Staff Blog: Amazon on ComiXology and Recommendations

Amazon on ComiXology and Recommendations

On 04/17/2014 at 01:47 PM by Jesse Miller

Last week it was announced that ComiXology, the current king of the digital comics market, had been acquired by the Juggernaut. Er, Amazon, that’s what I meant, Amazon. While the comic world has been all aflutter with their thoughts and prognostications as to what this means for both ComiXology and the digital comic world in general, I’ve been quietly contemplating on how this made me feel. As an avid Amazon consumer, I was at first surprised at the news of the acquisition. Via their Kindle line, Amazon has taken steps into the digital comic realm, but their offerings weren’t spectacular in terms of choice (price they’ve always been good on), and I didn’t see them taking larger steps into that realm. The purchase seemed rather sudden is all, I didn’t expect Amazon to swoop in and pick up the digital comic distributor, especially when the ComiXology Kindle Fire app is notoriously crappy compared to its iOS and standard Android brethren.

All this said, it makes sense for Amazon to make this purchase. They are, after all, focused on battling Google, Apple, and Microsoft for world domination and since comics are a thing that exists in this world it would only make sense that they would move their gaze in their direction. All joking aside, Amazon’s focus has been in securing the top position in multimedia distribution: books, magazines, movies, music, video games, apps, and now comics. Every piece of hardware they put out (the Kindle tablet line, Kindle Fire TV, and the soon to be announced Kindle smart-phone) is focused on delivering media through a webbed collection. They want to be the center of your connected life and this is just another extension of that overall plan.

To move away from the reasoning behind the move, I personally am rather happy about this. As I mentioned before, I’m an avid Amazon consumer. I have a Kindle Fire, I buy all my digital music through their platform (all hail auto-rip!), I buy Kindle books more than physical, and I’m starting to transfer my movie purchases their too. Heck, I even already have more than a few digital trades through them as well.

With most of my collection on ComiXology, I can only hope that I’ll soon be able to unify my accounts and gain access to ALL of my digital wares through a single service. ComiXology sports a superior method of digital consumption – I assume that Amazon will simply point users to that unique interface and improve its Kindle Fire App as well.

The move also puts more confidence in the idea that my digital collection will continue to be around for a while. ComiXology is king, sure, but being king now doesn’t secure the future, especially for a younger company. Amazon is an establishment, and having them backing the digital space will embolden both consumers and publishers to continue to expand the digital space.

So final word: Optimistic.

Now on for some reading recommendations:

D4VE: Speaking of digital comics, D4VE is exclusively so, and as a result it’s available at the sweet, sweet price of 99 cents an issue. With only 4 issues out it would be easy to pick up and catch up on, which you really, really should. This book tells the story of D4VE, an ex-defense robot living in a post robot uprising future. With his monster pummeling days in the past, D4VE now day dreams through his life as an Account Manager. But that all changes with an alien invasion…. Seriously, it’s a great book and is a steal at the price. Other publishers would easily ask for $3.99 an issue, and even then I wouldn’t complain.

Rat Queens: Do you like subversive humor? Play Dungeons & Dragons as a kid? Just like awesome comics? Then look no further than Image’s Rat Queens. This series takes place in a D&D styled world and follows the mercenary group the Rat Queens. The subject manor can be a bit risqué at times, so if you’re not a fan of crude humor/language I’d stay away. This book is more than surface level stuff though, there is some great characterization to go along with the humor (if it was just crude jokes then I wouldn’t recommend it, but it really is so much more than that). The series’ first trade was released a few weeks ago, so it’s not that hard to catch up.

I’ll have a couple more recommendations in my next blog. I figure I’ll keep them to about 2 per so as not to inundate you guys. As usual, please add to the conversation by utilizing the comments section, especially if you have other recommendations!

Peace.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

04/17/2014 at 05:55 PM

I'm happy about this too.

Have you ever read Xforce/Xstatix by Peter Milligan and Mike Allred? It's amazingly good.

xstatix

I really want to by the omnibus from Amazon but it's $80. So worth it though.

Jesse Miller Staff Writer

04/18/2014 at 09:36 AM

I checked to see if ComiXology had this because it looks interesting (I SEE DOOP!!), but I couldn't find anything. Physical may be the only way to check this one out.

04/18/2014 at 09:41 AM

all of my comics knowledge is from either the 1990's or the Early 00's

Super Step Contributing Writer

04/17/2014 at 06:09 PM

I didn't know about this. While I'm cool with Amazon, I do worry about the fact only a few companies continue to borderline monopolize several markets. Combining that and the recent scientific study by Gilens and Page that says the U.S. is more oligarchic than ever paints a worrisome picture for the little guy, I think. Of course, obviously the little guy wanted the big guys' resources in this case, but that's ultimately part of the problem: much the way Comcast threatening to slow down Netflix unfairly places the advantage in the court of the already-haves, it could mean keeping have-nots less than competitive. I don't like the precedent a lot of these acquisitions set and have been setting.

D4VE sounds interesting, though.

As for Rat Queens, I do like subversive humor, but I never played D&D, and that last question of yours is loaded, because of course I like "awesome" anything. Having said that, this one sounds right up my alley.

I thank you for keeping it to only a couple recommendations that would be easy to catch up with. There are too many comics and TV series I want to watch, but simply don't have time for.

04/18/2014 at 09:28 AM

The aspect of monopoly certainly weighs on my mind with this aqcuisition, but at this moment pretty much every publisher has their own digital store and platform. What I like about Comixology is that I can import purchases from Marvel (and hopefully soon Amazon) to unify my collection. I actually have no problem with buying from several providers (yeah for competition!) but I like having access to my collection in a singular place - this is why I tend to only buy music from Amazon; it consolodates my collection in a singular depository.

And yeah, I'll be keeping my recommendations down to one or two books per post. I tend to move around from series to series. With books having shorter runs these days (it's rare for a series to get beyond 30 some odd issues these days) it actually makes it easier to series hop. Some may not like the revolving doors of new series (it does make it a bit confusing as a collector), but I like that I can have a finite story arch.

04/18/2014 at 01:34 PM

I completely understand. Note that while I don't wish Netflix becomes a monopoly either ... I kinda want them to just host literally every movie I'd ever want to watch, while Steam hosts all the games, so I that only have to log in to so many accounts.

And that's unfortunate in that I'm sure it may be a product of a less healthy comic book market, but maybe the lack of intimidation will attract newcomers like me.

asrealasitgets

04/17/2014 at 07:45 PM

I dont know how people keep up with so many comics? I just stick with the regular-- batman, xmen, spider-man, avegers etc.

04/18/2014 at 09:35 AM

ComiXology has 99 cent issue sales all the time on recent or current series, which makes it simple to binge read. I don't and couldn't possibly keep up with everything I would like to read, but I can generally get around to books I'm interested in.

For example, I've read some of the early New 52 Batman (and loved it!) but I can hold off until books drop in price or go on sale. There are few series I will buy as soon as they come out. Rat Queens is one of those, as is D4VE.

04/18/2014 at 11:45 AM

New 52 Batman is really great. It makes it hard to read other things that dont match the quality of art or writing by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo because they are knocking it out of the park. But waiting for new issues of Batman makes me forget about new issues of Batman, lol. I love All New X-Men and Superior Spider-Man as well.

Every week I listen to ifanboy podcast. They do a good job of covering the latest and bestest new releases in their pick of the week podcasts and I follow comicbookresources.com for reviews.

ifanboy.com
comicbookresources.com

Do you watch Arrow? A lot of comic fans seem to be enjoying it. I cant get into it for some reaon, or Agents of Shield?

04/18/2014 at 02:15 PM

I actually check Comicbookresources.com rather regularly. It's a pretty good site for the enthusiast or even casual fan.

I've never watched Arrow, but that's because I could never get into the CW shows. Didn't like Smallville or Birds of Prey. Arrow just held no appeal for me. I do watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. though. That's a show that's thankfully gotten a lot better as its gone on (the first few shows were rather weak IMO).

Alex-C25

04/18/2014 at 10:43 AM

I like my Kindle Fire, but sadly due to regional lock, i'm only limited to buy and read books and can't do anything else.

Speaking of comics, I just recently read the first five collected issues of Fables. Simply great. I'm definitly continuing the series.

PixlBit