Four (or Five!) Reasons Why

…Marvel Entertainment is a Marvel

1. Hoping to reintroduce younger readers to its original series of comic books, Marvel is putting 250 of its older comics online - for free! While they will only be accessible through a web browser, and not download-able, it is still a bold move for an otherwise staid industry.
2. Extending its archive into a paid subscription service, the company is offering access to over 2,500 comics for as little at $4.99 per month for a year-long commitment. New issues, added at a rate of at least 20 titles per week, will also go online six months after they first appear in print. This is an interesting move for what should be seen as a traditional media company.

3. Marvel has a library of over 5,000 characters, including Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and X-Men. The company licenses use of the characters in marketing toys, apparel, video games and films. According to the Motley Fool, Marvel is the world’s sixth-most valuable licensing brand, accounting for an estimated $4.8 billion in retail sales. And as detailed here, Marvel Entertainment has been making investors happy recently with strong third quarter results and a pop in its stock price.

4. Marvel has had an impressive line up, and a rich history, of heroines, putting women at the forefront of saving the world as early as 1972. For a complete list, check out Marvel’s guide here and for a tribute to the Women of the Marvel Universe, click here.

5. With the new Rawhide Kid coming out of the closet in 2002, Marvel broke new ground in the industry by introducing the first openly gay title character in a comic book. With poor performance at the news stand, this seemed to be more of a publicity stunt than an appeal to readers. Having said that, this was another interesting and bold move that put Marvel ahead of its peers.

For more about Marvel’s move to the online world, check this out. You can get more views on Marvel’s decision on Underwire, while Forbes’ Digital Download suggests the lack of a download option is dismal.