Owned by Hulu

Last month I did a post about how much I enjoyed the Marvel Spider-Woman motion comics. You can re-read that post here. This statement is still true, however, I do like Marvel a little less now.

The way to obtain these motion comic episodes it to purchase them through iTunes. They are $1.99 (less than what an average comic costs) and you keep them in your iTunes player. Currently, The Astonishing X-Men motion comics are being sold, and are the newest of Marvel's motion comic line. I am currently buying those episodes. But should I be?

The Hulu-loop

For awhile Marvel let viewers watch the first episode of Spider-Woman for free on their site or through an embedding on other's sites, like my own. Now, Marvel has released all of the episodes for free through Hulu. It may be for a limited time, but I still feel cheated in some way. I paid for the episodes and now they are just giving them away!

• Hulu may just be showing them for a limited time only.
• I do have the download to watch on the go if I choose.
• I did get to watch the episodes when the first came out.

...But Still!

Oh well, at least by showing them for free this can expand the awareness of the Marvel motion comics line. Feel free to watch from the Marvel Hulu page, or the Hulu show page.


Enjoy...you freeloaders.

Spider-Woman & Motion Comics

Yesterday, the final iTunes episode of Spider-Woman: Agent of S.W.O.R.D. was released by Marvel. Spider-Woman: Agent of S.W.O.R.D. is a comic book written by Brian Michael Bendis (New Avengers, Dark Avengers, everything Marvel) with art by Alex Maleev (Daredevil). This comic is a motion comic in that the backgrounds and images move, the lighting changes, and there are voice actors speaking the lines that would normaly be read in a comic book.

This first attempt at an original series debuting as a motion comic has gone quite well for Marvel. The first installment debuted as the #2 top selling television show purchased on iTunes. There are 5 episodes in all and they run between 10 to 12 minutes. Watch the first episode below to get a feel for what a motion comic looks like.



After completing the series I was quite impressed. The look alone, largely due to Alex Maleev's art, is worth the $1.99 price on iTunes. A standard printed comic book cost $2.99...a dollar more. Plus, at a run time of at least 10 minutes, it takes longer to watch the motion comic then it does to read a traditional comic book.

Story wise I like the idea of the motion comic because you hear the tone the writer is going for when penning the story. The pace of the book is set, the inflection of vocal moments are hit, and the settings literally come to life.

For traditionalist Marvel still offers the comic book in print. It generally comes out well after the episodes, but the art and story is the same. I personally do not like reading comics online (Marvel Digital Comics), but i thoroughly enjoy the motion comics for their mini-motion picture feel.

Though Spider-Woman: Agent of S.W.O.R.D. has completed it's motion comics run Marvel still has some upcoming stories in motion comic form. On October 28th Marvel is starting a run on Astonishing X-Men. Astonishing was written by Joss Whedon with art by John Cassaday. Their 25 issue run is considered one of the best X-Men runs ever written. Check out the trailer for Astonishing's motion comics below.