ComiXology 'Pauses' MARVEL #1 Program

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The greater-than-expected reponse to Marvel #1 — a digital sale announced Sunday by Marvel, with more than 700 of the publisher's #1s available for free download through Tuesday — has led to digital comics distributor ComiXology "pausing" the offer until the problem is solved, as revealed in a message from the company's CEO, David Steinberger.

"We expected a high degree of excitement for the Marvel initiative – and had believed ourselves prepared – but unfortunately we became overwhelmed by the immense response," Steinberger wrote. "We're still struggling to keep our systems up."

Steinberger continues, saying their team is "working around the clock" to fix the problem, and those that want to participate in the offer will still be able to; directing users to a form to sign up and receive updates. (Though, as of press time on this story, the form also appears to be down.)

On Sunday night, Ryan Penagos, Marvel's executive editorial director of digital media, suggested that the Marvel #1 program may be extended; tweeting, "I can't say anything official yet, but we're definitely looking to make sure everyone gets to enjoy #Marvel1 this week. More info soon."

The outage has affected not only the Marvel #1 sale, but ComiXology in general, including other publishers, retailer storefronts and customer log-ins.

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