Marvel is putting some of its older comics online today, hoping to reintroduce young people to the X-Men and Fantastic Four by showcasing the original issues in which such characters appeared.

It's a tentative move onto the Internet: Comics can only be viewed in a Web browser, not downloaded, and new issues will only go online at least six months after they first appear in print.

Still, it represents perhaps the comics industry's most aggressive Web push yet.

Even as their creations become increasingly visible in pop culture through new movies and video games, old-school comics publishers rely primarily on specialized, out-of-the-way comic shops for distribution of their product.

"We don't have our product intersecting kids in their lifestyle space as much as we used to," said Dan Buckley, president of Marvel Publishing.

Marvel's two most prominent competitors offer online teasers designed to drive the sales of comics or book collections.

For its mature Vertigo imprint, DC Comics offers weekly sneak peeks at the first five or six pages of upcoming issues.

The publisher also gives out downloadable .pdf files of the first issue in a comic series.

The Web release of DC's "Y the Last Man" sent sales of that book soaring at Bridge City Comics in Portland, Ore., the shop's owner Michael Ring said.

"They really do tend to be feeder systems," Ring said of online comics.

For Marvel, the general public has often gotten its initial taste through movies such as "Spider-Man" and "Fantastic Four" franchises.

The publisher is hoping fans will be intrigued enough about the origins of those characters to shell out $9.99 a month, or $4.99 monthly with a one-year commitment.