According to the CBC, Marvel will make a big step towards embracing the internet as a distribution source for comics this week.

Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley hinted at it in February at the New York Comic-Con, and now it seems that it will become a reality as Marvel will reportedly make roughly 2,500 back issues available online starting tomorrow in a format that allows the comics to be viewed online only - through a browser. Downloads will not be available.

The article quotes Marvel's Buckley as saying, "You don't have that spinner rack of comic books sitting in the local five-and-dime any more. We don't have our product intersecting kids in their lifestyle space as much as we used to."

Marvel will offer memberships to view the comics - $9.99 a month or $4.99 a month, for an annual membership. In addition to the 2,500 initial comics, roughly 20 more will be released each week, ranging from early Marvel issues, such as the initial runs of Amazing Spider-Man to recent titles - House of M and Young Avengers were named as examples.

The story quotes store owner Michael Ring of Portland, OR who called Marvel's plan a "feeder system" noting that the plan will give people the "initial taste" of Marvel Comics and make them want to buy more.

YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS LINTON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One of the folks at Newsarama brought up the fear that if they allowed downloads, people would sign up for a month, download everything, then cancel their subscription, and that's a valid fear, so I don't really see a way around that.

Poor Rob. He scooped Matt, but was ignored, and Linda got tyranty and shut him down. Dude never gets any respect..

Linda's tyranny is why I, kinda, left the internet forever.

Then too, the necessity of being online to read something will be less and less of a barrier over time, as wireless internet becomes more and more ubiquitous. There's already a significant number of readers with near-constant internet access, at least in the vast majority of places they'd like to read comics. And that number will just continue to increase, I think. Yeah, it sucks if your current laptop doesn't have a wireless connection, or if you're in a town where wireless is rare. But from Marvel's perspective, those problems will go away with time, and requiring an online connection for reading may not be a bad strategy for them overall. Sorry Matt.

Which, admittedly, would carry more weight if you weren't here telling us this in person.

One of the folks at Newsarama brought up the fear that if they allowed downloads, people would sign up for a month, download everything, then cancel their subscription, and that's a valid fear, so I don't really see a way around that.

I'd argue that those who would pirate are doing do already. If you want to entice new, honest customers who want to GIVE YOU MONEY, you need to make the system as painless and as flexible as possible.

According to a representative of Marvel, the story published Monday afternoon at the CBC website about the publisher launching an online comics initiative (hinted at by Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley at the New York Comic-Con last February), "was filled with wild inaccuracies" in its details. As such, Newsarama has removed the story.

Reportedly, the official, more accurate story will be released late tonight/early tomorrow. Check back for the corrected story sometime overnight.

In a story published at USA Today.com Monday evening, the apparently official word of Marvel’s new online publishing initiative (hinted at by Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley at the New York Comic-Con last February) has been revealed.

Called the comic book industry’s “first online archive of more than 2,500 back issues, including the first appearances of Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Incredible Hulk.”, Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited will offer the archive in a high-resolution format on computer screens for $59.88 a year, or at a monthly rate of $9.99, at Marvel’s website.

According to the national daily, “Subscribers will be able to access the first hundred issues of key titles, turn pages with a click of the mouse or navigate a battle against Dr. Doom frame-by-frame with a ‘Smart Panel’ viewing feature. The user can zoom in on details of art by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko from the 1960s or catch up with today's The Ultimates and New Avengers.

"We did not want to get caught flat-footed with kids these days who have the tech that allows them to read comics in a digital format," Marvel President Dan Buckley, told the publication. "Our fan base is already on the Internet. It seemed like a natural way to go."

To help market the initiative, To Marvel will reportedly offer a free sampler of 250 titles, and to protect current sales of comic books, new issues won't be on the Marvel site until six months after they are published.

Asked why people would pay for superheroes when newspaper websites have been unable to charge for content, Buckley said, "You can get the news anywhere. We're the only ones who have Spider-Man."

"If they put their monthly comic online at the same time, they'd be cutting their own throats and undercutting the retailers," writer Peter David told USA Today. "The material is owned by Marvel, and they can do whatever they want with it. This is just another means of reprint when you come down to it."

"About 90% of the comic books sold today are scanned and put online within 36 hours," Newsarama’s own Chris Arrant is quoted in the story.

"Our quality is much higher; the library is huge and will never go out of style," concluded Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada. "This is the legal way to do things."

News of the new Marvel initiative began appearing online Monday afternoon, via an AP wire story and sources like the CBC.com website, prompting Marvel Comics to request any version of the story citing the AP or CBC be removed from websites due to the CBC version in particular being “filled with inaccuracies.” It is not immediately apparent what was inaccurate about the CBC version of the story.

Look for more details as they become available.