Hasta La Gadget!

Just a few days ago, Marvel announced a new “Unlimited” comic book plan where you can have access to 13,000 digital comic books for $60 a year. However, if you don’t want to pay up, you can grab 700 first-issue digital comic books for free. The offer is good until tomorrow at 11 pm ET, and since you can’t download all 700 issues at once, you better get to downloading right this instant.

Marvel announced the offer at SXSW this weekend, and comic lovers can use either Marvel’s official mobile app or the ComiXology mobile app to download the free issues. Be aware, though, that both services are experiencing quite a bit of traffic, and I even had trouble signing up for a Marvel account (which you need to access the comics).

Both the Marvel and ComiXology apps are account-based service, which means that any comics you purchase and download will be accessable on any device that supports the Marvel or ComiXology apps. You can even use the browser-based Marvel Digital Comics Shop to purchase and download comics and have them ready on your mobile device instantly.

There are a ton of great selections to choose from, including various comic books of The Avengers, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, X-Men, and even 22 first issues from the new Marvel Now line. You only have until tomorrow at 11 pm ET to attempt to download 700 comic books, so choose wisely what you start with, especially since Marvel’s servers are getting bogged down right now.

Marvel giving away 700 first issues for free is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Marvel is offering up 700 free digital first issue editions of comic books from across its entire history—so you can get your hands on everything from Spider-Man to the Avengers, plus plenty more obscure stuff in between, gratis. More »

When you’re a real hardcore comic book collector, you don’t often think about the idea of owning every single comic book ever made – but Marvel does. As one of the most well-known and well-read comic brands in the industry for many, many years, Marvel Comics began ushering in the digital age several years ago with digital versions of their illustrated stories on the web – and more recently in mobile apps. Now they’ve brought their ultra-popular unlimited access pass to a 13,000 comic collection – nearly their whole back-catalogue spanning over 70 years – humongous!

The difference between this app and the already released Marvel Comics app for iPad is your ability to see new issues. With Marvel Unlimited you’ll be limited to comics as recent as 6 months – for some of the most ravenous storyline addicts, this will be a bit of a boon. If you want to read entire collections of comics long gone, on the other hand, Marvel Unlimited will certainly be right up your alley.

The app itself is free from the iTunes App Store and you’ll be able to pick it up for either your iPad or your iPhone – or both, if you’re feeling like reading all the time, no matter what, non-stop. You’ll see both the Marvel Comics app and the Marvel Unlimited app in the store – feel free to pick them both up for more comics action than you can possible handle.

You’ll find that some comics have special ways of walking through their pages while some are much more traditional. If you have a peek at a new (and free) edition of Guardians of the Galaxy, you’ll find each tiny panel popping up with speech bubbles depending on who speaks first and which action happens when. If you check out Uncanny X-Men Volume 1, Issue 500, you’ll be able to zoom in on individual panels with a double-tap, the others being blocked by white while you peek.

The most traditional way you’ll see comics added to the fold here is a simple one or two page spread. You can zoom in with a pinch or a pull, but otherwise you’re flat as flat gets. Page turning is flat, there’s no extra 3D morphing going on, nothing like that. It’s a real one or two-page experience, front to back.

With Marvel Unlimited you’ll be paying either $10 a month of $60 USD for a whole year, and you’ll be able to read comics offline and keep what you want just so long as you’re still subscribed. With the Marvel Comics app you’ll be paying whatever you’d normally pay for each issue, and you’ll have access to “Marvel Now” – each time you purchase an issue in the real world, in a real comic shop, you get a download code that lets you grab it digitally as well.

But please, please for the sake of our future generations of comic book fanatics, please put your back issues in sleeves with boards and tape – and don’t smoke! And don’t leave them out in the sun! And don’t let them get damp!

Marvel Unlimited brings 13,000 comics to iOS for $60 a year is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

For comic book readers, smartphones and tablets have introduced ways to interact with their favorite comic book series without having to go out and buy a new one every time an issue is released. Having all of your comics available to read on your smartphone or tablet devices is certainly a treat, although buying them individually doesn’t make it a cheap hobby.

Marvel is announcing today it’s subscription-based Marvel Unlimited, which offers access to the company’s catalog of over 13,000 published comics that span a period of over 70 years, is now available for iOS. The subscription costs $10 a month or $60 for a yearly subscription, although in order for newer comics to be included in the Marvel Unlimited subscription, it needs to be available for six months, which we know could put a damper on your weekly comic book discussions with your friends at your local Applebees.

Marvel’s original comic book app will continue doing what it does as its purpose is to deliver new comics in a digital format, although we hope one day Marvel decides to bring both apps together into one unstoppable comic book-serving application.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Google Maps for iOS Receives Local Business, Friends Search Feature, New iPad And iPhone 5S Pegged For April And August Release [Rumor],

Fans of Captain America will immediately recognize the superhero in this photo as he pops his head out of this deliciously geeky cake. Though his projectile-shaped head reminds me a little bit of Bullet Bill from the Mario games.

But Captain America isn’t the only baked Avenger in this room. No, sirree. Iron Man, Hulk and Thor are ready to be devoured by the masses as well. These whimsical Avengers cakes were posted (and made?) by CakeCentral contributor Vera76 and were made for one very lucky child’s birthday party. Why didn’t my parents ever make me stuff like this when I was growing up?

Avengers, Assemble in my stomach now!