Top Cow & IGN Join Forces!
Top Cow (you know, the Image Comics Label responsible for all of its best-selling titles like Witchblade and The Darkness) has joined forces with IGN to provide downloadable issues of their comics... which means you can pay $1.99 to download a single issue to your computer and then read it.
Don't get me wrong, it's cool that IGN and Top Cow are going to provide high-resolution PDFs (and a number of the titles they're offering are superb choices), but I'm not sure a lot of people are really going to buy the digital comics because you can get CDB-formatted comics via torrents... that, and I'm not sure a digital comic will be worth enough to send my kids to college in 20 years, unlike my genuine complete sets of Rising Stars and Midnight Nation.
Hit the jump to read the full press release from IGN for all the dirty details.
IGN Entertainment’s Direct2Drive Launches Web’s First Major Downloadable Comic Book Store with Popular Top Cow Titles
Witchblade, The Darkness, Tomb Raider and Rising Stars Available For Download
Exclusively on Direct2Drive
LOS ANGELES, CA – March 28, 2007 – IGN Entertainment, a unit of Fox Interactive Media, today announced that its Direct2Drive (http://www.direct2drive.com) digital retail store has launched the Web’s first independent, download-to-own comic book store and will begin selling comic book titles from Top Cow Productions. The agreement marks the first time that users will be able to digitally download and own full-length comic books, and Direct2Drive anticipates the addition of content from more comic and manga publisher partners in addition to Top Cow over the next year.
The downloadable comic books will be delivered in high-resolution, full-color documents via Adobe Systems Incorporated’s Portable Document Format (PDF), enabling users to download, view and print the comic books on any standard Windows PC.
“Comic books are a perfect addition to our content library of digital games, anime, TV and movies as we continue to build the Web’s premier download store targeting the interests of men 18-34,” said Jamie Berger, Senior Vice President of Consumer Products for IGN Entertainment. “Top Cow is one of the comic industry’s most cutting-edge publishers and we’re proud to offer their content exclusively to the Direct2Drive consumer.”
”It’s never been a question of ‘will comics be available digitally’, but rather how and when,” commented Filip Sabik, Vice President of Marketing & Sales for Top Cow. “Top Cow has been looking for the right partner with which to launch online content. IGN is one of the premier pop culture sites on the web, and their model for digital distribution on Direct2Drive was the one that allowed us to deliver content to fans while not discounting our core retailer base. It’s a win win situation.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Direct2Drive will serve as the exclusive worldwide digital distributor of Top Cow Productions’ library of comics, with more than 400 total books from Top Cow available over the coming year. Top Cow titles available at launch on Direct2Drive will include Witchblade, The Darkness, Tomb Raider, and Rising Stars, with more added each week.
Pricing for Top Cow Comics on Direct2Drive will be similar to the volume pricing offered for Top Cow’s recent Compendium collections, as well as and other trade collections. Top Cow’s backlist will also be offered through Direct2Drive, with material up to a year old available for download.
About Top Cow Productions
Top Cow was founded in December of 1992 by artist Marc Silvestri who co-founded Image Comics in the same year. Top Cow currently publishes its line of comic books in 21 languages in over 55 different countries. The company has launched 20 franchises (18 original and 2 licensed) in the industry's Top 10, seven at #1, a feat accomplished by no other publisher in the last two decades. Its flagship franchise Witchblade was TNT's #1 original film of 2000. Virtually all of Top Cow's other properties are in development as feature films, live action television, animation or video games. Top Cow has also successfully licensed and merchandised its franchises into toys, statues, clothing, lithographs, puppets, posters, magnets, shot glasses, lighters, lunch pails, wall scrolls, mouse pads, die cast cars, calendars, Christmas ornaments, Halloween masks, trading cards, standees, video games and role playing games.
About Direct2Drive
Direct2Drive (D2D) is IGN Entertainment's digital download store (http://www.direct2drive.com). Launched in October 2004, D2D allows consumers to conveniently purchase and download the latest premium video games, feature films, popular TV shows and anime titles directly from the Web to their desktops. D2D's AAA roster of leading game publishers includes Atari, Activision, Blizzard Entertainment, Eidos, Electronic Arts, Namco, NCsoft, SEGA, Sony Online Entertainment, 2K Games, Ubisoft and Vivendi Universal Games. In addition, Twentieth Century Fox, Lionsgate and Starz Media are making blockbuster movies TV shows top anime titles available to users directly via the D2D platform.
Boy of Tomorrow
Posted to Miscellany on 29 March 2007
· Comments (1)
Other stuff like this: digital comics, ign, midnight nation, rising stars, the darkness, top cow, witchblade
Woohoo, complete sets of Midnight Nation and Rising Stars here too! (Unread, even, because I waited for the graphic novels to appear so I could read them all at once.) If only Straczynski would write them another series I might even be interested in the Top Cow/IGN deal.
I'm hoping that rather than send some rug rats to college, though, they'll send me to the world's first all-gay, all-leather retirement village.