Marvel And ComiXology Try A Revised Offer For 700 Free #1s

Last month, Marvel and ComiXology teamed up for an audacious plan to give away the first issues of 700 comics. The promotion proved too successful, and nearly crashed ComiXology entirely. ComiXology had to apologize.

Now, the two companies are giving it another shot. They're once again offering 700 free #1 issues through the Marvel Comics app and through Marvel's Digital Comics Shop, but this time, there's some gatekeeping going on: Interested fans have until 11:59 p.m. Tuesday night to sign up for an account through a promotional page so they can access the goods.Once fans sign up through the page, they see this message:

Congratulations and thank you! You have signed up to get access to over 700 free comics through Marvel #1!

Starting Thursday, April 11th, 2013, we will begin notifying waves of fans by email to provide redemption instructions and let them know when they can access the Marvel #1 offer.

Don't worry if your email doesn't arrive on April 11th. As long as you signed up by April 9, 2013, you will receive your email soon! We want to make sure we get to all our fans so that they have the best experience possible.

It would appear they're staggering out the giveaway so that users don't slam the service all at once this time. An email confirming registration for the promotion says fans will have 48 hours to download the #1 issues they want.

We'll keep an eye on things to see if the promotion goes a little more smoothly this time around.