iverse
C2E2 | Some comics to look forward to
One of the best things about comics conventions is getting creators and marketers to talk about the things that aren’t quite ready for prime time yet, projects that are coming up but haven’t been the subject of a torrent of press releases. I heard about a number of interesting comics at C2E2 this past weekend; here are a few that piqued my interest.
The one that really grabbed me is Dark Horse’s nonfiction graphic novel about the Green River killer, which was first announced in 2009. The Dark Horse folks like to take their time with their books, and marketing director Jeremy Atkins tells me that it is now slated for a September release. The book is written by Jeff Jensen, whose father was a member of the investigative team on the murders. “It’s stories that have never been told before,” said Atkins. “It’s not sensationalized at all. It’s more for a true crime audience than a crime fiction audience.”
If that’s too dark for you, here’s a bit of sweetness and light: Amy Mebberson, whose super-cute art graced the global manga Divalicious (you can read the whole first volume online at the link) and many of Boom! Studios The Muppet Show comics, is not letting any grass grow under her feet: She is one of the artists on Ape Entertainment’s Strawberry Shortcake comics, doing the coloring and some of the pencilling. This increased my interest in Strawberry Shortcake 100%.
- March 24, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
How it works: Michael Murphey on iVerse and Diamond Digital
Last week’s announcement that Diamond and iVerse would team up to form Diamond Digital, and sell digital comics in comics stores, left a lot of questions unanswered. So I went straight to the source: Michael Murphey, CEO of iVerse, which is Diamond’s digital partner in this deal.
iVerse is the company behind the Comics Plus app, as well as a number of branded apps, including IDW and Archie. Unlike comiXology and Graphicly, their apps run only on the iPad and the iPhone/iPod Touch, but that is about to change: As Michael explains below, they are expanding onto other platforms, which should make the program more attractive.
Brigid: I’m still trying to get a handle on how this works. I understand that customers who buy the digital copies will be handed a printed code, which they then redeem. How? Through iVerse’s digital storefront?
Michael: That is one way a retailer can sell a digital comic to a customer, yes. The retailer can also sell digital comics on their website. Codes can be redeemed on the retailer’s website or inside the Comics Plus application from iVerse.
Brigid: Will the sale go through the iTunes store?
- February 17, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Comics A.M. | Borders files for bankruptcy, plans to close 192 stores
Borders
Retailing | Borders Group, the second-largest book chain in the United States, filed for bankruptcy protection this morning, announcing plans to close about 192 of its 639 Borders, Waldenbooks, Borders Express and Borders Outlet locations over the next several weeks. It’s unclear how many of the company’s 6,100 full-time and 11,400 part-time employees will be affected by the closings. Borders, which listed $1.29 billion in debt and $1.27 billion in assets, plans to continue to operate through the court process with the help of $505 million in financing from lenders led by G.E. Capital.
The likelihood of bankruptcy has loomed for the past several weeks as the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based bookseller pushed unsuccessfully for publishers and distributors to convert late payments into $125 million in loans. That concession was critical to Borders securing $550 million in refinancing from G.E. Capital. Publishers like Penguin Group, Hatchette, Simon & Schuster, Random House and HarperCollins are now, in Publishers Weekly‘s words, on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars. Diamond Book Distributors, which stopped shipping to Borders last month, is owed $3.9 million. [Bloomberg, The New York Times]
- February 16, 2011 @ 08:37 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | One Piece breaks another record, more on Diamond Digital
One Piece, Vol. 61
Publishing | The 61st volume of Eiichiro Oda’s insanely popular pirate manga One Piece sold more than 2 million copies in its first three days of release, according to the Japanese market-survey firm Oricon. It’s the fastest-selling book in the Oricon chart’s nearly three-year history, breaking the previous record set by the 60th volume of One Piece, which sold more than 2 million copies in four days. [Anime News Network]
Retailing | Heidi MacDonald talks to Dave Bowen, Diamond’s director of digital distribution, about the newly announced deal with iVerse Media that will allow retailers to sell digital comics in their stores: “The retailer will login using their Diamond retailer login and be presented with the opportunity to create store-specific, item-specific codes in whatever quantities they need. Then we’ll use some approved cryptographically secure method to generate random codes for the retailer to use. And we’ll format those in a PDF which they can then print out. Likely what will happen is, it’ll print easily on Avery 30-up laser labels. So what you have is a sheet of Avery laser labels with a bunch of different books and codes on individual labels. In that case the retailer takes that material and secures it and then when someone wants Transformers #16 they simply ring the sale and give the label or sticker or cut-out to the consumer. [...] It’s really very simple. Then the consumer that has that code, which is live, they could literally step out of the line, pull out their iphone or ipad or whatever other device and redeem the code and begin reading the material.” Meanwhile, Todd Allen dissects what he describes as “a particularly silly digital download scheme.” [The Beat, Indignant Online]
- February 10, 2011 @ 07:43 AM by Kevin Melrose
Diamond and iVerse bring digital comics to your LCS
Diamond Comics Distributors and iVerse media announced plans today to allow customers to purchase certain digital comics exclusively in their local comics shop on the same day the print editions are released.
That’s right: Digital comics that you buy in a store. Not the iTunes store, nor, apparently, through the store’s website. In. The. Store.
The special editions will sell for $1.99 for about 30 days after the release date, and customers also can buy a digital download for 99 cents with the purchase of a print comic. The digital comics are purchased via code redemption, although retailers who do have websites will be able to sell back issues that way.
Admittedly, this seems to be at odds with the current notion of digital comics, which involves downloading comics onto your computer, tablet, or phone from the comfort of your own home, but there is a certain logic to it. After all, who knows what the release date is for a new comic and cares enough to want to get it on that date? The Wednesday crowd, and they are heading to the comics shops anyway. Viewed from that point of view—What will please my regular customers?—it makes sense, as it adds some value to the trip to the store.
- February 9, 2011 @ 04:40 PM by Brigid Alverson
Six Archie Comics titles move to simultaneous print and digital release in April
The New York Times reports that Archie Comics is moving to day-and-date digital releases with six of its titles in April. Archie, Archie & Friends, Betty, Veronica, Betty and Veronica, and Jughead join Batman Beyond and Walking Dead, among others, on the list of titles you can purchase digitally on the same day the print edition is released.
The digital comics will cost $1.99, a buck less than the print version.
As Brigid pointed out last month, it can be difficult to find comics simply by doing a search in iTunes, since comics exist in applications called “Comics by comiXology” or “BOOM! Studios,” versus the name of the title folks might be looking for, like “Batman Beyond.” Archie, however, is in a unique position, in that their company is named after their flagship title and character. Doing a search for “Archie” in iTunes brings the app right up. I guess that’s the advantage of being a branded house vs. a house of brands.
This follows the news that the company reported last week, that the free Archie Comics application, created by iVerse, has been downloaded “a little over 1.7 million” times. What that means in terms of actual sales within the app is something else entirely, but it’s an impressive amount of awareness that these comics are out there.
Update: CBR interviews Archie CEO Jon Goldwater on the move.
- January 12, 2011 @ 10:02 AM by JK Parkin
2010: The year in digital comics
What a difference a year makes! A year ago today, the iPad not only didn’t exist, it hadn’t been officially announced yet. People read comics on their iPhones and iPod Touches, but the screens were too small for a good experience (and therefore, no one wanted to spend much money on them). The iPad changed all that, with a big, full-color screen that is just a tad smaller than a standard comics page (and a tad larger than a standard manga page), and publishers started taking digital comics seriously. The distribution was already in place, thanks to the iPhone—comiXology, iVerse, Panelfly—and now the publishers not only jumped on board with those platforms but also started developing their own apps.
The digital comics scene is still developing, but the iPad was the game changer. For many people, it was the first time that they could comfortably read comics on a handheld screen. Now, it’s just a question of marketing—this year, publishers will grapple with bringing comics to a wider audience, outside the existing readership, and balancing the digital marketplace with the established brick-and-mortar retail structure.
Here, then, is a look back at our digital year.
- January 2, 2011 @ 08:55 AM by Brigid Alverson
The walled kingdom of digital comics
You can only get in if you know the secret word
The Register is a UK newspaper that that makes tech and business news a lot less boring by cloaking it in cheeky slang. An item that popped up today, iPad media apps: Stealthed hobbits thwart Google’s flaming Eye, caught my attention because it relates to the changing landscape of comics.
The point of the article is that iPad and iPhone apps are not accessible to Google and other internet search engines. This may not seem like a big deal, but in January, Apple will unveil the Mac Apps Store, and more and more content will be walled off in separate applications. I already use comiXology’s web app and the Mac version of the Kindle reader, so a Mac app is only a small step away from what I’m doing now.
It’s time for comics publishers and app developers to devote some serious thought to the question of how readers are going to find comics on their mobile devices. Already I have a hard time finding things in the app store, and the lack of a dedicated comics section makes it even worse. Unlike Google’s robust search engine (if I search for “Joseph Smith,” it knows to give me hits for “Joe Smith” as well, and it will ask me if I’m really looking for “Jo Smyth” if there are more hits for that), the iTunes store only responds to a handful of exact keywords.
- December 17, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
In 2010, comics owned the iPad
The Marvel app for the iPad
Apple has released a list of the top apps for iPhone and iPad in its iTunes store, and three of the top five grossing book apps for the iPad are not just comics readers, they are all from comiXology: Marvel Comics, Comics (their multi-publisher reader), and DC Comics. This reflects not just the quality of the iPad as a comics medium for comics but also the large numbers of comics that must be selling through those apps (the apps themselves are free). The top grosser in the book category is The Elements, a visual exploration of the periodic table, which probably doesn’t have a lot of mass appeal but sells for $13.99, and the number five app is The Cat in the Hat, which does have a lot of appeal and sells for $3.99. That three comics apps can match that tells me that people are buying a lot of comics through them.
The pattern is the same for the rest of the top ten book apps—all but the comics apps are single-book apps (as opposed to an e-reader like Stanza), and none are free: Alice in Wonderland, the Bible, a Toy Story read-along, and two more Dr. Seuss books.
The Marvel and DC apps are number three and six, respectively, on the list of most downloaded free apps.
- December 13, 2010 @ 09:30 AM by Brigid Alverson
First date: Me and my iPad
So, I broke down yesterday and bought an iPad. (I got the 32 G, Wi-Fi only version, for those who care about such things.) It’s a toy, but it’s a very nice toy. The question is, will it be a good workhorse?
So far so good. I’m a good tester for products like this, as I am not particularly good with technology, and I find that moving things to multiple platforms is often more trouble than it’s worth. The guy set the iPad up for me right in the store—got the battery charged, showed me how to use it, and made sure I installed iBooks right away. I doubt I’ll ever use iBooks, because I couldn’t find any free books, but whatever, it doesn’t take up much space. With a quick sync, I had the iPad versions of several comics readers that I already had on my iPod Touch: Comics by comiXology, Comics + from iVerse, some Dark Horse stand-alone books. Somehow the Viz Manga reader appeared as well, although I don’t remember signing up. Downloads were swift and easy. When I went home, I added the iPad to my Kindle account and moved some books over there.
Interestingly, the iPod comics I already own are readable on the iPad but in the smaller iPod format, so while I haven’t gained anything, I haven’t lost anything either.
- November 11, 2010 @ 11:30 AM by Brigid Alverson
Is it still a comic if I can’t crease the pages? Thoughts on digital and the iPad
DC Comics App on the iPad
With DC Comics revealing its digital strategy yesterday, all of the major players now have some sort of digital comics plan, allowing folks who have an Apple devices (iPad, iPhone, etc.), a PlayStation Portable or even just access to the web to read at least some of their comics in a digital format.
I’ve had an iPhone for a while now, and I’ve downloaded free comic apps from distributors like comiXology, Panelfly and iVerse. I’ve used them to download free samples of comics they were offering (sampling Jersey Gods on the iPhone, for example, led to me purchasing the trades). But I never actually bought comics on it. And there’s a big difference between downloading something because it’s free, and actually becoming a paying customer and spending real money on it.
So what held me back? Part of it was because of what was available — most of the material I would have been interested in downloading I already owned in print, and I couldn’t justify buying it again. And part of it was that I just didn’t enjoy the experience of reading a comic on my iPhone as much as I did a print comic, mostly because of the size restrictions. The app developers, of course, tried to make it easy to adjust, offering zoom features and panel-to-panel scrolling, but there’s just something about not seeing the whole page of a comic at a time, versus just seeing each panel, that was the hump I couldn’t get over. I need the forest, and I need the trees.
- June 24, 2010 @ 03:30 PM by JK Parkin
BOOM!’s Chip Mosher discusses their digital distribution plans
BOOM! on the iPad
Over the last couple of days BOOM! Studios has made two announcements related to digital distribution of their titles. Yesterday they launched their own iPad/iPhone application with some help from comiXology, and today they announced they plan to make their entire catalog of BOOM! Studios titles available via comiXology, iVerse, Graphic.ly and Panelfly.
I spoke with Chip Mosher, BOOM!’s director of marketing, about their digital plans, timing of releases, the customer base for their digital comics and more.
JK: Let’s talk timing, as that’s been a popular topic of late. How long will it take new BOOM! titles to reach the digital apps, compared to when books hit retail stores?
Chip: BOOM! really sees the digital comics market as its own animal. We were one of the first companies to have comics on the iPhone with iVerse back when they launched and have been watching the market place for a couple of years now. Having a consistent release schedule is important for that market segment, and what we are seeing is that the people who are reading digital comics are far and away removed from the rhythms of the direct market. A ton of what the release schedule depends on has to do with administrative things that are out of our control. Currently we have no plans on doing anything earlier than 30 days.
- June 15, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
BOOM! Studios to offer entire back-catalog in digital form
BOOM! goes digital
Following up on their announcement yesterday that they’d launched their own application for the iPad and iPhone, BOOM! Studios announced today via press release that they plan to make their entire back-catalog of BOOM! Studios titles available through several digital distributors by the end of the summer.
Per the release, comiXology, iVerse, Graphic.ly and Panelfly will offer BOOM!’s “frontlist and backlist for digital download spanning the mobile, portable and desktop space, including the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, laptop and desktop computers.” All BOOM! Studios single-issue digital comics are priced at $1.99 with the first half of each series’ first issue available to download for free from all four vendors.
Check out the complete press release after the jump, and check back shortly for my interview with Chip Mosher, BOOM!’s marketing director, about their digital strategy, release schedules and more.
- June 15, 2010 @ 07:24 AM by JK Parkin
iVerse Media’s iPad app expected to be available at launch
iVerse on the iPad
Digital comics provider iVerse Media announced today the latest version of their iVerse Comics application, which runs on the iPhone, iPod Touch and “Apple’s new ‘magical’ iPad device.”
“We’d all been waiting for Apple to announce the iPad, and once the specifics were finally known, our team began putting together our plans for the device the same day,” said iVerse Media founder and CEO Michael Murphey in a press release. “It’s been a long 60 or so days, but I’m incredibly proud of our team, and I think people are really going to love the application.”
Murphey said that they expect the iVerse Comics application to be available on the iPad when it is released this Saturday. Through the application, users can download comics from Marvel, Image, IDW, BOOM! and many other publishers.
‘If people are going to be able to access this on the iPad from day one no matter what, we really needed to make sure we put our best face forward,” Murphey said. “So we had to build a completely new application from scratch, then marry that to our existing app. The end result gives the user the best possible experience on whatever device they’re using.”
Per the press release, long time users of iVerse Comics will have the ability to download new, high resolution, iPad files of their previously purchased comics for no additional cost. They’ve also added a “zoom” feature for both the iPhone and iPad versions of the app, while the iPad version will alos include preview images. They plan to add preview images to the iPhone in the coming weeks.
Check out a video preview of the iPad app after the jump …
- March 31, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by JK Parkin
More details, titles on Sony’s PSP Digital Comics Reader
It’s been awhile since Sony announced their digital comics reader for the PlayStation Portable, or PSP. The reader, apparently, is already available as a part of a firmware update, and last week Pete Stott, one of the designers of the reader, posted more information on the European PlayStation blog.
“You’re maybe thinking, ‘How’s that going to work on the PSP’s beautiful, yet compact, screen?’” Stott said. “Well we think we’ve solved that with AutoFlow! With AutoFlow all you have to do is hit one button and the camera will float over the page to the next panel, panning and zooming automatically. We also let you move around manually if you want to get up close and personal with your comic.”
Stott also said that joining Marvel, IDW and iVerse (whose content will include comics from Archie, Image and many of the other companies they release content for on the iPhone) on the PSPS will be Disney, Insomnia, Titan and 2000AD. This means PSP owners will be able to purchase titles featuring Wallace & Gromit, Judge Dredd, Archie, Mickey Mouse, Transformers and Spider-Man, among many other characters.
Sony has also launched a website where they plan to list the entire catalog of comics once they officially launch and where you can download a sample Transformers comic to see how it will work. If you’re a PSP owner and you’ve checked out the reader, let us know what you think in the comments section.
- November 30, 2009 @ 12:30 PM by JK Parkin