DC Inks Deal to Sell Its Digital Comics via Madefire App
Madefire, a digital comics retail outlet and publishing platform, is partnering with DC Entertainment to offer new DC digital releases and eventually thousands of backlist digital DC Comics for sale via the Madefire app beginning August 16.
DC Entertainment plans to release Dark Nights: Metal #1, the new Batman series by writer Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, as well as DC’s extensive backlist of thousands of digital superhero comics, including such series as Batman, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Flash, Green Lantern and many more.
DC Entertainment copublisher Jim Lee said, “As a leader and innovator in the digital comics space Madefire has been a great partner to DC and I’m pleased this expansion will bring our extensive line-up to an even broader audience.” DC also sells its digital comics via Comixology.
Madefire, which previously offered about 30,000 digital comics from a variety of publishers (including IDW, Dark Horse and Oni), will eventually offer about 80,000 digital comics once the complete DC backlist is released on the app by 2018.
The deal with DC Entertainment is a significant step by Madefire in an effort to compete with Comixology, Amazon’s digital comics marketplace, which dominates the sales of digital comics. Indeed, Madefire comics offer in-app purchases of its digital comics via its iOS app, a feature that Comixology discontinued after its acquisition by Amazon in 2014.
Madefire offers its own self-publishing comics channel and the Madefire app also allows comics to be streamed over Apple TV and Windows and Android devices.
The deal with DC Entertainment is also the latest step in Madefire’s evolution from a publishing platform for Motion Books, a Madefire authoring platform for limited animation comics, to a retail platform for a broad range of digital comics publishers. The Madefire App offers downloadable comics for sale from a growing number of indie comics houses including Archie, IDW/Top Shelf, Dark Horse, Boom!, Dynamite, Titan, Trajectory, Valiant and more.
Madefire CEO and Motion Book creator, Ben Wolstenholme said, “DC is a world leader in comic book entertainment and we’re incredibly excited to bring their legendary catalogue of titles to our platform. Providing a single digital destination for the entire DC experience is one thing, but we believe our platform will deliver a digital experience that does justice to the DC brand.”
