Ka-Boom! Marvel Plans to Release Motion Comics via iTunes
Marvel Entertainment - home to characters like Spider-Man, the X-Men, Iron Man, and the Hulk - has announced plans to release a series of "motion comics" via iTunes. Introduced at New York Comic Con, the new format would have the iPod- and iPhone-bound digital books taking on characteristics of both print and animation with audio and motion enhancing the typical panel-based format of print.
Hasn't animation of comic books been done? This isn't traditional animation. The Motion Comic format would feature traditional panel-based structures that are set in motion. Instead of thought bubbles and dialog boxes, the dialog would be spoken. Best of all? The original artist's drawings would be used to compose the digital books, as opposed to facsimile drawn by an animator.
"It became very, very evident to me that as technology moves forward, there will come a day where we'll be able to not just create animation based upon our comic books and our characters and stories that we've told, but there will come a time when eventually we'll be able to take existing comic art, the flat, static art, and be able to animate it," said Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada. "So [now] we can put out a product that is not quite a comic book and not quite animation, [but] a wonderful hybrid that incorporates all of our great talents."
X-Men and Spider-Woman are among the first books to take on the new format. No pricing or release date has been set.
While printed works have always held promise on iTunes - and the iPhones and iPods that derive content from it - this new comic format could be the perfect fit for the handheld Apple devices that excel with audio and video.
When you combine the Apple hardware - or any device capable of playing iTunes content - with the geek appeal of Marvel's universe of heroes, this seems like a sure winner for both Marvel and iTunes.
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I just recently purchased the Watchmen ones that were available. They're incredibly well done, keeping the look of the original art and bringing it to life with fluid animation. I just wish there was a real cast of voice actors (maybe there will be for these future releases).
Kablooey! Another unimaginative journalist writing about comics!
Seriously, comics aren't the Batman TV show. You can leave the "pow" out of your headlines. Can't we retire this meme already?
@Gunderstorm For what it's worth, the "Boom" reference was meant to be a nod to Steve Jobs' habit of saying "Boom!" when introducing new features, not a slight on the onomatopoeia of comics. (That said, the fact that I had to explain that probably means it wasn't as obvious as it should have been.)
Would be interesting if, in the future, Marvel (or others) let readers record the comic's dialog in their voice and share it with other friends/readers. The "art" in the comic book then becomes like a platform for creating new stories.
Didn't anybody see Scott McCloud's TED presentation? This isn't the way to go for comics, view chapter 'Comics on the web' for a great view on it @ http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/432
This format idea was stolen.
Kablooey! Another unimaginative journalist writing about comics!
i like the sound of comics on the iphone i'll have to have a look for some.
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