Digital Backup Features

The final issue of Alpha Flight (Marvel Comics)

Recently Marvel announced they were canceling three books; Alpha Flight, Iron Man 2.0, and Herc.  While the cancellation of Iron Man 2.0 was excepted, the other two books are fan and critical favorites who just couldn't find an audience.  But is Marvel missing a great chance to keep fans happy?

It crossed my mind that Marvel could release digital "backups" with these characters.  They wouldn't be full features, just a few pages, but they wouldn't cost as much as a real backup feature in a book.  Let's use this example:

Say the Hercules backup was put in the new Defenders book.  The hardcopy of the book would cost $3.99, while the digital version of Defenders could cost $2.99.  The Hercules backup could cost a measly $.99.  Now, they don't need to put the backup into a hardcopy book, but releasing a few page story for $.99 would be nothing but a success.  With many complaining about price of comics, it wouldn't surprise me if Marvel axed the backup idea.

Why $.99?  Because it's an impulse buy.  It's insignificant and people won't worry about spending that much on anything.  Lady Gaga's last album was only $.99 on Amazon, and people bought so many copies that it almost melted the mighty Amazon servers.  Fans will like to keep up with their favorite characters, and this keeps them happy.  On comiXology each week, they have Marvel Mondays.  They pick an event or series and make numerous issues only $.99.  Check the most popular books that day....they are always the ones on sale.  I'll admit I always check that sale each week and have started reading a few books because of these sales.

I say all this not knowing the cost of making a backup feature or digitizing a comic.  The "death line" for any Marvel book is around 23,000 copies, and it would be interesting to see how many copies of these digital backups would sell.

Thoughts?  Please post in the comments below