Motion Comics on iTunes. Have you watched?

[MBoyd]

Anyone watch these yet? Although they classify them as TV seasons on iTunes, they are really just moving adaptations of comic books. I've downloaded all of them I think. While I have enjoyed them, I thought the formula hadn't been quite correct yet. Invincible is completely manic. The word balloons are annoying and redundant. The voice actors are terrible. Watchmen is cool to watch, but again word balloons are annoying and one single guy does ALL the voices even the women. Peanuts has been good, but that is so simplistic anyway it just looks like another Peanuts TV special. No word balloons there.

Now we have Batman B/W from the comic series. I think Vol. 2. I just watched the first episode and it's fantastic. Decent voice actors, no word balloons. Looks and sounds awesome. I think the formula is right.

Reading the reviews though it sounds like people are confused and don't realize it's from a comic book and it's just cheap animation or comic fans are pissed because their favorite format is evolving into something unfamiliar.

Anyone else been interested in these? Red Son is coming soon I hear.

[Chew]

I thought the Invincible presentation was pretty awful.

I like Watchmen quite a bit. The single voice actor doesn't bother me much, it's like listening to a book on tape.

I'll have to check out Batman. Thanks for the info, I didn't know about that one.

[The Bus]

No thanks, I'd rather read it myself.

[LorenzoL]

I downloaded the Watchmen and didn't like it one bit.

[MBoyd]

Ok score is two for and two against . . .

Mad Love is available now on iTunes for $3.

[boredsilly]

I like the Watchmen ones. I would never replace the raw reading experience with these, but they're a fun way to experience something you've already read in a new way.

[Chew]

Originally Posted by MBoyd

Mad Love is available now on iTunes for $3.

I wasn't willing to pay however many Xbox points it was for a 2 minute episode. This is a much better option.

[Hokeyboy]

Tried them. Hated them. Won't be trying them again.

The Big Two need to STFU already and start offering digital content already... REAL digital content, not a small selection of back issues from 10 years ago. Make 'em a buck a pop and they'd have much higher margins than expecting fanboys to shell out 4 bucks an issue to read the latest lame-ass issue of Spider-Man or X-Men.

[boredsilly]

Originally Posted by Matt Millheiser

Tried them. Hated them. Won't be trying them again.

The Big Two need to STFU already and start offering digital content already... REAL digital content, not a small selection of back issues from 10 years ago. Make 'em a buck a pop and they'd have much higher margins than expecting fanboys to shell out 4 bucks an issue to read the latest lame-ass issue of Spider-Man or X-Men.

How do you know? I mean we can conjecture about how much better their profit margins would be, but that just strikes me as arm chair quarterbacking. You have no way of knowing if that model would be more successful or not.

Now, I prefer cbr's too, but I think the subscription model Marvel has is actually pretty good. It's $60 a year? I would easily read more than 60 comics in a year, and I don't need to "own" them on my HD. I think the only thing hold the Marvel: DCU back is that they're sporadic on what's offered. Let's say, for the intents of this conversation, they had every comic ever produced by Marvel up until the year 2000 available. That wouldn't be worth $60 to you? I can understand them wanting to hold back on the more current content, and I honestly wouldn't mind them offering an unlimited subscription model for the older content (2000 and back), and charging .99 a comic, ala itunes, for the more current stuff.

[Hokeyboy]

Originally Posted by boredsilly

How do you know? I mean we can conjecture about how much better their profit margins would be, but that just strikes me as arm chair quarterbacking. You have no way of knowing if that model would be more successful or not.

Two words: vertical integration. The number one excuse we hear from the comics industry to explain rising cover prices is "rising paper costs". You have printing costs, distribution, returns, and all the freight costs contained therein. Now eliminate all of them and go straight from the digital source to the upload server. Your only real costs are paying your talent, storage, and bandwidth. And given economies of scale in a digital environment and the continually dropping costs of storage, the costs of scalability are negligible.

Local comics shops will get hosed, of course, but that's the nature of the beast. The "speculators" and "investors" out there can go pound sand... however many of them are even still in the industry. TPBs can still be distributed to your local book retailers, for those who still enjoy collected editions/tangible product.

There's simply no comparison to the existing model. Digital distribution is infinitely cheaper. Every day the Big 2 cling to the Direct Market is a day they are paying needless opportunity costs.

Now, I prefer cbr's too, but I think the subscription model Marvel has is actually pretty good. It's $60 a year? I would easily read more than 60 comics in a year, and I don't need to "own" them on my HD. I think the only thing hold the Marvel: DCU back is that they're sporadic on what's offered. Let's say, for the intents of this conversation, they had every comic ever produced by Marvel up until the year 2000 available. That wouldn't be worth $60 to you? I can understand them wanting to hold back on the more current content, and I honestly wouldn't mind them offering an unlimited subscription model for the older content (2000 and back), and charging .99 a comic, ala itunes, for the more current stuff.

Variable pricing will definitely be the order of the day. I'd like to see something where you could spend $20 or so and get, for example, the 63 issue Paul Levitz LEGION series from 1984. New issues are a buck, say for a full year after their release, and drop into VP afterwards.

And the day where a Kindle-like device can make comics loadable and portable will make the entire process a no-brainer.

[The Bus]

Originally Posted by Matt Millheiser

Tried them. Hated them. Won't be trying them again.

The Big Two need to STFU already and start offering digital content already... REAL digital content, not a small selection of back issues from 10 years ago. Make 'em a buck a pop and they'd have much higher margins than expecting fanboys to shell out 4 bucks an issue to read the latest lame-ass issue of Spider-Man or X-Men.

I doubt they'd have profit margins at $1/issue.

Maybe if they offered an unlimited-rental type thing for like $20/month...

Who knows.

[boredsilly]

Originally Posted by Matt Millheiser

Two words: vertical integration. The number one excuse we hear from the comics industry to explain rising cover prices is "rising paper costs". You have printing costs, distribution, returns, and all the freight costs contained therein. Now eliminate all of them and go straight from the digital source to the upload server. Your only real costs are paying your talent, storage, and bandwidth. And given economies of scale in a digital environment and the continually dropping costs of storage, the costs of scalability are negligible.

Local comics shops will get hosed, of course, but that's the nature of the beast. The "speculators" and "investors" out there can go pound sand... however many of them are even still in the industry. TPBs can still be distributed to your local book retailers, for those who still enjoy collected editions/tangible product.

There's simply no comparison to the existing model. Digital distribution is infinitely cheaper. Every day the Big 2 cling to the Direct Market is a day they are paying needless opportunity costs.

I hear what you're saying, but while there can be a trade program, there is no telling how many long time comic fans will be lost due to a complete move to digital. It's not like comics has been gaining new readers all that much in the last 20 years, and making them even more of a niche product might backfire. I personally think the digital comic is inevitable, but you don't have to look very far to see plenty of comic fans who say they'll stop reading when the switch is made. What happens when those die hards aren't buying all of the crossover titles or variant editions? Hell, the whole variant cover would be completely pointless monetarily when the switch is made to digital, all of that money just goes buy-bye.

Also, when you go to digital, there's the whole piracy issue? And since the comic industry isn't as big as the music industry, I don't know if they could sustain it. I just don't see this as a 1-to-1 switch like the music industry has had with iTunes. However, if Marvel and DC could somehow have some subscription based services for all of their back issues, and offer new issues of stuff on an iTunes (to get the stuff in front of eyes that might not have thought about buying a comic in years?). That might be a game changer right there.

You definitely have some points, (and some $5 business buzz words ) I just don't think it's as obvious as you make it seem. And I give Marvel's DCU and the motion comic stuff all the credit in the world for trying.

[MBoyd]

I think some of these big events they should try and do motion comics immediately. Look at the buzz about Captain America #25 in all the newspapers, on TV, from your co-workers in the office. What if they had a motion comic ready to go on iTunes? They'd sell to a bunch of people who would never go to a comic shop just to see what the fuss is. How about Secret Invasion, it also made the papers. Do a motion comic as the issues hit. I wrote this in a review on Itunes - DC should have a motion comic ready to go for the new Geoff Johns Superman origin. That's going to make the papers I am sure like Byrne's did in the 80s.

No clue what it costs to make a motion comic, but the voice talent has to be out there and hungry and cheap.

So work on digitizing older comics . . . motion comic special events, big stories, stories with buzz etc.

[davidh777]

Mad Love and Ra's Al Ghul are on the TDK BD-Live. Haven't tried them yet, though

[MinLShaw]

Point one: Yes, I downloaded the free "Watchmen" episode. No, I haven't watched it. I have, however, seen "Transformers: Beginnings" (which was an animated comic from IDW that was released as a Walmart exclusive DVD to accompany the DVD release of "Transformers"). The concept is interesting, but I have a hard time getting into it. It reminds me of the books I had as a kid that came with cassettes that read the book to me and told me when to turn the page.

Point two: Unlike the music, movie and gaming industries, comics (and regular books) can't go entirely digital. When you hear a song, watch a movie or play a game, most people are not going to have their enjoyment influenced by the actual format. That is to say, only audiophiles insist that music sounds better on vinyl and shun the compressed sound of .mp3; the masses don't even hear the difference, or care.

Reading, though, is more of a tactile experience. Who among us doesn't remember learning to properly handle comics, so they would remain in near-mint-to-mint condition? With books, who doesn't enjoy sitting comfortably warm inside on a cold day, with the heft of a book in your lap? Simply put, the digital experience cannot recreate this part of reading, nor can it substitute anything comparable. We're used to reading text all day long on computer screens, yes, and what with blogging and forums, one would suspect that online reading/writing would be a more personal experience. In many respects, this is true, but the fact remains that holding what you read continues to be an important aspect of the reading experience. This is especially true of comics, where the layout of artwork is an important element.

You can't get into "reading" a comic page on a 2-inch iPod screen, because you couldn't really see anything. There are only two solutions: Either "move" the screen around the page (which is what the motion comics do), which is unsatisfying for most of us, or you create each panel to be its own screen. This, though, effectively negates the entire artistry of page layouts. Imagine reading the Death of Superman, and the single panel shots of Doomsday pounding on his cell wall are the same size as the double splash pages of the final part of the battle!

If comics go digital, it will be a niche part of the format. It will be an opportunity for newcomers to establish themselves, or for the Big Two to indulge veterans they need to keep happy, but aren't sure they can justify the production of print copies, just as the .mp3 format has done for less commercial musicians. If anything, it will help siphon off the glut of printed issues, streamlining what is published until only the very best stories actually go to print. Quality control is something I think most of us would agree the industry definitely needs these days.

[MBoyd]

Originally Posted by davidh777

Mad Love and Ra's Al Ghul are on the TDK BD-Live. Haven't tried them yet, though

What's the Ra's Al Ghul motion comic based off of if you get around to trying it or someone else does.

[davidh777]

Originally Posted by MBoyd

What's the Ra's Al Ghul motion comic based off of if you get around to trying it or someone else does.

Should have provided the full title, which is The Shadow of Ra's Al Ghul

[MBoyd]

Watchmen Motion Comic will be on Blu Ray (and DVD presumably).

Watchmen Motion Comic ---> 3/3/09

[MBoyd]

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/0209...an-Bendis.html

Ok . . . Marvel steps the motion comic concept up a few notches. Spider-Woman will be coming out on iTunes BEFORE the printed comic.

[xmiyux]

Originally Posted by Matt Millheiser

And the day where a Kindle-like device can make comics loadable and portable will make the entire process a no-brainer.

This is the thing that would push me over the edge to buy a Kindle or whatever. Color screen about the size of a comic book page so no scrolling around. I would absolutely begin picking up comics again - especially if i could impulse buy them straight from the Kindle. Heck, i'd love to be able to transfer my magazine subscriptions to digitally arrive on a device like that.

[MBoyd]

Red Son (season pass), Batgirl Year One, and Batman Black And White Vol 2 are all on iTunes now. I'm still interested in the format.

[boredsilly]

Holy shit, Batgirl Year One? I LOVE that comic. I might have to try that.

[MBoyd]

My biggest problem is they put these in 3 minute segments, show credits then do another 3 minutes segment quite often. I don't mind the "look" at all.

[Sessa17]

I need a good old floppy funny book in my hand. I'm not interested in any other avenue for this medium, although I do check out a few on-line strips.

[davidh777]

Originally Posted by boredsilly

Holy shit, Batgirl Year One? I LOVE that comic. I might have to try that.

I like this one too