In March, Marvel Comics and the ComiXology digital comics service surprised the Internet with an offer to download over 700 free digital comics from the publisher, all of which were No. 1 issues. Unfortunately, both companies greatly underestimated just how many people wanted to download all those free digital comics. The ComiXology website and its many mobile apps, including one for Microsoft's Windows 8, buckled under the massive influx of user traffic.
A day after the offer was announced, ComiXology pulled the plug on the free comics but promised to try again. Today, the company announced it will give Internet users a second chance to download all those free No. 1 issues from Marvel, but this second attempt is already running into problems.
As noted on the ComiXology blog, people can sign up on a special promotion page between now and 11:59 pm ET on Tuesday. The people who do so will then be notified when they can download over 700 free comics from Marvel. Invites will be sent out beginning Thursday in the order in which they were received.
That's the good news. The bad news is, at least of this writing, the promotional signup page is also unreachable, indicating once again that ComiXology and Marvel have not been able to figure out just how many folks want all those free digital comics. We will have to see if ComiXology extends the deadline for registration to accommodate those who have been unable to sign up.
Update: The signup page appears to be back up.
Source: ComiXology | Image via Marvel
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