The comic book geek stereotype is alive and well, but it's as tired as magical resurrections. Forget visions of ponytailed dudes criticizing the picks of pimpled teen boys. The real comic book buying and reading experience—and the audience—is changing.
ComiXology offers a cross-platform reading experience.
ComiXology, widely considered the iTunes store of comic books in its breadth of selection (and its prices), on Wednesday said readership is changing with the advent of digital comics. A new customer is emerging: She's 17-26 years old, college-educated, lives in the suburbs, and is new to comics. She prefers Tumblr to Reddit. She may have never even picked up a print comic.
When ComiXology launched six years ago, less than 5 percent of its users were women. Now ladies comprise 20 percent of the site's readership.
The move of physical media to the cloud is helping this new reader discover comics for the first time. Now newbies and long-time fans alike can sample selections for free or cheap on sites like ComiXology, which offers thousands of major titles and hundreds of independent books on the Web and its iOS, Android, Kindle, and Windows Phone apps . They can also turn to Apple's iBooks store, to an extent, and Amazon, which is soon launching its Jet City comic book label for Kindle with headlining author George R. R. Martin.
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