During an event at Amazon’s New York office this week, Comixology’s Jeff DiBartolomeo announced the next wave of Comixology Originals titles as well as teased 17 newly acquired projects.
More than that, though, he showed that the original digital comics program — and Comixology itself — is still alive and moving forward inside Amazon.
“The Comixology Originals exclusive digital content line plays a key part in our business,” said DiBartolomeo. “The Comixology Originals program is here to stay. We’ve been busy signing deals for 17 new creator-owned projects with new teams joining the family and some fan favorite creators returning to work with us again. We’re thrilled to help both new faces and industry veterans bring their stories to the public through Comixology Originals. To say we are excited about the future is an understatement.”
It’s been almost two years now since Amazon laid off a large portion of the staff working on Comixology and a year since Comixology announced plans to retire the stand-alone Comxiology app. Since then, we haven’t heard much from Comixology about its future, although they have continued to announce and release new additions to the Originals program.
And honestly, I couldn’t have told you for sure who was in charge at Comixology now before this announcement. DiBartolomeo has been with them for more than a decade, with his tenure as chief technology officer starting before the purchase by Amazon. According to his LinkedIn profile, he’s served as both general manager and CTO since October of last year.
“Comixology’s business is thriving,” said DiBartolomeo. “Comixology is seeing strong year over year growth. Wednesday continues to be our biggest day of the week, with our long-tenured die-hard comics customers driving sales and borrows. Our legacy customer numbers remain strong, and we’re pleased to report that nearly a third of our customers bought their first comic, graphic novel or manga with us in the last year. It’s exciting to be the place where new fans are discovering and becoming hooked on comics!”
So if you’re a customer (like me) who had worries about whether your digital comics library might disappear, hopefully this offers some indication that it isn’t going away anytime soon.
And as a fan of the Originals line, I’m happy to see it isn’t going away either. Not only did they announce several new titles coming digitally between now and next spring, they also emphasized their print program, which will expand beyond Dark Horse to also include volumes coming from Ablaze and Mad Cave Studios.
Here’s a look at the new titles they announced:
Ghostbox
Ghostbox #1 (of 5) debuts Oct. 29
Ghostbox is a fantasy/horror story by acclaimed writer Mike Carey (Lucifer, The Girl With All The Gifts) and artist/letterer Pablo Raimondi (Sacred Creatures, Books of Doom), with colors by José Villarrubia launching just in time for Halloween! When sisters Chloe and Jan Peace unexpectedly inherit a mysterious carved wooden box, they discover that it’s inhabited by ghosts – and sought after by a race of shape-shifting monsters.
Stillman
Stillman #1 (of 5) debuts Dec. 10
Writer Curt Pires (Endless, Money) and a rotating list of artists including Sunando C along with colorist Mark Dale and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou tackle a new crime thriller. Peter Stillman leads a double life. By day he is a successful family man with a loving wife and two beautiful children trying to carve out his own little slice of the American dream. By night–his real life–as a violent hitman with deep ties to organized crime.
Budding Crisis
Budding Crisis #1 (of 5) debuts Jan. 21
Written by MK Reed (Americus, Science Comics: Dinosaurs, Delver) with art and letters by Jonathan Hill (Americus, Lizard Boy 2) and colors by Allie Drake, Budding Crisis is a new fantasy series about the disappearance of the world’s most precious magical resource, a plant whose seed has the power to grant wishes. With the Onomanthe plant extinct in the wild and the last cultivated strain dying out, what will the population do?
By A Thread Book 2
By A Thread #5 (of 4) debuts Spring 2025
Reuniting the father-and-son team of Scott & Jack Snyder with artists Valeria Favoccia and Whitney Cogar and letterer Tom Napolitano, the world of By A Thread expands with an all-new story arc! Charlie and our young heroes have defied the odds by traversing the deadly Shroud in search of a safe haven. With foes more powerful than ever before on their trail, will they even make it onto land?
The 99 Legs
The 99 Legs original graphic novel debuts Spring 2025
Writer Michael W. Conrad (Neptune, Nightwing) and acclaimed artist Noah Bailey(Diabolical, Station Grand) reunite for the horror suspense original graphic novel The 99 Legs. The 99 Legs follows a down on his luck crime writer who discovers a string of murders in his area that seem to align with his newest unpublished manuscript. Terrified by this turn of events, the writer contacts his agent to halt the manuscript’s delivery to publishers, fearing that it will implicate him in the crimes. What follows is a blood spattered, spiraling nightmare, as the mystery of the killer’s identity unfolds.
And that’s just what we know about — Comixology also teased new projects in the works by a long list of creators, including Serg Acuña, Matthew Arnold, Frank Barbiere, Marc Bernardin, John Broglia, Mike Collins, Alex Cormack, Cat Farris, Valeria Favoccia, Alti Firmansyah, Veronica Fish, Adam Freeman, Davide Gianfelice, Marc Guggenheim, Kim-Joy, Neil Kleid, Szymon Kurdanski, Lee Loughridge, Vic Malhotra, Marz Jr., Chris Matthews, Omar Morales, Mau Mora, Tom Morello, Stephen Rhodes, John Romita Jr., Gonzalo Ruggieri, Mark Schey, Alex Segura, Scott Snyder, Taki Soma, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Jordan Thomas, Steven Thompson and Harvey Tolibao. More details on those will be shared at a later date.