Digital Comics

Speaking of digital, which we were, and of those -- and there are many -- who think giving 30 percent of most everything to mega-middleman Apple is not a good thing, Warren Ellis points us towards the Not .99 Method whereby you can sell comics for devices at any price you wish and not share a penny with ANY middleman.

Over at his forum, 2010 bestseller Mark Millar urges us to put the brakes on for downloadable comics. This despite his WANTED topping comiXology's sales list. I'll take the liberty of posting his objections in full since what he has to say is pretty important:

Long-running comics publisher Archie is taking the plunge to become the first comics publisher to put its entire line for sale in print and digital at the same time, it's been announced on their blog. DC announced day and date with BATMAN BEYOND last week, but this is the first time a publisher has made the whole line available. The policy goes into effect on April 1, and will include KEVIN KELLER #1, starring the popular gay character.

So, as happens frequently in America, we treat History like a Cassandra, reading and studying, but choosing not to believe or remember the lessons it teaches us. I know Cassandra's fate, and thus the dangers of saying "I told you so". So instead, I'll quote Gene Wilder in " Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory": Oh, you should never ever doubt what nobody is sure about. So, what can we expect in 2011?

Very knowledgeable webcomics folk Xaviar Xerexes, Brigid Alverson, Larry Cruz, Lauren Davis, Brian Heater, Rick Marshall, Gary Tyrrell and, inexplicably, The Beat gather together to look at the present and future of the digital comics medium.  Pairs well with Comics Alliance's Digital December in which they talk to comics publisher digital czars for a nice state of the union.

When Dark Horse announced their digital comics initiative back at NYCC, they went about it in a different way from most other publishers. Instead of partnering with an existing storefront like comiXology, they decided to use their own webstore and application to sell comics -- and at the $1.49 price point. There was also talk of add-ons that made going to the physical comics shop a part of the experience. Since then details have been sketchy, but today Dark Horse released the first information on the program, via a mailing to retailers in the Diamond Daily. A bit of the information was also released to the press, including the plan to release ORIGINAL digital material -- but only to those who purchase brick and mortar comics.

Been trying to figure out how to get your small, self-published comic on the iPad? An even more diverse and open world of downloadable comics took a step closer to reality as comiXology has...

Gareth Hinds is a very accomplished artist (and former Xeric winner) whose comics adaptations of classic literature have found a home at Candlewick Press. His full color Odyssey adaptation just came out, and there's a nice story about it in today's PW. While we were looking around for some art to illustrate the story, we came on Hinds' own page for the book and were struck by the "embeddable comics preview" on the page, which he said was developed by Candlewick:

Candlewick has released a short preview, using some new "widget" technology which enables it to be easily embedded in any blog or webpage. There are still a few rough spots in the implementation, but it's pretty handy. See below -- and feel free to repost it elsewhere!