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X-Men and Fantastic Four online
Marvel dips its toe in Internet waters
Marvel is making its first move onto the Internet by putting older versions of the X-Men and Fantastic Four comics online.
The comics can only be viewed in a Web browser and cannot be downloaded. New issues will only appear online after six months have passed from when they first appeared in print. Marvel's two most prominent competitors currently offer online teasers designed to drive the sales of comics or book collections. Dark Horse Comics now puts its monthly anthologies, "Dark Horse Presents," up for free viewing on its MySpace site. DC Comics has also put issues up on MySpace.
Customers will pay US$9.99 a month, or US$4.99 monthly with a 12-month subscription commitment. However they will be able to see the the first 100 issues of Stan Lee's 1963 creation, "Amazing Spider-Man," along with the "House of M" and "Young Avengers."
More than 2,500 issues will be available at launch of Marvel Digital Comics, with 20 more being released each week.