Many fans have long requested that comic publishers consider selling digital versions of their comics online at reduced prices. Now Slave Labor is leading the way.

… Only 69 cents per comic! Just go to our webstore and choose “Downloadable Comic Books” from the drop-down menu at the top, and you can choose from The Super-Scary Monster Show #1-3 and Emo Boy #1-2 (Emo Boy #1 is available as a PDF as well as a CBZ). We will be adding more titles soon–Pirate Club is up next.

Now, keep in mind that the files are in .cbz format (except for one PDF), and you will need comic book reader software to view them. We recommend CDisplay for Windows users and Comical for Mac users, though we cannot guarantee that they will work with your system….

I recommend Super-Scary Monster Show myself. I’m also pleased to see that they’re listening to reader feedback. I’m not a fan of the CBZ format myself, but it’s a better choice than all the others, and the closest thing to a standard among online comic swappers as well.

It’s not surprising that a smaller publisher is more willing to experiment with adding new forms of revenue. I’m very curious to see the reaction to this effort both now and six months or so from now.

Update: As of August 2010, this experiment has ended. There is a small list of digital comics left on the Slave Labor (now renamed SLG Publishing) site, but the titles mentioned aren’t included. SLG now supplies titles to Comixology, a digital comic aggregator, instead of handling the process themselves.