updated 12:05 PM EDT, Thu March 14, 2013 | Filed under:  Marvel Entertainment offered 700 No. 1 issues, including 2012's "Avengers," free for digital download.  (CNN) -- Talk about being a victim of your own success.  Among several new initiatives announced by Marvel Entertainment at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival was a two-day giveaway of 700 issues of classic Marvel No. 1 issues via their app.  The adventures, new and old, of the X-Men, Spider-Man and the Avengers would be available free, and the first issues would make it easier for new readers to follow.  It was an unprecedented offer in the world of digital comics. But perhaps it was one that its technology partner, Comixology, was unprepared for: The servers crashed.  One day after the freebies were announced at Marvel's SXSW panel in Austin, Texas, it was put to a halt -- at least temporarily -- by Comixology. The problem: too much interest.  "We expected a high degree of excitement for the Marvel initiative -- and had believed ourselves prepared -- but unfortunately we became overwhelmed by the immense response," admitted Comixology's CEO and co-founder, David Steinberger.  "We're still struggling to keep our systems up."  Steinberger added, "We don't like letting you down. Our teams are working around the clock to resolve these issues so that you can have the experience you've come to expect."  He said the promotion would be "pausing for the time being."  Comics readers were told to post their e-mail addresses on a form to be notified when the offer would be back up and running.  Marvel posted a statement to its website: "Marvel fans assembled in record numbers to take advantage of the landmark Marvel #1 digital comics sale! The demand has been so overwhelmingly positive, in fact, that a number of technical issues have arisen with our technology partner in getting the more than 700 free issues to each of you. When we have further updates from our partner, we will share them."  The advent of reading comics digitally, especially on tablets, has been seen by some as the future of the comics industry, as print readership continues to decline.  To that end, Marvel has increased its presence at SXSW, this year announcing products such as the weekly Infinite Comics, which are specifically designed with the digital reader in mind, and Project Gamma, which adds audio to the digital reading experience.  Part of complete coverage on  updated 8:22 AM EDT, Wed March 13, 2013  Hoopla surrounding South by Southwest Interactive has exploded in recent years. Here are five takeaways from the past five days.  updated 12:06 PM EDT, Thu March 14, 2013  Talk about being a victim of your own success.  updated 7:29 AM EDT, Wed March 13, 2013  With its orange paint, muscular look and mounted steer horns, an unusual race car has been turning heads on the streets of this capital city.  updated 7:29 AM EDT, Wed March 13, 2013  Julie Uhrman needed $950,000 from Kickstarter in less than a month to make her dream of an affordable, free-to-play gaming console a reality.  updated 3:54 PM EDT, Mon March 11, 2013  Forget Elon Musk or Al Gore. The biggest star of the South by Southwest Interactive festival is less than a year old, sleeps all day and looks like she just swallowed a hairball.  updated 8:21 AM EDT, Thu March 14, 2013  Click through our gallery that puts you right in the middle of SXSW 2013 in Austin, Texas.  updated 11:40 AM EDT, Tue March 12, 2013  Shaquille O'Neal may be 7 feet tall and one of the most dominant players in NBA history, but here at the South by Southwest Interactive festival, he's just a big nerd.  updated 8:47 AM EDT, Thu March 14, 2013  In five years on YouTube, Francesca Ramsey says, only one of the nearly 200 videos she's posted has been explicitly about race.  updated 11:40 AM EDT, Tue March 12, 2013  Alexis Ohanian is not the mayor of the Internet.  updated 8:33 PM EST, Sat March 9, 2013  The future of space travel will depend on our ability to make rockets that can be used more than once, says SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.  updated 4:21 PM EST, Sat March 9, 2013  Four years ago an unknown startup called MakerBot showed up at the South by Southwest Interactive conference here with a prototype of its first desktop 3-D printer, which spit out plastic replicas of small objects.  Most popular Tech stories right now
Marvel tried to offer free No. 1 issues through its app -- but had more interest than its partner could handle.