Geek Out!: In search of a better comic book app

I want the next generation of interactive comic.

I want the characters to talk to me.

I want to talk to the characters. I want to be part of the story.

I want personalized AR elements as part of the experience.

I want to see some innovation.

Dan, may I introduce you to a wonderful invention called the 'video game'?

Marvel and DC both need to offer all-you-can-eat subscriptions for exhaustive back issue collections. Give it a 2 or 3 year gap so as not to cannibalize current sales and charge me $20 a month. I'd sign up for both in an instant.
I suppose their concern is that the stories that are really worth reading are being sold as trade paperbacks now and they don't want to disrupt those sales.

are those apps available to Sprint?? I have the Samsung Moment....

nerds

You guys should add Graphic.ly to this list.

Dan, I think you may also want to check out "Choose Your Own Adventure."

Dan,

I want you to put down the iPad, step outside and interact with some real people. They'll talk to you, interact with you and be part of your story... just as long as you don't freak them out.

i agree with daveO

What the heck is wrong with a real book?? Lasts for years and never needs a recharge!

nighthawk brand tv dinners are delicious. Try them instead of an ipad.

I've been collecting comics since the "Dark Phoenix" days, and I have to say that nothing in the business is making it easier to collect. Shops are disappearing, popular back issues are nearly impossible to find... if Marvel put their books online and charged 1.99 (instead of 3.99 for the hard copies), I would buy an Ipad the next day. Please!

Nighthaawk, I love books. I had about a dozen long boxes of comics, and have several bookshelves full of books. My comics got ruined though a few years ago (lots of mourning followed).

And with real books you can read on the plan during taxi, takeoff, and landings.

But it can be a pain to lug around a stack of comics or a couple of books.

I can easily see iPad like devices being the norm in K-12 and college classrooms in the very near future too (Seton Hill University is moving that way now).

And having my D&D books as PDF files on my iPad – really easier to lug around.

[...] CNN Blog: Geek Out!: In search of a better comic book app [...]

While ComicBook hasn't been updated for the iPad yet, Comic Zeal has. It works a lot like ComicBook and runs with Windows. Yes, it's $7.99 but well worth the expense for the mileage you'll get out of it.

Don't forget about Panelfly! Can't wait to see what they have in store for the iPad...

Marvel does offer a "back-Issue" subscribtion... I am new to comics but have always loved them, I just wish Marvel wouldn't wait so long to make the back issue availible in their subsriction service... it's like 60 bucks for the year by the way.

What needs to be addressed in this piece is how motion Comics can really come into play. Like the treatment which was expertly done for the Watchmen. This is an obvious revenue source for Marvel and DC and a way to breathe new life into assets which they already own. I for one would pay big money for a motion comic that followed the Death of Robin, or Crises of Infinite Earths, or any number of Marvel Story lines whic today get packaged into Graphic Novels

well this is a nice addition. i still remember the old captain planet comic books, which i still have a few of which are in good condition.

Wow, "independent apps" is quite the euphemsim, CNN. What you really mean by "independent apps" is pirated files - scanned comics available for download, with neither the publisher nor the creators receiving any payment whatsoever. "Independent apps" means stealing, plain and simple, and as a comic creator, I'm offended that you offer up such morally reprehensible behavior as an alternative.

Did you get paid to write this piece, Chris Waldrip? The people who create comics would like the same courtesy.

Actually, no I didn't get paid to write this. Thanks for asking.

And my comic files are not "stolen". I happened to be able to scan many of my comics before I had to get rid of them (due to water damage and mildew). So now I can read my comics just fine, and don't have to worry about the pages sticking together or further deteriorating.

As I stated in the article, I'd be happy to use the publisher provided apps, if they had anything I was interested in. As great as back issues of comics are (and its a great thing since many can be hard to obtain). I want current issues, and I'd like a larger selection.

Right now the Comic publishers are scared of the internet, and understandably. The music industry and Hollywood were too. And in the absence of a distribution method provided by the content creators that was acceptable to the market, the market developed its own products (BitTorrent, et. al). The music industry and Hollywood have started to see the light though. I happily buy and download music from iTunes and Amazon. I subscribe to several TV shows through iTunes. But I'm still happy to rent or buy DVDs of my favorite movies to watch on our living room TV.

As long as the Comic publishers are slow to adapt, others will take their place.

Myself, I haven't read or bought a new comic in ages – except for the Watchmen motion comic I downloaded through iTunes. I don't want to have to deal with my local comic shops, and I really don't have room to box them. I guess I could just throw them away when I'm done. But if I'm going to do that I might as well not bother, or maybe just break down, hang out at my local comic shop, and read the comics there (and return to the rack).

Ron Marz: Why do you assume all comic files are automatically illegal? There are a ton of copyright-expired comic files available at Golden Age Comics.co.uk, and public domain comics at the Internet Archive. Some comics creators have made their comics available for free in CBR/CBZ format as well. You need an app to read all these, but you wouldn't be breaking any laws.

And I assume it was YOUR CHOICE that you didn't get paid for this piece, right, Chris? When people illegally download material, my fellow creators and publishers aren't given that choice. We just get ripped off.

You say "I want current issues and I'd like larger selection." That's swell. I'd like a cookie. Doesn't mean I get one without paying for it. You can rationalize it all you want by saying "the market developed its own products," but anyone who is downloading illegal files is stealing from the very medium they're interested in.

Sounds like perhaps you're not illegally downloading youself. That's great. It was still irresponsible of you to provide a plaform for those who troll "shady Internet back alleys."

Kim: Of course not all comic files are illegal. But a great many of them are, including all the new ones that show up each and every week when new comics are released. And that's the problem.

Marz: But you're attacking the apps that allow you to read both legal and illegal comics, which is obnoxious.

Kim: No, I'm attacking the use of those of the apps to download illegal comics, which is stealing.

The new app also will create big challehnges for those who have prospered by selling print comics as wholesalers or retailers. One example in Baltimore: Steve Geppi, who has used some of his earnings to buy a piece of the Orioles and start an entertainmejnt museum that features comic book characters. http://bit.ly/bD6JPW

[...] how we read news online Scroll down, start at: Me and my iPad shadow Magazine Apps on the iPad Geek Out!: In search of a better comic book app 1 – Scrivener: The iPad and Mac Development 2 – Scrivener: Scrivener for iPad The iPad [...]

Ron, what about iTunes and Windows Media Player? They allow users to play MP3s from any source – bought or downloaded illegally.

As I've said twice now – if you give me the chance to buy the comics I want to buy, I'll buy them. I've got the spare income, I've got a history of paying for what I want. And I think we all realize that there are always going to be people who steal.Always have been, and always will be.

The point I was trying to make is that the problem with the publisher's apps is that the selection is small. Would you go to a movie theater that didn't play any movies you wanted to see, or would you look elsewhere.

Please try my PDF/cbz reader, Cloud Readers, which is absolutely free. I'm an independent developer trying have more fun with my iPad.

I like the PSP Comic APP, it offers more than one publisher (IDW, Marvel, Disney, etc) via the SonyStore.

Thank you Satoshi. I tried your app and it works great. Could you maybe add how to transfer files with a wire to the instructions? I saw a blip for it at the beginning when I first started the app, but couldn't find the intructions in the instructions sheet (just wireless instructions). Also, being able to import CBR files would be awesome. But i'm grateful to be able to import my PDF files so thanks!!!

books online are great, wether they are e-books or conventional hardbound and paperback books '.'

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