Just in time for Comic-Con!

Today at Comic-Con International, Iconology Inc. announced the launch of its Comics by comiXology App on the App Store. The Comics by comiXology App is a digital comic store, library and reader for iPhone and iPod touch that is launching with over 100 titles available from twenty popular comic publishers and many independent comic writers.“The stunning display and innovative multi-touch user interface of iPhone and iPod touch have finally made comics appealing in a digital format,” said David Steinberger, CEO of Iconology, Inc. “By combining great comics with iPhone OS 3.0’s In-App Purchasing and location awareness features we are creating a revolution in the way comics are sold and read which could only happen with iPhone and iPod touch.”



The Comics by comiXology App heralds an entirely new comic book publishing and connected commerce model. With the Comics by comiXology app, comic book enthusiasts can not only read their comics in a format designed to preserve the comic book experience on an iPhone or iPod touch, but also locate and connect with local retailers to purchase the printed version of the titles. Through relationships with comic book retailers, Comics by comiXology will increase both digital and print sales of comics and deliver a powerful mobile marketing tool for comic book publishers and retailers.Comics by comiXology offers a “guided view” that keeps the entire page of a comic intact, unlike other solutions where the page is cut into individual pictures the user browses like a photo application. Comics by comiXology is a reader app that contains all a user’s comics and offers its own digital comics store that supports multiple publishers.

Among the twenty publishers that have already signed up to deliver their titles through Comics by comiXology are many well-known industry icons including:
* AdHouse Books
* Arcana Comics
* Asylum Press
* Bluewater Comics
* Com.X
* Creative Impulse Entertainment
* Digital Webbing
* eigoMANGA
* Evil Twin Comics
* First Salvo
* Image Comics (Active Images, Allred, Kirkman, Wagner, Brunswick, Revel and more)
* Markosia
* Moonstone
* Red 5
* Slave Labor Graphics
* Th3rd World Studios
* Zenescope

Additionally, popular comics writer Robert Kirkman has agreed to deliver his titles exclusively through Comics by comiXology making it the only place to get “Walking Dead” and “Invincible” for iPhone and iPod touch.

The Comics by comiXology App is now available, including over 30 free comics, for $0.99 from the App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/.

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1 COMMENT

  1. Yahoo! As one of the people working on a comic for this new application, I’ve totally been waiting for them to announce this! Their application promises to totally change the way iPod Comics are produced and distributed.

  2. What’s ridiculous / awesome about this announcement is that even a small fry in the world of comics like myself, well, my 2 self published graphic novels (Jam in the Band) are also available through the Comixology App. Putting me in the same company as Robert Kirkman, Adhouse and SLG. Which I still can’t quite wrap my head around.

  3. I’m not really trying to be too much of a Grumpster McGrumpypants, but there are a couple points here that would keep this from being a viable alternative in my eyes.

    The idea of reading comics on a wee little screen is already pushing it for me, but being charged a fee for the app? When DC and Marvel aren’t even listed as supporting it, I have a hard time rationalizing it as a realistic alternative to paper books in my hand… especially when I first have to pay a fee for the opportunity to pay for comics.

    For some this may be viable, and I’m glad for them, but it just won’t work for me.

  4. The comics collective House of Twelve will be publishing brand new exclusive content to the iPhone/iPod Touch via the Comixology application starting January of 2010.

    Over the next days, weeks, House of Twelve boss Cheese Hasselberger will be updating the main site with facts and details, and there’s the blog as well: http://ho12.blogspot.com

    Team Twelve:
    Cheese Hasselberger
    Miss Lasko-Gross
    Sam Henderson
    Mike Dawson
    Victor Cayro
    K. Thor Jensen
    Kevin Colden
    Dave McKenna
    Jenny Gonzalez
    Kate Allen
    and me

  5. One thing to remember Dave, you pay 99 cents for the app and you are getting every first issue to every series that is up there free at a minimum. So instead maybe think of it as you are paying 99 cents for about 30-40 comics right from the start that you can download without an additional fee with more to come.

    Also the single small screen things doesn’t really apply as much here as each screen is effectively a panel. MOST comics panels are about the same size as the view screen. Now I’m not saying it’s better than if it was full comic size, but it’s certainly better, in that you are looking panel to panel. The only time it potentially becomes a size issue if on splashes or double pages spreads or larger panels. At least from what I have seen this definitely does one of the best jobs out there of any app at displaying standard sized comics.

    Not only am I the happy publisher of one of the books in there (The Stuff of Legend), but I’m also a client (hopefully this joke is not lost on anyone, I know it’s cheesy)

  6. I have friends who are excited about this, but I remain skeptical…mainly because I think scanning a page layout is an integral part of the whole comics-reading experience. But many people get the majority of their entertainment via an iPhone these days, so I suppose it’s inevitable.

  7. >>The idea of reading comics on a wee little screen is already pushing it for me, but being charged a fee for the app?

    We would LOVE to give away the app for free. You cannot sell any content into an app if the app is free. This is Apple’s rule, and why we provide 30 comics with your 99 cent purchase.

    David
    comixology.com