Apple’s iPad “will rise or fall on content. If Steve Jobs can get a bunch of cool books and apps on the thing, we’ll want one. If not, we won’t,” Jon Fortt writes for Fortune.
“Where will His Steveness get some of those books? I say the same place he’s gotten so many movies and TV shows for iTunes in the past: Disney,” Fortt writes. Remember that “in 2006, when Disney bought Pixar for $7.4 billion, turning Jobs into the Mouse House’s largest individual shareholder.”
“But wait! You say. Disney isn’t exactly a major book publisher,” Fortt writes. “Oh, yes it is. Disney just bought Marvel, remember?”
Fortt writes, “By bringing comics and graphic novels to the iPad, Apple will not only attract a loyal geek fan base that loves the medium. It will also offer an experience that Amazon, Sony and others in the e-ink e-book crowd can’t even approximate: Immersive graphics, in full color.”
Full article here.
Vaneta Rogers reports for Newsarama, “With Apple’s announcement of their new iPad device, the comics industry is abuzz with the potential for digital comics.”
“Newsarama contacted artists, writers and executives at a variety of comic book publishers to find out their reaction to the news, and their thoughts on how it will affect comic books,” Rogers reports.
The extensive full article is here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Joel” for the heads up.]
A natural
Soo cool. Agree 100% with the idea. Gotta love Iron Man.
Spidey
An nobody is mentioning yet, but I’d bet some really slick video content as well. Imagine a graphic novel with the ability to show one-minute animations as part of the experience. Could be really cool.
Certainly a bright future for comics and graphic novels. The iPod brought us podcasting. What will the iPad bring?
It will be interesting to say the least.
padcasting?
Marvel Comics will be on the iPad from day one via existing iPhone apps like ComiXology.
I just watched the 1988 movie “Big” over the weekend and noticed that this concept was actually invented by the writers of that movie.
Tom Hanks presented it to the board of FAO Schwarts in the movie – an interactive comic book where you make the decisions about what happens next as the story progresses. Apple just finally invented the technology to make it a reality.
Padcasting comes to mind as does padpages
Comic books? Sounds good, but I want the publications I read as a kid: Mad, Cracked, Sick, and Crazy. Yeah, for you youngsters, those were all real “kids magazines,” and, man, were they funny!
iPad A Publishing Revival…A Publisher’s dream come true…
Give me Superman with his Golden Age Powers at full and no longer vulnerable to kryptonite. He can sleep in the heart of the sun, juggle planets, travel faster than light, absolutely impossible to kill!
Personally, I’d rather not have cheesy half-animation applied to comic book stories. Adding a soundtrack and limited animation just makes the story look like a badly animated cartoon.
Rather, I’d like to see stories presented one panel at a time, for maximum suspense, and to allow panels to be presented at maximum size. The stories should be created in a traditional 6-8 panel per page format for paper editions, but be presented one panel at a time in the digital editions.
I wouldn’t mind seeing panels that link to related stories, for flashbacks and backstory. I wouldn’t mind seeing panels that link to diagrams, charts, and character profiles.
I also wouldn’t mind being able to toggle between the color version and the black & white original art version.
If the lettering is digital, I wouldn’t mind seeing the captions and dialog balloons on separate layers that can be presented sequentially within each panel, so that the balloons are being presented one at a time. Again, this is for maximum suspense.
I wouldn’t mind seeing fully annotated stories with links to the script, thumbnails, rough layouts, model sheets, reference photos, and the like.
Fortune is a Time Inc magazine. Jon Fortt’s career is dependent on magazines adopting new revenue via the web. Periodical Content is no longer King. People will buy the device for the cheap data connection.
and NOW I sense that the tide of anti-iPad tech opinion is grudgingly turning…techies somehow know all about comix and when they imagine their favorite reading material materializing on iPad, they will pause in their rants to say “oh wait…”
@ neoL. Yep. The geeks will come calling. This thing is THE thing.
@ ZevFan
Cracked has actually reinvented itself as an “adult” comedy website. Not like the Cracked of yore, but different and actually funnier.
Marvel is nice but they also have to have Recyclops!
I do not believe that the iPad “will rise or fall on content.” Certainly, this is a strength of the iPad at this state. However, I think that user experience is really what Apple is emphasizing. Consumers have really taken to the smart phone experience. We learned that a device that the basics -surfing the web, checking email, calendar and address book – are incredibly useful to us on a daily basis. The iPad simply expands on that idea. So, content does not have to drive the iPad – it will be useful to many and a workable solution to netbooks and laptops for those that just want web, email, etc.
Certainly, there are shortcomings to the iPad, but all are technological. While they could be conquered now, Apple has obviously emphasized weight and battery life more than horsepower or ports. Over time, those shortcomings will be addressed. As that happens, the number of people than can functionally replace their laptop with a tablet will increase. Certainly, it will not be suitable for all or even most. But if 20% of laptop users could use a table instead? That’s a pretty good market. Also, because the iPad functions like an iPod Touch in terms of syncing, it could be used as a portable replacement for Windows laptops, too…
How long before some Magazine gives me iTunes Card to subsidize my iPad to sign up for year long subscription?
Marvel in particular has been waiting for a platform like the iPad for the next stage of comic books. This is the new direction for comic books, and I’m sure all the comic book/graphic novel companies are champing at the bit to get ready for the iPad’s release.
It’s the possibilities of the iPad for school, books, and other entertainment purposes that will grab the consumer market. It’s the unparalleled build quality, ease of use and reliability which will bring over the business users.
It’s still amazing that the tech pundits don’t see how a true multi-touch tablet will be a real game changer. The iPad is so, so much more than a notebook with a touch screen.
Computer-version comics won’t replace paper comics for me. One idea that is exciting is cartoon-movies of Marvel/DC comics. Especially with Captain America kicking the Hulk’s and Iron Man’s arses, or at least go toe to toe with the Hulk like he did in “Ultimate Avengers”, but definately beat Iron Man like in “Civil War”. That’d be cool.
@ZevFan
They’re already online – if you know where to look!
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Marvel has been plugging its digital comics service online for months now. It’s actually quite reasonable; however, the experience of reading comics on a computer just doesn’t seem to cut it for me. Laptops are a bit better, but comics are vertical and laptop screens have been continuously getting wider. I’ve tried several of the comic reader apps for the iPhone but it’s kind of a pain having to keep scrolling/zomming/panning and everything just to read it, and you can’t quite enjoy the beauty of any full-page artwork this way. For years I’ve felt that a tablet type device would be the perfect fit for digital comics, so I immediately thought of this when Apple made their announcement. I for one would be much more apt to read/subscribe to them in this form factor than through anything else.
Just think how valuable your Comic book collection will become when they stop printing hard copies (if ever).