Comixology Launches New Subscription-Based Comic Viewing Service - Transformers Comics Included?

Think of Comixology Unlimited, which went live this morning, like a “Netflix for comic books.” For $5.99 a month (after a 30-day free trial), users gain unlimited access to a trove of hot comics titles from The Walking Dead to Hellboy. Instead of the superhero titles of Marvel or DC, Comixology Unlimited’s catalog is drawn from more independent publishers like Dark Horse and Image (though Marvel offers its own service, Marvel Unlimited). Like Netflix, Comixology Unlimited will eventually cycle titles in and off its catalog in the future, though it already starts off with thousands of issues from dozens of different series. This could allow users drawn to a flashy name — such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the comic book continuation of the beloved TV show — to eventually find their way to lesser-known comics like Umbrella Academy, My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way’s surreal twist on the superhero tale.

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To help readers find new titles, Comixology Unlimited will offer recommendation tools, including search filters, home page curation, introductions to various publishers, and even editorial guides. All the previous aspects of Comixology will remain intact — users can still purchase comics from Marvel or DC, for example. Comixology Unlimited will exist within the site and mobile apps as a new tab. When searching the site, users can filter the catalog to what’s available on Unlimited. The service is live now on Comixology’s website, and available in an upgrade to the mobile app.

“This program takes advantage of Comixology: download wherever you want, read offline, all the stuff you love about it,” Steinberger says. “I hope that people who love comics take this as a tool to introduce their friends to specific content, and then because this is the inexpensive way to get to that content, help them explore even more.”