PCDW: 10,000 People Get Hexed!

So we've mentioned iVerse Media before here on PCDW - they are the company who are doing such a great job currently putting comics on the iPhone. Well recently, they branched out onto the Google Android platform with fantastice success!

from the iVerse Media Website

LOS ANGELES- February 17th, 2009 - The Digital Age of comics has begun on Google’s revolutionary Android Mobile Operating System, and BOOM! Studios and iVerse Media are proud to announce that “HEXED #1” is the FIRST Digital Comic to be released for the platform.


On Friday, February 6th, 2009 “HEXED #1” premiered in Google’s “Android Marketplace” and in less than 48 hours the free comic had been downloaded more than 10,000 times, and received a stellar 4.72 out of 5 rating from over 600 user reviews. “HEXED #1” will also be available on the the iPhone App Store this week.

“This is another great first for BOOM! Studios and there is no better comic to do this with than HEXED,” said Marketing and Sales Director Chip Mosher. “Praised by all quarters, HEXED is the type of book that will bring new readers to comics and BOOM! will always be the most aggressive company around in doing whatever it takes to get more people reading more comics.”

“The ‘HEXED #1’ release on Android has gone above and beyond our wildest expectations. ” said iVerse Media founder Michael Murphey. “In less than 24 hours we received 100s of emails from Google Android users not only praising the software, but — more importantly — raving about the quality of the story and art… and it just keeps coming. The book has been reviewed over 900 times now, and people not only love it… they want more.”

~ iVerse

PCDW Points: 10,000 x 900 (and counting...)

How Old is a Comic Book?

I'm not talking about the cover date, or if its "Golden", "Silver", or "Bronze" [Jim's favorite] age. I mean to you the comic book fan/reader/consumer? When does a comic book become old to you?

Do you have to read it before its old, or can it get old sitting on the shelf in its alphabetical position at the comic book shop without you ever having stepped foot inside to make a purchase?

1 day? Because at one day you may hear about it online in a blog review or on twitter? 7 days? 14 days? By then you've been paid again and can afford to go to the comic book shop. 30 days? A new issue will be out soon, so the previous one [the one I've been writing about here] HAS to be old now doesn't it?

Maybe you don't buy from a comic book shop. Maybe you wait for trades, or Graphic Novels. If so, I've got good news for you:

"However, the news for graphic novels and comics sales remained good in 2008, with gains in total sales and a jaw-dropping 134% increase in the number of comics for children and tweens. "Graphic novels are continuing to grow, albeit not as fast as they were before.

Overall, [there was] about 5% growth in the comics and graphic novel medium. I think one of the questions for 2009 will be whether there will be an economic impact on format choice for people buying comics. I've been in this business for over 30 years, and in that time there's been a very reliable, counter-cyclical relationship between economic conditions and sales of periodical comics. It's very cheap entertainment and something that is a good entertainment alternative.

This is kind of uncharted territory because graphic novels are a much greater percentage of the business than they've ever been in the past when the economy has been bad. Also,
comic cover prices have gone up faster than inflation, and the continuity of comics is probably different than it has been, [because] the very tightly woven continuity between comic titles makes comic periodicals a much bigger investment than when you're buying one-off
stories."

~ comicbookresources.com


I've also got bad news for you:

"Much has already been made of the increase in single issue prices at Marvel, with many of the most popular titles going from $2.99 to $3.99. Those of us who have tried to save money in this tumultuous economic time by predominantly limiting comics to trade purchases will not be unaffected either. For example, compare the following prices...


> RECENT PAST: Avengers the Initiative Vol. 1 TPB ( six issues, $15 )
> NEAR FUTURE: Avengers the Initiative Vol. 3 TPB ( six issues, $17)

> RECENT PAST: The Incredible Hercules Against the World TPB ( six issues, $15 )
> NEAR FUTURE: The Incredible Hercules Love and War TPB ( five issues, $15 )

> RECENT PAST: Essential X-Men Vol. 8 TPB ( 21-some black-and-white reprints, $17 )
> NEAR FUTURE: Essential X-Men Vol. 9 TPB ( 21-some black-and-white reprints, $20 )

> RECENT PAST: X-Force Angels and Demons HC ( 6 issues, $20 )
> NEAR FUTURE: X-Force Old Ghosts HC ( 4 issues, $20

Average TPB prices seem to have gone up significantly; inevitable, but still frustrating. Especially for not only comic fans who wait-on-trades for most of their stuff, but non-comic fans who have one more reason not to show interest :(

~ comicbookresrouces.com

How old is news to you?


Again, I'm not talking about cover dates on magazines or the news paper that slaps your front step every morning [What? My wife still reads it.]

How old is information that you're interested in? Do you have to know it exists before you can determine that? I'm not sure. All who read this blog probably know that the New York Comic Con happened a short while ago. Do they know what went on there? If they don't, is the news old? Well, here is some Marvel Digital Comics news from NYCC regardless:

MARVEL Digital Comics

Spider-Woman gets the digital motion comic treatment, written by Brian Michael Bendis and art by Alex Maleev

Depending on who you ask, the motion comics will precede the print comic’s release. This is kind of cool as it does two things for Marvel; it’s a tease for viewers to go and buy the comic, and Marvel gets
people to purchase the same issue twice.

Print retailers will be involved in some way. Those plans are being kept secret for now, which means wait until the retailer convention in Boston for more information. How about this Marvel, print a code in the comic to download the motion comic for free?

Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men will also get the motion comic treatment. Don’t think this will change Cory’s attitude about the series though.

There will be four 16-page War of Kings online comics.

Dark Reign: Made Men only on Marvel’s DCU (that’s Digital Comics Unlimited, for those that don’t get Marvel’s “joke”).

There are more than 5,500 comics on the Marvel DCU site. Does anyone have a subscription to this service? Just wondering.

If you do want to subscribe, use the code SPIDEY46 in the discount code window to save 10 percent off your purchase. If you are looking for discounts at GoDaddy.com, you can use the codes Roundup1, Roundup2, or Roundup3 for additional discounts. Just passing along saving to readers everywhere. Perhaps it will prompt others to start up their own website where they can lavish praise on those less deserving… or trash this site, it’s your choice.

Expect all these motion comics to get a DVD release down the road. Reading between the lines it means Marvel gets you to buy the same content THREE times.

~ majorspoilers.com



"Marvel Entertainment - home to characters like Spider-Man, the X-Men, Iron Man, and the Hulk - has announced plans to release a series of "motion comics" via iTunes. Introduced at New York Comic Con,

the new format would have the iPod- and iPhone-bound digital books taking on characteristics of both print and animation with audio and motion enhancing the typical panel-based format of print.


Hasn't animation of comic books been done? This isn't traditional animation. The Motion Comic format would feature traditional panel-based structures that are set in motion. Instead of thought bubbles and dialog boxes, the dialog would be spoken. Best of all? The original artist's drawings would be used to compose the digital books, as opposed to facsimile drawn by an animator."

~ readwriteweb.com

NOTE: I have to say the embedded flash motion comic looks REALLY GREAT. Not jerky or amateurish at all.

There is "new" gadget news here as well.

Like the Kindle 2 Wireless Reading Device:

"The new Kindle 2 wireless reading device from Amazon has been redesigned. It’s now “just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines; 3G wireless lets you download books right from your Kindle in less than 60 seconds, anytime, anywhere; no monthly fees, service
plans, or hunting for Wi- Fi hotspots; longer battery life and over 230,000 books.”

~ picocool.com


The iPhone Becomes a Web Server

When those Apple advertisements tout "there's an app for just about anything," they aren't kidding. The latest example? A new iPhone application which just debuted in Japan's App Store transforms the handheld into a full-blown web server. Called "ServersMan@iPhone", the application allows your iPhone to appear just like any other web server on the Internet.

~ readwriteweb.com

Gutted Eee PC ditches the keyboard, turns into an awesome touchscreen handheld

Netbooks are going to be hot this year, with both Dell and Sony — among others — trying to get in on the Asus Eee PC and its success as a cheap, functional laptop for light computer use. So how about a net-tablet? That's basically what this modded Eee PC is, worked over by a Japanese modder who ditched the keyboard and turned the Eee into a handheld ultraportable tablet computer.

The end result is a fully-functioning UMPC that's only 1.68 pounds, with buttons on the face of it for simple navigation, and a stylus to interact with the touchscreen. It'd be interesting if the Eee PC's voice commands made it in, too.

There's talk about this being something of a prototype for an actual product. We hope so — we'd love to try it out. Check out the gallery below for more.

~ dvice.com

Have a great weekend,

- Caine

The Decade Comics Went Digital - Part 2

...picking up from Wednesday's look back the the decade. As you might guess, the last five years made the first five seem quite tame...

2004 - Z-Cult fm Comics Torrent site begins.

Z-Cult was a members only messageboard forum and torrent tracker started by a young man simply known as Serj. Members could post their torrents of shared digital comics. Just as Rich Johnston predicted, this was when downloading comics reached epidemic proportions.

At it's peak Z-Cult had over 70,000 members and new weekly comics were downloaded by the 40,000 people. The all time champ was Sin City with almost 100K downloads. Weekly DCP (Digital Comics Presevation) torrents of the new Wednesday comics reach the 40K range of downloads.

Eventually, in 2007, the site was asked to stop all torrenting of Marvel and DC comics. The site tried to make a go of it as a legitimate source of comics from other companies, as Serj explained, the site was not able to sustain itself.

Well, a decision was just made to call it a day. We had no legal threats since all those ones you covered but the site was dead in the water due to no Marvel or DC comics etc. After Marvel and DC tried to sue us, we decided to remove those [links to] comics, then every other publisher started sending us e-mails so we removed those too. In end we were left with a tracker but not many torrents on it. ~torrentfreak

Here is one members memories of Z-Cult:

Right up until Z-Cult received the simultaneous letters from DC and MARVEL a member could find absolutely anything there. Whether it be just released and still on the comic book shelf for you to go and buy if you so chose, a few months old, a few years old, still in print, now out of print, even items from the silver and golden age of comics. You could find all of them in it's place on Z-Cult. In some cases you may have needed to ask an admin to re-host it, a request not for the newly minted or weak of heart mind you, but if you wanted it then someone there had it or knew the person who had it.

I didn't discover Z-Cult until just a few months before it's demise and even then I got the feeling that the long term members knew it would all come crashing down as if the genie had been let out of the bottle. In a way it had. You see, Z-Cult was a bit like Fight Club in that, it's first rule was to not spread the word or talk about Z-Cult out in the open, in places like public forums or large chat sites like Twitter or Facebook.

It quickly became evident that everyone feared the worst. Newly uploaded comics lacked descriptions of any kind, in their place instead would simply be simple phrases such as: "Download it while you can." or "Don't wait, it won't be here forever." and nearly every post had at least one comment about not telling non forum members about Z-Cult or the comic.

Then one day a board wide post, readable on every topic, told the story of the letters and how they had stopped all activities while those in charge "figured out what to do". There was plenty of chatter about what might be done to sideline DC and MARVEL and keep Z-Cult open and functioning. There was talk of moving the entire community to another site, talk of this, talk of that, but Z-Cult would stay down for quite a while (I don't remember exactly how long somewhere between 3 - 6 weeks) before there was new chatter about all the comics that they could host legally.

There were comics they could host legally, older properties that were now in public domain, and even limited titles from other publishers such as number one issues, previews, and specials that a publisher would give permission to Z-Cult to host but as the genie had truly been let out of the bottle the magic was now gone.

2005 - Flashback Universe started

Yeah, I know what you are thinking - "Hey man, you can't put your own site in this article. That's like totally gauche!..." To which I would say, let's review a few facts...

Fact 1: We were the first people to specifically design comics for cbr format.

Fact 2: Over 123,000 comics have been downloaded from our site

Fact 3: We originated the term Paper Comic DeathWatch

Fact 4: Our comics are now distributed via iPod and Archos Tablet

So, yeah, I think it's safe to mention the creation of my site when talking about events that impacted digital comics. :)

Part 4 - Three Sites Begin Selling Downloadable Comics

2006 - Wowio launches

"WOWIO is today the only source where readers can legally access high-quality copyrighted ebooks from leading publishers for free. Readers have access to a wide range of offerings, including works of classic literature, college textbooks, comic books, and popular fiction and non-fiction titles." ~Wowio

Where are they now?

Caine asked them that very question on this site in August...


2006 - PullBoxOnline launches

Remember PullBoxOnline?

No, you don't.

And you know how I know you don't? Because not a single solitary soul has mentioned PullBoxOnline in any of the articles talking about LongBox. (Even though they are very similar) Observe...




So, let me refresh your memory - PullBoxOnline was established by Devil's Due Publishing to be their answer to be the comic book version of iTunes. (A phrase that keeps coming up in all the LongBox articles.)

From a PullBoxOnline Press Release

PULLBOX ONLINE features exciting titles such as Zombie: Feaste and CVO from IDW Publishing, Hack/Slash, Voltron, and Family Guy from Devil’s Due Publishing, Jim Mahfood’s GRRL Scouts and Stupid Comics, and coming soon, Nexus by Steve Rudeand, plus much, much more! New publishers and creators are popping up weekly! ~BrokenFrontier

Is PullBoxOnline still a live site?
I don't think so.

My attempts to download comics from them a few years ago was a complete disaster. (they charged my visa card, never sent any comics and then never responded to email inquiries about my order.)

You'll notice I don't have a link to the site...here's why...



2007 - Eyemelt launches

EyeMelt.com is your best bet for downloadable comics! We offer comics and graphic novels in a variety of genres, from established SLG creators as well as new artists you’ll want to check out. Prices start at only 69¢! ~Newsarama

Started by Dan Vado of Slave Labor Graphics, EyeMelt was a great step in the right direction for digital comics. The site was easy to use, and you could pick the format you wanted to read your comics in (pdf or cbr).

However, Dan later decided that having a separate site for digital comics ran a little cross purpose with his business, so he rolled EyeMelt up into the main SLG site where you can still buy digital versions of many SLG comics. :)

Part 5 - Digital Comics Hit the Big Time

2007 - Marvel Launches Digital Comics Unlimited

I covered Marvel's DCU pretty well here back in 2007. What I'll say today is I am VERY impressed with how well Marvel seems to be doing keeping this site going and putting new and/or original content on the site. (like this cool free Preview of the Siege Prologue )

I would love it if it weren't in Flash. I've grown accustomed to how the site works, but I still think the Flash thing is going to be a showstopper if and when the iTablet (or is it the iSlate now?) finally gets sold by Apple. I say that because you still can't view Flash on an iPhone or iPod Touch. Still, maybe Apple (or is it Adobe?) will have worked out whatever the problem with Flash is by then.

2008 - 2009 - Comics in your Pocket

And speaking of iPhones and iPods, I think it's safe to wrap up this decade long look back with a few links to some of the Comics on iPhone/Android phone articles that came out in the last 2 years...

Early 2008 - ComicZeal launches - ComicZeal gives people a way to read cbr files on their iPods or iPhones.

October 2008 - PanelFly launches - PanelFly begins selling single issue comics via the iPhone.

November 2008 - iVerse Comics launches - Like PanelFly, iVerse begins selling single issues of comics via the iPhone. Most notable are the huge success they had with Atomic Robo and the Star Trek Movie Prequels.

December 2008 - Comixology's iPhone App launched - sort of app version of a social networking and news site for comic fans.

March 2009 - Robot Comics launches - A Comic reader for Android (Google) Phone platform.

July 2009 - Comixology's Comic Reader launched giving users a comic store on the iPhone. iVerse and PanelFly follow this format as well now.

October 2009 - Marvel Comics comes to the iPhone/iPod Touch - on all PanelFly, iVerse and ComiXology. Currently the selection is a bit limited, but the reading experience has been pleasantly enjoyable!

December 2009 - Saturn Knight, Knight Before Christmas distibruted via Robot Comics for Archos 5 MID and Android phones.

What will the future bring?

Here are my predictions for the next decade:

• Apple will announce an iTablet in January, with a target release date of March. Prices will run from $700 to $1000 dollars making the device a little out of the range of most comic buyers. So, it won't be quite the paper comic killer I've expected it to be.
  
• Inspired by Apple, Google will release an Android Tablet device for $500. Other companies will jump on board as well.
  
• DC will finally get off their ass and release comics in some digital format. Either via the web or a distribution deal with Apple (or some other tablet maker.)
  
• eReaders will disappear as people flock to more utilitarian devices, like the iTablet.
  
• One of the big four (Dark Horse, DC, Image or Marvel) will completely stop printing monthly paper comics opting for Digital and/or Trade Collections only.

Have a great weekend!

My DC Rant

So back in September, I mentioned how the first initial digital initiative by the new DC Entertainment was to send me some spam for ringtones or some such crap.

Well, I'm glad to announce that after two months, DC has now succeeded in moving forward with another foray into the digital frontier. With more spam. And this time they are pimping Batman Hoodies and Superman Watches.

Man, Time Warner, way to pull the effing trigger and unleash a damn tsunami of digital goodness on the masses!

Now, I guess it take a bit of time to make changes in a organization as old as DC Publishing, but after two months, the best they can do is send me spam for the WB Shop? Wasn't Dianne Nelson brought on to specificially find a way to better utilize the DC properties. In two months they still haven't been able to whip up cool ipod comics or something?

Meanwhile at Marvel...

And what really makes this seem even more rediculous is that in case you missed it, last week Marvel announced it is now distributing comics through not one, but THREE different iPod Comic vendors!

At ComiXology you can now buy...

Ditko's Spider-Man (1-6)
Civil War
Age of Apocalypse #1–6
Astonishing X-Men #1–24 (Full Whedon Cassaday run)
Captain America #1–30 (Brubaker, Epting)
Marvel Zombies #1–5
X-23 #1–6



At iVerse

Age of Apocalypse #1–6
Amazing Spider-Man #519–524
Astonishing X-Men #1–12
Captain America #1–6 (Brubaker, Epting)
Invincible Iron Man #1–6
X-23 #1–6



And Panelfly...

Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #1-25 (Lee, Ditko)
Amazing Spider-Man #519-524
Astonishing X-Men #1-24
Invincible Iron Man #1-16
X-23 #1-6
Age Of Apocalypse #1-6



Also Marvel has had a genuine hit on their hands with the Spider-Woman Motion Comic. I'm not really a fan of the format, [ Den of Geek covers most of my sentiments ] but kudos to Marvel for their success here.



But is it just in the digital arena that DC is lagging?

No. DC is also baffling me with their backwards thinking in publishing lately. For instance, without a doubt, they have a runaway hit with Blackest Night. And to capitalize on the momentum, they have several satellite books (Blackest Night Batman, Blackest Night Teen Titans, etc...)

At the same time, they are puting James Robinson on Justice League of America. James Robinson is an insanely talented writer whose Starman is one of the all time great runs of comics history.

So let me ask you - if you were running a comic book company, what would you do at this point?

1) Publish Blackest Night Justice League
2) Renumber Justice League with Robinson's first issue
3) Announce Robinson's first issue in big letters on the cover

OR

4) NONE of the above

If you answered 4, then you are apparently ready to work for DC.

Seriously, check out this lame cover for Robinson's first issue on Justice League (a meandering issue that attempts to wrap up plot threads that no one really gives a damn about btw...)

Could the Logo be any freaking smaller? I guess they didn't want anything to outshine the brilliant and innovative cover blurb - Out of the Ashes.

Remember when Grant Morrison took over the title and just how huge the logo was back then? It really made you feel like it was going to be new chapter in comics history (and it sort of was wasn't it?)

On the flipside, this cover, with its tiny JLA logo, looks more like a pisspoor Elseworlds knockoff.

Oh well, at least Robinson is wowing them on the awesome Cry for Justice mini-series. And by them, I mean fans of JLA Elite and Extreme Justice.

What about DC's trades and graphic novels?

To be honest, outside of the newly collected High Moon Vol 1, I haven't been impressed with a lot of DC's newly announced trade collections.

(BTW - congrats to David and Steve the High Moon creative team on their awesome Box 13, the first comic designed for the iPod! )

Here is what I don't understand about DC's collected editions - why are they so much more expensive than Marvels?

Check this out:

Here is DC Classic Library collections of Justice League by George Perez
Price: $37 for 176 pages. On what feels like crappy newsprint. :P



Here the Marvel Masterworks Deathlok
Price: $45 for 352 Pages. On high grade paper stock.



So for about $7 more, Marvel gives me almost 200 more pages on a better stock of paper! Now the DC Archives were on good paper stock, but they seem to be phasing those out in favor of these new (more expensive?) DC Classics Library editions. Why? What is Marvel doing differently that they can continue high quality collected editions and DC can't?

While I'm questioning DC's business wisdom, please tell me - is this REALLY going to be the cover for the new Steve Ditko Creeper collection?



That's got to just be some really slack assed artwork pulled together for Amazon, right? Still, I'm a little curious why DC Publishing Entertainment weren't able to make something better than that...

Here's what I did in 5 minutes in Photoshop...



Seriously - 5 minutes. Which looks like the better image to sell with?

I don't know. Maybe 2010 is going to be when Dianne Nelson really kicks it in high gear and we see some amazing things from DC, you know? Or maybe we will just get more stuff like this...



Thus endeth the rant. ;)

Before I go - hat's off to Dr. K for his amazing write up of the recent JMS Brave and the Bold featuring the Flash and Blackhawk! Great stuff Dr. K!

Also, thanks to Reno for encouraging me to rant this week! :)

Have a great weekend!

- Jim

Paper Comic DeathWatch: Comics in the clouds

Today's PCDW column was written by Caine (who is helping me out during a very busy month.) Take it away Caine!

We left off last time with: "Bottom line: I think the comics industry is headed for a Subprime Megastory Meltdown..."

As it turns out, that's not far off from the truth. It was announced recently that Nightwing, Robin, & Birds of Prey would all be canceled by DC upon their February issue release. Now, those books by themselves are not "Mega Stories". Each of them do however play a roll in the Mega Batman Story: "BATMAN:RIP" which has been a major part of DC'S 08 line up since May with Batman 676.

Each book has been on the stands, month after month, for at least nine years straight and some of the characters [most notably Dick Grayson/Nightwing] have 4-6 decades of continuity and fans.

None of that speaks to the three lost revenue streams that DC has eliminated in monthly comic book releases, cross overs, tie ins, and graphic novels.

PCDW Points: 60,000


QUOTATIONS:

Marvel Comics:
"Marvel’s investment in digital media, including digital publication of its comic books, is costing some profit on the publishing side, Peter Cuneo, vice chairman of the board, told analysts in today’s Q3 earnings call.

According to the transcript (via Seeking Alpha), Cuneo answered a question about lower publishing growth by reminding: “Remember also that we are making a substantial investment in our digital publishing effort and we’ve noted in our press release today that the out-of-pocket in 2009 we anticipate will be around $6 million for that effort.

So when you look at the publishing segment as a whole, you will see a decline in the profitability.” The company has invested $2.5 million to $3 million so far this year and plans to finish at $4 million. That would bring the total digital media investment for 2008-09 to about $10 million."

"Asked to flesh out the digital initiatives, CFO Kenneth West added: “I would imagine that probably in the year 2011, we are going to see the first real positive contribution associated with digital media. That would be a combination of ad revenues, digital subscribers picking up on the subscription of comic books but not until that period, because we’ll continue to invest in that and it’s going to take some time and the dollars that we’ve built into our forecast.”

He wouldn’t project the 2010 level of investment but said “we would anticipate the continuation of the digital investment for our future.” -the beat

PCDW Points: 50,000

Darkhorse Comics:
"With that said, some of the traditional formats seem to be less desirable. We see a softening--I wouldn't say collapse--but a continued softening of the pamphlets and that's for a variety of reasons.

As we see the age of the average comic book reader move upward, I think people who read comics and graphic novels are less interested in getting 20 to 22 pages of story once a month over a period of months as opposed to picking up a book that has a complete story and is in a format that they can put on their bookshelf.

From our standpoint, the market for pamphlets continues to soften. That doesn't mean it's still not strong for certain titles, but it's harder and harder to break new titles onto the comic shelves." - icv2.com

PCDW Points: 100,000


CLOUD COMICS?

White Spaces

"The space between the channels on your television is where the future of communication, wireless Internet, and even portable television lives. The potential for these White Spaces is limited only by creativity, ingenuity, and the need for clear rules of the road."

"After more than four years of study and 18 months of intensive testing, the FCC is ready to open the TV white spaces. This decision promises to fast-track hundreds of millions of dollars of much needed investment capital and bring wireless broadband, education and public safety applications for all Americans." -youtube



Remember the PLASTIC that we reported on previously? The versatile reader with USB and wireless capabilities?



PLASTIC+WHITE SPACES= instant comics on the go from anywhere you can pick up a wireless signal. With this one two punch a consumer would no longer need to wait for their schedule to clear up so they could go to the comic shop/book store, you wouldn't have to wait for mail order comics to show up in your mailbox. The best part, you wouldn't be stuck sitting in front of you're computer reading comics online. The PLASTIC is portable.

PCDW Points: 80,000

APPLE / AT&T

Just over a week ago AT&T announced free Wi-Fi for iPhone and BlackBerry users, and now the wireless company has added 3,000 more Wi-Fi hotspots from hotpspot operater, Wayport. If you're an AT&T customer, your Wi-Fi outlook is getting better by the day. -lifehacker

PCDW Points: 20,000

READING COMICS USING iPOD TOUCH / iPHONE:

Unfortunately for comic fans, iTunes converts all photos (or jpeg comic images) to a downscaled resolution when transferring to your iPhone or iPod touch so comic jpegs are unreadable. Fortunately, iPod Touch fan Studangerous has put together the Ultimate icomic Thread to help people out. This thread explains how to use ComicViewer and iComic to read comics on your iPod Touch. Both apps utilize the touch-screen zoom, landscape view and accelerometer to provide a great portable electronic comic book reader and zipped image viewer. -ipodtouchfans.com

PCDW Points: 30,000


iVERSE:

iVerse, a company that's turned Shadowhawk, Proof, Flash Gordon and several other comics titles into iPhone applications, will donate half of all proceeds from a "Hero Initiative Spotlight" book each month to the charity. The program kicks off this month with Shadowhawk v.2 #1, which is 99 cents in the app store. -newsarama

PCDW Points: 10,000

POP

Across the pond in the UK, Stuff.tv has the HAWT exclusive on Sony and Universal's joint venture spread PoP entertainment vending machines full of Sony PS3 games and Blu-ray discs and DVDs. You can even download media directly to your PMP or SD card. That part is pretty cool, actually.

An exact date wasn't announced, but they'll be popping up at movie theaters, airports/train stations/bus stations, gyms, college campuses, etc. very soon. -crunchgear

It would only seem logical that if there were a market full of wifi-comic consumers willing to pay, POP would carry comics as well.

PCDW Points: 10,000

Have a great weekend!

iPod Comic Questions

Last week I mentioned was was spending time re-engineering our League of Monsters comic to work better on the iPod. I never mentioned the publisher, as I have been waiting for them to go live with the application, but I can now. It's ComiXology who I interviewed a while back. They went live Friday at Comic Con and their iPod Comics application/comics store is available for download from iTunes now.

My post about working on the comic prompted several questions from Sphinx Magoo (as well as a few from people who contacted me directly.) I'm going to do my best to answer all of them today...

Q. Would it be possible to have the text balloons animate in some way so that they expand to a larger size when touched?

A. Yes and no. Currently, all of the iPod comic applications I've seen use static images without any type of true animation effects. A few (like genusApps Kamikaze iPod comic application ) have the type of fly out/expanding balloons you are talking about but I think they are just using two sets of images. One with the panel as is, and then one with the balloons isolated and enlarged.



They way the Kamikaze app works is pretty nifty actually, so if you have an iPod, download one of their comics and check it out.

Q. What sizes do you have to convert each of the images to be converted to iPod-legible format?

The iPod screen is 320 x 480 and some iPod comic vendors want all of your images to be that exact size. The beauty of the ComiXology process is that you can use various sizes and aspect ratios, so you aren't as tied down. My general advice is to keep the 2:3 aspect ratio in your head when dividing up your comic so all of your panels will look as uniform as possible.

Q. How do you go from a series of images to something which can be read on an iPod and Is there a way to test your comic on a computer before bringing it onto your iPod? I'd imagine that'd be a bit of a time-saver for making quick edits and such.

I think the question here, is how would your average comics creator put his comic on an iPhone, and the answer to this is not simple.

It's not like the web where after signing up with some web host, you simply tinker with html and post a bunch of jpgs to a web site. No, unfortunately, creating content for the iPhone OS involves Apple's Objective C language and you MUST have an Apple computer to test your application as there isn't a Windows emulator (that I know of) that would allow you to develop iPod applications on a pc.

So, unless you are prepared to learn Objective C AND buy an Apple computer to develop on, this leaves you with two options.

1. You can partner up with a iPod comic vendor to put your comic on the iPod.

2. Or you can subcontract a freelance Apple developer to help you with the process.

I chose option 1, as I felt the advantage of working with a vendor is you can benefit from their marketing support.

Q. So who is the best iPod comic vendor to work with?

Well, I think that's a matter of personal preference. I chose ComiXology because I like the very slick system they have developed which uses Photoshop to help you prepare your files and doesn't necessarily restrict you to the 320x480 screen proportions. However, there are many other companies making iPod comics ( iVerse, Robot Comics, Kamikazee, Clickwheel, etc...) and they all take submissions, so you have lots options.

So, if you are a comics creator who wants to put your comic on the iPhone/iPod I would suggest the first step is to buy an iPod Touch (they are the cheapest of the two devices) and spend some time reading some of the comics available from the iTunes store. That will help you understand the limitations of the format as well as get you familiar with all the various iPod Comic vendors.

Have a great day!

- Jim

Paper Comic Deathwatch: Wonderdogs and Clickwheels

Today I have to turn the hands back the Paper Comic Deathwatch clock because one of the big players (Wowio) in the digital comics scene seems to be having a bit of a problem of late.

For those of you who didn't catch it, Heidi MacDonald ran this post from T Campbell detailing his problems with the new version of Wowio...

The most chilling part is this:

Q3’s payout is hardly relevant, because thanks to the changes made to the site in the last two months, our earnings have dropped 97.3%. I’m not going to fight over less than a hundred dollars. So all Wowio had to do was pay me for Q2 and I’d be out of their hair. Sadly, they couldn’t even manage that.

From all accounts, it sounds like digital comics have lost a good ally in the fight against paper comics. :(

PCDW Points: -20,000

On the Flipside: ClickWheel makes it's move!

I mentioned iVerse comics last week, and in that week, ClickWheel, another site devoted to making comics available to iPods and iPhones, has been featured quite a bit of late...

Here on newsarama:

> Clickwheel - Making up Ground in the Online Comics World

and here on The Beat:

> ELEPHANTMEN joins Clickwheel

Clickwheel LTD is proud to announce a new addition to its premium roster in ELEPHANTMEN. Written by industry mainstay, Richard Starkings with art by Moritat and Ladronn and published in print by Image comics, ELEPHANTMEN tells the story of the ‘Unhumans,’ The result of genetic engineering, the Unhumans have since served their wartime purpose and must now find new ways to survive in society. True to it’s Sci-Fi themes, ELEPHANTMEN and Starkings are eager to help Clickwheel push the boundaries of comics as we know them...

ELEPHANTMEN is available monthly at >Clickwheel.net. One $1.99 purchase earns three formats: PDF, CBR and iPhone formatting. (Via the Clickwheel iPhone reader available free on the Apple App Store.)

PCDW Points: 20,000

Finally - Will Wonderdog is Kill Comics?

There has been quite a bit of discussion written recently about the current issue of Teen Titans where Wonderdog is introduced into the DC universe.

>Heidi MacDonald's post on the topic gets a record number of comments on the Beat when she suggests:

...the Superfriends cartoon is a low point, not just in superhero history but the annals of animation

Meanwhile >Johanna Draper at Comics Worth Reading seems to agree with with a large portion of those of us who are turned off by the story...

I cannot believe how bad this issue is. You ever read a comic, flip to the credits, and say to yourself, “There’s no way he actually wrote that unless he was possessed!”? This is one of those issues.

For those of you who have not read the issue, here's my recap and take on the whole thing:
Wendy and Marvin (who are now sidekicks living in Titans Tower) find a dog who looks a lot like Wonderdog from the old Superfriends cartoon. Everyone thinks the dog is cute and would make a good mascot. Later that night while Wendy and Marvin are alone, the dog turns into a sort of Cerberus hellhound and kills Marvin. It then chases Wendy around for 4 or 5 pages before killing(?) her. (We don't actually see her die.)

Here's my problem with the story. If you are completely unaware of who Wonderdog, Wendy and Marvin are, then what you have is a cliched plot that has its roots in the Trojan Horse story and has since showed up in everything from Gremlins to >Far Out Space Nuts.

However, if what is supposed to redeem this story is the touchstones of the old Superfriends dynamics, then I sort of feel it's a poor use of those touchstones - or rather shortsighted.

If you are using characters that's you've introduced into a story because people have fond memories of those characters (or just memories in general) wouldn't it be wiser to use this as a springboard to fully flesh them out and make them interesting and viable characters today?

Just killing them outright feels exactly like what it is, a cheap gimmick used to goose sales or interest in the book that ultimately weakens the impact of said gimmick everytime it's used. I understand every *dark* story can't be MiracleBoy rampaging in London, but they should try to be better than this.

I normally spare you gentle readers from my rants against such things, instead unloading on my good friend, "Doc Comics."

Here's what the Doc had to say about my angst...

I see what your saying, though I think what your pointing out is just not great storytelling, which is common in comics and uncommented on by you mostly (as well as most other comic book fans)--witness your recent defense of Secret Invasion.

I think what really has people upset is that badness is visited upon these old characters. I agree you probably wouldn't have complained if it were done well, but to swallow heaping loads of other sales boosting gimmicks or cliched storylines only to choke on this one suggests there's an element that makes this one different, and I think that's it. I don't think your reaction would be as negative if these had been new/unknown characters.

Having said all that, I do think you are right in your analysis, I just view this as "Modern Comic Books Act Like Modern Comics"--film at 11. There's nothing newsworthy here beyond it being SUPERFRIENDS characters, and other than that, this event ain't that newsworthy (as Mary Marvel, Blue Beetle, Mad Hatter, Sue Dibney, and any number of other characters will tell you).

I have to agree with the Doc on this one - what is getting everyone riled up is no different than any of the other crap that's been shoveled our way the past couple of years, it's just been made worse because now the infection is spreading into the cartoons we love as well. :\

PCDW Points: 5,000

- Jim

Paper Comic Deathwatch: No More Bhuddas!

Official: Virgin Comics Shuts NYC Offices

From Publisher's Weekly - Virgin has shut down it's comics group...

Virgin Comics, the high-profile 2006 international joint venture between Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and the India-based comics publisher Gotham Entertainment, has been shut down. The company’s New York office and publishing unit has been closed and the eight people that staff it have been laid off.

So this kills all hope of me ever seeing Deepak Chopra's Buddha team up with Wolverine.

PCDW Points: 50

(let's be honest - this company was't really publishing paper comics in the first place were they? Those were movie pitches with ads.)

Murderdrome iPhone Comic

Rich Johnston points the way to people who are using the new iPhone/iTouches to distribute comics

“2000AD” artist PJ Holden demonstrates how his and writer Al Ewing's "Murderdrome" comic works on an iPhone or iTouch.

In the same article, Rich points out that iVerse Comics, a digital comic company is now producing digital long form comic books for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Below is a example of how their comics work - pretty slick actually!

Finally, I went on Youtube and found this: Comics On Small Screens

I don't know - the size of the panels looks exactly like what people think of when they say, "I hate trying to read web comics with scrunchy type..." but this is definitely building up steam...

PCDW Points: 1000

Meanwhile - What's up with Kindle?

Ah, the Kindle...the Amazon eReader that's taken the world(?) by a storm despite its rather Soviet Issued design aesthetics...is a sleeker, more robust version coming down the pike? Apparently yes according to BusinessWeek who are saying...

...that Amazon.com plans to unveil a larger-screen model of its Kindle e-book player, aimed at students, in the coming months.

And CrunchGear has a nice rendering of what the new model might look like along with this bit of information...

...The first is an updated version with the same sized screen, a smaller form factor, and an improved interface. The source told us that Amazon has “skipped three or four generations,” comparing the old Kindle to the 1st gen iPod and the new version to something like the sexy iPod Mini.

And while I'm sure the rendering is just a guess as to what the guys at Frog Design have developed for the new look and feel of Kindle 2.0, I'm willing to bet the new version is still closer to Dell coyote ugly than Apple iPod sexy.

Anyway, in everything I've read about the new Kindles, I've not seen anything to suggest they will be able to handle color images, so while this may not be a paper comic killer in of itself, it will most likely hasten the demise of print media in general. So there will be a sort of trickle down impact on comics as print companies react to supply and demand changes and a social paradigm impact as reading from a device becomes more accepted.

UPDATE: While working on this article yesterday, Engadget reported Amazon puts the kibosh on Kindle 2.0 rumors saying...

Amazon spokesman Craig Berman told the New York Times today that there's nothing in store for this year, and that a new version won't happen before "sometime next year at the earliest."

PCDW Points: 2000 <-- special Kindle Hot Pink Points

From Ink to the Internet: Comic Books Evolve

Here's an interesting article from BusinessWeek/GigaOm(who?) running down the various new media initiatives from the big two comic companies this year.

There's a lot of stuff you've probably read before in the article if you are a faithful reader of PCDW, but there is this interesting bit...

While sales of traditional entertainment forms such as music CDs and DVDs have decreased or flattened, there hasn't been a similar sea change forcing the comics industry to go digital—the paper-based comics business is still doing well. Combined sales of graphic novels and comic books in the U.S. and Canada hit $705 million in 2007—a 10% bump up from 2006, and sales of graphic novels have quintupled since 2001.

So if demand is still high for print, what's driving the digital moves? Opportunity. "We want people to see these stories through as many distribution points as possible," Buckley said. So Marvel is trying a number of digital formats for its properties. Last year the company launched Digital Comics Unlimited, a subscription-based service that charges $50 a year for access to more than 4,000 (soon to hit 5,000) comic books online. Since the launch, Buckley said Marvel has learned quite a bit. "The print and digital businesses complement each other," he said. "One is not cannibalizing the other."

Thanks to boox909 who sent me this bit of info via private messages on the Golden Age Comics Messageboard which, btw, is an AWESOME place to get Free Public Domain comic books like the ones I post every Monday.

More news about the Apple iTablet

MacRumors.com explains the details behind a new patent by Apple which details Multi-Touch Mac User Interface along with an image from said patent that shows what this new iTablet might look like...

In the Patent, Apple explains that on a tablet Mac, the buttons of a control box may be smaller than a users finger and located close together. Therefore it may be difficult for the user to make a selection directly without possibly pressing an undesirable button. To solve this problem, at least a portion of the control box would be enlarged, including the buttons therein when the user places their thumb over the control box.

I've said it before, and will definitely say it again - if when Apple finally unleashed their version of a eReader or tablet PC, that will pretty much be the final straw for not just comics but newspapers, magazines, books and just about everything else on paper.

PCDW Points: 5000

Before I close, I'd like to thank Caine, Boox909, Markus and Medusa who sent me articles this week!

- Jim

Digital Comics Watch | Dateline

I can't exactly remember how I stumbled on to Flashback Universe. I imagine it was a google search for "digital comics" or something close to it that brought me here. Having all ready downloaded CDisplay I was eager for digital comics to read with it that were on the up & up and I was astounded when I found the FBU.

Raven & RuneWraith in particular grabbed my attention and I can remember scouring all of the available downloads to get another few pages of either character. Sadly there is precious little of either of them in the current offerings.

That brought me to the Character page, which in turn led me to the extra's page, and that in turn led me to the donate page. You see where I'm going here? You had to donate to get a peek behind the curtain. I wanted to look so I donated. It was my first Paypal transaction ever, in fact I had to get an account and do all that goes along with that to make the donation.

That got me Jim's email. :)

Jim's life has never been the same, you can be sure of that that.

I began emailing him a couple times a week. First it was about the FBU and clarifying questions to make sure I understood the entire "line" of comics. Then I began emailing him ideas for other books he could do. I was intrigued to find out that Jim and Pierre have created a lot more characters than whats shown on the web site and I wanted to know more about them.

I wanted to know why he hadn't done a "who's who" type of book which I personally loved.

I subscribed to this blog and I can remember when he started doing the Paper Comics Death Watch. Since I'm also a gadget freak I kept running into gadgets and other tech that I thought could be used, or adapted to be used in comics. I would send Jim links to them, sometimes they'd show up in the PCDW posts. Sometimes not.

After the 20th suggestion or so Jim asked if I wanted to write a post on his blog, maybe do a column. This only emboldened me further so I began pitching comics to him. Some intrigued him, others not so much, but I eventually intrigued him enough to actually do a Raven comic (which is scripted, finished, & turned in).

Soon after Jim began listing me on the contributor page.

The bloging I've done, until recently, has centered around "Digital Comics". That is: comics read on a device rather than printed on paper. The news in this department has been lacking as of late. Let's review:

TABLETS
For the last year or so we've been blogging about tablets. Sometimes it was nothing more than rumors, but they seemed like strong rumors when we passed them off to you. Some looked, and still do look really cool:

The Plastic: A flexible tablet no thicker than a sheaf of paper updated through RSS over wifi. I'd still love to have one.

The Courier: A tablet from Microsoft designed to take on the iPad head on. This one might of had two screens that folded up.

Touchbook: The tablet where the screen and the keyboard separate. I tried to buy one, what a mess.

Crunchpad: Rumors of this one hit the internet before the iPad even launched. The pedigree of the people behind Crunchpad seemed just right. Everyone was sure this would get made.

Where are they all now? They may be in development, or some stage of it, but what about comics? Nothing really.

DIGITAL READER(s) WEBSITES
Within the same year we've brought you news regarding websites with built in comic book readers, or branded reader software that could be downloaded.

Comics XP: They pitched bridging the gap between comics delivered over the internet to a reader and comics bought at a comic book shop by selling digital comics on SD cards at comic shops. I thought it was clever.


Carbonated Comics: There really hasn't been much movement over at CC at all. On twitter they've stated that it's been tough to do what they're attempting and it looks like their right.

Longbox: The iTunes of digital comics with a built in marketplace. Two or three announcements regarding Longbox made quite a splash - even at the SDCC.

Where are they all now? They may be in development, or some stage of it, but what about comics? Comics XP has a single page web site up stating that they will return with an update coming soon. Carbonated is still up and offering comics. Longbox is nowhere to be found.

DIGITAL COMICS COMMUNITY/ MARKET

We've blogged about completely digital initiatives such as Wowio, Zuda and others even fewer of you will remember. Team FBU even had a few comics pitched to Zuda. Some got in, some didn't.

Where are they all now? They may be in development, or some stage of it, but what about comics? None really.


OTHER
I blogged about a few other things one could classify as "Digital Comics". One in particular has actually continued to move right along if not get larger in scope: Podcasting.

The Red Panda Adventures: Keeping 1930s Toronto safe from gangsters, racketeers and power-mad supervillains - Thrill once again to the tales of that Masked Man of Mystery; The Red Panda! All-new tales of two-fisted pulp justice!

Batman: The Ace of Detectives: Is an ongoing monthly serial adventure based on the modern incarnation of the character in DC Comics.

Justice League Heroes.

Playing for keeps.

COMIC APPS
This area, by far, has seen the most news. Comixology, PanelFly, Graphic.ly, Iverse, ComicZeal and more have all been reported on here at the FBU and all over the net over and over again. So much so that we've become quite picky about which Comic App news we bring you since it's all over the place for you to find.s the comic book industry, as a whole, better or worse because of any of the items listed above? Are readership numbers up? Are sales up? Are comics more attractive to younger people? Ladies? Citizens outside of the U.S.?

We can't answer that yet. It's too early still. One things for sure though, we'll need more than another year (give or take) to make a determination one way or another.


If team FBU were to put out another comic book how would all of you prefer to receive it? A CBR file? A PDF file? A comic book app? Have any of you read any of the FBU comics on the ROBOT COMICS app/system? Do you like that? What about a "floppy" that we've cursed to death by 2015 here at the FBU? Would any of you like to read an actual paper comic book in your hands? Are any of you listeners of audio fiction? Podcasts? Would you be interested in a Tales of the FBU podcast?

We'd love to know what you think, honestly.

Have a great weekend,

Caine.