ChrisMorley

October 31, 2019 11:06 am I used to listen a lot back in the old days (back in the 100s?) and this was the first episode I've listened to in about... 12 years?! Great to hear that this is still going strong and Josh and Conor are still at it! Missing Ron though, I'll have to go back an listen to the episode referenced where he came back as a guest a couple of weeks ago. Mostly jumped on because I'm back in love with X-men for the first time in a long time, thanks to Hickman and these new books, and wanted to hear your take on them! Personally I loved Marauders, although have the same reservations about the longevity. A lot of the books seem like oddball mixes of characters, so I'm glad to see the ones so far have been worldbuilding and character focused. We've missed a lot of that recently, I think Hickman is doing a great job so far. Marauders definitely felt like it has a much smaller more intimate scope than some of the other books, which works well. It will allow for more self contained stories that still feel connected to the broader X-storylines. I get the impression that there will be a lot of intrigue at play with Emma and the Hellfire Club as the story progresses. Looking forward to more, I enjoyed Exalibur a lot also, I'm hoping that all of the new books are this good!

July 6, 2010 5:53 pm

I got my mitts on an iPad recently, and have given the comics apps a thorough spin! I have to say straight off - I love it. I'll talk about my experience with Comixology's 'Comics' app first, then add my thoughts on the others at the end.

The 'comics' app on the iPhone was a bit of a gimmick for me - the guided system although making a story perfectly followable just lost a lot of the impact you got from the artwork, and reduced it to a 'only if I'm on the go' type thing. The iPad counterpart however, is stunning. You can easily view a full page and even a full double page without needing to zoom or pan, and the art just looks beautful. The colours really pop, I honestly think comics have never looked so good. Text is all perfectly legible, and the story follows really smoothly thanks to the lack of ads breaking things up. Double pages do require a 90 degree turn of the device to view legibly, and the constant turning could prove tiresome in a comic such as powers where the format changes from 2 page to 1 page frequently. Also (with powers in mind) text that is upside down or spiralled would require the device to be locked before turning it so that the page does not automatically re-orient. Small issues I'd say, since the majority of comics won't have this problem.

More plus points to mention are the lack of ads (thus far). I can read a full story uninterrupted and for the same price! Downloading comics can be done quickly and easily and purchases are carried across to all devices you have synched to your itunes account - iphone, ipad, ipod touch. You can delete and redownload at no extra cost, meaning you don't end up with an unmanageable stck of comic boxes slowly devouring your home. You seem to get all variant covers with most issues as well, which is a nice bonus.

Negatives would be the random selection, as mentioned in Mikes review, sporadic releases and lack of sorting options. All of your purchased comics are just listed alphabetically, one after another, with no easy way of scrolling past large numbers. My 70-odd strong catalogue of Invincible comics is a real bitch to scroll past if I want to read a jonah hex. I actually found navigating to the store and finding the comic in there rather than in my library was an easier way to open it up. 

One addition to the library of comics on offer that I think are great deals are the TPB style collections - Invincible vol 1 and 2 a key example. These are dirt cheap and don't clutter up your collection - I hope more comics are added in this format in the future. 

iVerse reader is pretty similar to Comics, only with a much poorer catalogue and clunky functionality. 

As far as the other apps go - DC and Marvel - I have no idea why you would buy from them. Purchases made in these apps are NOT synched with your comics app purchases, and so you'd have to keep them seperate at all times.

It seems these apps are taking off, both Marvel and DC seem to be investing quite heavily in it and I wouldn't be surprised to see a much faster turnaround from new comic to the comixology store in the near future.

December 16, 2009 2:44 pm Sounds... sexy? Girls are sexy right?

December 16, 2009 2:42 pm I really liked the first opne, but I worry that the speed which they are hurrying out this new one will mean it will be more of the same, more like an expansion pack than a new game.

October 15, 2009 7:23 pm Haha, oh man this moves like Sealab 2021