Word Balloon Podcast: Top Cow's Worlds Collide with Filip Sablik

The Top Cow publisher is here to discuss The Darkness, Witchblade, new books like Angelus, Broken Trinity:Pandora's Box, and everything that leads to this summer's TC event Artifacts. Plus Robert Kirkman & Marc Silvestri's pilot season , and Top Cow's future in the digital market.

Get the podcast here.
Source: wordballoon.blogspot.com

NPR: Begun, The Digital Age of Comics Has

... And the previous age of comics, whatever it was called (the Modern Age? The Bronze Age? Copper? Iron? Molybdenum?) ended with neither a bang nor a whimper, but with publishers, creators, retailers and fans exchanging lots of puzzled expressions and a collective shrug.

Comixology offers its own app, through which comics from indie publishers like Image, Dark Horse and Top Cow can be purchased alongside Marvel, DC and BOOM! titles. There's also a web viewer, for those who don't own any of the compatible mobile devices.

And those who just hate Apple.

Another platform for downloading and reading digital comics, Graphic.ly, features fewer titles, but unlike Comixology allows readers to download them onto their desktop computer (a web viewer is still in the works). Navigation is easy, the colors are crisp, but what the Graphic.ly folks are really playing up is their social networking/community building elements — friend requests, and what have you.


Read the article here.
Source: NPR

Newsarama: So... Who IS COMIXOLOGY, The Digital Comics Leader?

One year makes all the difference.

When ComiXology launched its "Comics by ComiXology" iPhone app in July 2009, the company appeared to be one in a crowd of developers. After all, there was more than one way to read a comic on Apple products.

But one year later, and ComiXology is all over the news because of its involvement with Marvel and DC. The two leading publishers have chosen ComiXology as a partner in their digital program, and the company is working with more than 30 other publishers, as well as holding exclusives with more than one creator.

So who is ComiXology? Where did they come from? And what are they up to next?

Read the full article here.
Source: Newsarama

Newsarama: Ron Marz Responds to DC's Digital Comics Plans

With the announcement today that DC Comics has entered the digital comics marketplace, one of the more interesting aspects of the program — for the industry's talent, anyway — was that DC will have a royalty program for creators when one of their digital comics is purchased.

DC has often been praised as a creator-rights leader for its royalty program, with former publisher Paul Levitz even winning an Eisner Award for his humanitarian work on behalf of creators. So creators weren't shocked by the announcement, but were reacting positively nonetheless.

The internet has also been abuzz about the future of comics now that both major publishers are dedicated to digital comics.

So we went to the creators to ask:

- What is your overall reaction to the news of DC's digital program?
- Do you have knowledge about or a reaction to the plan to pay royalties on digital sales?
- When do you envision the digital model being the industry's dominant from of distribution? 2 years, 5 years, 10, or never?

What follows is the response, which we'll be updating throughout the day:

Ron Marz

Obviously it was not a questions of "if," in terms of DC's digital model, it was a question of when. The industry as a whole needed Marvel and DC to both have a serious digital presence in order to move forward into the future of comics. I think a lot of hardcore fans will always want print versions, but to me, digital is the way that casual readers and more importantly new readers are going to pursue comics. As a creator, the most pleasing aspect is that DC has figured out its royalty plan for digital distribution. Which is not surprising, really, since DC has always been meticulous about both domestic and foreign royalty payments. If your book sells a hundred copies in Croatia, a check for a few bucks shows up. It's a hallmark of the company.

Read more creator responses here.
Source: Newsarama

CBR's Robot 6: Rantz Hoseley on the launch of Longbox

The Longbox digital comics distribution system was first announced in June 2009 and was universally described as "iTunes for comics." In fact, it is much more than that: A platform-independent application that allows the user to buy and read comics digitally and move them from one device to another. Unlike the iTunes store, Longbox won't have strict content restrictions, but users can create subaccounts that will only allow browsing, purchase, and reading of comics below a given age rating. The public beta version becomes available today with a handful of titles, and developer and CEO Rantz Hoseley says new content will start appearing on a weekly basis beginning on June 29 and available at a discount "in recognition that we are still in beta."

I tried out the private beta last weekend, and the experience was pretty seamless: You look at a display of covers, buy the ones you want, download them, and read them in a comics reader on the screen. Hoseley talked to me last week about how Longbox will evolve as a platform for readers and for publishers.

What devices will Longbox launch on?

The upcoming launch is Mac and PC. Tablets, both in terms of the Apple generated ones and the Android and Windows Mobile 7 powered ones, will be early fall. We hope to be able to announce the date on that by San Diego, but the contract negotiations are taking a little longer than we would prefer. At the very least, in a worst case scenario we will be having it installed on the devices in question by New York Comic-Con.

To read the full article, go here.
Source: Comic Book Resources

Comic News: Bleeding Cool Looks at Comixology

"Basically, yes, it works and I’m happy to read comics on a computer like this. It feels less finicky than Longbox, there’s no download necessary and the front page isn’t covered by CBR reports."
- Rich Johnston

Read the full article here.
Source: bleedingcool.com

Comic Vine Walks Through ComiXology's Online Reader

The amazing Sara from Comic Vine gives you a walk-through of Comixology's digital reader. Don't forget you can pick up Wanted, The Darkness, and other titles for free on Comixology.

Watch the video here.
Source: Comic Vine

Industry News: Macworld: Comic reader app aims to shake things up..literally

While the film world is busy squabbling about whether a gimmick like 3D can revolutionize the industry, iPad comic readers are attempting their own revolution. Sure, techniques like panel-by-panel reading are amusing enough, but what if you could feel explosions from your comic? Madcap Studios’s Digital Comics app aims to enrich your comic-reading experience in just this way.

Read the full article here

Source: macworld.com

RPG News: Witchblade, Impaler and more from Top Cow!

Top Cow Productions has uploaded several new titles to DriveThruComics.com!

Impaler

One of the worst blizzards in history cripples New York City in one fell swoop. But the blinding cold and snow are the least of the city's worries. For aboard a drifting cargo ship stirs an unfathomable evil that will unleash a horror the likes of which the world has never seen. And in two nights, New York City will be no more...

Witchblade

Witchblade bearer and New York City Police Detective Sara Pezzini is found unconscious, having been beaten by an unknown attacker. The only clues to what happened are the cryptic offerings of an antique shop owner who has a surprising knowledge of the Witchblade. Now Sara must uncover the mystery in order to defend the city, and the world, she was chosen to protect.

Get these and other Top Cow titles at DriveThruComics.com!

Source: RPG News

ComicsAlliance: Link Ink Roundup

Hollywood: The new domestic poster for "Iron Man 2" certainly has the "Star Wars" vibe going on, but where's Mickey Rourke? [Heat Vision]

Creators: Tim O'Shea speaks with the creators of "Cyanide & Happiness" about their process in creating the hilarious and foul-mouthed web strip. [Robot 6]

Technology: Top Cow Publisher Filip Sablik wonders whether or not technology has stifled our ability to enjoy the little things in life - like the feel of a printed comic book in your hands. [Blog@Newsarama]

See the rest of the roundup here.

Source: ComicsAlliance

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Newsarama: Filip Sablik in "Information Overload?"

We live in an age where unparalleled information is at our fingertips. Not only things like the news or reference material, but information about our friends and even people we don’t actually know.

How many of us start our workday by checking our favorite news or pop culture sites like Newsarama or skimming our RSS feeds in our favorite browsers? Or find ourselves checking up on our Facebook friends’ statuses on our iPhones while standing in line for a cup of coffee? Or checking-in at an exciting new restaurant and tweeting what we’re having for dinner? Okay, maybe that last one is just me.

I admit I’m an information junkie. Part of it is job-related; I need to keep up with the latest in comic news and industry happenings. Another aspect is just part of my ever growing need for feeling connected and informed. I check Twitter after my morning run and sometimes beforehand. I run through a dozen or so RSS feeds with my cup of coffee. I update my status while watching TV in the evening. Yep, I have a problem.


Read the rest of Filip's post here.

Source: Blog@Newsarama

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GeekWeek: LongBox Goes Live!

Public Beta began today on Longbox, the comic book digital release platform that everyone has been talking about for what feels like a year...or maybe it was longer. Good news: The wait was worth it!

Dubbed "The Itunes of Comics," Longbox is pretty much exactly that-- while poising itself to be the platform to beat.

Go getcher Longbox: http://longboxdigital.com/now.html

There are a few free comics for you to test out, including Josh Fiakov and Kody Chamberlain's Punks, Man-of-Awesome: Ron Marz's Witchblade, and Wanted (which, if you haven't read is very different from the film version)--

Read the full coverage here.

Source: GeekWeek

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Industry News: Comic publishers sketchy on digital future

When Ethan Peacock moved to Vancouver from Edmonton nine years ago, he found that none of the local comic-book stores carried all the titles he sought.

“I was continually getting my stuff shipped from Edmonton every month or so, or I’d visit frequently and pick it up then,” the owner of Elfsar Comics & Toys told the Georgia Straight during an interview at his Yaletown shop. “Then it popped into my head to open a store of my very own.”

Distribution has always been a challenge for book and magazine publishers, and comics publishers in particular, since they serve smaller, niche audiences. And it’s something publishers are looking to digital comics and digital distribution to address.

“One of the things that digital distribution makes available is that someone in Eastern Europe can download the authentic English version of Witchblade and read it on their computer, where they might not have that available,” Filip Sablik, publisher of Top Cow Productions—which publishes Witchblade, Madame Mirage, and other titles—explained by phone from his office in Los Angeles.

Read the full article here.

Source: Straight.com

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Word Balloon: Top Cow's Worlds Collide with Filip Sablik

Top Cow publisher Filip Sablik is here to discuss The Darkness, Witchblade, new books like Angelus, Broken Trinity:Pandora’s Box, and everything that leads to this summer’s TC event Artifacts with Word Balloon's John Siuntres.

Plus Robert Kirkman & Marc Silvestri’s pilot season , and Top Cow’s future in the digital market.

Listen and download the podcast here.

Source: Word Balloon

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Comic News: Rush Is On to Be First in iPad Apps

The Darkness on the Panelfly app

It can be difficult to write software for a gadget without being able to touch it. But that has not stopped developers from rushing to create applications for the Apple iPad.

For small start-ups and big Internet and media companies alike, the iPad, and tablet computers in general, beckon as the next wide open technology frontier.

For many of them, getting apps onto the iPad will be a challenge, at least at first. Apple has provided only a few companies with iPads on which to design and test their software before the device’s release on April 3.

The rest have had to make do with software running on a Mac that mimics the iPad, a disadvantage when dealing with a device that Apple is pitching as a new way of interacting with media.

Read the full article here.

Source: New York Times

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Friends of the Cow: Drive-Thru Comics

Our friends over at Drive-Thru Comics now have Hunter-Killer #1-12 available for download.

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Friends of the Cow: LongBox & Comics Alliance Having a Contest to Win $25 Worth of Free Digital Comics

LongBox, a new digital comics platform that's aiming to become the iTunes of comics, is about to launch its new Beta version at Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle this weekend. But while most of the world will only be able to read through a few watermarked sample comics until the wider release, ComicsAlliance readers will have an opportunity to get a wide range of comics through LBX before the general public -- and get them for free.

While LBX is still in Beta, Comics Alliance is going to be giving away 15 gift codes worth $25.00 each to 15 ComicsAlliance readers, which can be used toward anything in the LongBox store. With most LongBox comics priced at just $0.99 (and digital graphic novel collections priced around $5 to $10), winners will essentially walk away with up to 25 comics or several trade paperbacks.

Publishers like Top Cow, Boom!, Archaia, NBM, Shadowline and more have already been announced as participating, and will be offering their comics through the LBX store, along with creator-owned projects from individual creators like Jonathan Hickman ("Fantastic Four").

Go here to read how to enter.




Source: Comics Alliance

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Industry News: Major Spoilers - Will the iPad change the comic model?

We’re roughly thirty days away from the launch of Apple’s much-talked-about iPad. While the device looks like a flattened iPod, its potential to revolutionize the way we consume media is staggering. One of the more interesting aspects of the iPad is the ability to read comic books at nearly the same size as the printed version. While other e-books only have black-and-white displays, the iPad’s color screen could radically change the way we read and access comics.

I’ve talked before about digital comics and how an effective electronic color reader could change the way we access and enjoy comic books. But is the iPad that device?

I live at least 150 miles from the nearest comic book shop. While you may think it is a long trek across town to your shop, the distance and time commitment to get to my local shop is prohibitive. For that reason, I rely on the post office to get my weekly stash of four-color goodness. Of course when there is a holiday, delay in shipping, or general muck-up by someone who doesn’t get to the post office on time, I generally get my comics two days later. Recently, I didn’t receive the week’s comics until the Monday following release. Moving physical media around is a big hassle for distributors, publishers, and comic book readers. With electronically distributed comics, readers can access them when and where they want.

Read the full article here.

Source: Major Spoilers

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Associated Content: Comic Books in the Digital Age - Can Graphic.ly Get You to Pay for Digital Content You Can Have Free?

Graphic.ly is a strange name for a company; it's an adverb. I doubt that you have ever seen a business named, for example, "Rapidly Plumbing;" and if you did, you'd assume that the person who named the company doesn't speak English as his first language. As I recall, I had been Twitter searching art-related subjects and the Graphic.ly name popped up in the timeline. When I first read it on my computer screen, the name made me curious enough as to wonder what the eponymous Graphic.ly app Beta they were pimping might be all about.

Speaking of those publishers, they've got Top Cow and Marvel on board, as well as some others in the mix; with many more purportedly on the way. What with my being a Marvel guy at heart, I am admittedly excited at the possibility of having eternally mint interactive copies of the Machine Man collection that I have lost not once, but twice. Unfortunately, I can't see that happening at the cost of 99 cents per issue. If I am going to pay that much, I want the real book; since that's about how much Machine Man issues go for anyway.

So, can Graphic.ly create such a superior product and community experience around their application as to convince us to start buying our comic books in their digital format?

As always, the consumers will determine whether or not the Graphic.ly experiment is a success. What I can report at this point is that they've got a great application and some pretty big ideas. I sincerely hope they're not the type of big ideas that will scuttle the ship in the shark-infested waters of internet commerce before it ever leaves the harbor.

Read the full article here.

Source: Associated Content

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The Comics Beat: Graphic.ly Acquires iFanboy

The official press release announcing Graphic.ly's acquisition of iFanboy:

Graphic.ly, the cutting-edge community and digital content delivery platform for comics and other forms of publishing, has acquired iFanboy, one of the leading communities, news and audio & video sites for the comics and graphic novel enthusiast. With the acquisition, iFanboy becomes a division of Graphic.ly, and will be integrated into the Graphic.ly Web site, as well as into the various platforms and applications Graphic.ly runs on, such as Windows 7, Adobe Air and the iPhone.

With the acquisition, iFanboy’s founders will join Graphic.ly, as well as keep their responsibilities for the iFanboy site and community. Conor Kilpatrick and Josh Flanagan will lead content creation for iFanboy and overall publisher and creator relations, while Ron Richards will oversee product and business development for iFanboy.

“As community and content become more and more entwined, Graphic.ly wants to be at the forefront of the new digital comic age. By acquiring iFanboy, we become part of one of the best communities in the industry,” said Micah Baldwin, CEO and co-founder of Graphic.ly. “Working with iFanboy, we are able to take our vision to the next level and fully integrate our product into the fandom community.”

Graphic.ly’s iFanboy will lead reader engagement and other community efforts, as well as content creation with its contributing staff. The contributing staff will continue to be part of the iFanboy family, and the site will help Graphic.ly become a bigger part of the comic book community and industry.

“The one constant at iFanboy the past ten years is that we love comics, and we love working with each other. Teaming up with Graphic.ly ensures that we can keep doing what we’ve always done and continue serving the fantastic community that has grown around us, and keep growing,” said Ron Richards, general manager of iFanboy. “Becoming part of Graphic.ly helps us be part of the new digital age of comic books and other forms of entertainment, growing the audience and helping others celebrate the genre as much as we do.”

The iFanboy founders will focus on publisher and creator relations, building upon relationships with top creators and publishers in the industry, such as Geoff Johns and Filip Sablik.

“Life’s too short for cynics, embrace what you love. iFanboy is one of those rare comic book sites that isn’t afraid to be a comic book site,” said Geoff Johns, writer of Green Lantern, The Flash and Superman for DC Comics. “They unabashedly love comic books and it oozes out of every pixel.”

“The community that Ron, Conor and Josh have built at iFanboy from a single weekly review podcast is impressive by any standard,” said Filip Sablik, publisher, Top Cow Productions. “From audio to video podcasts to interviews to the truly interactive iFanboy Web site, these guys have kept their roots firmly planted in fandom while growing iFanboy into an open, honest, and great to work with professional community. I can’t wait to see what this next stage of their evolution brings!”

The acquisition has closed, and integration of the sites will be finished within 30-days.

Source: The Comics Beat

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