Comic book
Latest
DC Comics arrive on Nook Tablet, Barnes & Noble lets you watch, zoom the Watchmen
When we initially did our Nook Tablet / Kindle Fire battle royal, the choice between the devices for comics fans largely came down to the preference between the Marvel and DC universes. The lines, however, are blurring. Thanks to today's announcement, Justice League fans should find as much to love in the Nook Tablet and Color as Avengers devotees. DC has brought more than 100 graphic novels to the aforementioned devices and Android tablets running the Nook app. Barnes & Noble also used the opportunity to announce the new Zoom View feature, which lets readers focus on individual panels -- functionality that sounds fairly similar to what Comixology offers in its own popular app. For more information about Crisis on Infinite Nooks, check out the press release after the break.
Gravity Rush's love affair with the 'bande dessinee' art style
Gravity Rush's art draws heavily from the Franco-Belgian comic book style bande dessinee, which is marked by exaggerating elements that the reader should pay the most attention to. For Gravity Rush, this means creating a large, lush world with multiple, vertical layers and buildings, done with a line drawing method that makes structures more easily recognized, art director Yoshiaki Yamaguchi writes on the PS Blog."The direction we chose to use for the game's graphics conveys the necessary information with exaggeration that matches the player's sensation," Yamaguchi says. "Taking that into consideration, we also wanted to use line drawings, the characteristic of BD and the simulation of beautiful air effects. I think the broader the game art expression becomes, the more interactive a game becomes."The hue of the sky and concept of a living background, as Yamaguchi has previously gushed about, look to bring Gravity Rush's art full circle, even in its initial stages in the 2008 concept video above.
Comics iPad app gets Retina-friendly update, 'POW!' bubbles now much POWier
ComiXology is usually keeping up with the latest-and-greatest, and it's doing so yet again by rapidly updating its Comics app to meet the new iPad's Retina-sized needs. In addition to the CMX-HD comic books coming to the 2048 x 1536 screen, the updated application also includes novel social sharing features via Twitter, Zuck's network and email. Among other bits worth noting are a handful of nondescript bug fixes as well as stability improvements. Best of all, the refresh won't cost you a dime and it's available now in the App Store, linked just below for your convenience.
Review: 'The Zen of Steve Jobs' graphic novel
I just took ten minutes (hey, it's a comic book) and read Caleb Melby and Jess3's The Zen of Steve Jobs graphic novel and I think anyone who is a fan of comic books or Steve Jobs is going to like it. As I told you in September, the 60-page graphic novel is a re-imagining of Steve Jobs' life during the mid-1980s after he left Apple and before he founded NeXT. Specifically, it deals with Jobs' relationship with Kobun Chino Otogawa, a Zen Buddhist priest (who also married Jobs and his wife, Laurene Powell). The writer, Caleb Melby, makes it clear from the get go that the graphic novel is not fact. He combines existing Jobs/Kobun interviews and biographies with his own interviews of several Kobun students who were contemporaries of Jobs. The result, enhanced with Melby's imagination is a really interesting story. In the graphic novel, Jobs and Kobun clearly have a Luke Skywalker/Yoda thing going on (although Jobs is more of a jerk to Kobun than Luke was to Yoda). As the story progresses, the reader is treated to flashbacks and flashforwards of how the Buddhist principle of Ma eventually affected Apple's designs after Steve's return. Speaking of style, Jess3's art is beautiful -- a combination of manga and western styles with clean lines and sweeping, single-color tones. While this graphic novel is about Steve Jobs, Kobun is the most interesting character. His real-life death eerily mirrored the fictional Joseph Knecht's death in Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game almost exactly, and Melby depicted that well (readers of both will probably note the similarities between the two before they even finish Zen). The Zen of Steve Jobs finishes with some extras, like a fascinating afterword from the author about why he brought Steve Job's to life in comic book form, a mini-biography of Kobun and some interesting behind-the-scenes looks as to how the project was created. The Zen of Steve Jobs is available in print from Amazon (US$10.28) or on the iBookstore ($9.99).
The Perfect Ten: Ways to prepare for the coming of SWTOR
Welcome to a very special edition of The Perfect Ten, the column that my two toddlers contribute to with their awe-inspiring counting abilities! With last week's dropping of Star Wars: The Old Republic's NDA, the internet has exploded with information, testimonials, and poorly spelled flamewars between the camps of believers and non-believers alike. It's a good time to be alive, eh? In the spirit of the NDA drop and the upcoming December 20th launch -- less than a month! -- I've put together a list of 10 excellent ways that a SWTOR fan can prepare him or herself for the coming MMOcalypse. I totally understand that it can be frustrating to be waiting for an anticipated game launch, feeling impotent with your inability to speed up time. However, taking action in other ways can help with the wait and make us feel like we're being productive. That's what I'm here for today. It's OK, there's no need to thank me. I get Light Side points for this.
Comics on the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet hands-on (video)
Way back in 2000, cartoonist turned comics theorist Scott McCloud discussed infinite canvas in his book Reinventing Comics. The concept, simply put, is that electronic mediums afford artists an infinite space on which to create their work. Cartoonists should, therefore, take advantage of this new found freedom. Of course, old media companies don't operate that way, and for the past decade or so, the quest has revolved around finding the most ideal way to repurpose existing comics formats for new devices. The clunky interaction and relative lack of portability made PCs less than ideal methods for this consumption. On the flip side, smartphones are just too small for anything but a panel-by-panel reading. Devoted e-readers, meanwhile, didn't do much better, thanks to slow rendering grayscale e-ink screens. The iPad hit the sweet spot, with its portable form factor and large, vivid display. The charge was led by Comixology, through its devoted app and market and apps designed for the industry's largest publishers, Marvel and DC. Reading comics on a device was finally easy enough to convince many physical media devotees make the leap to the digital realm. There are still some roadblocks, however: for one thing, there's that whole $500 starting price. If your primary objective in picking up a tablet is reading comics, that's certainly enough to dissuade all but the richiest of riches.
SOE announcing DCUO's freemium launch date tomorrow
Well folks, we'd love to tell you the official date that DC Universe Online is switching to its freemium business model. The only problem is that Sony Online Entertainment isn't making that information available until tomorrow. Why this post, then? So you can mark your Bat-calendars of course! SOE will make the date official at 7:30 p.m. EDT on October 27th via its Stickam portal (so, yes, this is effectively an announcement about an announcement). As we reported last month, SOE will be moving DCUO to a tiered access plan and eliminating the barrier that is the monthly subscription fee -- although gamers who choose to continue paying it in the form of the Legendary plan will enjoy numerous perks including free DLC and lots of character slots. [Source: SOE press release]
SOE enlists comic book writer Marv Wolfman to pen PlanetSide 2 backstory
Comic book writer Marv Wolfman is taking a cue from his superhero stories to team up forces once again with a powerful ally -- in this case, Sony Online Entertainment. The writer, who last worked on DC Universe Online, has now returned to the studio to flesh out the backstory for the upcoming PlanetSide 2. Wolfman is in charge of writing a series of fictional episodes depicting the life and history of the people of Auraxis and the rising war between the three factions of the game. He's pretty jazzed about the opportunity: "I'm thrilled to be working with SOE again. Not only do I get to take elements from the original PlanetSide and further develop an extensive backstory that can help players more fully understand this incredible new world, but even better, I get to create dozens of individual characters that I hope will help bring alive the story of PlanetSide 2 for the entire player community." In a dev diary, Creative Director Matthew Higby stresses that it's important to have not just a solid game but a believable world in which that game can take place. "Beyond grounding the design of the world, the story gives meaning to who the people fighting on it are, how they got there, their motivations and what their conflict signifies," Higby writes. The first of these episodes will be released on the PlanetSide 2 site later this week.
Preview: 4 pages from forthcoming Steve Jobs graphic novel
Forbes has published four pages from the upcoming Zen of Steve Jobs graphic novel. The 60-page book is brought to you by Forbes and the people at JESS3, who specialize in data visualization. The Zen of Steve Jobs is a re-imagining of Steve Jobs' life during the mid-1980s after he left Apple and before he founded NeXT. During that time Jobs befriended Kobun Chino Otogawa, a Zen Buddhist priest. The two shared a passion about art, design and innovation. The graphic novel imagines how their friendship influenced Steve Jobs' later decisions when he returned to Apple. Yeah, it's a little weird that Forbes is publishing fictional Steve Jobs comic books, but I'm sure it'll be a best-seller. The graphic novel will have its digital release in late fall. In the mean time you can check out four preview pages by clicking the link above and another page here.
Free for All: Recreating my teenage superhero with Champions Online
I grew up drawing. I was known as the artist kid in all of my classes, and the other students would often sit around me and just watch me draw. I have to admit that it was a nice feeling, but a lot of the time I would be drawing such emotional things that it was a little embarrassing as well. As I battled my way through puberty, I discovered that my love for comics had transferred to a love of making my own comics. The main characters were often based on me and people I know, filtered through a superhero lens. I have always disliked the Supermen of the comic world. I preferred to make characters that had flaws or weaknesses. Still, I wanted to make my superhero powerful enough to survive a scrap. Don't ask me why (I don't remember), but I came up with a character named Check, named so because of his use of the "in-between" energy of the universe. While some villains harnessed dark powers, and others fought with light, Check fought with the energy of the mundane, the bland, the boring. I know it sounds odd, but he fought using the same energy that someone might feel during meditation or sleep. Essentially, it was energy that was everywhere, very dependable, and very powerful. Still, controlling it made Check a very somber fellow. Lately I had been thinking more about Check -- and his gray step-mother, Grin -- and decided to give him another go inside one of the wonderful superhero MMOs. Even though I had made him before in City of Heroes, I wanted to try him out in Champions Online this time. Click past the cut and I'll walk you through my creation!
Hyperspace Beacon: The Lost Suns
This week, we are taking a break from studying the class powersets, although I do plan to return to them eventually. As I was contemplating what to write, it occurred to me that I really haven't covered any lore for quite some time. While my editors and I are talking about doing a specific series of lore-based articles leading up to the game's release, I definitely wanted to focus on more of the canon history behind the game. After all, this is Star Wars: The Old Republic, and it epitomizes the fourth pillar of MMO design: story. I finally got my hands on the latest comic book with direct ties to SWTOR this past week. It's called The Lost Suns, and while it's fresh on my mind, we should probably discuss some of the main points and characters in the story. BioWare writer Alexander Freed and comic book artist Dave Ross collaborated to bring us this first of a five-issue comic book series about Theron Shan. As Freed said on the official TOR forums, "I like to describe The Lost Suns as our 'ninth story' -- every class in The Old Republic tells its own Star Wars epic, and Theron's tale intersects with the other eight and pushes the greater game story forward, just as they do." Follow after the break to discover how this "ninth story" is starts out.
First panels from Steve Jobs comic book
Just the other day we told you about the upcoming Steve Jobs comic book biography, and now PC World has the first few panels of the work to check out. It looks ... good? It's definitely a more traditional affair, so Steve won't be displaying any latent superpowers or flying around. Instead, as you can see above, it might actually be a pretty pertinent historical document on Apple's history and Steve's professional life. The original release claimed the book would show both sides of Steve's sometimes rough personality, but what we see here seems to be pretty common knowledge so far. Note that these sketches are still being called work-in-progress, which is why they're in black-and-white and don't have any comic book panels. The final book is set to come out for US$3.99 and will be available in a bookstore near you.
Steve Jobs' comic book bio coming to stores in August
Steve Jobs' official biography comes out next March, but those who don't want to wait that long to read about iSteve can grab a comic book biography from Bluewater Productions. The 32-page comic book Steve Jobs: Co-Founder of Apple highlights the important moments in the life and career of Steve Jobs. For better or worse. The book will examine Jobs both as a "visionary and a genius" and an "egomaniac and a corporate pirate." It's available for pre-order now from Amazon for US$3.99 and can be picked up your local comic book store when it launches this coming August. It'll also be available online from Barnes & Noble and Borders. Bluewater may be name familiar to some as it is well-known for its comic book biographies. In the past, the publishing company has covered Lady Gaga, Angelina Jolie, Sarah Palin and, most recently, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg.
SWTOR reveals plans for E3, advanced class powers, and a new tie-in comic book
BioWare descends on the Los Angeles Convention Center on June 7th, but its exact plans regarding the Star Wars: The Old Republic show were held close to the chest -- until now. Thanks to the community team in Austin, we now have a good glimpse at what will be shown at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. An ancient threat grows restless on the planet of Belsavis; the entire galaxy is at stake; and both the Republic and the Empire will suffer. A group of heroes is deployed to Belsavis to counter this terrible evil in the next revealing trailer for SWTOR called Eternity Vault. Visitors to E3 will witness two in-game plotlines. First, a showdown of patriots and a usurper who has laid claim to the throne ignites the planet of Alderaan. Second, players take on sand people on one of the most iconic planets in the Star Wars universe: Tatooine. Also, The Old Republic birthed a new tie-in comic book. Alexander Freed, a lead writer at BioWare Austin, penned this latest tale titled the Lost Suns. The comic book features a spy named Theron Shan, who is combing the galaxy for clues to what the Empire has been doing since the Treaty of Coruscant. Freed expounds on some of the hidden secret on the official site. Lastly, more detail has been revealed about the Advanced Classes on the official site, including specific powers for each tree. For a complete breakdown of revealed powers watch the Hyperspace Beacon on Tuesday. For the rest of the gory details be sure to visit the official SWTOR website and don't miss our live coverage from E3 all next week.
Dark Horse's online Dungeon Siege 3 comic now available
If you're interested in delving into the lore behind Dungeon Siege 3 before the RPG drops June 21, you might want to flip through the virtual pages of Dark Horse's comic book tie-in. The first, ten-page issue of the illustrated prequel is now available on Dark Horse's official site.
Meet Power Matt, Powermat's new pun-based superhero ready to answer your tech questions (updated)
The biggest problem with modern society? A lack of good super villains. Seriously, today's superheroes are getting flabby from sitting around, twiddling their powerful thumbs. Look at poor Power Matt here -- dude's clearly been working out and doing his shopping at the Justice League department store. So what is he doing with his time? Foiling bank heists or intercepting speeding missiles? Nope. He's Powermat's new mascot, and he's fielding questions about the inductive charging pad on the company's Twitter account. Can someone please help the poor redheaded hero out and kidnap a world leader or something? Or at least steal their microUSB cable? Update: Ah, so according to reader Virginia Comicon, turns out this image is, ahem, inspired by the cover of Superman issue 233. Check out the comparison after the break.
Elsword hacks and slashes into open beta
Ever wanted to star in your own comic book? Well now you can get a feel for what it would be like to hop through lovingly inked panels by jumping into the colorful world of Elsword. The manga-flavored MMO enters open beta today, offering a unique Otaku experience for those who aren't afraid of a little over-the-top action. Elsword is a side-scrolling MMO that eschews subtle combat for frantic button-mashing. As you level up, your character will not only grow in abilities, but actually have their look and voice change as well. The game offers solo adventures, co-op dungeon runs, and PvP battles. Elsword's open beta will continue through May 4th. You can get in on the action by signing up on the official website, and don't forget to check out the first look at Elsword we did earlier this month! %Gallery-120229%
Lego-inspired helmet concept protects your brain, reads comics so you don't have to
Love comic books, but think that reading is for dumb jerks? Jonathan Robson has your back. The Scotland-based designer has created this minifigure-inspired helmet, which will help you make it through that sequential tome while protecting your head from lightweight falling debris. The helmet has volume control and a page skipping button on the side while, on the back, there's a port for plugging in a Lego USB flash drive loaded up with audio content. The helmet is designed for kids, of course, but it should also work for tiny-headed grownups sick and tired of all of those pesky word bubbles. Another view of the concept after the break.
Under Siege hits PSN on May 3, comic book downloadable now
Okay, so that November release didn't happen. And then December slipped by. But Seed Studios was just biding its time, waiting for the perfect strategic opportunity to spring its Move-friendly RTS, Under Siege, upon unsuspecting PS3 users, and it turns out that time is May 3. As a show of gratitude for the patience of fans, Seed Studios released a free Under Siege comic book, which should help provide some background about the team of Eirik, Kari and Asgeir, the fantasy world they occupy, and why they are currently besieged. You can download that here in eBook, CBZ, or PDF format, in Portuguese or English.
Unboxing the RIFT Collector's Edition
Like hyperactive kids on Christmas morning, we've been tearing into our copies of RIFT's Collector's Edition with unbridled excitement. Although Trion Worlds has offered a variety of versions of the game, from the standard to the Digital Collector's Edition, we're most interested in checking out the many physical goodies that come with the deluxe CE. Included with the RIFT Collector's Edition is the game, various digital in-game items, 30 days of gameplay, a poster, mousepad, 8 gigabyte flash drive, soundtrack, reference card, and a 128-page full-color comic set in the game world of Telara. If you like what you see, it's not too late to pick up a copy of the CE -- which runs you $76.99 from Amazon -- and get in with tomorrow's head start launch. You can view all of the CE's wonders and treasures by checking out the gallery below:%Gallery-117421%
