The Starbucks Digital Network is the coffee giant’s exclusive hand-picked news and entertainment website, available only at Starbucks locations. Walk in to any Starbucks, take advantage of their free wifi (you might want to buy something, just so you don’t get the barista evil eye, which can cause mild indigestion and acne) and get access to the site.
Well, lets just say I might be drinking way more seasonal iced-mint-lemonades this year than previously, because Starbucks just partnered with Marvel to offer free access to their entire digital comics library through the free Digital Network service.
No, seriously.
Known for engrossing stories and a library of more than 8,000 characters, Marvel Comics gives Starbucks customers unlimited, free access to its full library of Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited. Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, Wolverine and others await to captivate as customers explore the comic realm and imagine fighting villains with a cup of coffee in hand.
There are no pictures at the moment of how the specific comic reader will look (or whether it will be identical to Marvel’s current browser reader), and I don’t have much experience with digital comics readers myself, so I’m not sure what is particularly standard and what isn’t. On its own site, Marvel currently charges $5-$10 a month to take advantage of its 8,000 title library (which contains classics going all the way back to the 60’s as well as new comics weekly). Their stash will be available at Starbucks starting on April 23rd.
Maybe it’s time for me to actually read this Age of Apocalypse thing all my 90’s X-Men friends talk about…
(Starbucks Press Release via Bleeding Cool.)