Would I have purchased it at the store? Nope.). The truly 'unlimited' aspect means that I can read titles that I never would have bought in the past without worrying that I was wasting my money (did I enjoy Hellcat? You bet I did. They're penned by by top writers and illustrated by even better artists (we're ignoring Greg Land's X-Men propensity for tracing).

In that time I've discovered that The House that Stan Lee Built is putting out some of the best comics in its storied history. I've read more Marvel comics in the past two years with Marvel Unlimited than I have in my past 30 years of reading comics altogether. And when you can read every crossover title for a big Marvel event (like the just-released Civil War II), rather than having to buy a bunch of issues for comics you don't usually care about, it's well worth waiting. It's slightly frustrating having to avoid comic spoilers for half a year, but, believe me, it can be done. Marvel Unlimited is $5.83 per month (billed annually at $69) and gives you access to over 17,000 digital comics, from the 1960s all the way to six months prior to the current week. The 99 cents introductory offer also allows subscribers to download 12 digital comics for free.You want Avengers, X-Men, and Star Wars? This is your place. Marvel Unlimited offers online subscription access to thousands of Marvel digital comics in addition to providing discounts, collectible items and assorted swag and merchandise to subscribers. This year the introductory promotion is offered through Marvel’s proprietary Marvel Unlimited service and not via Comixology. The deal is reminiscent of a promotion in conjunction with digital vendor Comixology at last year’s SXSW that offered 700 comics for free digital downloads over two days and crashed the Comixology platform.

The 99 cents promotion will last for a month after which subscribers will be billed at the usual rate of $9.99 per month. In a reprise of a similiar promotion at last year’s SXSW Interactive, Marvel is marking its appearance at the annual tech festival with an introductory offer of 99 cents for a month’s access to Marvel Unlimited, its e-comics subscription service, and more than 15,000 classic Marvel comics.

Marvel unlimited on comixology