At the SXSW conference, Comixology and Marvel launched an amazing promotion that served up 700 comic books for free. As expected, millions of people attempted to download those issues on the Comixology web site and through the company’s apps. As expected, the service was overloaded and rendered useless since the promotion was announced. As of this writing, I’m still unable to download comics (including ones I’ve already paid for) through the app or view them on the web site.
It was bold initiative by Comixology and Marvel — a fantastic way to attract new customers to the wonderful world of digital comics. Unfortunately, the failure showed the dangers of digital content to creators and consumers alike. Comic book publishers have been unable to sell anything during the service outage; this is particularly painful for independent creators that only publish digitally. Existing Comixology customers have been unable to buy new books or download those in their digital lockers. The aggressive promo by Comixology and Marvel to nab new customers has resulted in a total failure to serve existing ones.
Comixology CEO David Steinberger wrote a blog post about the failure and the suspension of the promotion. Here’s an excerpt:
We expected a high degree of excitement for the Marvel initiative — and had believed ourselves prepared — but unfortunately we became overwhelmed by the immense response. We’re still struggling to keep our systems up.
The result is that you aren’t getting your comics when and where you want.
We don’t like letting you down. Our teams are working around the clock to resolve these issues so that you can have the experience you’ve come to expect.
Steinberger also posted a link where customers can sign up to be notified of when the promo will be active again. The link was dead for several hours after the post went up, but now appears to be working.
While I’m a huge fan of Comixology and digital media in general, this was a nice reminder of the dangers of relying on digital services. Computers crash. Servers fail. Paper, while having its own issues, is free from those problems. Having said that, this hiccup isn’t enough to make me buy physical comics again. The convenience is just fantastic. I love that I’ll have hundreds of comics on my tablet during my flight to the Philippines tomorrow. I love that I’ll be able to download new issues while I’m away.
Unfortunately, Comixology and Marvel have made digital comics look bad to new customers due to incompetence and a lack of preparation. First impressions are hugely important and this service outage has made Comixology look like chumps.
I completely agree with you but this was also my fear. What happens when the internet connection goes down and servers fail. I unlike you, Ray, will continue hoarding physical ones.