In a glorious explosion of media cross-pollination, Dark Horse Comics has partnered with MySpace to bring an online series of comics to social network pedestrians. I found it in an ad on MySpace?s front page, and I?m shocked I hadn?t heard of it before then. After all, it was announced more than a month ago at the San Diego Comic Con, and one of the first representative writers is the infamous Joss Whedon.

The idea here is that Dark Horse is resurrecting Dark Horse Presents, an old anthology title dedicated to showcasing pilot comics and new talent. Like the original series, the online version brandishes a solid arsenal of artists and some solid work from new authors, like Brazilian twins Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá. The MySpace page brags that future issues will include work by other important authors, including Mike Mignola of Hellboy fame, who?s been a personal favorite of mine for a number of years now.

Besides being incorporeal, there?s something important that differentiates this collection from the standard comic title: it?s free. Even the old Dark Horse Presents comics, along with comparable titles from other companies, like Marvel Fanfare, were sold at cost to readers. Now, in the interest of promotion and brand recognition, Dark Horse has decided to offer these titles to an unlimited number of readers at no charge.

In a world of information, running at such a high supply and demand, cost-benefit analyses become complex tasks. Does Dark Horse ultimately profit from giving away the work of Joss Whedon and Rick Geary? Presumably, they do, because even the most diehard fan usually won?t take it on faith that a corporation is committing to a long-term loss.

But cynicism will have a tough time finding a foothold. There’s not much room for a subversive motive in offering free comics, beyond the simple desire to encourage participation and float new ideas before a base of fans. This may be a bit of prosumerism — letting the fans do some work for you in filtering promising investments from duds — but that?s not exactly insidious.

I’ll do a quick review of the comics from last month, just for the record. I definitely recommend “Safe & Sound”, which is a well-rendered little heroic vignette; if you value the five minutes it takes to read it, I?d suggest staying away from “Samurai”, which leans too much on clichés for an idea that has been done better. The other two comics, created by the big names — Whedon and Geary — have the telltale characteristics of those personalities, and they?re worth reading, but they wouldn?t prompt any loyalty from me as a reader.

And now that the new issue is up, you can look for yourself, and discover a whole new collection of fresh graphic storytelling.

And it seems that this kind of feedback is all Dark Horse asks for in return for these digital dispensations. It?s good to be living in the era of cheap distribution, when our opinions and engagement alone are worth an investment by a major publisher. The day has come: even in an industry of hungry consumers, there may be such a thing as a free lunch.