Comments on: Unbound | Unwrapping the apps

By: JM Ringuet

JM Ringuet — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:10:16 +0000

As far as I know the iVerse app is going to be on Android soon, as well as on the PSP. My own comic ‘Stolen Suns’ is distributed by iVerse and available in the app. I would also want to point out that the first issue is completely free and has been specially created for the iPhone screen, so no resizing craziness here. If comics are going to work on the smartphones I would think that they have to be designed for it. Taking a print comic and cutting it to pieces is not the best solution (although it works pretty well).
If you want to check my book look for it in the iVerse app or do a search in iTunes for Stolen Suns.

By: Blackjak

Blackjak — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:55:55 +0000

Okay, I understand the whole “keeping the integrity of the original comic” idea, but an iphone is nowhere near the same as a printed comic book. To work to a new audience, the comics *should* be adapted (in my personal opinion), otherwise it’s like going to see a movie of a book which is just hours of text for you to read (possibly with the occasional illustration thrown in.

With larger readers (Apple’s rumoured iTablet, a colour Kindle or Sony Reader) the comics would be fine, but a tiny screen like a phone needs to have the comic adapted to work and flow better.

Some comics are actually already bearing this in mind, with the latest series of Atomic Robo, for example, apparently already leaning to “widescreen” panels that can more easily be converted to iPhone screens.

I read comics in print format and on the iPhone.
In fact iVerse’s version of Atomic Robo made me buy the trade!

The reading experience on the iPhone should be just as natural as reading the paper version. You shouldn’t have to pan and zoom.

Anyhoo, that’s just my two pence worth.

By: Goodman

Goodman — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:38:47 +0000

I think ComiXology has the superior app, both in terms of selection and the organization of the store. I do find constantly turning my iPhone’s orientation a pain sometimes. Even though the iVerse app crops comics more severely, it’s nice sometimes to just flip from panel to panel without turning the phone. I’m dropping a surprising amount of money on comics on the iPhone, and really enjoying it.

As for Android, the Palm OS and Web OS, I’m sure if anyone writes comparable programs for those platforms it’ll be reporting on here. But so far Apple has sold 50 million iPhones and iPod Touches, so it’s understandable that this platform is getting most of the developers’ attention. Sony has also sold 50 million PlayStation Portables, and the PSP will get it’s own comic reader soon.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:25:22 +0000

I think Panelfly is definietly the sweetest of the three. I’m not sure what jason is talking about as it reads very similarly to the comixology app, and isn’t just a glorified PDF reader. What makes Panelfly best is the fact that its so much more visually pleasing than the others. Hope they can come up with a free app soon for people to browse!

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:07:16 +0000

Android anyone? iPhone isn’t the only option out there.

By: Rich

Rich — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:20:06 +0000

I’ve been using comiczeal to read cdr files I already have during my daily commute.
I’m impressed with how well it works.

By: Mark Gerrits

Mark Gerrits — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:48:38 +0000

I have to say I much prefer Comixology’s philosophy (and I guess Panelfly’s though it’s not available here yet) of staying faithful to the original comic to iVerse’s approach and I’m glad it seems to be winning for now (with Marvel’s PSP digital comics seeming to use a similar system). IVerse’s fixed landscape chunks might work for some comics but when the page layout doesn’t happen to support the landscape format very well, things simply get butchered. I guess it’s like subtitles vs dubbing for foreign films, you have to make some compromise about how close you want to stick to the original vision of the artists.

There’s also Ave!comics btw which is available on multiple platforms including the iphone, but it mostly has original French comics, only one or two series translated into English and some public domain stuff.

By: Jetson

Jetson — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 01:32:57 +0000

While most of these are print comics being adapted for the iPhone/iPod – there are a few original comics that are being made specifically for the screen like Super Kaiju Hero Force (www.kaiju.mobi) and Gideon’s Trip (http://appshopper.com/books/gideons-trip-1) that work better without all the zooming and cut up panels.

By: Fox

Fox — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 20:48:25 +0000

I’m going to second that request for a Palm application. I’m not sure what Palm T/X is, but WebOS is the future operating system on the Palm Pre and the Palm Pixi phones.

The Palm Pre (after only a single release) has already been labeled by most critics as the best alternative phone to the iPhone, it would seem wise to develop a comic app for it. If anything, the Palm Pre is the phone that has the strongest buzz with kids these days- THAT should mean something for people trying to sell comics.

By: Alexander

Alexander — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:58:25 +0000

How about some apps for Android .. given that it is the fastest growing and soon dominent cellphone operating system on the marked
And it has not even been out a full year yet

By: LikeaPhoenix

LikeaPhoenix — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:03:09 +0000

But whatabout apps for Palm, specifically, Palm T/X? The Palm T/X has a huge HD screen and is perfect for viewing e-comics.

By: Blackjak

Blackjak — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:11:02 +0000

At least iVerse seem to rejig the comics to flow better on the iPhone…

Comixology seem to take pride in the fact that all they’re doing is moving across the page with a letterbox stencil (and still having to switch from landscape to portrait sometimes is a REAL pain)…

My only grudge with the iVerse app is that you can’t incorporate the previous standalone issues (e.g., Proof 1-9) into the app… That must be something iTunes and iVerse can work out…

Thank you for pointing out that iTunes really need genres or subsections beyond “books”… I’ve been saying that for a while, but one lone tweet on Twitter doesn’t have as much clout as you do!

It’s like going into Borders, and asking for a book on computers and being told that their store isn’t sorted by field or genre, but by publication date, price, or alphabetically by title…

Searching for known publishers (i.e. IDW, Dark Horse) or App maker (iVerse Media or Uclick) helps a bit, but you have to know they exist in the first place…

By: jason

jason — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:34:29 +0000

Panelfly’s slick, but awful. Comixology and iVerse both break the comic up into individual panels. Panelfly is just a PDF reader, as far as I can tell. The comics aren’t broken up for easy reading, and it sucks to navigate a single zoomed-in image.

Not to mention that Panefly’s selection is awful, at least for the comics I want to read. I’ve found plenty of stuff worth reading on both of the other two, but there’s nothing that remotely interests me on Panelfly.

Of the other two, iVerse has the better reader (slightly), Comixology has the better selection of comics.

I’m really looking forward to LongBox. I’d love cross-platform syncing of any comics I buy.