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New Neon Ichiban Comic Book Service to Host Digital Works From Kodansha, Dark Horse

U.S. publisher DSTLRY announced its new digital comic book service Neon Ichiban on Thursday. The service has launched a website where it is accepting registrations for its waitlist. The official service is coming this summer.

The service will offer digital comic books, graphic novels, and manga titles from Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, DSTLRY, Kodansha, Oni Press, and Vault Comics. The website is intended to be both a simulpub platform as well as a marketplace for comics, graphic novels, and manga that are available in standard editions as well as limited-edition variants, sketch covers, and other collectors' editions. The platform claims to feature digital comics with "verified signatures" and "custom sketches" from creators. It also claims features where users can resell digital comics and collectibles, with the resales helping to support creators and publishers. The service will also enable users to read their comics online as well as download offline copies.

Former co-founder of Comixology David Steinberger, and former Comixology content acquisition and marketing leader Chip Mosher founded DSTLRY. Steinberger stated to industry news outlet ICv2 that Neon Ichiban is "devoted to bringing reading and collectability to a united global audience for comics and manga." Mosher stated that the platform seeks to combine "cutting-edge technology with a deep respect for comics, manga, and their creators."

Sources: Kodansha Manga's X/Twitter account, Neon Ichiban's X/Twitter account, ICv2 (Brigid Alverson)