The digital magazine is only available in the U.S. and Canada for now, and it requires a Flash-enabled browser or a Viz Manga app to access its approximately 120 pages. Print subscribers have to convert their accounts, but they’ll get three free online volumes of manga for doing so. The biggest bonus is that publishing online allows the company to stay more current with the original Japanese run. The digital manga chapters are scheduled to be only two weeks behind the Japanese print versions (in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine).

For the launch, the magazine contains Bakuman, Bleach, Naruto, Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, One Piece, and Toriko. Since some of them had to jump ahead in order to match the Japanese serialization, Viz has also put together a synopsis page to bring readers up-to-date. (If you’re reading the series in book form, spoilers!) John Jakala has posted a chart showing where the series are in terms of serialization.

Issue #1 also included an interview with the creator of Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto — however, since I’m late talking about it, and since Viz doesn’t sell digital back issues, you’ve missed it. As they say in their FAQ, “If fans of the manga series want to maintain a permanent collection, both the digital and print options are available to them in the graphic novel format.”

One of the big draws for print subscribers were exclusive Yu-Gi-Oh! cards included in the magazine. To keep those fans interested, subscribers will be sent those cards free four times a year. It’s $25.99 for a year’s subscription (48 issues, considering some weeks will have double issues). If you only want a particular issue (although considering the serialization, I’m not sure why), it’s 99 cents to get that issue available to you for four weeks.

As I write this, there are two preview issues available for free: one contains the first chapters of all of the magazine’s series, while the other is an issue #0, containing the most recent chapters before launch.

Diamond Digital, the program to allow comic shops to sell digital comics through Diamond Comic Distribution, was supposed to launch last September. It still hasn’t rolled out. However, ICv2 has a small update from the recent ComicPro retailer meeting. There they announced that iVerse has built a “Digital Comic Reader App”. Comic stores will sell digital comics either in-store or online using the app, which does not connect to iVerse’s existing store. The quote from iVerse CEO Michael Murphey indicates that someone apparently had some concerns:

“This is a much cleaner solution for retailers and will give them the same kind of tools companies like Amazon and Barnes & Noble are using to sell digital on these devices.”

However, this is yet another example of building something readers and customers don’t care about. Is anyone looking for yet another app to read and buy comics through? With comiXology and various publisher-specific apps, most readers have too many online comic access points as it is.

One of the earliest video links explains that he’s aware that his favorites may not match yours or mine, a nice introduction. It’s interrupted by a sound from off-camera, which highlights one of the things that made me feel uncertain about some of this content: Much of the video content turns on Pastis pretending to be a jerk. (At least, I’m assuming he’s pretending.) That doesn’t match my sense of humor, but it does coordinate well with the tone of some of the Pearls Before Swine strips.

The app allows the user to explore however they wish, or if, like old-fashioned me, you prefer a chronological approach, you can swipe the pages, as though moving through a book. (Pastis, in some of his comments, refers to the project as “the book” also, which I found revealing.) It’s a very nice presentation, and dedicated fans of the strip will appreciate the “greatest hits” approach. It’s fun to see the first appearances of various characters, such as the Crocs or Zebra.

All the pages have an accessible table of contents, which lets you see only the strips with video, only those with audio, only those animated, and a couple of the special areas. Comparing Pastis in real life to his self-caricature was eye-opening. Plus, it’s neat hearing the story of how the strip started in his own voice. A bulletin board section contains some ephemera related to the strip, and each has an audio story behind it.

There’s a lot of content in the app, making for hours of reading and listening. Really, the only drawback I can see to this app is that it’s so audio-visual and interactive that I couldn’t find a good time to play with it. I do a lot of my surfing while watching TV, and this was something that demanded attention. With all the sound, I had to be sure I was checking it out in a quiet environment, one where I wouldn’t bother other people. There’s really no reason why Pastis’ comments had to be audio — they could have been readable notes under each strip — but it does provide the illusion of being closer to the artist. Here’s another writeup with some screenshots.

It’s written by one of my favorites, J. Torres, based on “The Little Red Hen”, with distinctively designed art by Paz Huichaman. Here’s a sample, a panel I particularly like because it reminds me of how women often have to deal with messes.

The ending of the comic is a little abrupt — and sick-making. I love cupcakes, but more than two at once… I would rather have seen the pets do some work before the end. But that’s quibbling. It’s lovely to look at and a fun idea.

Lucy Knisley went way above and beyond by doing hers in watercolor.

I liked finding out more about Sarah Becan‘s day job, although I was sorry to hear she’s sick. Favorite quote in reference to customer feedback: “‘Oomph’ is not adequate direction.

Alex Heberling shows the nocturnal style of creative living in a simple but colorful style.

Jen Wang uses collages of multiple images to capture her day. Features happy poop and other biological effects.

Raina Telgemeier provides this excellent observation: “The most productive days are also the most painful!” Work takes effort and has a cost, but it’s so worth it! (Something I needed to hear right now.) The panel right before the one shown here is outstanding cartooning, by the way. And I like seeing the quiet domesticity of artist couples.

In her writeup, Brigid Alverson notes:

Hourly Comics Day brings journal comics to their logical extreme: Every hours, creators stop what they are doing and draw a comic about it. There’s an inherent flaw in the concept, in that the best artists are the people who draw comics all the time, which makes for a dull diary.

Yet I like seeing comic creators drawing themselves making comics, at least in short bursts. There’s such diversity in how they show themselves to us and the staging of the scene.

Free “Online Comic Convention” announced for this weekend

Webcomics creators, readers and fans are invited to an online meetup this weekend. WEBReeF stands for “WEBcomics, Readers, and Fans” and aims to behave much like a “virtual comic convention.”

I don’t know what makes something an “online comic convention”, but I wanted to find out, so I immediately clicked to the provided link and saw this:

It’s a periodic gathering of webcomics creators and ethusiasts. It was created in response to the cancellation of the February 2012 DigiCon, but does not classify itself as an “online convention.”

That’s a concern. If you’re promoting your event as an “online convention” while declaring that you’re not an “online convention”, I worry about what else you might be misrepresenting or confusing. If you’re trying to set up a way of doing things new to many participants, you need to be more clear about things, not less. At the least, someone needs to keep a better eye on the publicity. Anyway, seems that this virtual meetup is just a way for people to declare a specific time to hang out together online. Catchy name, though.

Customers complain that more than 99 cents an issue is too much to pay for a virtual read they don’t own. Companies prefer $1.99 or even cover price ($2.99 or $3.99), although many run regular online sales, where a selected group of titles is lowered to the 99-cent price point temporarily.

Now, IDW has announced new digital comics featuring one of their most popular brands. They’re calling Transformers: Autocracy “digital-only”, but I suspect “digital-first” is more accurate, because I can’t imagine that they won’t republish it in print after completion. It’s a 12-part series that puts out a chapter every two weeks — but while they’re keeping to the “99 cents” price, they’re doing that by making the chapters only eight pages each. Which should make a 96-page collection, eventually. (DC did something similar with their Fringe digital comics; theirs were 99 cents for 12-page chapters.)

The writers are Flint Dille, who worked on the Transformers cartoon, and Chris Metzen, making his writing debut. His main job is Blizzard Entertainment’s Senior Vice-President of Story and Franchise Development — so he should know brand management, if that’s what you’re looking for in your comic reading. Artist is Livio Ramondelli. The series is available through IDW’s various digital partners.

…all was not well at my house. My entire evenings were spent on X-Copy and checking lists. I felt like I was coming home from school to do an 8 hour shift….

That experience taught me a great deal. Mainly that there is no fun in it. I was only one person, and sure I had every game imaginable, but… I could only play one at a time and I needed the time to play it and copying all the stuff was no way for a schoolkid to spend his time on….

Which leads me on the point of this rather elaborate anecdote. I often wonder what percentage of stuff people download they actually consume…. I think this is an avenue the RIAA/MPAA or who ever should consider pursuing. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but what stopped me was I was no longer enjoying it.

While not dealing with the morality of the situation, that’s an approach that speaks directly to the self-satisfaction that can drive some file-sharing. It’s work to keep up with all the newest and find the free sources and keep the sharing ratios up and buy more hard drives to hold it all, so maybe some sharing can be stopped by encouraging people to realize how much time they’re wasting when they don’t have time to enjoy whatever it is they’re trying to obtain? Alternately, content providers worried about piracy meaning lost sales can ratchet down their assumptions by a factor to account for these digital hoarders that aren’t viewing whatever they’re swiping.

(It’s not just a digital problem, either. I greatly sympathize with Mike Sterling, who laments “I have too many comics. But I love ‘em and would like to read them more often than I really have time for.”)

While this is good news for readers who are more interested in reading stories than tracking issue numbers, I found myself surprised by the price levels. The first Ultimates collection, for example, contains 6 issues. You can buy those issues separately digitally for $1.99 each. The collection is $10.99, or a savings of a dollar. Meanwhile, at Amazon, the book is cover-priced $12.99, and you can get it in print for $10.39, or if you buy used, starting at $3.50 (in new condition).

I know, there are other reasons than price for purchasing digital comics, but I certainly am aware that it’s not any kind of a deal to buy digital bundles. Perhaps it’s just old-foginess, that I still have issues spending more than a buck or two on anything virtual, because I like to own (and lend and resell if I want) my comics. When you start asking $19.99 or $24.99 for locked-in files I am likely to lose access to at some point, I cringe.

Anyway, there are 19 event books, 27 Avengers, 23 X-Men, 6 Spider-Man, 5 Marvel Knights, 14 Ultimates, and 13 other (Oz, Zombies, Runaways, and cosmic-related books) available, for a total of 107. That grouping is also aimed at existing comic readers, since I’m not sure the distinction between Spider-Man and Ultimate Spider-Man will make a great deal of difference to them. I suspect they’ll also wonder why Iron Man stories are in Events, Avengers, and Ultimates.

Digital readers don’t necessarily cannibalize your print readers. They may be different audiences, but to make that possible, you also have to treat them as such and quit speaking in established jargon.

I found it funny, suspenseful, and well-cartooned. The animals are treated like people, with their own personalities and motivations, and while that’s unrealistic, it’s also entertaining. It reminded me of something like Madagascar … until the research scientists revealed their darker sides.

That sets the tone for the rest of the series, which turns into a murder mystery when the newly arrived panda is killed. In issue #2, the animals try to figure out what happened while the humans conduct their own investigation under the guise of improving human/animal communication. Along the way, characters ponder the meaning of life and death and how close the two are to each other.

Coughlin’s got an animation background, which explains how expressive his creatures are. His tigers, giraffes, lions, and gorillas are quickly understandable to the reader, worried about their mates and their offspring and how to cope with their captivity, even minimally seen as it is. In addition to figuring out what happened, who’s behind the killing, and the ethics of their actions, there’s a good deal of psychology and observation, as you’d expect from a comic set in a research facility. While I want to find out what’s going on — especially once the creepy spiders show up — I’m just as interested in the relationships among the animals.

There are four issues out so far, and you can read the first one for free in your choice of PDF, CBZ, or ePub format. The remaining issues are available for 99 cents each through SLG directly or comiXology. I recommend them.

The latest battle is a lawsuit. Near the end of December, HarperCollins sued Open Road for copyright infringement,

over Open Road’s publication of the e-book edition of Jean Craighead George’s bestselling and award-winning children’s book Julie of the Wolves. The suit charges that HC’s contract with George, signed in 1971, gives it the right to be the exclusive publisher of Wolves, “in book form,” including via “computer, computer-stored, mechanical, or other electronic means now known or hereafter invented. … Open Road’s unlawful exploitation of those rights is directly competitive with sales of the Work in paper format and HarperCollins’ own plans to publish Julie of the Wolves as an e-book.”

I’m not familiar with this particular title, but since its publication, it’s sold almost 4 million copies. The Open Road response was succinct: “While we have not seen the complaint and therefore cannot comment, Open Road has been granted the ebook rights by the author and is confident that the HarperCollins claim is without merit.”

(According to Wikipedia, Open Road is run by Jane Friedman, who was previously President and CEO of HarperCollins Publishers, so she should know book contracts, even if she’s now fighting with her former company. She also “founded … the first audio books division of a trade publisher”, so she’s open to new technology.)

A similar case previously occurred in 2010 between Random House and the heirs of William Styron, but that one was settled by Random House ceding the rights to the author’s representatives, and Open Road proceeded to release ebook versions of Styron’s works (including Sophie’s Choice). A more significant precedent is the 2002 RosettaBooks case, in which it was found

the right to ‘print, publish and sell the work[s] in book form’ in the contracts at issue does not include the right to publish the works in the format that has come to be known as the ‘ebook’.

While I can understand publishers hating competition, a lawsuit doesn’t seem like the optimal way to settle the matter. The author, who is the one making the agreement with Open Road, will wind up at odds with her publisher, poisoning future relations. It would be much more straightforward for publishers to negotiate with authors to obtain digital rights cleanly — but that would mean acknowledging that authors retain the rights and have the opportunity to negotiate better compensation. Plus, it would open floodgates, as multiple authors would likely want their book available to a new revenue stream. Publishers are generally afraid of change, because they are more comfortable with the way things are now. Authors (especially mid-list authors, who find the market disappearing under them) often have much more incentive to explore new ways of doing things.

Since the comic has been syndicated for nine years, there are, what, over 3,200 comic strips out so far? So including the best 250 is quite selective. What I find most interesting, though, is the pricing. The app is $3.99 for a limited time only. (No word on how long that is.) Afterwards, it’s going to become $9.99. The $4 pricing seems ok, for a few hours of entertainment, promising a behind-the-scenes experience. That’s comparable to a movie. Ten bucks, in contrast, seems high, even though I know they have to pay for the coding and recoloring and videotaping somehow. One might consider this app as promotion for the strip and its book collections, except it seems more aimed at existing fans than new ones.

Speaking of the books, I found it interesting that the press release points out how this app is “an example of how new technology can enhance the fan experience and be complementary to both the native strip and bound editions without replacing them.” Made me wonder if someone at the publisher was concerned about that possibility, so that’s why they went in a direction that positions the app as something different than just “read the strips on your iPad”.

Here’s a parody trailer, but in it, you can hear the voices they used for Rat, Goat, and the Zebras:

They’ll also provide downloadable PDFs for offline reading.

Good news! They’ve announced that their Reuben Awards will be adding a webcomic category (via Heidi). The eligibility criteria for “Best Online Comic Strip” is as follows:

• Comic-strip format only (no single panels, long-form narrative. etc.)
• Must be web only publication (any syndication in print would make it eligible for the Best Syndicated Comic Strip Division)
• Must be at least a weekly
• Must have shown consistent publication based on determined time-schedule (i.e. it being a daily, twice-a-week, weekly, etc) over the course of the 2011 calendar year
• Creator must earn the greater part of their living directly from the strip/property

Bad news! They’re freaking out over the idea that someone could be an excellent webcomic creator while having another job. I’m trying to think of any other award that demands to see your tax returns before determining your eligibility, and the only ones coming to mind are those that give out grants (and thus have a direct interest in your money situation). The NCS explains:

There are many challenges involved, the crux of which is separating those web-comics creators who are doing truly professional work from those who are just enthusiastic hobbyists. … The tricky part is the definition of “professional” with regards to web-comics/self-published work. The NCS awards are industry awards, not art awards. One of the criteria for consideration is that the creators be a professional cartoonist, and eligible for NCS membership (they do not have to BE members, but must be eligible for membership). Without independent verification (like a syndicate, editor or publisher who pays the cartoonist for their work) of a few criteria to that end, it’s difficult to separate the pros (i.e. those who are both fully committed to their craft for a career, and who make some substantial amount of income from it) from the hobbyists.

I guess. One might also conclude that the old school is having trouble dealing with a change in how cartoonists develop these days, and how the industry has morphed into something much less predictable in terms of income. At least with the “strip/property” phrasing, one doesn’t have to be specific about whether said income comes from books or t-shirts. If anyone is ruled out on this particular criterion, though, the arguments that result should be SPECtacular. Can you imagine what would happen if the Eisners starting wanting to look through tax returns? There are a significant number of recognized creators who don’t make a living wage from comics and survive based on spouses or family, yet we still call them professionals.

More good news! The screening committee has some very knowledgeable folks about webcomics on it, including Andrew Farago, Rick Marshall, and Gary Tyrrell.

Bad news! The whole committee is male.

Good news! The committee “will recommend for consideration anyone who did not submit but they feel both meet the criteria and are representative of the best online work,” which is a wonderful way to help ensure they really are looking at the best possible choices.

Better news! The group is open to improvement. They acknowledge, “It is bound to have some bugs which we will learn from and hopefully improve the process next year. The important thing is that efforts are being made to include work being done on-line in the NCS’s recognition of excellence in professional cartooning.” That’s a welcome attitude… even if the poster does get ticked off in the comments and wind up saying, “If your comments are of the “this is stupid, you guys are so backward/behind the times/why aren’t you doing it the way I want you to” variety… don’t bother,” so apparently their willingness to listen has a limit.

I look forward to seeing the final award, and I hope everyone who can submits their work.

Update: The improvement process has already begun, with a clarification made by the NCS changing the income language to

Creator must earn the greater part of their living directly from cartooning in order to adhere to the NCS criteria that creators under consideration must be either full members or eligible for full membership.

So now you can be a print cartoonist who dabbles in webcomics and still win. I’m being snarky — it’s good to see them take positive steps to clarify what was a somewhat confusing requirement.

These two are related, but not quite the same. Together, they add up to an issue that’s not enjoyable for new readers. Rob goes on to conclude that this is a problem with many other titles from the genre, in contrast to two other properties he jumped onto quickly:

I just don’t see why superhero comics are determined to keep new readers in the dark and why their supporters argue for new readers to go see wikis and other sites. Why can’t the comic itself stand on its own?

I had almost no knowledge of Dr. Who. I watched one episode in the middle of 50 years of continuity and was instantly hooked, because all I needed to know was that it was a guy in a time-travelling space ship. I watched one episode of the character-continuity heavy Community and I was hooked, without needing to know much of anything at all.

If it can be done with other comics I referenced above and with other media properties, it can be done in superhero comics.

By the way, I second his recommendation of Community, because it’s hilarious and deserves many more readers. To pull all this together, it even has its own Doctor Who parody, “Inspector Spacetime”, but if you aren’t familiar with the Doctor, the references still work as some goofy thing the guys go fannish over.

Kick off the New Year by discovering the world of the Marvel Comics app and receiving a $5.00 coupon for your local comic store! That’s right, if you purchase* a comic on the Marvel Comics app on January 7th, between 12:01am EST and 11:59pm EST, you will be e-mailed a coupon (on January 8th)** valued at five dollars to be used for any Marvel comics purchase at your local comic store. Please note that only one coupon is available per user during this limited-time offer and may only be redeemed at select comic shops.***

Wow, THREE footnotes for the offer.

The first clarifies that you have to be logged in with a Marvel account, which means registration through “the ‘My Comics’ section of the Marvel Comics app or at Marvel.com”. (I presume this is different from a standard comiXology account, although I don’t know how or why.) The second states that the coupon expires on February 6, so it’s only good for a month, which seems a reasonable amount of time.

The third is the one that trips me up. How do I know that any shops in my town are participating? Given how many retailers are justifiably angry about being forced to advertise digital to their customers, I’m not sure how many have signed on for this effort. The announcement states: “***Fans: The e-mail containing your coupon will also include a link to help you find the closest qualifying store(s)”, so you don’t know if you’ll be able to easily use the offer without committing to it.

Also interesting: the purchase date is a Saturday. I’d be curious to know if there are any known digital patterns, in terms of when people buy comics online. Is that a low-purchase day, historically, to reduce the risk of this offer, or a high one, to try and get the most customers possible into stores?

While I admire any attempt to experiment, especially if it involves giving people free money, this type of offer ignores the percentage of customers who like one format or the other and want to keep getting what they like. A number of digital readers don’t want print — they don’t want to lug it around or store it. Trying to get them into stores doesn’t address their needs. Instead, it’s a panacea for retailers upset at a publisher who seems to be undercutting them by giving away digital copies of its Ultimates and Season One lines. The goal is to “convert” them to reading comics the “right” (old-fashioned) way. This quote tells the story:

“As we continue to grow the digital comics world, we want to make sure it’s always to the benefit of the medium and our comic shop retail partners,” said Peter Phillips, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Marvel Digital Media Group. “This coupon is a great way for us to let more of our fans know about their local comic store and incentivize them to make the trip there. At the end of the day, our goals in the print and digital mediums are the same—bring more fans to comics.”

Update: After loading the Marvel Comics app on an iPad, I couldn’t find anything I wanted to buy to take advantage of this offer. I was particularly curious about digital-only comics, because I know Marvel has done some of them in the past, but there’s no indicator I could find as to which, if any, of their available issues fit into that category.

The cheapest single comic is $1.99, with many running much higher, so the coupon savings don’t seem as significant now. I did find an FAQ that clarified that you had to pick a retailer at which to use the coupon before printing it out, and once selected, you couldn’t change it. Still no idea if any of my local retailers are participating, though.

Update 2: John Jakala has written up his experience getting the coupon and finding a local store to redeem it.

The Man Who Built Beirut is a non-fiction exploration of Middle Eastern politics through the story of the murder of Rafik Hariri, former prime minister of Lebanon and construction mega-mogul, and the demonstrations that followed.

Warner lived in Beirut in 2005 and 2011, so he’s got some personal background on the subject and knows what it should look like. As someone who only vaguely about Lebanon from what I recall hearing on the news in the 80s, this story was eye-opening. It ranks with the best graphic journalism. (There are also notes and a bibliography at the end, for those who want to learn more.)

Warner’s thickly black style grounds his work and gives it weight and portent. His willingness to illustrate settings and details well suits a comic explaining something about a place and its history to unfamiliar readers. He also frequently (and reassuringly) draws himself as pop-eyed, as shown here, to demonstrate the shock and dismay he felt, being tangentially caught up in these events. We don’t know what happened, exactly, and he doesn’t provide answers, just insightful questions.

On a very different note are the couple of tales collected in print as Two Stories, both exploring the nature of grief and loss. Squirrel is a memory of a temporary pet rodent, nursed back to health, while A Ghost seems to be two boys playing together again after one moved away. Both of these tales are notable more for what they don’t say. There’s a lot of room in them for the reader’s interpretation, like a picture delineated by negative space, the absence of what’s actually shown.

All are available for purchase as minicomics also. Not in print (but it should be), is Warner’s story of breaking his drawing arm, and how he coped with the months that followed. He struggles to learn to become ambidextrous and worries over how much he’ll still have when the cast comes off.

One of those titles was Section Zero, by Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett, about a group investigating paranormal phenomena. (I think of it as X-Files meets Challengers of the Unknown, but I’m not sure I’m recalling the details correctly.) Back then, only three issues, half of the first storyline, were released.

Now, Section Zero has returned as a webcomic at MadGeniusComics.com. There’s a five-page prologue posted today, with three more pages due every Thursday. In his blog post, Karl Kesel explains how it came to be online and details how it’s being updated:

Tom and I are working on new SECTION ZERO material now, squeezing it in around our day jobs. At the same time, we’ll be posting all the previously published storyline— starting with today’s 5-page Prologue, followed by 3 pages every Thursday. By the time all that’s posted, we’ll have a ton of new stuff ready. If you haven’t read these comics before, this is your chance. If you’ve already read them you’ll still want to check in because A) Richard Starkings, First Tiger at Comicraft, has insanely and wonderfully insisted on “freshening” the lettering for the book, so the pages have a slightly different look to them, and B) since re-lettering was being done anyway, I’m tweaking the script here and there.

It’s a shame that Section Zero and Gorilla Comics never took off the first time around, but now, it means good comics to read online for free, and the promise of continuing adventures.

I’m sorry to hear she’s faced all that, but I love her work, and I’m glad she’s anticipating a productive 2012, with lots more comics.