Paper Comic DeathWatch: Marvel on FaceBook

From Heidi MacDonald's wonderful The Beat...Marvel Goes to FaceBook (items have been bolded by me)

On the heels of Marvel Entertainment opening its comic book vault to the masses in November with the launch of its online subscription service Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, today Marvel announced the launch of its first digital comics application on Facebook Platform, Facebook is the sixth most trafficked website in the United States.

Marvel’s first official Facebook application immerses fans in the world of Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, the home of the greatest collection of Marvel Comics ever assembled online. This new application page will serve as a hub to the Marvel Universe on Facebook.

With the new Digital Comics application, fans can peruse the entire Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited collection—currently numbering more than 3000 comics, read synopses of many of the titles, pick favorites and share thoughts about the books with all of their Facebook friends.

The full post is here:

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2008/03/06/marvel-goes-facebook/

Now while I've had my say about Marvel's DCU site, I gotta tip my hat to the initiative they are showing here! Aligning themselves with FaceBook is a really smart idea, especially given the amount of traffic that site gets.

It's very possible that just an appearance on a FaceBook page might be enough to prompt a user to click over to Amazon and order some Marvel TPBs. So, this could end up helping their printed comics as well.

Meanwhile at DC...well...

...maybe I should start a DC Comics DeathWatch. Lord knows something's gotta give over there.

btw - the image above is not to imply that the New Frontier Special or DVD failed. Quite the opposite. I am actually on the same page as Phil Looney on the New Frontier DVD.

I just sort of think that DC via Time Warner is concentrating on Direct to Video DVDs which from many accounts are really just another form of media that will be eventually be supplanted by online alternatives, so to me, Marvel is making the smarter business decisions in regards to using the internet.

PCDW Points: 1000 (for Marvel) 10,000 (for DC)