Tag: downloadable comics

BY JEN VAUGHN - Comic writer, podcast host and serial blogger at his own website, The Invincible Super Blog, and Comics Alliance, Chris Sims sat down to have a chat with me about his upcoming Dracula comic to be fully released on Monday, October 31st, also known as Halloween. Six delicious pages are up as a preview now.

Over on the Vertigo blog, we find an announcement that Vertigo's titles are starting to be released simultaneously in both print and digital ("day and date" is an insipid phrase; let's all stop using it).

In advance of DC's move to simultaneous digital and print release, comiXology has released version 3.0 of its software, which it says is a major improvement in many areas.

ComiXology's digital storefront for physical comics shops went live yesterday, but not without some bumps. The release has been accelerated in order to get ready in time for DC's digital day-and-date rollout next week, and some retailers have voiced concerns about the contract, including the fact that retailers cannot use customer data, while comiXology can, use of store logos and so on. The terms have already been emended a bit from the version posted at Bleeding Cool, which was leaked on a private retailer forum, so we won't run it here. Although the basic agreement is that the stores are affiliates of comiXology, selling digital comics via their own sites, this is not entirely a comfortable idea for many retailers. Despite all the worries, about 100 stores have signed on for the launch, according to the PR, below.

Is the comics shop a typewriter or a ball point pen?

Only a year ago, Tom Bouden's gay-themed adpatation of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest was fighting rejection on Apple's mobile platforms, leading to cries of a double standard where sex and violence were concerned. But now LGBT publisher Northwest Press is claiming victory by having Teleny and Camille, Glamazonia: The Uncanny Super-Tranny, and Rainy Day Recess: The Complete Steven's Comics all approved by Apple. All are now available via the iBooks app.

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.

Comics and the iPad were made for each other. The screen, although slightly smaller than a comic page, works nicely to display comics. Panels look great on it's glossy screen, even with the backlight turned down. Even the iPad with the smallest capacity can hold 20 longboxes worth of comics, no problem, and that's just what I can carry with me. Comics folks are classically unwilling to accept change (why do you think no one ever dies in comics?) but it's time. Comics are going digital and we should embrace that, so here's a quick look at some of the best digital comics readers for the iPad.

If all you do is read the headline and the excerpt, I want you to remember this phrase: "Digital is the new Direct Market." Not "digital is the new newsstand". Direct Market. Let me explain with some history.

As we did yesterday for the print charts, David Brothers data mines comiXology's year end-charts. There isn't that much to go on (only a top 10 in a few categories) but some trends do emerge, including, as with GNs, a preponderance of creator-owned work.

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?

Hm, a free iPad app full of cute indie comic? Sad Comics. Perhaps worth a peek. Via Scott McCloud, who also updates his health in the link.