Within the world of digital comics, one name is hoping to generate buzz: Neon Ichiban.
Aiming to launch in summer 2025 from ComiXology and DSTLRY founders David Steinberger and Chip Mosher, the platform hopes to disrupt a landscape long dominated by Marvel Unlimited and DC Universe Infinite.
But with Marvel and DC operating their own robust and well-advertised subscription services, is there room for a new player?
Neon Ichiban – a new vision for digital comics
Marvel and DC’s platforms are well-established, offering tens of thousands of comics from all ages of comic book history. However, they leave much to be desired for those fans hoping to read the latest issues. New stories usually appear on Marvel Unlimited three months after their physical publication; DC Universe Infinite narrows this gap down to one month through its Ultra subscription tier. For many, this is too much of a delay and does not replace the feeling of buying a new issue on release day.
From up-and-coming publisher DSTLRY, Neon Ichiban follows a different model. Instead of offering an archive, it promises day-and-date digital releases, meaning readers can purchase issues digitally on the day they release in stores. This is the platform’s major differentiator from Marvel and DC, but it promises other benefits.
The thorny issue of ownership
As with other digital subscriptions, ownership is a major point of contention with digital comics. The subscriptions offered by Marvel and DC are excellent value for comic readers, but users do not actually own the comics they are reading. As soon as they stop paying for a subscription, they are locked out of their digital collection.
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By GlobalDataNeon Ichiban is going the other way. The platform will allow users to purchase individual issues, download them for offline access, or even resell them on an online marketplace. The platform hopes that this feature will prove to be groundbreaking, with DSTLRY cofounder and CEO David Steinberger stating, “We’re trying to bring the fun of comic collecting to digital.” The platform will offer limited edition comics, variants, creator signatures, and full provenance tracking. Unlike the much-hyped non-fungible tokens (NFTs), Neon Ichiban’s digital collectibles have real uses. They are, after all, stories to be read and enjoyed.
Whether this will be enough to win over physical collectors is unclear, but Neon Ichiban hopes it will be an attractive alternative to not owning the comics you pay for.
Collaborating to succeed
To succeed, Neon Ichiban must offer a slate of comics people want to read. Luckily, it is betting on collaboration to help it break into the market. It has already announced partnerships with Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Vault, Oni Press, and its own DSTLRY titles. This also has the benefit of placing all these titles under one digital storefront and reading app.
This approach is key for Neon Ichiban. Its creators clearly do not see it as a competitor to Marvel and DC’s digital efforts, but a complementary service. Ultimately, people use the apps from the Big Two publishers because they offer vast archives with decades of stories. Neon Ichiban cannot compete with that. However, it can succeed where the other apps fail by providing day-one releases.
Will it Neon Ichiban succeed?
Neon Ichiban is not pretending to be bigger than Marvel or DC, but it is hoping that readers are eager for more control over their purchases and more immediacy in releases. It hopes to combine the fun of browsing a comic book store with the excitement of comic collecting and give users full ownership.
The question is whether readers will see these digital versions as equal to a tangible, physical version they can hold in their hands.
Ultimately, it is banking on the fun of collecting, when many people simply enjoy reading these stories. For those people, there is unlikely to be a better option than Marvel and DC’s platforms.
