Caine's handy guide to digital comics of the future

For this issue of Paper Comics Deathwatch we here at Flashback Universe have decided to step into the future in order to offer you, a handy guide to enjoying digital comics. Here we explain time honored lingo with a "numedia" spin on it for comics on the iTablet and other devices soon to come.

One Shot
A single screen [comic page] free preview of a comic that can be purchased if you so desire.



beyond by *duss005 on deviantART

Panel
A comic book viewed as a new page each day. Black and white "sketch pages", with and or without lettering [it depends], are free to everyone. You pay a small fee for finished pages.



BAtman Sample Page 04 by ~RodGallery on deviantART

Comic Box
This is a folder on your device's hard drive where the "Panel" comics [see above]are stored. After you've received thirty two of them you have an entire comic book to read all at once if you prefer.

The Annual
A subscription that updates your comics directly to your device much like floppies being thrown in your comic book box at a comic book shop. You never mis and issue and only require time to read it.

Prestige Format
A comic book that comes in "omniformat" which can be experienced a number of ways: single "page by page" issues, an animated slide show, and an updated super "motion comics" format that can come with an audio track with an extra file included in the download if you wish.

Free comic book day
A new "fan boy/girl" holiday when thousands of comic book publishers/creators offer free comics for your device with software like the Cowon SDK.

Graphic Novel
An entire story downloadable and stored on the hard drive to be viewed at your convenience.

If you're not into apple products then what about these fine alternatives now regularly used to view comics on?

The Tracy
One of the coolest product categories we'll get to see at CES this week will be wrist mounted touch screen displays. ~WIRED

The M-Report
The era of handheld flexible displays just got a little closer when HP rolled out this prototype it developed with the Flexible Display Center at Arizona State University. Said to be unbreakable, the plastic scrolling screens use HP's self-aligned imprint lithography (SAIL) technology, a low-cost process that's a whole lot like printing on a sheet of plastic. ~DVICE

The Frame Up
Most digital picture frames just sit there and show you pictures, but not iGala. This one hits all the right features, and at the top of the list is its Wi-Fi connectivity. Yes, this wireless magic is available in a few other picture frames, but this one goes beyond merely snagging pics from the Internet. ~DVICE

Have a great weekend

~Caine