Summary

• DSTLRY's new online marketplace allows fans to buy and sell limited-run digital comics and collectibles.
• The marketplace provides a direct revenue stream for original creators, benefiting them with every sale.
• DSTLRY's marketplace includes fun benefits like creator interactivity and exclusive merch for fans.

With the launch of DSTLRY's new online marketplace, the decades-old hobby of comics collecting will never be the same again. With its focus on limited-run digital releases and fan-driven buying and selling on DSTLRY's in-house marketplace, comics' hottest new publisher is making a splash in the world of collectibles. Screen Rant has all the details — and an exclusive interview with DSTLRY's co-founders about their latest and biggest launch.

After launching its digital comics platform in December 2023, DSTLRY has officially launched its long-promised digital marketplace: an online space to buy and sell "previously owned" DSTLRY comics and collectibles, including art prints. After purchasing a DSTLRY digital comic during the original limited release window, fans can now buy and sell those comics and collectibles among themselves — with each purchase directly benefiting the original creators.

Perhaps the most revolutionary part of this new digital model is that secondary revenue stream: a percentage of these resales will always go back to the original creators, no matter how far away the sale is from the original purchase. The marketplace will also include additional benefits for fans, including "creator interactivity" like online happy hours, convention events, exclusive merch, and more. The marketplace is open for use now at dstlry.co.

DSTLRY's Online Marketplace Allows Fans to Buy and Sell Digital Comics and Collectibles

The Marketplace Includes a Direct Revenue Stream for Creators

Founded by former ComiXology executives David Steinberger and Chip Mosher, DSTLRY made a bang in April 2023 when it announced itself and its all-star list of attached creators, including the likes of Scott Snyder, Tula Lotay, James Tynion IV, Christian Ward, and many more. DSTLRY has since followed through on its promise of big stories from big names, as its single-issue series — like Somna, Gone, and Blasfamous, among others — quickly garnered success among fans, critics, and of course, collectors.

Beyond the reading of comics, comics collecting is a beloved hobby with its own quirks and culture, and DSTLRY's online marketplace embraces that culture in spades.

Though the re-selling and buying of rare comics on the secondary market is hardly a new idea — one need only check the latest price of Action Comics #1 featuring Superman's first appearance — DSTLRY is shaking up the industry once again with the radical and potentially controversial idea of limited digital releases. Mimicking the fast-paced release windows of single-issue comics, DSTLRY's digital comics will be available for purchase for a single week; then, digital readers and collectors can move to the online marketplace to purchase the latest release from other fans.

Where Else Can Comics Readers and Collectors Purchase DSTLRY Books?

Beyond the reading of comics, comics collecting is a beloved hobby with its own quirks and culture, and DSTLRY's online marketplace embraces that culture in spades. If successful, this new initiative — especially with its focus on creator revenue — could change the comics industry for good. But for those hoping for a traditional reading experience, never fear: DSTLRY's over-sized single issues are still available for pre-order and purchase at comic book stores, and collected editions will be available wherever books are sold, including digital books available on platforms like the Kindle Store, Google Play Books, and Apple Books.

DSTLRY Co-Founders Discuss the Online Marketplace, NFTs, DSTLRY's Creators, and More

David Steinberger and Chip Mosher Expand on Their Hopes for the Marketplace

After announcing the launch of DSTLRY's online marketplace on the heels of C2E2 2024, co-founders Steinberger and Mosher answered some of Screen Rant's questions about the marketplace, creator rights, and DSTLRY's first anniversary. With all eyes on a perpetually shifting industry landscape, their online model and creator-first attitude indicate a refreshing and innovative perspective on the contemporary comics landscape — which is to say nothing of the high-concept, unique storytelling in the comics themselves. Read the entire exclusive interview in full below.

If the goal of 2023 was to launch a new and more equitable company for creator-owned comics as widely as possible, this year is going to focus on expanding it: more books from our Founding Creators and…some huge additions to our talent roster. Stay tuned!

Screen Rant: Congrats on a year of DSTLRY! What are you thinking now that you’re a full year into the business of being a new publisher? Any new challenges or excitements arising?

David Steinberger: We couldn’t have hoped for a better launch year; multiple sellouts, being called 2023 Publisher of the Year by The Beat, and having Somna hit multiple Best-of-2023 lists with just one issue out, among other accolades. If the goal of 2023 was to launch a new and more equitable company for creator-owned comics as widely as possible, this year is going to focus on expanding it: more books from our Founding Creators and…some huge additions to our talent roster. Stay tuned! And of course more ways to read and interact with them.

Key to those plans is our Digital Marketplace beta, announced today. This is our platform where readers can buy, sell, and browse any of our digital issues and collectibles after they are no longer on sale at dstlry.co. Our digital comics and collectibles come with rolling perks: access to exclusive covers, digital meetups, and IRL events. Creators get a royalty from every digital sale of their books, whether it’s the first or thousandth.

SR: How long has the online marketplace been in the works?

David Steinberger: It’s been a cornerstone of DSTLRY since Chip and I started talking about DSTLRY in 2022. We’re always analyzing the ways we can evolve digital comics, and digital collectibility is an unexplored frontier, or at least a frontier that hadn’t been explored in a way we had both found interesting or sustainable. This is a huge part of our creator-owned mission—using every modern tool to writers and artists.

SR: NFTs and digital collecting have been controversial subjects in the art world. But what do you think is the appeal of this kind of digital ownership? Why (and how) might this online marketplace be the future of comics?

For readers who prefer their sequential art on a screen, we wanted to create a platform that could offer that same rush and delight of a Wednesday afternoon pickup, or finding a rare gem inside a longbox.

David Steinberger: First let’s talk about NFTs—we don’t have any interest in NFTs. They’re a product of the decentralized cryptocurrency ecosystem, which has proven itself to be a mess in multiple ways. Our Marketplace is self-contained, not a public free-for-all—every comic or collectible is the real deal when you buy from us. The DSTLRY Marketplace gives us all the fun of digital collectibles and none of the crypto hassle or NFT hustle. There’s no wallets or digital currency. This is 100% grounded in USD and far friendlier to the environment, with minimal energy consumption.

Print comics collectibility and the Wednesday afternoon store trip were the initial points of inspiration. We love variant covers and statues and collectibles; we collectively have dozens of long boxes and original pages of art between us. Given our history at comiXology, I think the main question was how do you extend that ion into the digital arena. We adore print—hence our oversized, double-page-count single single issues with multiple covers. But for readers who prefer their sequential art on a screen, we wanted to create a platform that could offer that same rush and delight of a Wednesday afternoon pickup, or finding a rare gem inside a longbox. That was the seed of the Marketplace.

DSTLRY's Founding Creators Continue to Shape the Publisher's Focus

SR: The stand-out detail to me is how focused this model is on getting an additional revenue stream to the original creators. Was that important to you? Why?

Chip Mosher: We love comics. We love comics creators. The greater media environment has used comics to generate billions of dollars, but those stories’ original creators rarely see a minor fraction of that income, let alone recognition. When you comics creators, you’ll experience their best stories, and we think that Gone by Jock, Somna by Becky Cloonan & Tula Lotay, Blasfamous by Mirka Andolfo, Spectregraph by James Tynion IV & Christian Ward, and The Blood Brothers Mother by Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso offer concrete proof of that reality. These are legendary creators cementing the best work of their careers. And we want DSTLRY to be the home where they can do that sustainably and equitably.

SR: How much of an input/influence have the creators had on this online corner of DSTLRY? Any generalized perspectives from them that you can share?

David Steinberger: All the Founding Creators were excited about our plans for having collectible, resaleable digital comics—that had nothing to do with NFTs! They’re all very involved with the digital benefits. So far, for DSTLRY digital owners, we’ve had one-of-one original art collectibles, special variant covers in print and digital, 50% store-wide discounts, live Zoom Happy Hours with Founding Creators, and we will continue to experiment with fun online and IRL events and products.

Why Should New Readers Check Out DSTLRY Comics?

Is DSTLRY Really the Future of the Comic-Book Medium?

If you’re interested in seeing what the best creators in comics do when they are free to tell the stories they want—in the way they want to—you have to try DSTLRY.

SR: For readers who haven’t checked out a DSTLRY book yet — why should they?

David Steinberger: If you’re interested in seeing what the best creators in comics do when they are free to tell the stories they want—in the way they want to—you have to try DSTLRY. I mean, look at these creators. These are the biggest, most talented names in the industry. Jock, Becky Cloonan, Tula Lotay, Mirka Andolfo, James Tynion IV, Christian Ward, Scott Snyder, sco Francavilla, Brian Azzarello, and Eduardo Risso—and that’s just the folks that have releases out—are already creating stories that will be ed for decades. We’re giving them a massive canvas to work with—both in print and digital. We love the magazine format and our amplified page count; it empowers the creative teams to go big like they never have before.

Second, we’re offering innovations that comics haven't seen. The Marketplace is designed to repeatedly delight and surprise the readers who buy our digital books. If you buy a digital comic, you’ll gain access to exclusive digital happy hours with the creative team, new cover art, and beyond. Fans love the creators, and ing creators with DSTLRY digital lets them get closer than ever. We want to introduce a new level of connection for comic fans and creators that hasn’t been seen before, and the Marketplace is a huge step in that direction.

The quality of DSTLRY's creative output speaks for itself; with the launch of its new digital marketplace, this burgeoning publisher has raised the stakes of its own game. The "self-contained" marketplace offers a place for digital readers to enjoy the fun and community of comics collecting. Only time will tell how this radical innovation will change the industry's future. Until then, DSTLRY's marketplace is available now for exploring at dstlry.co.