Hoopla Digital Adds Image Comics
Hoopla Digital, a Netflix-like mobile app and digital content vendor for libraries, has reached an agreement to add titles from popular indie comics house Image Comics to its digital catalogue of comics and graphic novels.
The new deal will add about 72 Image titles to the Hoopla digital comics category including such bestselling graphic novel series as Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead (Vol. 1-23) and Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples' space opera fantasy, Saga (Vol. 1-4).
Hoopla offers digital lending access to more than 350,000 e-books, movies, TV shows, music albums, audiobooks, including about 2,500 comics and graphic novels. Hoopla Digital’s services are paid for by public library systems and the service has agreements with more than 800 public libraries. Any library patron with a valid library card can download the Hoopla mobile app and get 24/7 access to any available Hoopla content free of charge.
The company launched its comics category in May, and offers comics from about 23 publishers including DC Comics, Titan Comics, IDW, Gen Manga, Top Shelf, and Boom! Studios.
Hoopla founder and owner Jeff Jankowski said the comics category is popular: “75% of the comics had been discovered in the first 60 days of the service.” Jankowski said there are more deals to come and Hoopla plans to add “thousands” more titles. “The feedback has been outstanding,” he said.
