Comixology, the once preeminent source to purchase and read comics digitally, is in jeapordy. Amazon, who bought Comixology back in 2014 has recently laid off nearly 75% of the employees who ran the comics app and website.
I wrote an article last year about Amazon’s more recent re-design of the Comixology app. And how they ruined it, making it harder to read and even more difficult to find where they put your old purchases. At one time, Comixology was the place for digital comics. I mean, Marvel has their own online comics store, and DC theirs, etc. But Comixology catered to all the comic companies, it was the one stop shop for all things digital comics. But, when Amazon re-designed the app it made things clunky and difficult. Even when they tried to fix the things they broke, the website was never the same. And now this.
When the new first broke, it seemed like 50%-75% of the employees had gotten the axe. But as days passed, and even more bleak picture came into focus.
…all of the jobs at Comixology have been eliminated, and the entire division was laid off in three parts, some immediately (yesterday), some slated to leave in June after fulfilling remaining obligations to publishers, and a final group that will stay on until October to mop up the migration from the original Comixology site.
comicsbeat.com
That’s a big oof. After what’s being called a bloodbath Comixology employees took to Twitter to lament about the job they all loved so much. But, Comixology wasn’t the only victims of Amazon’s firing squad, apparently there were other casualties as well. Apparently this is all part of a larger problem.
SINCE THEN, FOUNDER JEFF BEZOS STEPPED DOWN AND NAMED A NEW CEO, THE ONLINE SHOPPING BOOM SLOWED, AND AMAZON HAD TO DIG ITSELF OUT OF A COSTLY AND OVERLY AGGRESSIVE WAREHOUSE AND STAFFING EXPANSION. THE PAST TWO MONTHS HAVE BEEN A STRANGE, EVEN FRIGHTENING, TIME INSIDE THE COMPANY, CURRENT AND FORMER EMPLOYEES TOLD RECODE: AMAZON ANNOUNCED UNPRECEDENTED LAYOFFS OF MORE THAN 18,000 CORPORATE EMPLOYEES AND BEGAN CULLING AREAS OF THE BUSINESS, LIKE ITS ALEXA VOICE ASSISTANT DIVISION, THAT BEZOS HAD LONG CHAMPIONED.
ReCode.com
Not to change the subject, but it seems several internet giants have been taking hits lately. This news comes amid Google laying off 12,000 employees according to CNBC. In that article they say it’s due to fears of an oncoming recession, but who’s to really know. The loss of Comixology is particularly painful as, before Amazon, they were their own stand alone company. And they were doing pretty well for themselves to boot.
As far as the digital comics landscape goes, who knows what’s on the horizon. That article I wrote last year gave some suggestions for alternative digital comic spaces, but none were quite as good as Comixology in its heyday. Now, in the shadow of this, it seems very bleak, very bleak indeed. In the midst of things like this, I always like to imagine someone will see a need, and then take up the mantle. Someone or someones will recognize the need for a digital comics space and help Comixology rise like a phoenix from the ashes into a new creation. But the reality is much harder to take, because in the end it’s not personal-it’s business.