The emphasis here is obviously on the TV shows and movies, which makes sense since that is where the money actually is. I don't know how well it will work, but I can see where they are coming from with the comics section. It seems to me that the comics aren't there for people to read everything, they're just there for the fans to see where the characters or storylines came from.
As for some being free and needing to pay for others, that's actually how a lot of digital content is handled. I noticed with the e-books of ongoing series that the first tend to be really cheap, and offened even but up for fee occaisionally, but as you go on the books get more expensive.
Comixology also has a subscription service where you can get free comics, and it's the same as DC Universe, you can get the first handful of issues or trades of a run for free, but after a few of each you have to start paying for them.
It's obviously not the nicest thing to do, but they're just trying make it easy for you to get hooked, so you'll be more likely to spend more money on the series as you go along.
As for some being free and needing to pay for others, that's actually how a lot of digital content is handled. I noticed with the e-books of ongoing series that the first tend to be really cheap, and offened even but up for fee occaisionally, but as you go on the books get more expensive.
Comixology also has a subscription service where you can get free comics, and it's the same as DC Universe, you can get the first handful of issues or trades of a run for free, but after a few of each you have to start paying for them.
It's obviously not the nicest thing to do, but they're just trying make it easy for you to get hooked, so you'll be more likely to spend more money on the series as you go along.