“Marvel #1s” was a free giveaway of more than 700 digital comics that was first offered up in early March. Marvel Comics didn’t seem to understand just how popular their brand would be and pretty soon the demand for the free comics caused their servers to go belly up.
The fact that the company had teased the release with intriguing promo art and then had a big announcement about the deal didn’t help their servers out any either.
After Comixology’s (the company handling the digital side of the promotion) servers crashed over and over again the company finally had to pull back on the giveaway.
Marvel #1s ended up seemingly being ignored over the last few weeks, but now the company has finally announced that they are going to go ahead with the promotion and they seem to have gotten smarter about it.
Starting on April 11, Comixology will be sending out emails to people who have signed up for the privilege of getting these massive amounts of free comics.
By sending out invites, they are going to be controlling just how many people will be able to access this database at one time. No longer will everyone be trying to download a ridiculous number of comics at one time.
In order to take advantage of the giveaway, users must register and get on the list by tomorrow. The company announced a sort of “waiting list” back when the problems first reared their ugly head and has been allowing people to sign up since then.
We know you’ve been waiting… #MARVEL1 is back!Sign up for your FREE comics now: promo.comixology.com
— comiXology (@comiXology) April 8, 2013
Once someone gets their email invitation, they will have 48 hours to pick out the books they want to add to their Comixology library. This too will work to keep the load from being too hard on the servers.
Comixology also wants to be clear that not everyone will be getting their invitations on April 11, that is simply when the invites will start going out.
If you are on the list, it could be several days before you get access.
Will you be taking advantage of the Marvel #1s promotion?