Neon Ichiban, the leading new player in the digital comic space, has launched its beta tester this week. The website run by comic publisher DSTLRY is set up not only as a digital comic retailer, but also as a digital comic hub with additional perks designed to emulate digital signatures.
Co-founded by Comixology veteran David Steinberger, Dstlry has been making waves since its founding, landing several celebrities for an interesting project. Neon Ichiban takes them away from indie publishers and into the realm of becoming service providers that exist across the comics market.
Neon Ichiban already has business with many major comic publishers, including DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, and Oni. Starting this week, fans who sign up for the company’s beta test can purchase digital comics from the Neon Ichiban website.
DSTLRY, which touts “growing backlists” and new releases, wants to reintegrate some of the seamless user experiences lost by Comixology since Amazon acquired it. Of course, they have been swimming upstream in a market that is roughly synonymous with Comixology even before it was integrated into Amazon.
“There’s no more understanding and wanting to browse comic book fans and how they want to shop,” Steinberger told The New York Times when Neon Ichban was announced. “There’s no longer a Comixology app that lets you put all your comics in one place. It’s all part of the Kindle.”
Publisher controls exceed downloads. You can opt-in or opt-out of features like digital remarques. This means that even if Marvel and DC are interested in establishing a backlist, some more forward-looking companies will be actively involved. In any case, part of the sales pitch is that the source of the digital collectibles is essential to the file itself.
Neon Ichiban also hosts a marketplace feature that allows fans to buy and sell digital comics and collectibles (if the publisher is participating). Publishers and creators are hoping to win a cut in resale, bringing a secondary market to digital comics – something they’ve missed from the start.
Of course, the majority of users won’t get into weeds with digital collectibles or resale… And that’s the basic feature that DC, ONI and others are currently winning center stage, while others already have the first wave of new titles that can be sold on the site.
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