Posted in: Comics | Tagged: HRL

Brian Michael Bendis's Powers, Brilliant, The United States Of Murder Inc, Takio, Scarlet, Etc, Pulled From Kindle And ComiXology

Published Fri, 10 Nov 2017 09:00:16 -0600

Last updated Fri, 10 Nov 2017 09:18:56 -0600

One question regarding Brian Michael Bendis' decision to leave Marvel Comics and sign an exclusive deal with their major competitor, DC Comics, has left one unanswered question regarding the creator-owned comics that Brian publishes through Marvel's Icon imprint.

Namely, Powers, Brilliant, Scarlet, Takio and The United States Of Murder, Inc, even if the scheduling of these issues has become repeatedly delayed.

Today, the first shoe dropped. It seems, his Icon books have been pulled off of digital services ComiXology and Amazon's Kindle. Those who have already bought digital copies can still read them, but no new sales can be made.

So while searching for the books on Google brings up plenty of results…in practice, the reality is very different. The listings simply aren't there anymore.

You can see some of the listings remaining on Google cache (for now) but the live listings show the books are gone.

So where now? Well, Brian's chosen new publisher DC Comics doesn't have a pure creator-owned line, the closest it has is creator-participancy. And I can't see Brian wanting to give up media rights on those books. Powers was originally published by Image Comics, who are now a local publisher for Bendis, in Portland, could he move the books back there? That would seem the favourite option, but there are other local possibilities in Dark Horse and Oni Press as well. Or maybe his best mate Mark Millar could find him a home at Netflix Comics alongside the rest of his Millarworld titles?

The latest schedule updates to retailers from Marvel Comics has Powers #9, originally planned for last year, scheduled for December 20th this year. And United States Of Murder Inc Annual #1 originally planned for mid-2015 for the same date. But I wouldn't hold your breath for either — not from Marvel anyway.

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