I’ve been surprised by the dearth of meaningful digital comics news to come out of SDCC this past week. Indeed, the biggest content announcement I spotted was from Dark Horse, which has released Frank Miller’s classics Sin City (Volumes 1 and 2) and 300 for the iPad.
At $10 a pop for the black-and-white Sin City volumes and $15 for 300 in color, these digital editions are clearly priced in the hopes of snagging a new audience. Only the most die-hard of fans would re-buy in digital at those prices.
Most surprisingly, however, Dark Horse appears to have written its own (uninspired) reader app for these releases, despite already having a distribution deal with comiXology on the iPad. Consequently, the chances that fans will be able to take their Frank Miller classics with them when they eventually leave their iPads behind are next to nil.
The last thing I’d expect from a technology company like Hewlett-Packard right now is a pitch for print comics, but print-on-demand magazine publishing platform (and HP subsidiary) MagCloud is serving up exactly that to iPad users.
Last week, MagCloud released its free iPad app, which offers free access to much of the service’s library of print-on-demand magazines in digital form (publishers must opt in). Among the titles available (all free for now!) is an assortment of comics from Liquid Comics, offered to coincide with Comic-Con 2010, and at the front of every issue is an ad—“Comics come alive in print”—encouraging creators to publish their own print-on-demand comics using the service.
I’ve read a number of magazines published through MagCloud (Fray is a personal favorite), and I can vouch for their production values. Certainly, publishing an indie comic with MagCloud wouldn’t be a cheap way to go, but it would be a great way to get your work out there with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of quality. Indeed, the high resolution and glossy finish might be excessive for comics, where cheap paper stock is often part of the charm.
Whether creators are enticed into selling comics through MagCloud or not, and whether they actually sell any of the glossy productions in print or not, the MagCloud app is a surprisingly capable digital comic reader! I especially like how pinching to zoom out from the full page view takes you out to a thumbnail view of all the pages in the issue. Worth checking out if only for the three free Liquid issues.
iVerse has released a long overdue update to its iPhone and iPad digital comics storefront and reader software.
Disappointingly, the biggest change is the name. In an apparent attempt at one-upping competitor comiXology (whose Comics app is also available for the iPhone and iPad), the company has renamed its app from iVerse Comics to Comics + (powered by iVerse).
Meaningful improvements are thin on the ground. The app now features a News section, which seems to me simply to provide another way for iVerse to advertise what it has for sale. The release notes also promise smoother performance due to reduced memory use, a button or two moved, an icon or two redesigned.
The reading experience—the true weak point of iVerse’s app, especially on the iPad—is unchanged. No guided view, no persistent zoom, none of the improvements found in competing apps that actually make reading comics on these devices more enjoyable.
iVerse continues to be a strong player in the digital comics space due to its exclusive content deals with the likes of IDW (whose Star Trek and Transformers franchises are especially popular). Perhaps this explains why iVerse is putting so little effort into providing a superior reading experience for its customers.
San Diego Comic Con 2010 is on next week, and I can’t be there! Neither can Chris Marshall, but that hasn’t stopped him from posting a comprehensive list of conference sessions related to digital comics over at DGTL Comics.
Either Chris is a better man than I, or he is hoping someone will take pity and buy him a plane ticket. Either way, well played.
Graphic.ly has a new option for Windows users accessing its modest (but growing) library of 300+ comics. Though Graphic.ly markets it as a “Windows 7 application” because of the company’s partnership with Microsoft, the app will actually run on older Windows versions too.
This release represents a land grab by Graphic.ly on the Windows platform, while competitors comiXology and iVerse are focused on Apple iOS and Android devices. The new Graphic.ly Windows app joins its Adobe AIR client (which also runs on Windows) and arather unpolished iPhone client. An iPad client is promised soon.
Having two different clients for Windows users may seem bizarre, but Graphic.ly’s CEO Micah Baldwin reassured me that it has no plans to abandon development of the older (but more feature-rich, according to Baldwin) AIR application.
The new client is specifically optimized for touch-enabled Windows computers (such as the HP TouchSmart series), including upcoming Windows-powered “slate” devices which aim to compete with the iPad as a portable digital comic reader.
Graphic.ly distinguishes itself from competitors by offering a social reading experience, one that Baldwin admits is a work in progress. Graphic.ly wants to create a social experience with the comics at its core, rather than tacking comics onto a generic social network experience. The most exciting aspect of this currently available is the ability for readers to comment on specific panels of comics that they read.
DC Comics just went digital. Yes, really.
Much like Marvel’s initial foray, DC is offering a handful of issues from a smattering of titles from across its line (including imprints like Vertigo and Wildstorm). Many issues on offer are years old (e.g. Fables #1-5), but a few are quite recent (e.g. Dante’s Inferno #1-3), and experiments with day-and-date releases will doubtless follow.
Like Marvel, DC has chosen the comiXology platform for its digital distribution, which stands out with its iPod, iPhone, iPad, and web-based readers and its buy-once-read-anywhere experience. Looks like digital has found its Diamond Distribution.
Update: DC is also now on the PlayStation Portable (PSP). Full details at the PlayStation Blog.
Update 2: Official DC press release.
Heading into conference season, DC Comics co-runners Dan Didio and Jim Lee sat down with CBR for an illuminating chat:
Lee: “…we see some interesting choices for what our digital business will be once we dive into that and what it’ll grow into. I think people will really start to see that it’s not about converting print buyers into digital buyers. I think it’s a much bigger picture than that, and I think our digital slate – when it’s announced, when it happens – will reflect our expectations for what that market will grow into.”
It sounds like DC plans either to have another stab at launching a digital imprint, or somehow to reinvent comics for the digital market.
Techcrunch reports that Apple has reversed its demand to censor “The Importance of Being Earnest”, as well as a subsequent demand to censor a graphic novel adaptation of James Joyce’s “Ulysses”:
“We made a mistake. When the art panel edits of the Ulysses Seen app and the graphic novel adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s Importance of Being Earnest app were brought to our attention, we offered the developers the opportunity to resubmit their original drawings and update their apps.”
These reversals do not solve the problem: that one must orchestrate a huge media outcry in order to “bring to Apple’s attention” the fact that Apple staff are repeatedly demanding artistic works be censored before granting them App Store approval.
Techland has an excellent interview with comiXology CEO David Steinberger.
“…the comic book market is not like any other market out there. It’s not going to follow the same sales trajectory as music, because it already has terrible distribution and is already a niche-slash-boutique print market. The stores are almost a cultural center.”
Posted in News, Software
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Tagged comiXology
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BOOM! Studios now has its own comiXology-powered app on the App Store, just like Marvel.
Nothing new here content-wise (everything in the new BOOM! app has been available previously through the comiXology app), but it should be interesting to see how the publisher-specific app strategy plays out when it isn’t a massive name like Marvel. Personally, I’ll stick with the aggregated apps (comiXology, iVerse, Madcap Studios), which seem to offer greater flexibility for how you read your comics for now.
Update: CBR reports that iVerse, Graphic.ly and Panelfly will all distribute BOOM! Studios comics too.
Posted in Devices, News, Publishers, Software
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Tagged comicbookresources, comiXology, graphic.ly, iPad, iVerse, MadcapStudios, Marvel, Panelfly
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