GoComics Revamped

Uclick has launched a major update to GoComics.com, featuring a new look and feel as well as enhanced search, more intuitive navigation and improved features for free and premium users, now referred to as Comic Geniuses.

The new GoComics.com launched on 20th May and Uclick reports that they have already seen a dramatic increase in time spent on the site and the number of new registered users.

"This is far beyond a superficial makeover," said Uclick CEO Douglas Edwards. "We're defining a visual language for the presentation of comics, gag panels, and other graphic storytelling on the web. The idea is to make it easier for users to find the comics they want, save them, organize them and share them with friends. It's clear from the increased number of registrations and the feedback we're getting that comic consumers are very happy with the results."

Both new visitors to the site and returning users will find a wide array of new tools at their disposal.

The powerful new search tool brings users to a results page with matching words or phrases from all areas of the site, including titles, descriptions, creators and tags.

Users will also find it easier to navigate throughout the site, whether it's from one title to another or while browsing the archives of their favorite comics and cartoons. Links to the A-to-Z lists and most popular comic strips and editorials are featured on every page, making the entire catalog of GoComics titles no more than a click away.

"A few decades ago," said Edwards, "people would clip comics out of the newspaper and hang them on the fridge. It was a simple way to enjoy a comic again and again and a fun way to share a laugh with friends. In that sense, comics have always been something to be enjoyed, saved and shared. We've taken those core pleasures of the comics experience and applied them to our site design.

"We're very proud of the work we've done to improve the GoComics experience for readers and creators. The new GoComics.com is a leap forward for online comics presentation. But stay tuned; we have much bigger plans that will give creators and their loyal fans much to talk about."

• GoComics site: www.gocomics.com

SmashWords Affiliate Scheme Announced

(via YODSpica): Smashwords, an online Ebook store for independent authors and their publishers, has launched a new affiliate program that will allow external sites to generate revenue by linking to Ebooks that are being sold on the Smashwords store.

The team over at WebTech blog YODSpica point out that affiliate programs for bookstores are nothing new: typically, online publishers will link to a book and will get a cut of the proceeds if the store linked to makes a sale within a certain timeframe. "But the emergence of Ebooks is changing the landscape," Elio Assuncao at YODSpica notes. "Amazon, which has built up its affiliate program for traditional books over the last decade, does not give affiliate publishers any portion of the purchase price if a visitor winds up buying an electronic book. Smashwords is looking to capitalize on this omission by offering web publishers an alternative."

Smashwords launched in 2008: its catalogue is still relatively small, offering some 1,300 Ebooks primarily from independent authors, including free eBooks as well as SciFi and Fantasy. (No comic creators seem to be using Smashwords as yet).

Some small publishers are beginning to sign on as well. All author contracts with Smashwords are non-exclusive. All of the content sold is DRM-free and authors receive 85% of the net proceeds of any Ebooks that they sell, which can be downloaded to reading devices such as the the iPhone, iPod Touch, Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader or IRex Iliad, or to other ereading devices.

For authors who want to maximize their sales opportunities on Smashwords, the company has also created a free The Smashwords Book Marketing Guide, which starts with an overview of how Smashwords helps you sell your book, and then provides a series of tips for how authors can take their book marketing to the next level.

Other players in this space include Fictionwise and Scribd, which just launched its online store, though neither of these offer an affiliate program.

• Full details of the Smashwords Affiliate program here

• Read an interview with Smashwords founder Mark Coker

Harlequin Comics Go Mobile in China

Canadian romantic publisher Harlequin Enterprises have announced that digital comics based on their novels, already on sale in Japan, are now being made available for mobile distribution in China. They've also revealed sales figures that will make some recent mobile comic start ups jaws drop in the hope they can catch up...

A global leader in series romance and one of the world's leading publishers of books for women, Harlequin's new Harlequin Comics are digital adaptations based on the publisher's romance novels, already distributed in Japan jointly by Harlequin and SoftBank Creative Corp, one of Japan's leading digital content providers.

The company, whose Japanese subsidiary Harlequin K. K. also publishes Harlequin, a Japanese magazine of one-shot manga stories "in the style of overseas romance novels" launched earlier this year, says that a staggering one million Harlequin digital comic files have been downloaded there - making Harlequin digital comics among the most popular comic content downloaded by Japanese women. The titles are distributed widely via services such as Japan Yahoo! and Comic Japan.

Other Harlequin Comics are also available print editions in Japan and Dark Horse Comics re-publishes some of these in the US. The AnimeNews Network notes that Sony's online Connect store has been selling Harlequin manga in English for the proprietary Sony Portable Reader device since 2006.

The digital comic titles sold in Japan are now being translated into simplified Chinese characters and made available in Celsys's ComicSurfing format for mobile digital distribution by Wireless China mobile site, one of the largest mobile portal and E-channel providers in China. Launch titles include comics based on books by New York Times bestselling authors such as Debbie Macomber, Sharon Sala and Betty Neels.

Harlequin Comics are digitalized into a "frame-by-frame" format utilizing innovative new technology that allows the user to see each comic frame individually and then slide forward to the next frame. Each frame can be easily enlarged or shrunk via the touch screen.

"Reading novels and comics on mobile phones is a way of life [here]," said Belinda Hobbs, Vice President, Harlequin Asia. "As Harlequin celebrates 60 years of pure reading pleasure we are thrilled to be able to bring digital comics based on the original English novel to a new audience.

"This reflects both the world-wide appeal of our editorial and Harlequin's focus on providing entertaining reading to women via innovative new channels and formats."

With titles issued worldwide in 28 languages and sold in 114 international markets, Harlequin, a leading digital publisher and the first major house to make its entire frontlist available in eBook simultaneously with print, clearly knows its market and the success it has had with mobile comics is another indication of their potential

Harlequin titles are frequent residents on eBook bestseller lists and the company produces over 110 titles monthly by more than 1,100 authors from around the world.

• Harlequin web site: www.eHarlequin.com

Terminator Comic on the iPhone

Warner Brothers Digital Distribution is distributing IDW’s Terminator Salvation: The Prequel comics as its first digital comic for iPhone and iPod Touch - and the company says there are more to come.

The app uses Genus App’s Kamikaze: Le Edition engine, which has also been been used bringing Will Eisner's Contract with God and Robots versus Zombies, which we reported on earlier in the year. This reader allows its user to view either full pages or read the comic panel by panel, and touch the panels or word balloons on the full page view to get to a single panel view or expanded word balloon, or "pinch in" to be taken back to the full page. The app also includes page-turn and other sound effects.

Individual issues of Terminator Salvation: The Prequel, which is written by Dara Naraghi with art by Alan Robinson and set in the future showing what life was like once the machines took over, but before John Conner becomes the leader of the resistance, are available at $.99 each, and the full story at $3.99.

"We see digital comics as an exciting new growth category," commented Thomas Gewecke, president, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution. "Consumers want to extend the print experience to their handheld media devices and the iPhone and iPod touch are ideal platforms for delivering rich, immersive, visual experiences.

"We expect the Terminator Salvation prequel to be the first of many digital comic releases over the coming year."

Future Warner comic series for the iPhone will include classic cartoons as well as well-known action titles.

Warner has also produced a six-part online prequel Terminator miniseries, Terminator: Salvation - The Machinima Series, using animation and environments generated by the graphics engine from the new Terminator: Salvation video game. Episodes are available online via iTunes, Xbox Live and the Sony PlayStation Network.

• Terminator Salvation: The Prequel is now available on the Apple App Store

Tales from the Mindverse

Comic creator and Temple APA member Paul Eldridge has recently compiled a collection of the strips that he originally created on mobile comic creation service ROK Comics.

Tales from my Mindverse contains strips created using the ROK Comics creator tool is introduced by the service's former editor. The collection includes strips which gained Paul high acclaim in competitions on the platform.

You can download a PDF or CBR/CBZ from the following places, or view it on myebook.com.

• Clickwheel: www.clickwheel.net/features/288

• Paul's website: kerchow.webs.com/phonetoons.htm

Alan Moore's Future Shocks on iPhone

For the first time ever, a selection of Alan Moore’s earliest comic-strip creations Future Shocks – from the ongoing weekly British comic 2000AD – are now available globally via the Apple iTunes App Store.

Before Watchmen, Lost Girls and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Alan Moore cut his teeth writing comics for Marvel UK and on a series of ambitious and innovative short stories for the iconic sci-fi comic 2000AD, which showcased the talent and genius of arguably one of the greatest comic creators of our times.

Developed exclusively by digital comics publisher Clickwheel.net and available in eight parts over eight weeks, Alan Moore’s Future Shocks has been adapted to enthuse, invigorate and excite the thousands of comic fans who have never had access to these stories before.

“We’ve been waiting a long time to get our hands on this material," says Tim Demeter, Clickwheel’s Editor, "and as a comic fan myself, I can confidently say that if Alan Moore is one of your favourite creators, you need this!"

Available now, each episode is priced at $0.99/£0.59 -- so there's no excuse not to be shocked and awed anytime, anyplace.

• Download Alan Moore's Future Shocks from the iTunes App Store Today

Pixton: An Online Comic Creator

I've previously published an article on the Mobile Comic Creators forum about Online Comic Creators, but have just come across another free online application called Pixton, which was launched last January that, somehow, I've completely missed.

Created by Clive Goodinson, who hails from British Columbia, the online app works in any web browser and offers a click-and-drag comic creator, poseable characters, and is certified for use on interactive whiteboards. You can also use it to animate characters, which is an interesting addition to other comic creators out there on the Net.

With a range of templates and other features it's pretty intuitive to use: note that you do have to sign up for a (free) account to start using the service.

The service has picked up several awards: most recently, "Best User Generated/Crowd-sourced Content Site" in the New Media BC Popvox Awards, honouring the best of BC's Digital Media Industry, but the company was also one of three finalists named in the “Excellence in Social Media Websites” category of the 2008 Canadian New Media Awards and won an iParenting Media Award for Greatest Product of 2008 last November.

Since its launch in in January 2008 the Pixton website has grown to hosts a truly global community, with members from 165 different countries who have published thousands of comics in over 30 languages. You can also read comics in over 40 languages, as the service offers automatic translation by Google

"We have people who don’t even speak the same language, collaborating on the same comics," says Clive. "Another unique feature is that our language filtering system helps make Pixton a fun and safe place for all - from 6 to 106!"

• Visit the Pixton web site: Pixton.com

Graphic Novel Launches on Twitter

Bemused Twitter users reading this may be wondering how anyone can claim to have created a graphic novel for the text-based micro-blogging service. In fact, duo The Brothers of Silence - writer/creative strategist Don Richmond and illustrator/writer/creative strategist Ian LeWinter - are using Twitter to promote their new comic, Blank, with daily posts, encouraging immediate visits once a new page goes live.

Blank (www.blank-thegraphicnovel.com) is described as a graphic novel "in the tradition of Watchmen", with heroes, villains, victims and complex story threads, although the heroes in Blank are more anti-hero and noir. Each day, a new page is uploaded to the website and announced on Twitter and Facebook.

Launched on 1st May with the cover and 16 pages, the creators committed to posting a page a day on the website, with no time off for good behaviour.

"We’ve gotten nothing but great responses from all," says Don. "The challenge ahead — more eyeballs.

"I believe we are creating one of the greatest graphic novels in history," he proclaims proudly, "from Ian’s ubervillainous Ouranos Gaia and his accompanying trilogy of harpies, to my lovely child-ghost. The pages must flow..."

The story is being unveiled in real-time to its audience as the graphic novel is created, giving its fan-base a sense of involvement in the story, along with possibilities for plot interaction.

The creators say plans to release Blank in print have not yet been pursued, but they fully intend to pursue both a publishing deal and motion picture interest.

The Brothers viral marketing campaign is an interesting model, and reflects the importance of regular scheduling of web comic posts to maintain reader enthusiasm -- an aspect of web comics that's no easy task to maintain without determination and discipline!

• Twitter: www.twitter.com/BlankMustDie
• Facebook Fan Page
• YouTube: www.youtube.com/JohnBlankMustDie
• WordPress: blanktheblog.wordpress.com

iVerse Owner Interviewed

The Vancouver Press has just published a short interview with iVerse Comics owner Michael Murphey and some reaction from comic shop owners to his views that digital comics wil affect monthly print comic sales.

iVerse launched its first iPhone comics last November and Murphey says the growing popularity of mobile devices meant he couldn’t resist the opportunity to develop a bridge between the print and digital comic worlds.

Like uClick and other publishers, iVerse take traditional print comics and original content, depending on the situation, and convert those into mobile-formatted comics, releasing them for the iPhone, iTouch and Google Android phones. Many of iVerse’s comics sell for 99 cents through the iTunes store, and some first issues are free. Among the more than 60 titles the company has released through iTunes are issues from the Atomic Robo, Oz: The Manga, and IDW's Star Trek: Countdown series.

Murphey reveals that he's well aware not all comic-book fans have smartphones, so Murphey and his team are working on comics-viewing software for Windows and Mac operating systems.

“Basically, if there’s a screen on it, we need to put comics on it for people,” he said. He also feels the fast-developing medium of digital comics means there may be changes ahead for the print-comics industry.

"We may not see as many monthly issues printed,” Murphey he argues. “Instead, we’ll see the trade paperback printed, and the monthly issue will just go digital. But I don’t think that print will ever be completely replaced by digital, and I don’t think it should be.”

Murphey estimates that Japan’s digital-comic-book industry brings in about US$270 million a year, and that the North American market could match that by 2011.

Murphey's views aren't really surprising: you only need to see what's happened to newspapers to see how digital delivery has damagaed print sales. Like Murphey, I still think there's going to be a place for print comics - you simply can't beat the flexibility and tactile nature of paper as a delivery medium just yet, for all the hype about digital comics. But I do think digital comics offer an unprecedneted opportunity for comic creators to reach a much wider audience than they ever would with print, but finding ways to monetize them remains elusive.

Perhaps initiatives like Scribd's new service, which allows writers to publish digital copies then charge for them, taking 80 per cent of the sale (see this New York Times article), are just one way this can be achieved.

• Read the full article on the Vancouver Free Press web site

• iVerse Comics: www.iversecomics.com

Wood's World War Robot

Digital comics creator Ashley Wood, creator of the Metal Gear Solid PSP digital comics, is now working on iPhone games.

Ashley is working with Brothers Paul and David Bettner, veterans of shuttered Age of Empires creator Ensemble Studios, who are now running a new iPhone game development studio, Newtoy, founded in 2008. The studio is now releasing its second iPhone game, World War Robot, in a collaboration with the Australian-born artist, who has been drawing comics for over ten years.

In World War Robot, the human race is split by religion and politics as they wage a savage war between Earth and Mars. Giant robots augment the destruction with incredible battles, intense human/robot drama, a little black humour and some political intrigue thrown into the mix in this epic story.

"We share a dream for a new kind of game development," said Paul Bettner, creative director at Newtoy. "World class game makers from around the globe - artists and illustrators, designers, musicians, coders - joining forces to craft the highest quality entertainment experiences on the most cutting edge game platforms. We are moving away from the monolithic studio model of development. We want to redefine the way video games are made. This collaboration with Ashley is that dream, realized."

"I'm excited to team up with game creators who I have admired," adds Ashley, "and, more importantly, who's games I have enjoyed playing over the years!"

Ashley has been making up pictures and ideas for a long time and has worked with major publishing and entertainment companies, including Dreamworks, Warner Bros, Sony, Konami, Vivendi International, Random House, Marvel Comics and Todd McFarlane Productions. Ashley’s work has appeared in books, movies, magazines, comics, television and video games. Ashley is a three-time Spectrum Award winner and a two-time Communication Arts award winner and the co owner of 3A Toys.

• World War Robot: www.worldwarrobotgame.com • Ashley Wood's personal website: http://ashleybambaland.blogspot.com

Garfield Becomes a Language Teacher!

Uclick and Paws Inc. have created the Garfield y Garfield app as a learning tool, offering users hundreds of simple and practical examples of applied language. Image: Uclick

Learning a second language can be a daunting challenge, but not when one of the world's most popular comic strip characters is involved. Uclick and Paws, Inc., the company behind Jim Davis cartoon Garfield, have announced the release of Garfield y Garfield for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Comics have often been used as a learning tool in the past. Britain's Classical Comics have been releasing some stunning original graphic novels adapting a variety of fiction into comic form, including Shakespeare and Charles Dickens (see our review of Great Expectations here). Classics Illustrated are also publishing news stand, updated UK editions of the original Classic Illustrated comics (see interview with the publisher here). In Italy, Casiraghi Jones Publishing used comics to interest Italian students in speaking English in a ground-breaking magazine that unfortunately did not achieve the sale level the publisher hoped for, but still publish some of the material created online.

However, this new app from Uclick is, we're pretty sure, the first time comics have been used to help teach a foreign language on mobile devices.

The app features the English and Spanish versions of more than 100 of the most popular Garfield daily strips and, with the mere press of a button on the Multi-Touch screen, you can toggle back and forth between the English and Spanish translations of the strip, quickly learning new words and phrases.

"Again, as with so much of the new technology, I have to ask, 'Why wasn't this around when I was a kid?'" said Garfield creator Jim Davis. "This is a great tool for learning a second language or for refreshing your vocabulary. I'm sincerely very proud to have Garfield connected with this product.

"In the past I have heard parents say, 'Garfield helped my child take an interest in reading.' Think how proud I'd be if they said, 'Garfield helped me learn Spanish!'" Uclick and Paws Inc. created the Garfield y Garfield app as a learning tool, offering users hundreds of simple and practical examples of applied language. The fluid toggle controls enable users to examine the translations seamlessly, providing an interactive language-learning experience with special emphasis on vocabulary, sentence structure and context.

"Garfield y Garfield is a groundbreaking application that makes studying a second language convenient, engaging and fun," said Uclick CEO Douglas Edwards. "Garfield is one of the world's most beloved comic characters, which makes him a perfect fit for an application that uses the simple, direct language of comic strips to help users learn a second language. We're extremely proud to partner with Paws to offer this wonderful application."

Uclick has now created more than 120 apps for iPhone and iPod touch featuring a wide range of well-known comic strips, graphic novels, manga and webcomics, including Jeff Smith's Bone, Ghostbusters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

• To get the Garfield y Garfield language-learning app and other favourite comic books, graphic novels and manga for the iPhone and iPod touch go to the Uclick Web App by typing Uclick.com into the Safari browser or visit the App Store on the iPhone or on iTunes.

• The Garfield y Garfield app is available for download from the Apple App Store for $2.99 (US). Click here to go directly to the Garfield y Garfield page on iTunes.

Robot Comics Announces Alterna Deal

Alterna Comics, publishers of print titles such as Diary of a Black Widow and Jesus Hates Zombies, has officially announced a deal with new mobile comics publisher Robot Comics, allowing them to bring their expansive catalogue of title the small screen.

Alterna publisher Peter Simeti has long been one of the most forward-thinking small press figures in recent years and one of the first to utilize digital publishing venues to establish a name and demand for his company's titles. He's also been an advocate for smarter and more creator-friendly approaches to digital publishing practices, all of which Robot Comics is devoted to making a reality.

Mobile editions of Alterna titles for Android, iPhone and iPod touch are beginning to be published this week, to be released sequentially in approximately 25 pages per installment (for those titles that will retain their full-page format) or 75-100 screens (for those titles able to be reformatted and adapted specifically for mobiles).

The first of each title, either one or two installments, will be offered for free with each subsequent installment per book then be offered at the rate of $0.99.

Two new titles and installments will be released every Wednesday until all books in Alterna's catalogue -- which include such sold-out hits as Birth, Novo, Jesus Hates Zombies and American Terror: Confessions of a Human Smart Bomb -- are made available. The schedule will allow Robot Comics to have Alterna comics released throughout the year.

Initially, each mobile installment will be available on the Google marketplace for Android-powered devices, custom-made for reading on Robot Comics' free Droid Comic Viewer application. Each Android release will be followed by an Apple version for iPhone and iPod touch.

Every Alterna comic not already available for the Kindle, will then be given an Amazon Kindle 2 release, with international versions of all Alterna titles available shortly after the final English versions are released.

"I love the fact that in this day and age we (the comics community) are really expanding the bounds and applications of literature to reach an unfathomable amount of people," says Michael Bracco, creator, writer and artist on Birth, the first title to be released in mobile format. "This is especially exciting for someone like me who is an independent creator; the "little guy" of comic publishing. The thought of being included into something as far reaching, innovative and cutting edge as the iPhone is an extraordinary opportunity!

"[This format] gives people an affordable option to read comic books and graphic novels on the go," feels Diary of a Black Widow creator Bret M. Herholz. "I don't think digital will replace the printed page because there is something very comforting about holding a book in your hand while reading it. But it's good for people to have a choice with digital books.

• The first free installments of Birth and Diary of the Black Widow are available now
• For more information on Alterna Comics, visit www.alternacomics.com
• For more information on Robot Comics, visit www.robotcomics.net