It was already described by some as Kindle for comics. Now it's pretty much exactly that: Amazon has acquired digital comics platform ComiXology.

The name (with that goofy capital X) will remain the same, as explained in this letter (with its own goofy faux-typesetting) from co-founder and CEO David Steinberger.

I'm sure somewhere someone is knee-jerk reacting in the negative to this news, but I have a hard time seeing how access to Amazon's infrastructure won't help stabilize ComiXology, which has become, for many who have tried it, the preferred means of reading comics. Access to Amazon's resources isn't the only potential positive. Readers of regular ol' books (the kind that don't have pictures of HGH-injected super-fascist fetish-daddies punching each other out for great justice) have been enjoying Amazon's promotional sales (which are often pretty damned good), as well as benefits like the Amazon Lending Library for Prime subscribers. It would be pretty damned cool if those programs were to now include single issues of, say, Batman '66 or The Superior Foes of Spider-Man, for example.

Amazon now has one more tentacle snaking out from their multi-limbed hydra of pure consumerism that will likely become America's national religion within the next 20 years. Adding the ability to digitally purchase single issues of new comics isn't the hugest net-positive for the company, but it is still a positive, and Crom knows writers/artists in the hustle/struggle that is Comics could use the increased access to the customer-base the Amazon monolith provides.