Fox launches X-Men EXTRA app for iPad
With screenings unfolding around the globe, all the buzz on X-MEN: FIRST CLASS has been great (100% on Rotten Tomatoes), and last night the film had its world premiere in NYC, with Marvel's own John Lowe doing some red carpet commentary. Releasing studio Fox has just added to the fun with a new iPad app X-Men EXTRA which plays into the whole conspiracy angle of the film, which follows Xavier and Magneto as young allies in the 60s. As you can see the app has some fun with the historical record, ala Boilerplate, imaging Emma Frost standing beside Jackie Kennedy in a fetching go-go booted ensemble. Check out the byline for another in-joke.
BOOM! debuts Stan Lee app
It seems that standalone apps for authors and imprints and licenses are now the way to go on digital devices, BOOM! has just announced a new Stan Lee app for iOS devices that will includes the digital version of Stan's BOOM! books, including SOLDIER ZERO, THE TRAVELER, and STARBORN. As the PR mentions, this is part of "BOOM! Studios’ aggressive digital comics strategy to offer their entire frontlist and backlist of titles for download across multiple mobile and desktop platforms." So there.
ELFQUEST to be on iPad/iPhone?
It's funny how something that has been around forever can still get a blog boost -- as we reported yesterday, some 6500 pages of ELFQUEST comics are online, to read, for FREE -- but they have been up for more than two years. Our post got Boing Boinged, and Richard Pini, WARP graphics co-everything, wrote in to answer some questions in that thread, especially complaints about the Flash interface (one wag posted a link to the complete Elfquest on a bit torrent site.)
First, thanks for putting this "old news" back in the news.
The online library: The Complete ELFQUEST
Speaking of fantasy, one of the pillars of the fantasy comics genres is now available in its entirety to read online. ELFQUEST, Wendy and Richard Pini's saga of homeless elves and their passions and battles, first published in 1978, was one of the foundational hits of the emerging indie comics scene, and after many publishers, movie options and assorted dramas, it's still a good story.
Dark Horse makes FCBD comics available for free download
Now this is smart! After FCBD, Dark Horse is making its free comics available for free download for a limited amount of time. Downloads will be available starting Wednesday, May 11, and run through the end of the month. Criminal Macabre/Baltimore and Avatar: The Last Airbender/Star Wars: The Clone Wars will both be available via computer, Mac iOS device on the Digital.DarkHorse.com, or via the Dark Horse Comics bookshelf app.
Dark Horse app: What's working, what's selling
The Dark Horse comics app has been live for 48 hours and the reviews are starting to come in as is some info on what's selling.
While you can't get sales figures from Apple, they do list a running top ten of in-app purchases for all commercial apps. Here are the DH best sellers as of about noon today:
Dark Horse Digital Comics store launches to a lot of traffic
Yesterday was the big day for the launch of Dark Horse's digital store -- and apparently it was a hit -- at least one server melted from the onslaught of fans, according to a press release:
Watch: ComiCenter #1 with Mark Waid and Andy Khouri
It's a newish comics chat show, set at Brave New World in Santa Clarita with hosts Bryan J Daggett and Atom! Freeman with guests Mark Waid and Andy Khouri, this time out talking about digital comics. The show airs live Tuesday at 7 pm on Justin.tv's Geekweek channel, or on YouTube right this very minute. We'd definitely spend an hour listening to this crew.
E-book sales WAY up in February
Publishers Weekly reports that E-book sales were up sharply for February, with TRIPLE digit growth, up 202.3% with $90.3 million in sales, the leading segment as reported by the AAP. Thanks to ebook readers given as gifts over the holidays, ebook sales now equal trade paperback sales.
IDW has over 1 million apps in circulation
No one has really decided what the metrics for digital comics are -- real numbers are scarce, and most players keep it close to the vest. Back in December comiXology announced they had 1 million downloads of their comics apps, and now iVerse/IDW has hit the same milestone, with over 3 million digital IDW comics distributed.
comiXology releases Kids Comics app with 15 publishers
Long discussed, the comiXology phone and tablet app for kids comics is available today. Such popular characters as Archie, Sonic the Hedgehog, Secret of Kells, Atomic Robo and dozens more kid-friendly, parent-approved characters will be available. Complete PR is below, but the main idea is that if you are a parent -- or know of one -- you know that iPhones and iPads are increasingly being used as babysitters for small children, and kids book apps top the iPhone charts. As the app is non log-in based, everything on it is preapproved; it's not hard to see how this is going to make buying digital comics for children in the classic "reward" method much easier.
The app has launched with 15 publishers and 175 comics; notably absent are Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and IDW, but hopefully they'll be coming on board in some way.
Starbucks teams with Marvel Comics for in-store comics
Would you like Wolverine with that soy vanilla misto?
Ubiquitous coffee chain Starbucks is expandingthe offerings in its Starbucks Digital Network, which allows latte-lovers to read free digital content in its stores. New offerings will include ESPN, The Economist, The New York Times, and Marvel Digital Comics.:
