If you’re one of the millions of people who read comic books on your iPad or iPhone, this post should be of particular interest to you. That’s especially true in this case if you love Marvel Comics.

Why? Well, today ComiXology and Marvel Entertainment have announced a multi-year deal where Marvel will distribute its digital comic single issue titles excessively through ComiXology. According to the report and interview with Marvel SVP and General Manager of Digital Media David Phillips, the deal was actually signed on May 1 but the announcement was delayed to coincide with the release of Marvel’s The Avengers.

“This partnership will allow us to innovate and advance the digital storytelling and reading experience,” said ComiXology co-founder and CEO David David Steinberger.

Phillips added that ComiXology’s “technology is by far the best.”

In addition to the Marvel deal, ComiXology also announced that over 65 million digital comics issues have been downloaded on all of its platforms, including mobile and desktop. That number is quite a jump from the 50 Million the company announced in January.

Certainly there’s other options for reading comics on the iPad, but it would seem with this latest deal, and the one they already have with DC, ComiXology is definitely asserting its dominance in the digital comics space.

If you were a fan of the CW show Smallville you probably already know that the show has continued on in digital comic book form with Smallville Season 11. What you may not know is that, according to DC, once three issues of the digital comic are released, they will be collected in a print version and sold in comic book stores.

That first three-issue printed version is now available. But wait, there’s more. Not only will the printed comic contain the first three issues of Smallville Season 11, it will also include new, bonus content like episode guides and more.

The first print issue is available now with the next digital chapter of Smallville Season 11 coming out on Friday, May 18. Check out the full release schedule after the break.

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Much like the upcoming Avengers big screen movie, in the comics Marvel heroes are fighting each other. Only in the comics, it’s the Avengers fighting the X-Men and not fighting among themselves — although that happened a few years back with Civil War.

Anyway, we’ve got a preview of the latest installment of Avengers vs. X-Men for you today. To tell you more about this book, here’s some info from the official Marvel press release:

The war is here! Today in Avengers VS. X-Men #3, by the blockbuster creative team of Ed Brubaker and John Romita Jr., Captain America splits the Avengers up all across the Marvel Universe to find Hope before the X-Men do! But Cyclops and his team are hot on the mutant messiah’s trail and are not letting Earth’s Mightiest get in their way. With Wolverine’s loyalty still in question – Captain America must make a harrowing decision and the result will have everyone talking!

Avengers vs. X-Men #3 is in comic stores and Marvel’s digital app now. Click through to check out the preview pages.

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Let’s face it, print comics may not be completely dead, but they’re probably on life suport. The future is here now and that future is digital. With that in mind, Marvel has announced, as part of its ReEvolution concept, the upcoming Marvel Digital Comics Shop.

What is it? Well, for the best description, let’s let the folks at Marvel speak for themselves, via a handy press release:

The Marvel ReEvolution grows even bigger this month as Marvel is proud to unveil the Marvel Digital Comics Shop, the newest place to find and read Marvel digital comics. This convenient online destination gives fans the chance to purchase all their favorite Marvel comics in one location and have it sync to the Marvel Comics app for Apple iOS and Android devices. Not only can you read your comics anytime and anywhere – but now you can read them on your desktop or laptop! With all Marvel Universe and Ultimate Comics Universe titles available the same day they hit comic shops, there’s no better time to jump into comics!

Okay, so, that’s pretty cool. But wait, there’s more:

Then, come June – all Marvel super hero comics priced at $3.99 at your local comic shop will include codes for free digital copies of those same issues on the Marvel Comics app for Apple iOS and Android devices, the Marvel Digital Comics Shop and the Comics by comiXology app and web store all at no extra cost!

See, the future is here. Now where are the damn jetpacks and hoverboards!

For you comic book lovers torn between Amazon’s upcoming Kindle Fire and the newly announced Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet — with all its reported Marvel comics goodness – here’s a bit of news to help fuel your debate. Or, perhaps, solve it.

ComiXology has officially announced their app, which features an array of thousands of comics from several publishers, will be included as a built-in with Amazon’s device and will ship with it at launch.

“Launching with a $199 price point makes Amazon’s Kindle Fire a great device for making comics accessible to the masses and the vibrant 7” screen is perfect for our Guided View™ reading system,” said CTO and co-Founder John Roberts.

This is good news for anyone who was worried the Nook Tablet might have the advantage over the Kindle Fire in the comic book reader competition. ComiXology has so many great comics it doesn’t seem like those who ordered a Kindle Fire, and wanted to use it to read comics, have any reason to be jealous of their Nook-using pals.

The Amazon Kindle Fire is available for pre-order now. Although, if you want one any time soon you better hurry as demand has been pretty big.

Check out the full press release from ComiXology after the break.

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It was bound to happen sooner or later as the comics industry needs to do something to shake things up. What is this something? Read on.

This week DC Comics announced it will release Justice League Issue 1 digitally on Aug. 31. This will kick-start an initiative in which the company will renumber its entire line of superhero comics from No. 1 and launch them day-and-date with their print counterparts. Yep, you read that right.

Justice League marks the first collaboration between DC Entertainment chief creative officer Geoff Johns and DC Comics co-publisher Jim Lee and will reportedly tell an origin story for the superhero team. DC Comics says it is the first major American comics publisher to release all of its superhero titles digitally the same day as the print version.

So what does that mean for you? Well, it means you will be able to either buy your comics the old fashioned way in print or, if you’re so inclined, download them to your iPad or other digital reader and enjoy them. This marks a significant change from the previous method where you usually had to wait quite some time for a digital version of a comic to be available. Now, you won’t.

It remains to be seen if this will prove a successful move by DC and if it is, if other comic publishers will follow. If they do, it would seem that at least one group is going to suffer the most if this shift continues: comic book store owners. We’ll be following this as it develops.

Even though many people prefer to read comics printed on paper that hasn’t stopped Marvel from having an iPad Application on which fans can read many of their favorite comics. This week some new comics come to that device for your reading pleasure.

Some of the ones we’re most interested include Ender’s Game: War of Gifts, Loki #3, X-Men: Messiah Complex #1-13 and the free comic New Mutants #1. You can find the Marvel Comics App either at the company’s website or directly at iTunes. Check out the list (and some cool cover art) below.

Digital Comics On-Sale:

AVENGERS VS. PET AVENGERS #3

BLACK WIDOW #7

ORSON SCOTT CARD’S ENDER’S GAME: WAR OF GIFTS

(Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game: War of Gifts Special #1, Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game: Mazer in Prison #1, Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game: Recruiting Valentine #1, and Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game: The League War #1)

IRON MAN: RAPTURE #3

LOKI #3

MARVEL 1602: NEW WORLD

(Marvel 1602: New World #1-5)

NEW MUTANTS VOL. 1: RETURN OF LEGION

(New Mutants #1-5)

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This weekly round-up has become somewhat of an ongoing series, because, well frankly because Marvel keeps releasing so many great free comics, I can barely read them all. So if free is a cost you can endure, and if you have an iPhone or iPad, let’s take a look at what’s free in the Marvel store this week, shall we?

Deadpool #1 (2008): “ONE OF US,” Part 1.

The Merc with a Mouth is back, even deadlier and more deranged than before! The planet has been invaded by Skrulls, everything’s gone topsy-turvy, but in Deadpool’s world, that just means it’s Monday! Crazy times call for crazy men, but c’mon, this guy’s insane. Like it or not, Deadpool may be the only person on the planet who can save us, but who’s to say he wants to? Be here for the explosive debut of the new ongoing series by writer, Daniel Way (Wolverine: Origins, Ghost Rider, Bullseye: Greatest Hits) and fan-favorite artist Paco Medina (New Warriors, New X-Men). Deadpool: His madness is his method! You won’t want to miss it.

The Invincible Iron Man #83 (1996).

Iron Man faces off against one of his most lethal enemies, the armored evil-doer known as The Titanium Man!
Written by: John J. Miller
Penciled by: Jorge Lucas
Inked by: Jorge Lucas
Cover by: Adi Granov

Ultimate Spider-Man #14 (2007): “DOUBLE TROUBLE,” Part 1.

He’s been in a coma for months thanks to the accident that gave birth to the Green Goblin. BUt now, possessing monstrous mechanical arms and plenty of attitude, Dr. Otto Octavius lives! You saw a sketch of him in Wizard, now get ready for the real deal! Plus: The first appearance of another major character! Written by Brian Michael Bendis, penciled by Mark Bagley, inked by Art Thibert and the cover by Mark Bagley.

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For aspiring artists and writers who can’t or won’t break into the mainstream comic industry, the web allows indie comic creators to publish on a shoe-string. In room 4 at San Diego Comic-Con, the ‘Action Webcomics’ panel, delved into the world of web comic creation.

The creative team behind Blueshift (www.blueshiftworld.com) talked in-depth about how to collaborate remotely with colorists, writers, editors, and some critical tips for those who aspire to launch their comic digitally. John Van Fleet (Marvel, DC), Dave DeVries (Marvel, DC) and Alex Jiminez (Capcom, Seed Studio) offered up valuable advice based on their hard-won experience creating a direct-to-web franchise.

From putting together a far-flung creative team and keeping them connected using Skype and a robust FTP site, to finding a friend who can help you build your web site, the Blueshift panel really talked the nuts and bolts of their operation as well a some key things to pay attention to.

For instance, even though you may be tempted to produce your comic at web resolution, doing so will preclude you from ever printing your franchise should it become popular enough to warrant such an expense. So the prudent web comic creator should always produce at print resolutions (300dpi) and in CMYK color mode to facilitate quality printing.

Beyond some of the technical points, the panel also touched on the importance of starting with a quality script, generating interesting and unique characters who are sure to be memorable, and the importance of turning points of various types (emotional, action, dialogue and plot).

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So, it begins. The powers that be in control of San Diego Comic-Con have announced the Thursday schedule. We were going to wait and put all of these schedules together but Thursday is such a full day you might need more time to digest it.

Some of the highlights we are looking forward to include the Tron Legacy panel, a City of Heroes panel, Summit Entertainment’s RED panel, several USA show panels including Burn Notice and White Collar, Caprica, Battlestar and Beyond, the Mondo Marvel panel, the EW Visionaries panel with J.J. Abrams and Joss Whedon and a panel about The Expendables. There’s also a ton of other stuff with conflicting times that’s sure to drive any fans of movies, tv, comics, games and geek crazy trying to work it all out.

Be sure to check back at The Flickcast for all of our coming Comic-Con coverage. We will be there in force to bring you all the sights, sounds, events, news and smells from Sand Diego. Now to go get in line at Hall H for the J.J. Abrams/Joss Whedon panel.

See you in San Diego! Click through for the complete Thursday schedule as of today.

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With several comic book publishers, including Marvel, already heavily invested in the digital comics space, it seems DC has now decided to get into the world of digital publishing as well. Today the company and its parent Warner Bros. announced it would partner with digital comics platform comiXology, and in a separate deal PlayStation Network, to begin offering comics in digital form to consumers.

In addition, the company will offer a free an application to read comics on iPhone, iPod and iPad devices. This application will launch today and be available in Apple’s iTunes Store.

Some of the comics that will be available digitally include classic DC, Vertigo and Wildstorm titles such as Batman: Hush, Green Lantern: Rebirth, Fables: Legends and Exiles, Planetary: Legends, Exiles: All Over the World and more. In addition, The Justice League: Generation Lost mini-series will be available via both platforms day and date with each issue’s printed release.

Pricing for the digital titles will be tiered from $.99 to $2.99 an issue. Check out the full press release for the announcement after the jump.

So, now that DC has entered the digital space along with Marvel and other publishers, what will this mean for comics retailers? Will we soon see the end of comic book stores?

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In this economy, it’s tough to beat free. Were you aware that Marvel releases a batch of new free comics every week via their popular iPad app? Did I mention that the app is free too? It doesn’t get much better than free comics, folks.

What titles did Marvel make available this week? I’m glad you asked. Let’s check out what sort of comic-goodness we can score for free, shall we?

Runaways (2003) #1: Six couples meet up every year for a party and each year each couple brings their child. This year, the children decide to find out what is so special about this annual party, only to find the parents are committing murder!

Uncanny X-Men (1963) #20: The title of this issue is simply “I, Lucifer!” ’nuff said! Also featuring: The untold story of how Professor X lost the use of his legs!

Fantastic Four (1997) #547: The Wizard has come all the way to Saturn’s moon, Titan, to get revenge on his greatest enemy, but Reed Richards is more concerned with the message encoded in a strange artifact from 700 light years away.

X-Men (2004) #182: When his people need him the most, he shall return! Lord Apocalypse is here to lead mutant-kind into the future of the earth and only the strongest can survive! Plus, just wait until you see his new Horsemen! Even we were surprised!

So what’re you waiting for? Go get ‘em! ’nuff said!