There’s a lot of talk about how the digitization of media has changed the book industry– specifically in discovery, reading, and recommendation. Graphic novels and comics are part of the wider book industry, but are capable of standing on their own; digitization has changed this portion of the industry too, and one of the ways that this change is evident is the existence of comiXology, which is “a cloud-based digital comics platform that makes discovering, buying, and reading comics more fun than ever before” (source). It offers the widest range of comics across more than 75 publishers. Recently, Dark Horse joined forces with comiXology with the digital release of more than 800 of its titles.
Dark Horse’s addition to comiXology not only broadens the audience that will use the platform, but also expands the influence that a platform can have on a single sector of the industry. It was announced on July 6th that France’s Delcourt Group will partner with comiXology to produce English versions of over 151 titles. David Steinberger, CEO of comiXology, is confident that the content in these French comics and graphic novels will appeal to audiences. Not only is this partnership new, it’s also the beginning of a marketing campaign to “raise the profile of French comics in North America” (source).