This past week, right at the kick-off to New York Comic Con, I was invited to a press preview of Crunchyroll’s rebooted version of the Crunchyroll Manga app. And while many of the features of the app are pretty standard for this sort of digital comics reader, there was one function that Marvel and DC Comics should urge their parent companies to pursue immediately. Specifically, the relatively seamless integration Crunchyroll Manga has with the main Crunchyroll app.
Like I just noted, most of the Crunchyroll Manga app is what you’d expect… They’ve got an extensive library of manga, you can browse by title or genre, and either read online or download. They’ve also got intuitive controls, swiping to go page to page, double click to zoom, etc, etc. if you’ve ever used a digital comics app, you know the drill. And while the library has taken some knocks from hardcore fans for missing chapters and what they consider a lighter than expected library, for the more casual or beginning manga fan, 400 chapters of One Piece are probably more than enough to get hooked — whether they’re up to the current release schedule or not.
But there’s one aspect of the app shown off during the press preview that raised my eyebrows… In the extremely popular Crunchyroll app, which is focused on anime, there’s now a button on respective shows that says “manga” — and once clicked, as long as you also subscribe to Crunchyroll Manga, will open that manga in the other app (they are, in case it isn’t clear, two apps that can either be subscribed to separately or as a bundle).
Full disclosure here: Crunchyroll provided me with a year subscription to both apps, a blanket, an electric mug, and a tablet, as well as breakfast at the press preview with some surprisingly good Javits Center coffee. But I am a journalist and cannot be bought. Just want to get that out of the way.
In any case, this integration of the manga in the main anime app is, as someone who mostly focuses on American comics, jaw-dropping. Like watching Spy x Family or The Summer Hikaru Died? Go read the manga! It’s such a no brainer it’s shocking it hasn’t been done before (though curiously the Manga app doesn’t seem to feed in the other direction back to the anime; instead linking to the Crunchyroll store to buy physical volumes). A large part of it is likely the focus of Crunchyroll on anime, and now manga… It’s a relatively closed ecosystem.
But as a (mostly) American comics reader, it’s hard not to extrapolate how much this sort of integration could do for American publishers. Specifically, if Marvel’s Marvel Unlimited comics service was integrated with Disney+, or DC’s DC Universe Infinite service was integrated with HBO Max.
Imagine watching Peacemaker on HBO Max and even a tiny prompt linked directly to Suicide Squad or Peacemaker comics on DC’s comics app. Heck, there’s a tie-in book DC recently published, as well as the excellent Peacemaker Tries Hard from the publisher’s Black Label line that is perfect for fans of the show. Same with Marvel… Love Daredevil: Born Again? Then why not read Daredevil: Born Again, the comic — or more appropriately the Mayor Fisk storyline from the Daredevil title, which Born Again loosely adapts.
Therein lies one of the problems with this, of course. Versus anime which often more directly adapts manga with some changes for the medium, DC and Marvel adaptations tend to be much looser. You could recommend Secret Invasion after watching Secret Invasion (though I don’t know why you would), except other than both featuring Skrulls and the same title, they have no relationship to each other. Big fan of James Gunn’s new Superman movie? Read Kingdom Come, which includes [checks notes] the same sort of S-logo on his costume.
Laudably, James Gunn in particular has been very direct about comics people should check out, from releasing a Superman box set of books that helped inspire the movie to directly adapting Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, to shouting out — spoilers for the Peacemaker Season 2 finale here — the under-the-radar book Salvation Run that is inspiring a chunk of the DCU storyline (though even there, Gunn has said they’re using it for inspiration, not adapting it).
Marvel has also aimed to get in on the game with varying success, releasing trade collections meant to be entry points for movie fans with their Premier Collection. Those have shown mixed results thanks to chopped up storylines and non-direct adaptation as well… But it’s something, at least.
There’s also the parent companies to think about. As mentioned above, Crunchyroll is all about anime, and now manga. It’s a feedback loop ecosystem that assumes — probably correctly — that fans of one will likely be fans of the other. MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) fans are not necessarily comic book fans, nor do they have interest in the comics. DCU (DC Cinematic Universe) fans seem to be more open — perhaps because of James Gunn’s one on one online feedback — but again are very focused on the burgeoning superhero universe, and not necessarily in the comics other than “clues” to upcoming storylines.
And Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, despite closer integration and coordination with the comics divisions in recent years, have always looked at their comic book arms as idea generators first and foremost; think tanks, rather than money-makers equal with the movie or TV divisions. The reason for that? They don’t make that much money. Or rather, not nearly at the level of any of the other “products” inspired by the comics, including toys and video games (aka, the real money-makers). Manga, frankly, is a bigger seller worldwide than anything Marvel and DC are putting out. So why bother with adding a “read the comics” button in your streaming service, when it’ll lead fans to confusingly incongruous storylines, and likely cost more money to implement on the tech side than you’ll make back in digital comics service subscriptions?
The reason is because: I am not a company. I am not Warner Bros. Discovery or Disney. And my focus is on breaking down barriers to reading. It’s all well and good for Gunn to name-drop All-Star Superman online, but having a button that takes folks directly from watching Superman to reading the book — not purchasing it through Amazon and then waiting a few weeks for it to arrive — makes it so much easier to immediately make new comic book fans, or buoy the fandom of old ones. It also enriches the experience of watching a movie or TV show instantly, something that is harder to do thanks to the increased enshitification of the internet. Instead of having to comb through incorrect AI summaries and endless aggregated explainers, one could simply… Go read the comic that the creators of the movie or TV show think you should read next. And then while not everyone is going to become a life-long comic book reader off that, if even a percentage get hooked, that’s all comics needs to buoy up their smaller-than-the-main-company bottom line.
Of note: DC tried having an integrated app back in 2018 with DC Universe, which had comics side-by-side with TV shows. It was dissolved in 2021, with comics sent to DC Universe Infinite and the TV programming integrated into HBO Max. Perhaps this was the wrong approach, and not just a matter of poor timing with the launch of HBO Max and massive changes in the entertainment industry… Rather than going for the Venn diagram of comic book fans who are also DC TV/movie fans, allowing the option to switch back and forth is the way to go.
Crunchyroll, to this point, has it mostly figured out. I say mostly because it would be great to feed back to the anime, so you could switch back and forth if you like… Though the Manga app just launched on October 9 and there are likely improvements to come. But as American comic book publishers explore new ways to seek out new audiences on platforms like WEBTOON and otherwise, why not instead look internally, to their own companies? Why not have two of the biggest streaming services in the world feed back to two extensive comics libraries in a way that lifts all ships? Crunchyroll knows that this is the future of integrated fandom. Marvel and DC? It’s your move next.
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