In comics, the first issue is where the story starts and the legend begins.
For readers, a print copy of issue one can be hard to find and expensive to buy. But those rules don’t apply to tablets, laptops and smartphones, both for comics fans and those curious about characters they may have seen in film or on television.
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Part of that fascination with superheroes and their growing cachet in popular culture is why Marvel Entertainment, home to the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and the Avengers, among others, is making more than 700 first issues available to digital readers starting Sunday for free through the Marvel app and the company’s website. After Tuesday, they’ll be sold for $1.99 to $3.99 per issue.
The titles go from the 1960s Silver Age to contemporary issues with characters including Wasp, Mr. Fantastic, Power Man and Iron Fist, said David Gabriel, senior vice president of sales.
“This is aimed at attracting fans from all walks of life — those who know our characters from the big screen, those who were readers but fell out of the habit and our long-term fans, too,” he said.
The publisher went through its catalog of more than 13,000 titles that are already available digitally and plucked out the No. 1 issues with historic ones like “Amazing Spider-Man” by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko or the “Fantastic Four” by Lee and Jack Kirby as well as modern titles like “Civil War,” Joss Whedon’s “Astonishing X-Men” and characters and teams like the Uncanny Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, too.
Creators of ‘SimCity’ aim to fix glitch
LOS ANGELES — The creators of “SimCity” are hoping players don’t move on after connectivity issues plagued the game’s launch last week.
The updated edition of the 24-year-old metropolis-building franchise released last Tuesday requires players to be online — even if they’re constructing virtual cities in the single-player mode.
Several gamers weren’t able to log on after “SimCity” launched, prompting some retailers to stop selling the Electronic Arts Inc. game.
Lucy Bradshaw, general manager at “SimCity” developer Maxis, said Friday more wannabe mayors logged on than they anticipated and that the developers have been increasing server capacity since the snafu.
“More people played and played in ways we never saw in the beta,” said Bradshaw. “OK, we agree, that was dumb, but we are committed to fixing it. In the last 48 hours, we increased server capacity by 120 percent. It’s working.”
Behar leaving ‘The View’ in August
LOS ANGELES — Joy Behar will be enjoying “The View” for only five more months.
The comedian is leaving the ABC daytime talk show at the end of the current season in August. The network said in a statement Thursday that it wishes Behar “all the best in this next chapter.”
Behar has co-hosted the show for 16 seasons. She was among the first co-hosts with co-creator Barbara Walters when the series debuted. The current panel includes Whoopi Goldberg, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Sherri Shepherd.
Behar, 70, also hosted “The Joy Behar Show” on HLN from 2009 to 2011 and hosts “Joy Behar: Say Anything!” on Current TV, which debuted last year.
— From news service reports
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