Digital Comics

Remember manga? It's still around, even if it isn't the juggernaut it was in the olden days. The big, big news in manga this week was the launch of Jmanga.com, best described as what if Marvel, DC, Random House, Dynamite, and Fantagraphics all teamed up to create their own comiXology. After years of sitting around anxiously watching piracy take a toll, the top Japanese publishers have finally banded together to create their own LEGAL online portal. The site just launched this week, and there been a ton of talk. J.K. Parkin has a great round-up of much of the reaction but it hasn't been universally loved:

So before anyone gets offended: No one is a bad person for using Kickstarter. It's a tool in our toolbox for these tough economic times, and it has genuinely helped a lot of creators get their work into print who otherwise might not have been able to do that. For groups working on a project together, even better! As a mechanism for fundraising or pre-sales, when the money's put in the right hands, we can all feel nice about it. Good for you if you've been able to make it work, I am genuinely happy for your success.

You have to take "anonymous spy reports" with a grain of salt, but this write up on the recent DC retailer roadshow in London had some interesting candid comments from DC's SVP of sales Bob Wayne. new formets -- OGNs, digital -- seem to be inevitable:

Terry Moore has a pretty amazing track record as a self-publishing cartoonist. He's wrapped up his magnum opus STRANGERS IN PARADISE, but instead of going into that awkward "I just finished my magnum opus" mode, he jumped right back in with a new series -- the SF-tinged ECHO -- and just wrapped up THAT. And now he's a launched a new thriller series called RACHEL RISING, which debuted at Comic-Con. However, as successful as he's been, Moore still found his new #1 underordered, and #2 orders cut back even more. It's a familiar problem in the direct market. In an interview with Russ Burlingame, Moore is askedthe inevitable questions about digital delivery:

While we were linking to the previous Michael Dooley articles, we found another one from Comic-Con, an interview with Kim Munson, whose Comix Classics: Underground Comics app for iPhone, iPad, and Android hard a hard time getting approved. The app is a survey of classic underground comics art with images from S. Clay Wilson, Reed Waller, Denis Kitchen and more. The pictures are quite dirty -- we struggled to find one to post with this piece before settling on Jimmy Durante by Drew Friedman -- but nothing that isn't legal and available in other places. However, Apple, the electronic middleman, has other ideas:

Well, another Comic-Con is drawing to a close, with the traditional annual Buffy sing-along, this time in Hall H. (Perhaps they could also add a "Mayhem of the Music Meister!" event as well?) So, here's some more interesting tidbits from Comic-Con...

Manga publisher Viz has just announced VizManga.com, a digital comics site which immediately went live during the con. Viz's wide variety of manga titles are now available there in an array of digital formats, with first chapters available free, and first volumes available at 40% off for the first month.

Well, the second full day of Comic-Con is coming to an end, and there's been lots of amazing stuff announced! I've diligently sat deep in Stately Beat Manor, watching the news feeds, so you don't have to! Read on!

The digital teaming up is coming fast and furious as Top Shelf has signed with iVerse for digital distro. The idea of reading Nate Powell, James Kochalka, and Renee French on a tablet sounds very tasty indeed.

After a period of beta testing, Diamond is ready to roll out their digital comics sales this September. As there is not much else happening that month, maybe this will perk things up. More seriously, about 30 publishers are participating in the venture, which is run through iVerse and involves participating retailers generating codes for sale. The program will begin more advanced beta testing in stores in August. Interested retailers can sign up here.

Jeff Smith has joined the stand-alone digital store ranks with new apps for BONE and RASL via comiXology. To celebrate, there's a sale and at 4 pm a chat on Reddit with Smith. As kids books tend to do very well on tablets and phones, we'd expect Bone to conquer this medium as well as it has every other place it's appeared.

The USA Network and DC Comics recently launched a webcomic to tie in with the Season 5 premiere of Burn Notice. And readers seem to have liked it.

Cable network USA and DC Comics debuted Chapter 1 of its "Burn Notice" interactive graphic novel, "A New Day," alongside the show's Season 5 premiere on Thursday. To date, "A New Day" has scored more than 100,000 page views, according to the network.