Top Cow and Boom! and Join Longbox for Digital Comics

Boom! Studios and Top Cow Productions will soon be distributing their comics through Longbox, an online platform that aims to become the iTunes of comics. Single issues of comics -- both new and old -- will be available for download by PC, Mac, and Linux users for 99 cents each when the platform launches later this year, a significant discount from the $2.99 and $3.99 cover prices of most print comics.

Longbox will also allow publishers to offer a voucher for a print collection to all customers who purchase all the single comics, giving fans access to both cheap, convenient versions of their monthly titles and the collected books -- an option that should appeal to many fans who currently "wait for the trade" paperback edition rather than paying twice.

Longbox CEO Rantz Hoseley, who made the announcement at HeroesCon today, told ComicsAlliance that there will also be content available from individual artists and writers, including the creator-owned work of Jonathan Hickman like Image books "The Nightly News" and "Pax Romana."

Click through the jump for more info and pictures of the Longbox interface!Publishers will also be able to add to their comics with "enhanced content capabilities like text, audio, video, and page stages -- which allows the reader to see how a comics page together from strip to layout to pencils," said Hoseley.

He ultimately hopes to bring Longbox to other platforms like Xbox Live, Wiiware, and even the Kindle, as well as other comic book publishers. More details are expected to be announced at San Diego Comic-Con in July, where attendees will be given to opportunity to participate in a Longbox beta test.