The biggest digital comic book distributor in all of digital comics land, Comixology, just took a relatively unprecedented move for a platform its size. Customers will now be able to download DRM-free backups — meaning when you buy a book, you’ll finally get to own it too.
Digital comic books have made huge strides in recent years, which is why it was not all that surprising (though still huge) when Amazon bought the company back in April. Of course, not all of Comixology’s 50,000 comics-strong library will be available as backups in their DRM-free form — at least not yet. And Comixology isn’t the first to make the move; Image Comics has been DRM-free for a while now.
The first group of publishers willing to go DRM-free include Image Comics (no surprise), Dynamite Entertainment, Zenescope Entertainment, MonkeyBrain Comics, Thrillbent, and Top Shelf Productions. A move like this from a major player (and one backed by Amazon no less) is a huge move in a market that, so far, has taken its sweet time catching up to the digital age.