Tag: downloadable comics

In recent weeks, we've been seeing the exclusivity monster poke it's head up on the digital platform. Marvel's exclusive with Comixology. Valiant is exclusive with Comixology. DC might as well be exclusive with Comixology. But, for the most part, there appears to be a catch: the digital exclusives seem to be just for the monthly editions. Single issues if you prefer.

Read it and weep! Go have yourself a good cry (probably at a Disney movie). In the tradition of occasionally free newsprint tabloid comics like the one-shot Caboose and quarterly Smoke Signal, a collaborative comic will be available this weekend at MoCCA! Official press release below:

Mark Waid has been teasing his upcoming webcomics project(s) for a little while now. The same stuff that got him involved with this digital Nova comic Marvel's putting out in relation to Avengers Vs. X-Men. As of today, you can download a free sample of his upcoming format.

Marvel's SXSW panel has started and Twitter is going berserk. (Remember, Twitter was launched at SXSW.) There's also a reporting from CNET who seem to have gotten a heads up, even if the reporter doesn't seem to be aware Jack Kirby and Jerry Robinson are dead (or that the Joker isn't a Marvel character).

When DC launched their comics app, these many months ago, a lot of people wondered why there wasn't a Vertigo app to go along with it. Well, wonder no more. Today Vertigo announced you can download a standalone Vertigo app from the App Store/iTunes. You can also get some 99-cent Sandman issues while you're there.

I just got off the phone with Michael Murphey from iVerse Media, and the real details about Diamond's digital comics distribution program bear minimal resemblance to how this was initially portrayed by early accounts from the ComicsPro meeting. Moreover, and this will be the first time I've said this about a Diamond Digital project, it seems like a very reasonable plan.

Digital comic downloads are a bit of a strange market. (Note: I'm talking about paid/legal downloads.) The big thrust, thus far, has been the battle of proprietary formats. Comixology has their own format. iVerse has a format. Graphic.ly has a format. Apple has a format. Amazon has a format. If you're from New Jersey, you'll probably want to tell me my mother has a format. Well, as of the ComicsPro meeting, the focus has changed a little, because now Diamond officially has a comics app.

Do you REALLY want to work in comics? Have a got a deal for you. There's a job posted over at eLance (a portal where you bid on jobs, lowest bidder frequently winning) that gets you into digital comics production:

Over at CBR, Kiel Phigley had a chat with John Rood, DC's Executive VP-Sales, Marketing and Business Development, about DC's digital sales and it's worth taking a closer look at. The biggest question, which is still utterly unanswered, is how many copies these digital comics are selling. The second biggest question is where these sales are coming from and Rood does get into that, just a little:

In the latest announcement of its kind, Dark Horse announced today that as of December 14, 2011 it will be releasing all its comics simultaneously in both digital and print. (Remember, just say no to the "day and date" phrase.) Over at Robot 6, Brigid Alverson did a little digging and found out this simultaneous release extends to original graphic novels and trade editions, with a price point from $2.99 to $7.99.

We all know DC signed a deal to give Amazon digital exclusivity to 100 graphic novels (and it kind of blew up in their face). You were probably thinking that you could read one of those DC digital graphic novels, like Watchmen, on any device that runs a Kindle app. (Bleeding Cool has a tweet of Warner Bros. saying just that.) It turns out, this is not the case. As DC's Hank Kanalz says, "You can't do that today but that’s the intention going forward. Like other other Amazon digital editions, readers will be able to read their graphic novels on any device."

Did you ever notice it’s more expensive to buy new digital comics, than it is to buy new print ones?  The big trend from DC and Marvel is to put the same cover price...