Top Cow Launches Downloadable Comics

Press Release

IGN Entertainment, a unit of Fox Interactive Media, today announced that its Direct2Drive (http://direct2drive.com) digital retail store has launched the Web's first independent, download-to-own comic book store and will begin selling comic book titles from Top Cow Productions. The agreement marks the first time that users will be able to digitally download and own full-length comic books, and Direct2Drive anticipates the addition of content from more comic and manga publisher partners in addition to Top Cow over the next year.

The downloadable comic books will be delivered in high-resolution, full-color documents via Adobe Systems Incorporated's Portable Document Format (PDF), enabling users to download, view and print the comic books on any standard Windows PC.

"Comic books are a perfect addition to our content library of digital games, anime, TV and movies as we continue to build the Web's premier download store targeting the interests of men 18-34," said Jamie Berger, Senior Vice President of Consumer Products for IGN Entertainment. "Top Cow is one of the comic industry's most cutting-edge publishers and we're proud to offer their content exclusively to the Direct2Drive consumer."

"It's never been a question of 'will comics be available digitally', but rather how and when," commented Filip Sabik, Vice President of Marketing & Sales for Top Cow. "Top Cow has been looking for the right partner with which to launch online content. IGN is one of the premier pop culture sites on the web, and their model for digital distribution on Direct2Drive was the one that allowed us to deliver content to fans while not discounting our core retailer base. It's a win win situation."

Under the terms of the agreement, Direct2Drive will serve as the exclusive worldwide digital distributor of Top Cow Productions' library of comics, with more than 400 total books from Top Cow available over the coming year. Top Cow titles available at launch on Direct2Drive will include Witchblade, The Darkness, Tomb Raider, and Rising Stars, with more added each week.

Pricing for Top Cow Comics on Direct2Drive will be similar to the volume pricing offered for Top Cow's recent Compendium collections, as well as and other trade collections. Top Cow's backlist will also be offered through Direct2Drive, with material up to a year old available for download