The past few days have been busy for ComiXology thanks to different developments at SXSW. In fact, it seems like they’ve been a bit too busy for the company to handle. First, ComiXology announced a new Submit program for aspiring comic book creators to self-publish through its platform. Then, among other announcements, Marvel broadcast that it was giving people access to 700 first issues from its inventory through ComiXology. It seems both companies underestimated the surge of people wanting free comic books, because over the weekend, ComiXology’s servers were so swamped with demand from readers that they crashed repeatedly. Today, David Steinberger, CEO and co-founder of ComiXology, made a statement on his company’s blog that the Marvel deal on free first issues is going on an indefinite hiatus until the company can resolve the problem. Here’s the statement in its entirety.
To our customers:
It’s been a whirlwind weekend, and we’re fresh from SXSW where Marvel Comics launched their Marvel #1 promotion featuring over 700 free comics distributed via our platform.
We expected a high degree of excitement for the Marvel initiative – and had believed ourselves prepared – but unfortunately we became overwhelmed by the immense response. We’re still struggling to keep our systems up.
The result is that you aren’t getting your comics when and where you want.
We don’t like letting you down. Our teams are working around the clock to resolve these issues so that you can have the experience you’ve come to expect.
To that end, we’re pausing the Marvel Comics #1 promotion for the time being. For those of you that want to take advantage of the offer – you will get your comics! Until we are able to reinstate this program in our systems, please click here and fill out this simple form, so you can be informed as soon as there is an update.
We’ll be communicating with you as often as we can and deeply appreciate the outpouring of support we’ve seen from our customers while we right the ship.
David Steinberger
CEO and co-founder
comiXology
“To that end, we’re pausing the Marvel Comics #1 promotion for the time being.”
If you were offering free copies of Marvel Comics #1, that may have been a mistake.