By Courtney Key
Dynamite is the latest company to launch its own digital comic store. The publisher announced today in a move that will be cheered by many that its store will be DRM-free.
Dynamite’s CEO and Publisher, Nick Barruchi, said that the move reflected the growing market for DRM-free content, and will also benefit the company’s brick-and-mortar retail partners.
“Each and every day, fans want to choose how to buy and enjoy their comics, and we’re taking our titles to the next level for digital sales,” Barrucci said in a press release from Dynamite. “Expanding into DRM-free content, made available directly to consumers from our website, is simply giving the consumers the option for what they want and how they want it, and continues to reach out to a non-traditional comic-reading audience, and then bring those readers in to the direct comics market to our retail partners. We’re optimistic that the availability of comics in a digital fashion will continue to draw new readers to the medium, helping to continue to complement the growth for physical sales through our retail comic store partners.”
The debut digital store line-up includes works by creators such as Kevin Smith, Bill Willingham, Mark Millar, Grant Morrison, Alex Ross, Gail Simone, Robert Jordan, Jim Butcher, Walt Flanagan and Bryan Johnson, Frank Cho, Art and Franco, Garth Ennis, and Darick Robertson. Some of the first available titles are Red Sonja, Vampirella, and The Boys.
Customers will also be offered ten free wallpapers featuring The Boys, Cryptozoic Man, Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, Neil Gaiman and Alice Cooper’s The Last Temptation, Red Sonja, and Vampirella. These wallpapers will be available for download from the Dynamite shop for a limited time.
In addition, the first month of the store’s opening sees some comics priced at $0.10, with 10% of the first month’s sales going to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
Charles Brownstein, Executive Director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, said in a press release that the organization is “delighted” to be Dynamite’s digital partner, and that “Dynamite’s contribution underscores our commitment to protect comics in the digital environment as vociferously as we do in the comic store and education spaces.”
New comics will be added to the online shop every Wednesday, and will be announced via Dynamite’s Twitter, Facebook, and website as they’re made available. Currently, Dynamite also offers digital same-day-as-print releases through Comixology, iVerse, Dark Horse, iBooks, and Amazon Kindle.
Source: ComicsBeat
