Marvel Entertainment and digital comics vendor iVerse have launched the Marvel Global Comics App, allowing readers to get Marvel digital comics in one of twelve foreign languages. This long-awaited app is the fruit of an exclusive foreign language rights deal between Marvel and iVerse announced in September 2012. The app is initially available only in the iOS (Apple) format with other platforms tentatively scheduled for 2014 releases.
The app offers comics in Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Japanese, Korean, Spanish, French, Russian, Hindi, German, Italian, Portugueseand Hebrew. The initial selection is older issues and a mix between Event mini-series (Civil War, Infinity Gauntlet) and regular titles (Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers).
“Marvel has incredible fans all around the world, and we're excited to bring digital comics to their mobile devices in their native languages," explains Kristin Vincent, v-p of digital products. “This partnership with iVerse allows us to introduce Marvel’s rich history of action-packed stories to new audiences worldwide who want to know more about the Avengers, Spider-Man, Wolverine and the rest of the vast Marvel Universe.”
There are approximately 100 comics in the initial offering and regular updates will follow.
The app drops at a time when Marvel is enjoying great success at the overseas box office and gives them a more direct access to foreign audiences with their original comics product. App download tracking site App Annie has the Marvel Global Comics App ranked as the number 1 book app for downloads in Russia and South Korea, while peaking at #4 in France and Italy.
For iVerse, this brings Marvel back into their system, but for a different audience. Marvel is not currently listed on iVerse’s English-language ComicsPlus app. It also represents a departure from Marvel’s traditional digital partner, Comixology, although it is not currently offering the same simultaneous print/digital release that Comixology does.
