It looks like Marvel has abandoned the relationship it had with Graphic Imaging Technology, which had scanned and then published to DVD archives of many Marvel titles. Instead, Marvel is going to start re-releasing DVD archives of its titles using the same Flash-based system that it uses for its online offerings.
God forbid it actually release them in the CBR/CBZ format which are widely used by people who actually read digital comics already.
The initial Iron Man volume at right comes out in September and will retail for $29.99. If they’re comparable to the scans on Marvel’s sites, they’ll be an improvement over Graphic Imaging Technology’s scans, but there are nice, higher resolution scans available in the CBR/CBZ format.
If I were Marvel, I’d scan all my back issues in relatively high resolution, wrap them in CBR/CBZ format and sell them at, say, 25 or 50 cents an issue. I can understand why they wouldn’t want to sell very recent issues, but if they offered online everything older than, say, two years they’d make a killing.
Instead, they’ll just continue to lose all that revenue from the warez sites that still offer a much better product.