I’m going to be honest up front: I’m a big time print guy. Sure, I’m under 30 and I’ve been using tablets and smart phones and high speed modems and everything like that for about as long as I hadn’t before that, but there’s something magical about the tangibility of print. I love the way paperback books smell, I can’t get enough of turning a page to find out what’s next, and I certainly love having something tangible that belongs to me when I’m done reading it.
In the parlance of The Fast & Furious, me and print? Ride or die. We’re bros for life, and I could hardly imagine what digital could do for me that print couldn’t better.
Recently I picked up a new smartphone – a Samsung Galaxy S4, a phone so smart it apparently has the powers to alter reality – and while I was loading my new old apps (I previously was an S2 user) I figured I’d add the Marvel Comics app in the process. After all, the Google Play store was heavily recommending it, and I never managed to take the plunge. “Why the hell not?” I thought. After all, my 4 Color News and Brews co-host suggested I check out the Guardians of the Galaxy Infinite Comics Marvel had been releasing for free. I had read digital comics, like Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin’s brilliant “The Private Eye” and webcomics like Karl Kerschl’s “The Abominable Charles Christopher,” but nothing really, truly designed to be read digitally in such a way.
Now, I know I’m late to this party, but man, reading those comics was a revelation for me.
Not because the comics were particularly notable – although they are quite enjoyable, featuring zippy (although slight story wise) writing from Brian Michael Bendis and striking art from Michael Avon Oeming, Yves Bigerel, Ming Doyle and Mike del Mundo (the Groot finale from Bendis and del Mundo is particularly great) – but because the delivery of the story and integration of comic standards in innovative ways is so wonderful.
Once again, I know I’m late to the game, and all of the stuff the Marvel digital team did might be old hat for you savvy digital veterans, but I read those four comics with my mouth completely wide open. My jaw was dropped, to the point my fiance asked me “what are you reading?” to which I gleefully responded with “something awesome!”
I love the traditional delivery of comics, but I couldn’t help but think how much more the potential younger audience of comics would enjoy something like this. Reading these on an iPad or a smartphone with a nice screen finds the story zipping along on a guide view track, removing any questions on how to read these comics (or the need to read “Understanding Comics”) and cutting it down to simply enjoying them at their absolute peak levels. There’s limited simulated motion added to the comics, as characters bob and weave and faces react to the events on previous panels.
For me, as a hardcore print guy, I enjoyed the hell out of them and was truly disappointed when I only had four to read. They were tremendously enjoyable, and felt like a completely different and unique way to read comics, and felt like something I could pass on to anyone of any age to enjoy. They felt like a revelation to the comic formula, even though they are likely just an early step in a long journey to what comics will end up being like in their fully evolved digital form.
These comics absolutely could be translated back to print, and they probably will be included in the first “Guardians of the Galaxy” trade as introductions to the characters (I imagine, at least), but the delivery of them in digital format is really where the magic happens.
I know Mark Waid and Joe Quesada helped bring this together, and I have to imagine Ron Perazza – a Marvel digital guy who previously worked at DC, namely as the guy who ran Zuda Comics – was involved as well, so there were really bright, forward thinking, digitally inclined people helping bring this to life. Marvel is looking to push things even further, as the intriguing and admittedly confusing Project Gamma is coming soon and there are more Infinite Comics – a weekly Wolverine story from Jason Aaron and Jason Latour (!!) kicks things off in July – on the horizon.
I for one cannot wait to see what’s next. This one experience on my phone has captured me hook, line and sinker, and if I haven’t aptly explained what their deal is (it is damn hard to explain), I strongly recommend checking them out.
I am beyond intrigued, and the very next thing that is released by Marvel (or whomever) in such a way is going to be on my must buy list. This is one print buyer whose once stout, sturdy walls protecting a way of thinking are beginning to crumble. What about you readers? What did you think of these books? Did you enjoy their delivery as much as I did, or am I making much ado about nothing?
