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

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

Industry News: ComiXology's iPad Comics Reader App in Pictures

ComiXology has announced their Comics by comiXology App for the Apple iPad, and are claiming it has the largest library of comics in the device, with 1300 books from 30 publishers, including 150 you get free just for downloading the app. Which is even more than you get with the Marvel Apple iPad device which they also designed.

Source: bleedingcool.com

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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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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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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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Comic News: Holy Heart Failure! Comics Await the iPad

From Publishers Weekly by way of Cult of Mac:

Comic book publishers are super eager to get their strips in full living color on the iPad, if a round up by Publisher’s Weekly is anything to go by.

Only one graphic novel exec, Filip Sablik of Top Cow, was “cautiously optimistic” that the iPad would be a “game changer” for digital comics. “What Apple has done incredibly well in the last decade is take existing technology–laptop, mp3 player, smart phone–and made it really sexy and really easy to use. Right now it looks like the iPad might follow those to pillars of Apple’s success.”

The publishers seemed to be in agreement that while the iPad will be great for reading on the commute, lots of different readers — from small kids to serious collectors — will still want paper editions.

Will you be flipping through comics on your iPad?

Source: Cult of Mac

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Newsarama: Filip Sablik Reacts to iPad

With Apple's announcement of their new iPad device, the comics industry is abuzz with the potential for digital comics.

Creators and publishers of comic books have anticipated the Apple tablet ever since rumors began surfacing late last year, because it offers a vertical e-book reader that has a color screen -- something important for the experience of reading comic books.

Newsarama contacted artists, writers and executives at a variety of comic book publishers to find out their reaction to the news, and their thoughts on how it will affect comic books.

Top Cow publisher Filip Sablik responds:

On a personal level I'm excited as all get out. I'm a big Apple addict (as my wife can attest) and what Apple does incredibly well is - a) make technology appealing and sexy and b) makes it easy to use. They didn't invent the personal computer, they didn't invent the mp3 player, and they didn't invent the smart phone, but they sure made them appealing for tech and non-tech people alike.
I'll be in line to pick up one of these when it comes out. It'll be great for traveling - I can listen to music, watch movies, read books, and surf the net all on one easy to use device? Great. Most of my work is done over email and my email is in the cloud through Google. So is my calendar. With a bluetooth keyboard, I can essentially replace my laptop with this device on road trips. Are there things that I'd like to see on this still? Certainly. A built in camera for Skype or taking photos would be nice. Flash would be nice. But it's the first generation of this device and looks like a pretty spectacular start to me.

Right now, I'm cautiously optimistic. Digital distribution is another potential revenue stream for publishers. Not everyone is going to go out and buy an iPad initially, it's like when the iPod first came out. It wasn't until the third generation iPods came out that it really took off.

I'm sure it will be part of our strategy and the strategy of most publishers in one form or another, but I don't think you'll see any publisher investing a massive amount of time and energy into it until the revenue stream proves itself with sales.
Long term I definitely see the appeal for many folks to have digital subscriptions to comics, magazines, and so on. If the price is low enough, the process is easy enough (easier than stealing), and the product looks great then I don't see why it can't become a nice outlet to capture new readers.

On the direct market side, I think there's no immediate reason to panic. If the feedback on Newsarama has shown us anything, it's that diehard comic collectors aren't eager to make the switch. They like collecting, they like the physical product. Perhaps some of them will use digital to sample books they've heard good things about at a lower entry point. In the long run, I suspect we will see a great emphasis put on trade sales and savvy retailers will look at ways to partner with digital distributors to drive sales for hard copies back into their stores.

Go here to see more reactions from comics' pros and publishers.

Source: Newsarama

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Publishers Weekly: Filip Sablik Responds to Apple's iPad

Last week Apple CEO Steven Jobs finally unveiled the iPad, Apple’s much anticipated multimedia computing and reading device, and there was much discussion among comics publishers and fans about what the device will mean for the future of digital comics. PWCW spoke to several publishers to get their reactions to Apple’s latest and coolest new computing device.

Top Cow publisher Filip Sablik said he was “cautiously optimistic” that the iPad would be a “game changer” for digital comics. “That remains to be seen. What Apple has done incredibly well in the last decade is take existing technology--laptop, mp3 player, smart phone--and made it really sexy and really easy to use. Right now it looks like the iPad might follow those to pillars of Apple's success.”

Top Cow’s Sablik said he planned to, “work with as many professional digital distribution partners as possible,” and pointed to Top Cow content on ComiXology, iVerse, and Wowio platforms with more slated for Panelfly, Art Book, Longbox and Graphic.ly. “Right now, no one distribution system has emerged as a market leader, but each stream may add up to a decent revenue stream,” Sablik said. “The main goal right now is to draw in new potential customers. Hopefully a portion of those new customers will also buy hard copies of trades and hard cover.”

Read the full article here.

Source: Publishers Weekly

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Science Website Cocktail Party Physics Makes Note of Berserker in iPad Coverage

Cocktail Party Physics makes note of Berserker in coverage of iPad announcement:

Millions of Americans were glued to their TV sets Wednesday night watching the State of the Union address, but let's face it, President Obama was overshadowed by the other big news of the day: the decidedly mixed reaction to Apple's announcement of the long-awaited tablet, with the unfortunate moniker of iPad. (As one of my Facebook buddies put it, "What's next, the Max-iPad?" And Mad TV's eerily prescient spoof is already making the rounds in the blogosphere.) I mean, even before the announcement, armchair pundits were looking into their crystal balls and declaring the product was doomed to failure. Bashing Apple is kind of a hobby for some folks, especially those with PCs who are understandably tired of certain Mac fanatics constantly trumpeting how much cooler they are. It's a vicious geek hierarchy: Macs look down on PCs, Linux users look down on Macs, and the really hard core types build their own computers from scratch and write their own damned operating system, thanks very much.

Here are the things I am concerned about with the iPad:

The LED Screen.



What we probably won't be seeing any time soon is a Kindle version of my friend Rick Loverd's Norse myth inspired, uber-violent graphic novel series, Berserker. I mean, I've seen the pre-colored pencils of various issues while they were in production, and they have a certain skeletal spare beauty in their black-and-white incarnation, but I can't imagine being able to fully appreciate Rick's loving depiction of exposed viscera (brought to vivid life by artist Jeremy Haun) in your standard Kindle format. But it would look fantastic on the iPad.

Read the full article here.

Source: Cocktail Party Physics

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Graze Anatomy: Necromancer iPad

I giggled a little yesterday when I heard Apple describe the iPad as magical. So I thought it'd be appropriate to show Abby from Necromancer working some magic on the revolutionary device.
In all seriousness, I'll be in line to get one in March.


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