Marvel Publishing, home to such comic book legends as Spider-man, X-Men and Fantastic Four, is putting some of its older issues online in an effort to bring its distribution strategy in line with the habits of today's youth. "You don't have that spinner rack of comic books sitting in the local five-and-dime any more," said Dan Buckley, president of Marvel Publishing. "We don't have our product intersecting kids in their lifestyle space as much as we used to." Beginning today, about 2,500 issues can be viewed through a Web browser – not downloadable – at Marvel.com for US$9.99 a month, or US$4.99 a month through an annual membership. Twenty more issues will be added to the collection each week. The effort will also give comic book fans an opportunity to read past series, such as the first 100 issues of Stan Lee's 1963 Amazing Spider-Man series, that have become valuable collectors items in their paper form.

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