Apple Announces iPad with iBooks – What Does This Mean For Comics?

Unless you're living under a rock, you probably heard about the announcement from Apple today with their new product, the iPad.  There has been a lot of speculation for this new product, as well what it means for the comic book industry.  While Apple announced the iPad, which seems to be just an oversized iPhone or iPod Touch, they also announced a new application, called iBooks, which introduces an iTunes like storefront for buying books to read on the iPad. 

Steve Jobs never mentioned the words "comic" and "books" together – or graphic novels, or comics, or Marvel Comics, or Disney, or anything related to the comic book industry.

So what does this mean for the comic book industry?  Well of course native iPhone apps for reading comics like iVerse, Comixology, and Panelfly will be able to work on the iPad and probably be modified to enhance the reading experience for their applications and most likely the digitial comics platforms like Longbox and Graphic.ly will simply have to build their iPad applications on the same development platform as the iPhone.

Sure there's the chance that they add comics and graphic novels to this new application, iBooks, but as of right now, it's clear this isn't a priority for Apple.

So is the iPad the savior for digital comics? As of today, no.  But if you believed it would be, then you were naive.  Is there potential for digital comics on the iPad? Sure but it's not the killer app for digitial comics.  There's as much potential here as there is for the iPhone, the HP Tablet that was shown at CES and any other device that may come along with similar functionality.

Now that the announcement has been made and we've seen the product, what do you think?


(image courtesy of our friends at GDGT – check out their awesome coverage)

Comments

  1. it looks cool, but i never really get a sense of how cool any computer product is until i get to use it myself. can’t wait to try one of these out, until then it just looks cool

  2. CBR/CBZ/PDF Support isnt right out of the box, but it is there as soon as you download the app 5 minutes later.

    Now this is NOT going to change the way you get your digital fixes, however that may be, but it does offer a more "authentic" experience with the "page size" screen…

    The big question for me is, will it be able to access SMF fileshares over my home network. Thats where my sweet spot is.

    I have been pricing tablet based laptops for some time, and I decided to wait to see what this offers. With all the other app & media support already built in, it looks like I made the right move.

    Prices here: (Not confirmed by me)

    Wi-Fi only:
    16GB $500
    32GB $600
    64GB $700

    Wi-Fi + 3G:
    16GB $630
    32GB $740
    64GB $830

     

  3. Its one of the most pointless devices in the history of computing. No, correction, its gigantic edition of the most pointless device in computing history, the iPod touch. There are netbooks that cost almost half as much and have twice the functions. The IPS screen is great, but you can get a desktop IPS panel of twice the size and half the price. Its also named like woman’s sanitary product, so I don’t know if I’ll ever own one.

     

    AND IT STILL DOESN"T HAVE MULTI TASKING? I was looking forward to that for my iPhone.

  4. The day I can wake up on Wednesday and turn on a device like this and press a button that says "download" and I get all of my new comics forthe week… on that day I will be the happiest boy in the world.

  5. @Conor: That day, you will just be able to open your eyes, and see the blinking LED that indicates all of your new books are ALREADY waiting for you! That’s the SHIT right there!

  6. @Unoob: Indeed.

  7. @Conor Good lord, agreed!

  8. It’s incredible. Especially the low price.

  9. all Apps work for this so iVerse or whatever will just work. So comics on the iPad 🙂

  10. Also, the 64GB storage makes it kinda useless for CBR/CBZ/PDF pirated comics as well.

  11. Interesting.  I will wait until Rev2.  Thank you, early adopters, for ironing out the kinks for the rest of us.

  12. @muddi900: That’s a good thing.

  13. Here are three of the most obvious problems I see for this device.

    1) Security – You cant stick this in your pocket like u can with an Ipod.  Especially when walking thru a crowd of leather jacketed, sleeveless shirted, street toughs. I can see people getting bopped on the head for these in a heartbeat. Especially the kids. "My daddy bought me an Ipad for my birthday, but all I have now is a concussion!"

    2) Durability- This thing BETTER be able to handle life in the real world, if it’s looking to be toted around like a book or newspaper.

    3) Battery Life – And I mean REAL battery life. Sure it says 10 hours, but I bet that means 10 hours with NOTHING on but the power LED.

  14. The iPod was the greatest piece of tech I’ve ever owned.

    I expect this or a future version of this to be as appreciated as my iPod is and has been for many years.

  15. i have sneaking suspicion that iComics are going to be more expensive then they SHOULD be. Honestly DC/Marvel, 99 cents is your magic price point here. I’d buy a TON of comics at that price. $1.99 will have me second guessing a lot of random purchases and $2.99 will have me exclusively buy the exact same comics i buy now, only digitally. Think about this carefully… don’t you want me to buy more books? Also, iComics would not impede my trade purchases. If i liked something i read digitally, i’d probably still buy the collected edition when it is released

  16. I like the idea of going with Digital Comics.. But there is some kind of nostalgia about having Trades of The preacher that you can hand to a friend.. "here read this"…  Plus my brother in law always borrows my books, etc.. 

  17. "So is the iPad the savior for digital comics? As of today, no.  But if you believed it would be, then you were naive.  Is there potential for digital comics on the iPad? Sure but it’s not the killer app for digitial comics.  There’s as much potential here as there is for the iPhone, the HP Tablet that was shown at CES and any other device that may come along with similar functionality."

    I don’t think it’s so much that the iPad will be the saviour, so much as the iBook store will be, and this service will only be available on the iPad. Sure we may see similar services on other products, but as history has shown us, it’s Apple’s support that paves the way in terms of public adoption. If Marvel and DC (and other companies) can get in early on this service (at a decent price point) then THIS WILL be the future of comics. if they keep their head in the sand for too long thoug, then they will miss the boat entirely. Give me NEW comics available on wednesdays on this device and i don’t care how much it costs, i will buy it

  18. Personally I’d rather read comics on my 55" LED TV, rather than a tiny 9" screen.  I haven’t bought a comic in about 2 or 3 years, I’d love to get back into it, but I don’t want the stupid paper. 

     Will I buy a iPad…  Yes!    

     Will I read comics (or books) on it…  Probably not!

      

  19. @MrPopular: I don’t think anyone is really talking about digital trades.

  20. @Mikegraham6,  totally agree!  Though I would say "any device" rather than "a device".  I would pay cover price for a yearly subscription to a digital title that comes out day and date with small print version, especially if I could read it on my PC, Mac, i(whatever). 

  21. Very cool, though I have a few reservations about it. The main sticking point for me is it being a light through medium that one either positions on the lap or at arm’s length and I can’t imagine that’ll be fun for these eyes. (And I’m still getting strain from adapting to the Kindle’s light on screen!).  However, it is nice for comic reading in that it can adapt, through turning, to the shape of the page. It will mean, in a good 5-10 years we’ll see creators adapting to a more Decorative or Productive Page Design (To borrow terms Benoit Peeters, http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v3_3/peeters/ ). Very exciting prospects, though.

  22. Looks like a good device. It does what I would want it too and that’s be a good video experience in a size and shape I’d want. My only issue is memory, 

    Apple needs to build an external harddrive with 1tb memory, battery, built in bluetooth or wifi that will auto hookup with my Mac, IPhone and IPad and hold all my media. The individual devices would treat it like part of their own memory.

    I’m loving this and can’t wait….really feel bad for LCSs 

    Either way, I won’t buy this until the second iteration, minimum. 

  23. That thing is beautiful.  Apple could make a toaster look nice.  I don’t think it tops the Kindle in reading books since the Kindle’s screen uses actual ink particles, which is easier on the eyes.  But I’d buy all of my comics off of this in a second.  I hope we hear some news from Longbox soon.   

  24. @mikegraham6 – I agree with you wholeheartedly (both of your last two posts on this thread), and it seems that with the existing connections between Apple, Pixar, Disney, and Marvel, it would be a no-brainer. Marvel really does need to move on this if they want to lead the charge into the age of digital comics.

    The only real thing keeping me from exalting digital comics until now was a lack of portability at the existing size of the printed pages, and the probability of being able to getting everything I want to read from every publisher from one online store. The iPad, taking into account Apple’s existing system with digital music and the iTunes store, seems to have the most potential for this.

  25. Anyone who thought Apple was going to have native comic book support or a deal with Longbox was a fool. Longbox is nothing like Apple’s style. 

    This thing looks fantastic to read comics on. 

  26. @mikegraham

    I agree 100% my lcs gives me a 25% discount on everything for having a list so that means the diff between a 2.99 print book and an ebook is .25 if they are sold for 1.99. That difference is not enough to entice me to buy digital, now .99 that’s a different story.

  27. Just think about how awesome it would have been to have seen DC or Marvel’s name alongside Penguin and the other publishers announced during the event. It’s probably a good thing they weren’t named, I would have had a heart attack right then and there. I look forward to hearing their reactions now though. Do you think we’ll hear something later tonight?

  28.  @miyamotofreak

     What ever happened to Longbox?? Are they going to release that?

  29. @Steen

    It’s in a private beta now so iFanboy members should get their hands on it shortly, I’d assume. I’m sure they want a more public beta out before the iPad comes out in 60 days.

  30. I think its all going to boil down to what the letterers are doing. A standard comic is about 12 inches if you meausre it like a screen.  The iPad will be slightly smaller, but will it be big enough that you don’t have to zoom in to read the word balloon like on iVerse?  Even on my MacBook, the screen is too small to read the balloons unless i want to rotate the images (and then the computer itself) to the left, or scroll up/down/left/right, killing the layout.

     It’s all about the word balloons, boys… and eye strain, can’t forget eye strain.

  31. @slockhart

    With the iPad it’s already rotated for you. Should work. 

  32. @muddi900 "Also, the 64GB storage makes it kinda useless for CBR/CBZ/PDF pirated comics as well."

     Not sure how you worked that out.

    Even if a cbz file was 30 mb you could put about 2000 comics on 64GB.

    I’m not advocating piracy, but you could also put 2000 legal files from Comixology etc on it. (Walking Dead #1 on itunes is 15Mb so that would be 4000 comics on one device.)

    Just need to get DC/Marvel to release comics on a weekly basis.

  33. @Miyamoto

    It’s rotated, but still smaller.  It’s just a matter of how much of a difference those 2 (diagonal) inches will make.

  34. Let me just say that I don’t think it will be unreadable, but it might be kind of annoying.

  35. @slockhart

    I have a 11.6 inch laptop. When rotated it is a bit smaller than the iPad. It is very readable. 

  36. @slockhart

    And it isn’t annoying. Though I guess you’d have to rotate it for 2 page layouts.  

  37. @lucien21 "Just need to get DC/Marvel to release comics on a weekly basis"

     AMEN to that…   

  38. @Crucio – Forget the 1 TB Apple Drive; what we need is iTunes in the Cloud. I thought that was going to be the ‘And one more thing . . .’ at the end of the presentation. I have a 1 TB external driving for music, movies, photos, etc…. but I would really like to have every iTunes purchase I make to be kept for me to stream from anywhere.

  39. I’m super excited for the iPad and other tablets as well.  Reading comics on this type of device is exactly what I want to read them on.  The HP Slate looks really sweet as well. 

  40. Wow it’s a larger iphone how revolutionary!

  41. No Flash, so no Hulu or Revision3.  No SD slot, so no expandability.  No multitasking, so no streaming online radio while doing anything with iWork or anything else.  Running iPhone OS, so no open app development.  All hands-on reports say its quite hefty, which is not good for reading a book/comic in bed.  Im very apprehensive about this.

     

    But, it makes me happy for future tablets that can solve these problems.

  42. I’m feeling pretty luke warm about the whole thing.  While the iPad looks cool, it’s really not what I was hoping for in terms of an evolution of the iPhone/iPod/Apple brand.  Is it a cool and sexy product? Yes.  Is the change it brings worth the price tag, especially if you already own an iPhone/iPod Touch?  Not for me it isn’t.

  43. Scattered thoughts:

    Well, for me, and for my comics reading habits, this was a large step in the right direction.

    It looks to be a great device for reading digital comics. On my recent vacation, I took four graphic novels to read. Now I could take this. I have 60+ boxes of comics. I could now have thousands of comics on a hard drive and then just sync them to the iPad when i want to read them. 

    Of course, the iPad is just the device. I also need distributors (Longbox, Graphicly, iVerse) and the major publishers to all work together so that I can have Conor’s scenario above. I want my weekly stack delivered digitally to my device. For about $0.99 a pop.

    As for the iPad itself? I don’t really need the iWork features, the games, the movies, the music or the various social media functions. My phone and my Macbook have that covered.

    But books and comics are another story. In fact, if I think about this way:

    Kindle + full-color digital comics = iPad, then the pricepoint for the iPad seems fairly worthwhile. Though, as mentioned above, I need to think about eyestrain, etc. I do a lot of reading on a computer screen as it is. I kinda wanna know how this feels in the long-term.

    I do like the idea that I could be sitting down by the pool, and i could read a chapter of a novel, switch over to a new issue of a comic book, and then upon getting an idea, turn the tablet sideways and start typing a short story. That would appeal to me.

  44. My feelings aside about them for some stupid reason still staying exclusive with AT&T for Wi-Fi/3G, it’s an ok start for Apple and their iPad.  If comic book companies are really committed to digital distribution though and want to talk business with Apple, then this could really take off for us comic geeks.  But that obviously is not going to gain traction any time soon until people adopt this fully as they have with the iPhone or iTouch.

  45. That thing is just massive. I would feel like Moses carrying the tablets of the ten commandments!

    But with it looks that big, comics would almost certainly have to be readable with that screen. At least they should be. I might go for reading comics digitally if the screens stay that big.

  46. Isn’t it a little ironic that some people will shell out several hundreds of dollars for this new cutting-edge 2010 toy…but then they’ll be pissed when some digital comics they want will be two bucks (1995 prices) each instead of one (1990 prices)?

  47. The last Wednesday I go to my LCS will be the week I move to go to grad school (next Spring).  After that it is all internet distributors (DCBS).  Until then I gonna stick with my LCS.  Though this might be considered if it is an option.

  48. @flappjaxx: Yes it will be.

  49. Well, as someone with designs on opening a revolutionarily awesome comic book store in the near future, this comes as sour news indeed…

  50. @flapjaxx I not necessarily pissed over pricing, i was just stating what i feel would be the smartest option for the industry. If they want me to buy more comics and try different series, their best bet is to keep the price affordable. Also, one of the main factors that led to the price changes you indicated: the cost of paper

  51. I can see myself using this for word processing, internet browsing, movies, iFANBOY VIDEO PODCAST, and other things, but it seems like comics reading has a lot of kinks to work out.  picking a comic shop in rural america is easy because choices are limited.  picking an app when none of them are ideal seems like a depressing and tedious experience.  am I actually lamenting more choice in purchasing something? I guess I am.

    but, I do think once software is worked out to an ideal situation, this could help the industry grow and especially when it comes to non-superhero work.

    luckily, these problems being figured out will happen simultaneously with the price going down, so patience is a virtue I suppose. 

  52. @conor @daccampo I would love to be able to wake up Wednesday morning and see all of my comics automatically downloaded regardless if it’s on a Tablet, computer, phone, or whatever.

  53. I just got ink smudges all over my thumbs from reading comics :S
    iPad 1 – Comics 0
    😀

  54. Would you read your iPad while you’re on the John?

  55. @Dumeer Why not? I listen to my iPod on the john.

     

    @ABirdseysView "I can see myself using this for … iFANBOY VIDEO PODCAST"  – You won’t be able to, there’s no Flash support.

  56. I don’t know if this was mentioned because I am too laxy to look for it but Disney owns Marvel, Steve is the single largest shareholder in Disney. Do the math.

  57. @HBD: You can watch the video show on QuickTime. I load it up on my iPhone all the time.

  58. And the internet is slowly moving away from Flash for video which is a great thing because flash sucks.

  59. Looks great. When it gets cheaper and it can read .cbr/.cbz’s, I’ll think about it getting one. Right now, I’m coveting a tablet laptop more.

     

  60. Not how comics are supposed to be read. I remember the feeling of seeing comics like Punisher War Journal in the late 80s get the premium paper. That was awesome. This is bullshit.

  61. @miyamotofreak: Flash isn’t only used for videos. By using a cell phone OS, Apple has excluded use of all full apps, but by excluding flash, you can’t even use high-end web apps. So not only can I not use GIMP, I can’t use Aviary. 

     

    Also, as a person repeatedly abused by Quicktime on windows, I’ll have Flash over it any day.  

  62. How can Ron NOT!! be more thrilled about this!!! By the way he made it sound(to me) in the article was that this is just an XL iphone/ipod touch. This has LOADS of potential for digital comics. A) it’s 9.7 inches large B) it’s the FIRST and ONLY beautiful full color high res display(compared to Kindle 2 / sony e-readers / B&N’s Nook) C) its hooked up to a store that you can access anywhere(with the 3G models) anytime, which will eventually no doubt carry comic books!! And until then, if you can’t wait, just use comixology and it’ll make what’s ok on your iphone/touch that much better!!

  63. If there’s anything that’s going to get the digital comics push going, it’s going to be a device like this. Full color, touch screen, and a size bigger than 6 inches. Comics on pure mobile devices is a pretty lackluster idea because of the screen size. Who wants to go panel by panel on an iPhone when you can go page for page with something like this? This is the first time I’ve ever felt confident I could go from floppies to digital in all the time it has been talked about. Of course, I won’t be getting one of these things until I can get at least the 64GB one for no more than $399. All in due time though, all in due time.

  64. I’m hoping they allow you to publish your own material in the iBook store, much like you can publish your own apps, audio and video. It would be a great asset to independent creaters who basically have to take a bath everytime the go to print thier own book. And they’d have better pricing controls, broad distribution. It also be neat if it could pull each new issue as it come available, much like iTunes pulls each new episode of iFanboy for me.

  65. For those wanting Flash on iPhone or iPad… the reason it has been excluded is because Flash is a battery drainer. Quicktime H.264 is a better compression or even HTML5 Video. The Flash dependency will die soon enough.

    As far as Digital Comics and the iPad… well, is safe to say that this is not the reason why Apple developed this. I think everyone is making to many assumptions. Only time will tell. While the future of the single issue comics might be Digital, I rather wait for Graphic Novels and read them that way. Don’t get me wrong, I’m an Apple stock holder, and own all things Apple (and will have an iPad), but not with the idea of reading comics on it. 

  66. @zayaz: Flash dependancy isn’t going anywhere. HTML5 spec does not have standard for video formats, with Mozilla wanting a more open standard like ogg, while apple and google favoring the propriety H264. The problem with h264, or other propriety codecs, is that they are only good for embeddable videos, which was not the point of <video> tag. It was to integrate video into design seamlessly. Again, there are a lot of webapps that still use flash, apple just want you to pay them for stuff you can get for free elsewhere.

  67. @conor & jmstump: I would love a service that offered new comics every week like DCBS but also gave you a digital copy as well.  We see this with man DVD purchases that have a downloadable digital copy.  You could read your hard copy and have several digital copies to take with you on the go.  It would also be nice when digging up older comics. I wouldn’t have to dig throught the longboxes.

    As for the iPad (insert feminine product joke here), it’s a good first step but I want more.  I would have called it the iBook or iBoard for starters.  Honestly I just want a good full size color reader to read comics and books on that also has some social networking functionality.  A camera for video skyping would be cool.

  68. That would be pretty cool.  But I won’t be willing to pay the inevitably high price until it goes down:(

  69. Newsarama interviewed Ira Rubenstein, executive vice president of Marvel’s Global Digital Media Group and the company`s position on the iPad makes me pretty livid:

    Basically Marvel is disappointed the product doesn`t run flash and therefore can`t run their existing digital comics service. I for one am GLAD it doesn`t run thier existing service because i want Marvel to rethink their entire approach to digital comics. I don`t want an expensive subscription based service that only offers me old comics in an unfriendly format. (I`ve already stated what i want above)

    Quote: "It’s definitely something we’re exploring, but it’s not something we’re going to rush right out and do."
    what’s WRONG with them?!?!? How do companies NOT learn from past mistakes. If Marvel just looked at the music and film industry, they would see that early adoption of this product is the way to go. This quote has made me so angry that i want to completely stop buying Marvel comics until they adopt a better position on this matter. The ONLY sucessful option for me would be upload NEW comics WEEKLY on the new iBooks store. they’ve got to look beyond their existing model. Im not expecting them to do this right away, but i was expecting much more optimistic statement from the company than this. You`ve disappointed me Marvel. DC please don`t do the same

  70. There`s more industry reaction over at Newsarama, I`m the most impressed with P.J Bickett`s response, president of Archaia Entertainment. He breaks it down in terms of how the product will affect all aspects of the comic market (comic shops, distrbutors, fans)

  71. I woudl love to be able to read my comics on something like this, but there is no way I would ever spend 500 or 900 dollars on this item (and buy a data plan from AT&T, whose service is awful locally) to be able to use it. Assuming that the price point for digital comics, such as we’ve seen with graphicly, is 1.99 it would take approximate 500 books to receive return on your investment of the low end model. That’s 25 weeks even for Conor’s amazing 20+ books a week. That’s assuming he chose to buy all his books in digital form. It would take me approximately 35-40 weeks to receive a return assumign I did the same, and I would not.  Despite the convenience of digital, there are still books I simply would have to own in hard copy.

     

    I’d love to own one, but even assumign I throw in a few novels it becomes hard to justify the outlay initially. Now, once they become more affordable I will almost dertainly own one.

  72. RE: muddi900’s post – could someone translate that into english for the rest of us?

  73. And all that continues to ignore AT&T’s data package, which will cost between 30-50 bucks a month. It just… isn’t worth it at these prices.

  74. back to the pricing of iComics, here`s an interesting model i thought of. what if there were two pricing options? you could pay .99 cents an issue for a comic with ads while you could pay 1.99 + for the same comic with no ads? That way you could still have a cheaper option but those looking to have a copy similar to a trade collection could spring a little extra cash to have the stand alone story without interuptions?

  75. My only concern, is how will those hologram covers from the 90’s translate to the digital screen…

  76. You’ll have to cover the screen in aluminum foil, and cut out certain parts, then go outside and twist it in the sun.

    Hours of fun.

  77. @actualbutt: I assume you are speaking of my last post. I hang around to many tech pros.

    Anyway, HTML version 5 will have video implementation such that you can view them like you view images in your browsers, without plugins. Like images, or any other aspect of a web page, a web designer can do anything he/she wants with the videos. For example, Mozilla released this video around the launch of Firefox 3.5.

     

    Like images, support for video format has to be built into the browsers. But no consensus was reached on which codec/format to support. Mozilla wants the open-source codec OGG, which they already supports in their browser, whereas Google and Apple want to use itunes, iphone and youtube standard H264 codec, which they already support in their respective browsers.

    The web is seriously leaning towards the H264 camp, but as it is, you cannot do all those things with it. There’s also very little chance that they will all support all video formats because that would be a lot of licensing fee.

     

  78. What Conor said in his first post. This could be fun. As mich as I love the regular paper monthly comic format, this might be very convenient in the near future.

  79. Actually Google is starting to test the waters with HTML5 video on YouTube as we speak. They state that the weakness of HTML5 video is that you can’t have ads or do full screen. But, if it where to be successful they would start offering HTML5 video as an opt-in feature.

     

    I Personally use ClickToFlash plugin on Safari to block all Flash (so I can load pages faster) and instead it load H.264 videos on YouTube by default. 

  80. The lack of Flash support is a deal breaker for me. If I can’t use Marvel Digital on this device, it’s useless to me. Yes, I could get the PDF/CBR/CBZ reader app and read comics copied from my "40 years of " DVD-ROM’s, but without Flash I think a lot of online comic reading sites will be excluded. It’s a huge mistake of Apple not to offer Flash support. There’s too much of the web that uses flash.

  81. @zombox: If comics were available digitally, I’d never buy a new paper comic book again. And since I have many interests outside of comics that I would hopefully be abe to read on a device like this (i.e. newspapers and magazines), it would pay for itself rather quickly.

  82. Hey, look at that. Over a dozen Marvel comics will either show up damaged or not at all next week, due to serious accident at the warehouse of Diamond, the only people from whom you can currently get comics:

    http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=24611

    And one of them is Siege!

    Remember that time your download was ruined, because it was in a truck accident? So it didn’t come for a week?

    ME NEITHER.

  83. @conor I understand, for you it might be more viable since you really love media. I do not read newspapers or magazines, that’s what the internet is for. I read a pretty large number of comics and a few prose works each year. I used you as an example specifc to comics because I know very few people who read more comics than you.

  84. It’s actually Siege variants, not the regular book. Still…

  85. Don`t try to muddle the point with "facts," Josh

    😉

  86. That’s actually not true — the regular SIEGE was one of the damaged books — but let’s move the discussion over to the proper discussion thread.

  87. The point remains, I still hate Conor. Deeply.

    And he’ll still buy a massive amount of trade paperbacks, and Absolute editions, even with digital downloads.

  88. Word.

  89. I hope comics publishers embrace the interactive format. I’d love the ability to have controlable word ballon pop-ups and panel reveals. Plus links from editors notes to, older issues, would be neat.

  90. For me, it’s all about size.  This looks like something I’ll be able to hold in my hands while sitting on the couch and it will approximate a comic book reading experience.  Biggest difference will be that I won’t need to fear creasing the paper.  I want one, but not yet.  Second generation will be bandwagon jumping time. 

  91. @zayaz: As I mentioned, all three browsers natively support video. But the problem is, it just replaces embedded flash with another static video. Flash 10.1 comes out later this year on all platforms besides iphone, and it will support hardware acceleration, making browser support like this completely pointless.

    Unless it works like OGG already does on Firefox, I think it shouldn’t even be called HTML5 video. I do hope browsers devs find a legal and cheap way to implement  VLC-like support of all codecs, but untill then, you will have to deal with flash.

    But again, shunning flash has nothing to do with videos. Why would anyone pay 2 bucks to play bejeweled, when they can play it, or a clone, for free on Facebook? 

  92. @Crippler: That’s what she said.

  93. Paper or bust!

  94. PROS:

    ease of comic book acquisition

    ease of storage

    you can bring all your comic books wherever

     

    CONS:

    the LCS community

    the excitement of book signings

    the ability to pass down to your children books older than them. 

    the joy of buying books every Wednesday. 

    ….. 

    Sorry. a bit biased. Soft copies don’t appeal to me as much. 

  95. I have been waiting for this product for years.  I love my iphone, but I want something a bit bigger to read webpages and for taking notes.  Will I buy more from iVerse and Comixology?  Certainly.  Will I still shop at my LCS? Definitely.  The same way that the Nook won’t cause the closing of B&N, digital comics on the IPad won’t close LCS.  What it will do is bring in ‘outside’ readers and increase the circulation of the stories themselves.  Of course, this would only happen if comic publishers lobbied to be part of the iBook domain.  The only downside is that as with most Comixology titles, iBook is only going to work in the US.