comics
Latest
WildStar kicks off webcomic series Tales from Beyond the Fringe
Hey! You like comics, don't you? Of course you do, you're on the internet. Would you like to read a comic about WildStar? That's less of a given, but the team at Carbine Studios certainly hopes you'd like to take a look at the first issue of what promises to be an ongoing comic series. And because the creators know what webcomics are like, the first issue focuses exclusively on somewhat amusing sociopaths. The first installment of Tales from Beyond the Fringe is focusing upon Victor Lazarin and Mondo Zax -- or if you prefer titles, the maniac that accidentally cursed the entirety of the Mordesh to a perpetual undeath and the Chua so cleverly sadistic that he heads the Dominion's research division. You can take a look at the comic on the game's official site, with more slated to arrive on a weekly basis. [Source: Carbine Studios press release]
Distro at 100: ten of our favorite comic strips
This week Distro hits its 100th issue. We've seen plenty of great content since launching the tablet magazine in October 2011, but one particular section has always been a personal favorite. Hidden at the back of each issue, The Strip features a rotating cast of cartoonists devoting a few panels to the day's tech news. Since launch, we've had a number of top indie artists contribute, including Shannon Wheeler, Box Brown, Dustin Harbin, Sean Pryor, Sam Henderson and Ed Piskor. In the off-chance that you haven't read every issue -- or you just never quite made it to the end of each -- we've pulled together ten of our favorites cartoons in Distro history. Check those out below, and be sure to pick up the 100th issue later this week for a special take on the future of consumer electronics.%Gallery-194309%
New Assassin's Creed graphic novel set in 19th century India
Announced earlier today, Assassin's Creed: Brahman is the newest graphic novel series in Ubisoft's two-dimensional expansion of its video game universe, following in the footsteps of Assassin's Creed: The Fall and Assassin's Creed: The Chain. Written by Brenden Fletcher (Wednesday Comics) with artwork by Cameron Stewart (Catwoman, Batman & Robin) and Karl Kerschl (Adventures of Superman), Assassin's Creed: Brahman takes place in nineteenth century India, which means that the series' staple of killing evil British people will proudly continue. The story follows Arbaaz Mir, a new assassin who works to bring down a "lifelong foe" that totally jacked up his land and kinsmen. We're no psychics, but we've got a sneaking suspicion that some dudes are totally going to get stabbed by some wrist-knives before this thing wraps up.%Gallery-194228%
Tomb Raider comic book announced, may bridge to next game
Comic book veteran Gail Simone is working with publisher Dark Horse on a continuation of the Tomb Raider reboot. Kotaku reports Simone expects the series' narrative will pick up mere weeks after the first game's events and may lead directly into a sequel of this year's well-received game. "In continuity, it will be Tomb Raider canon, and lead DIRECTLY into the sequel," Simone said. "This is what got me excited; we get to be part of Lara Croft history." Simone, a long-time fan of the Lara Croft franchise, says the core difference between her series and the reboot will lie in Lara's surroundings. "The storytelling in the game hooked me instantly," Simone said. "The biggest difference is, the game told a claustrophobic story in an isolated setting. We are going globetrotting." Although Simone was a fan of the action-oriented character portrayed in the original Tomb Raider games, she's still fond of the character's new-found depth.
The sci-fi all-stars behind Morning Star Alpha
Morning Star is a huge gamble. It's an interstellar FPS for mobile devices built by a crack team of geek-industry experts at Industrial Toys, all hoping to break stigmas of handheld, hardcore gaming. Morning Star Alpha, the tie-in graphic novel for the game, is an even bigger risk. Add-on apps for games have earned the reputation of being rushed, shallow and of poor quality, and most players don't take these digital comics seriously, no matter how fanatical about the series they may be. Convincing people to play a new shooter on their iPhones is one thing – getting them to read a digital comic about that game is another world of salesmanship. So far, Morning Star Alpha has three things working in its favor: It's free, it offers a new way of reading on-screen comics, and it comes from an all-star team, written by award-winning sci-fi author John Scalzi, drawn by Marvel and DC artist Mike Choi, and overseen by Halo creator Alex Seropian. And a fourth thing – it looks really cool.%Gallery-193419%
Amazon Publishing launches Jet City Comics with Symposium #1
As of today, Amazon Publishing is entering the wonderful world of sequential art publishing with its new imprint, Jet City Comics. Its inaugural issue, Symposium #1 by Christian Cameron, is sure to please fans of Neal Stephenson's The Foreworld Saga. Also joining Jet City Comics are sci-fi/fantasy luminaries like George R.R. Martin and Hugh Howey. Martin will be teaming up with artist Raya Golden on an adaptation of Meathouse Man, a story so twisted, it makes Game of Thrones look like a Disney fairytale. Writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray (currently tearing it up on Batwing) will translate Howey's series of dystopian novellas, Wool, into a six-issue mini-series this October with a collected print edition to follow in 2014. For more information, check out the full press release after the break.
This week on gdgt: HX50V, Minx Air 100, and Moto X customization
Each week, our friends at gdgt go through the latest gadgets and score them to help you decide which ones to buy. Here are some of their most recent picks. Want more? Visit gdgt anytime to catch up on the latest, and subscribe to gdgt's newsletter to get a weekly roundup in your inbox.
Nook's Android app now supports HD magazines on tablets
Next time you fire up the Nook app on your Android tablet, you'll be able to browse HD magazines -- assuming your device has a 1280 x 720 screen. Introduced three months ago on Retina iPads, the feature now jumps to the latest version of the Android app, along with a number of other updates. New magazine titles aside, version 3.4 lets you enlarge book illustrations and adds support for the system's assistive technology for blind and low-vision users. So, you can go wild with screen magnification on Android 4.2 or higher, or listen to the app speak via TalkBack on 4.1. Meanwhile, the Nook app for iOS comes equipped with bug fixes and a better way to organize books in a series. Sure, these updates don't bring a bunch of new major features, but they show that Barnes & Noble isn't likely to axe its mobile apps in the near future like it did the ones for Macs and PCs.
Comixology adds options for subscriptions and bundles (update: Web app only)
Comixology is, as we've discussed here before, basically the premiere app for comic books on Apple's iPad. And now, the app (well, the web app at least) is adding one more feature to its already long list. Starting today, you can subscribe to your favorite comics right inside the app's web store, which means that instead of going in every week to buy the comics you want, you can tap one button, and you'll automatically pick up a comic when it arrives. That's pretty handy if you buy a lot of comics -- it's like having your own personal comic book store pulling issues as you need them. The company has also added support for buying comics in bundles, which means those deals we occasionally see come out of Comixology's offices will probably be a lot better (it's much easier to buy a bunch of comics at a time for cheap, rather than a ton of issues individually on sale). This also means that the company can bundle up storylines and back issues, so finding what you want to read and purchasing it all in one go should be a piece of cake. Update: Bundles and subscriptions are only available on the web app, we're told. But you can definitely buy comics on the web, and then browse them on your iPad.
The Secret World unleashing Guardians of Gaia anniversary event July 3rd, on sale now [Updated]
Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of the horror- and conspiracy-laced The Secret World, and Funcom is hosting a week-long bash to celebrate the milestone. Joel Bylos introduced this latest event in his June Game Director's letter: Dubbed Guardians of Gaia, the event involves the awakening of massive guardians formed of the primal elements and meant as another line of defense against the Filth. Just like in the End of Days event, players will have to band together to rein in these guardians. The luckiest of players will come away from the fight with a Guardian of their very own. But that's not all. With free gifts for all players, a 30% discount on almost everything in the store, and daily bonuses (either double XP, double AP, or double SP) all week, it's a good time for players to jump into the game. As an added bonus, anyone who has ever played any Funcom title -- whether currently active or not -- will be able to log in and play TSW for free for the duration of this event, no purchase required. For those who don't, the game up on sale on Amazon right now for $9.99. The Guardians of Gaia will end when Issue #7 A Dream to Kill releases July 8th. Need a fix before then? Check out the update's comic after the break, and look for Massively's tribute to the game's first year in a special Tuesday edition of Chaos Theory tomorrow. [Updated to add Amazon sale information. Thanks to JohnT_NC for the tip!]
Turn your photos into a comic book with Halftone 2
We looked at the original Halftone app for iOS a couple of years ago and were impressed. The app has been completely rewritten and is more touch-oriented, supporting vector graphics for smooth insertion of picture elements. Halftone 2, which is iPad-only and was released today, lets you import pictures and create a real comic book look by adding bubbles, banners and other bold graphic elements to your photos. The app also embeds an image editor, so your photos can be filtered to have a more graphic look. There are also tools for fixing blemishes, and the usual contrast, saturation and brightness sliders. Halftone 2 also adds the ability to work with multiple picture frames, rather than just one image. I didn't get too fancy with my image creation, but I could see the possibilities. Banners, balloons and text are very nicely rendered. The image editor is robust and there is built-in video help. I found I could explore the app and get things done without the tutorial. %Gallery-189236% Halftone 2 is free, but as a free app, it is limited. It seems at every turn, I was offered a chance to buy more graphic elements. If you buy the essentials pack, it totals US$6.99. I would like to have seen more in the free app, and I think $6.99 is a bit too high for the complete add-on. Most other free photo apps give more features up front. That's not to say you can't make some very presentable comics with the free version, and in fact I did so. The app is responsive, and the output looks very good. You can share your creations by mail and the usual social services. The app also supports Dropbox and you can print your comics using AirPrint with a compatible printer. There are other similar apps around. One very well-reviewed app is ComicBook!, which as it happens is free today only. It also has a lot of in-app purchase options, so free will only get you so far. I like Halftone 2. It works well. I just would like to see the in-app toll lowered so more people could enjoy it. Halftone 2 requires iOS 6 or later.
True stories of EVE Online to become comic book and TV series
The CCP Presents Keynote at the annual EVE Online Fanfest is usually a fairly tame retrospective on how CCP has a company has done the past year and where it's going in the future, but for EVE's tenth anniversary, CCP broke out the big guns. In addition to announcing a massive new collector's edition, the studio has also revealed plans to turn real stories of events inside the sandbox into professional comic books and even a TV series. Industry giant Dark Horse Comics, the company responsible for comics like Hellboy and Sin City, will be publishing the 54-page graphic novel this winter in both a paid-for print form and a free digital download. For the lore buffs among us, Dark Horse will also be producing a colossal 184-page glossy colour hardback book covering all of the NPC backstory and lore behind EVE Online and DUST 514. Titled EVE Source, the book will be an in-character almanac of everything in the EVE setting that isn't player-created and will even include previously unreleased concept art.
GoComics brings the funny pages to your iPhone
Universal Uclick is the company that holds the licenses for most of the comics in your daily newspaper -- the company was formed when the Universal Press Syndicate joined up with the Uclick media group. They've run a web archive of the company's comics for quite a while now, and today that content has arrived on the App Store in the form of the free GoComics app. Just like the website, the app offers up daily archives of many, many different comics from the funny pages, and while you can sign in to an account and even sign up for a "GoComics Pro" membership (which kills the advertising and gives you some extras like an email digest), just browsing through the drawings is completely free. The app is quick and smooth, and because Universal's reach goes so far, there's never any shortage of new comics to read. The one issue I have with the app is strictly mechanical -- when browsing through the comics on portrait mode, the UI will slide into the background as you're reading. On a timer, that seems to be exactly when I finish reading whatever strip is visible at that time. This would simply be an annoyance, except that when the UI does slide away, the ad in the app just happens to slide itself right into the spot where I normally would press to see the next comic. That may all sound complicated, but the end result is that the UI feels clunky, and it's extraordinarily easy to "accidentally" click an ad when I don't mean to. The same issue doesn't pop up in landscape mode, however, so I presume Uclick isn't just trying to sneakily sell more ads. At any rate, that's a small concern with an otherwise excellent little app. If you like reading the comics, but don't always have access to a newspaper, the GoComics app is a great way to browse through the cartoons. It's available for free right now.
Illustrated inspiration: Crafting Zac Gorman's 'Magical Game Time'
It's not clear who or what is positioned dead center on a suburban street in the initial overhead shot, but as the panels zoom in to reveal bright-eyed children – two holding hands, stares locked – we consider the written message: "And we never got tired. And we never got old. We just ran through the streets forever. And everything was perfect." The average viewer might see the comic as a charming ode to the carefree naivety of youth; of first loves and curfew-skirting dalliances with neighborhood pals. But for those who recognize the leads of the seminal Super Nintendo RPG Earthbound in the faces and apparel of these rapscallions, the message may suddenly feel highly personal. It's not a specific narrative moment from the game, nor does it utilize familiar dialogue, but its tone is that of how players may have romanticized the adventures of these beloved characters in their minds, or how they imagined they might feel in that setting. Perhaps it's how they felt once upon a time. Whatever the case, the voice feels authentic, and as such delivers an emotional wallop in just four sentences and seven panels. For little more than a year and a half, cartoonist Zac Gorman has strived to locate that little pocket of feeling between the events of a classic game and the emotions triggered in your mind while playing it – and then translate that into one-off comics under his Magical Game Time banner. With subjects as varied as The Legend of Zelda and Costume Quest, Gorman has amassed a fan following by pairing common and universal themes with memorable characters and scenarios.
Comixology claims responsibility for banning Saga #12, rescinds ban
Yesterday, we posted about Apple reportedly banning issue 12 of a comic book called Saga, due to a couple of graphic sex scenes included in it. The book's creator, Brian K. Vaughan, had posted that Apple wasn't allowing his book to be sold on the App Store, though it was available through a number of other channels. But today it turns out that Apple isn't to blame -- instead, the book's digital publisher, Comixology, has confessed that they made the decision not to sell the book. Comixology runs the very popular Comics app on iOS, and they publish the digital versions of books from a number of different publishers, including Image Comics, who publishes the Saga series. The company's CEO, David Steinberger, has posted on the company blog that Comixology made its own decision to not publish the book, based on its assumption of Apple's policies. Of course, after the news yesterday, Apple says it would not have a problem with the book being published in Comixology's app, and Steinberger says the issue will be available soon, and apologizes to Vaughan and Image Comics for the confusion. So there's both good news and bad news here. The good news is that this decision did not come from Apple -- instead, it was Comixology that jumped the gun and decided to not publish the book on the App Store. But the bad news is that while Comixology did make the mistake, I can't really blame them for being concerned about Apple's retribution. Just yesterday, the company did threaten an App Store developer with removal over some adult content, and we've seen examples before of Apple being overly concerned about content that was already labeled for users 17-plus. That's why we here at TUAW jumped on this story and took the comic's creator, Vaughan, at his word -- because it's not hard to believe, given Apple's unclear and inconsistent polices on this matter, that they would have a problem with this book. Fortunately, they don't, and all credit to them for confirming that. Macworld followed up with Apple to confirm the supposed ban, and in hindsight, we should have done the same. But as long as Apple's policies and their enforcement on what's OK and not OK for the App Store remain unclear, we may see more issues like this pop up, either driven by developers dependent on the App Store for revenue, or by Apple itself.
Marvel giving away over 700 free first issue digital comics (for real, totally seriously this time)
Remember, like, not even a month ago when Marvel tried giving away over 700 first issues of its comic library in digital form on ComiXology? Apparently that didn't work so well, with rabid fans crashing the digital comic service while attempting to pull down as many issues as possible. Fret not, law-abiding citizens, as Marvel is re-introducing its offer today, albeit with a different method for snagging those free copies. Head over to the service's special sign-up page right here and enter a bit of information ahead of tomorrow night's expiration. Following that, you'll receive an invite from ComiXology sometime on April 11th with instructions for how to download more comics than you'll ever have time to read. Even better, the whole shebang hopefully won't be bookended by download errors this time! That's what we'd call super.
Marvel offering 700 free digital comics again
Marvel is getting ready to offer over 700 #1 issues again just weeks after it had to halt the giveaway after demand crashed Comixology's servers. To avoid a server overload this time around, Marvel is offering the downloads to users in batches. To get your free 700 #1 issues, follow these steps: 1. Go to Marvel's or Comixology's promo page between now and 11:59PM ET April 9th and sign up for a personal invite. 2. Starting on April 11th keep an eye out for your invitation. 3. Once you get your invite be ready to download... a lot. Do note that as of the time of this writing, both Marvel's and Comixology's registration pages seem to be overloaded, but keep trying back and you should get through.
Storyteller preview: In the eye of the beholder
"Wait, save that. No one's done it that way before. You made it more complicated."Daniel Benmergui reached out to grab the mouse and save a screenshot of my panels in his comic-book narrative game, Storyteller, where I had just concocted a tale of love and loss based on the page's prompt, using a trio of static characters. One click and Benmergui let me regain control – he resumed his place over my shoulder in a quiet room off of the main GDC concourse, paper and pen in hand, taking notes on my visible thought processes as they played out on-screen.It didn't feel as if he were judging me for any missteps or silly lapses in narrative logic – In Storyteller, there are no right or wrong answers, as long as the setting is satisfied. It's up to the player to concoct her own story, based on prompts such as "Adam is heartbroken but recovers," "Tim betrays Adam for money but kills himself out of regret" and "A mother murders her own daughter out of jealousy."
Nook for iOS adds support for high-res iPad magazines, Nook Comics
Barnes & Noble may have saved most of the limelight today for in-app purchasing on Nook hardware, but it's not leaving other platforms by the wayside. Its Nook 3.4 update for iOS focuses heavily on visuals, with new support for both Nook Comics as well as "HD" magazines on Retina display-equipped iPads. Likewise, there's some spring cleaning afoot: the app offers better organization for periodicals, the option to expand book illustrations and newly animated page turns. Swing by the App Store if you've got enough of a toehold in Barnes & Noble's ecosystem to use its software.
First chapter of Steve Jobs manga now on sale in Japan
The first chapter of the eponymous Steve Jobs manga is now available in Japan. The comic, penned by award-winning artist Mari Yamazaki, is reportedly the graphic version of Walter Isaacson's official biography Jobs. The story begins with Jobs asking Isaacson to write his biography. Shoppers in Japan will find the first chapter in the current issue of Kiss, the manga serial publication. We'd love to get a look if you care to send some photos.
