Marvel’s scrollable, phone-friendly comics gamble is paying off

polygon.com:

Just over a year ago, Marvel Comics launched a new line of phone-friendly, in-canon digital comics series — the catch was that you could only read them if you subscribed to Marvel Unlimited. But the Infinity Comics line seems to have paid off: Marvel tells Polygon that the company has seen a 30% increase in Unlimited subscribers in 2022 compared to 2021, with over 300 Infinity Comics issues being read over 2 million times.

But it’s not just about the numbers. Infinity Comics has also been fertile creative ground for stories that wouldn’t otherwise get told. Like that of Jeff the Land Shark.

Editor Jordan White told Polygon via email that the X-Men office in particular is “thrilled” with the Infinity Comics they’ve been able to do that highlight minor characters. “X-Men Green is a great example. [...] A print series starring Nature Girl — even with Wolverine as a guest star! — would be a hard sell. But because we are part of the Marvel Unlimited service, we’ve found readers are willing to take a chance on some more unconventional tales. We’ve done stories starring Maggott, starring Cypher, starring Lila Cheney — these are characters that hardcore X-Fans love, but who have never carried a series, or even one-shots, really.”

Much like streaming television, under a subscription model niche series doesn’t have to stand on their own audience — as long as there’s more for all subscribers to read on a regular basis.

“Our goal with introducing Infinity Comics was to bring fans an immersive way to experience Marvel stories in a vertical format that works on all types of devices, but particularly on phones,” Jessica Malloy, VP of marketing, told Polygon. “The Infinity Comics format allows our creators to innovate with