For Marvel Comics, a Renewed Digital Mission

Marvel Entertainment A new 13-chapter story about Wolverine will be featured in Marvel’s Infinite mobile comics, with new chapters weekly.

LOS ANGELES â€" Like the rest of the publishing industry, comic books went digital long ago. You can catch up on Batman via mobile app and unfurl Wolverine’s claws from your laptop. But Marvel Comics upped the ante significantly on Sunday, unveiling a superhero-size slate of new and expanded mobile and online initiatives.

Using the South by Southwest festival n Texas as a backdrop, Marvel said it was temporarily making more than 700 of its No. 1 issues â€" the first issues of various comic book lines â€" available free through a redesigned app and Web store. The promotion, meant to attract new readers, runs through Tuesday at 11 p.m. Eastern time. Prices normally range from $1.99 to $3.99.

“What all of this comes down to is finding ways to reach the broadest possible digital audience,” said Axel Alonso, editor in chief of Marvel Entertainment, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company.

The comics publisher also announced speedier delivery of its Infinite mobile comics, which were introduced last year. New installments will arrive weekly instead of monthly starting July 9, with four of Marvel’s best-known characters fea! tured in 13-chapter arcs. Wolverine, who returns to movie theaters on July 26, is one.

Mr. Alonso also said that more comics-related original video was on its way to Marvel.com and other streaming sites. The company announced one new video series: “Marvel’s Earth’s Mightiest Show,” essentially a weekly “Entertainment Tonight” dedicated to comic characters and artists. It arrives this summer.

Mr. Alonso hinted that future video programming would include “documentaries and reality television,” but gave no details.

Finally, Marvel offered fans a peek at a technology called Project Gamma that it plans to introduce this year. Mr. Alonso described it as an “audio score” for digital comics, but it is not a looping soundtrack. Using a patented system, nonlyrical music plays at the same pace as a reader flips through the digital pages.

“As yu move through the digital book, the music builds or moves back with you if you move back,” Mr. Alonso said. “I was skeptical, too, but trust me, it’s cool.”

A version of this article appeared in print on 03/11/2013, on page B4 of the NewYork edition with the headline: For Marvel Comics, A Renewed Digital Mission.