“This is a great opportunity to experiment,” said David Steinberger, CEO and co-founder of comiXology, who heads up Amazon's digital comics efforts worldwide. Enter Amazon, which has no problem spending money to gain an edge on customer experience and does everything at scale. Though print on demand has been available as an option for a while, few if any companies have taken advantage of it due to the costs and complexities of managing it at scale. POD offers an end run around established printing, distribution and retail channels, offering a direct pipeline from the customer's reading device to their mailbox. Comics, like most publications, are printed in bulk and shipped to retail outlets based on pre-orders. Printing paper comics is one small step for the previously digital-only comiXology, but it is potentially a giant leap for the traditional comics distribution system. Murray Superfreaks, a mini-series for young adults from writers Elsa Charretier and Pierrick Colinet, with newcomer artist Margaux Saltel Elephantmen 2261: The Death of Shorty, the latest episode in a long-running anthropomorphic science fiction series from writer Richard Starkings, and artists Axel Medellin and Boo Cook and another Ask For Mercy a 6-issue dark fantasy miniseries from writer Starkings and newcomer artist Abigail Jill Harding. The first wave of new releases includes various genres and formats: Savage Game, an action/adventure original graphic novel created by NFL player Ryan Kalil, written by Shawn Kittelsen, and art by Chris B. The announcement represents an incremental step for the digital comics arm of the world’s largest online retailer, who dipped their feet into the “digital exclusive” pool last year with a few titles from other publishers and packagers, but is now amping things up with a much broader range of content, direct relationships with creators, and a bold foray into print-on-demand for paper editions. Amazon has been teasing the announcement for several weeks but officially took the wraps off the comiXology Originals program via a livestreaming event on Twitch, screened at viewing parties at Amazon stores and popups around the US.

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