues of  "Amazing Spider-Man" and "The Fantastic Four." But some fans complain that the comics can only be viewed in a browser, not downloaded. (More Marvel Comics stories.)

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