Printed page or small screen? I wasn’t sure where to place this story because it sort of fits into both, but neither. With the proliferation of handheld multifunction devices that have high-quality colour screens there has been in increase in content for them, in both supply and demand. Movies are an obvious choice, although UMDs for the PSP weren’t the success Sony were hoping for, mainly thanks to DVD ripping software and affordable, large-capacity memorysticks. Short films are an obvious choice, because who really wants to watch a feature film on a tiny screen? Forgetting about most of the rubbish on YouTube, there are plenty of quality shorts being produced, as we saw at our recent 48 Hour Film Challenge. Books just don’t seem to work on screen, especially small ones, although Amazon in the US are convinced there is a market for digital books, with their Kindle device. What would be ideal for these handheld devices is something in-between films and books and that, of course, is comics. Their panel structure and concise visual storytelling are perfect for the small screen, and because they can utilise compact file formats, such as PDF, JPEG and Flash they are not going to hog up the memory or be of inferior quality.
In fact, these digital comics have been around on the web for years. Marvel had some great Flash-based versions of their most popular characters, and independent output such as the epic BROKEN SAINTS, which was released on DVD last year, was massively popular. Now internet savvy devices such as the PSP, iPhone and iPod Touch, with their decent-sized screen seem to be the ideal platform and Clickwheel, one of the leaders in digital comic distribution, have recently added a collection of 2000AD titles to their portfolio of content exclusively for Apple’s premium touchscreen devices.
Will Simons, the Creative Director of Clickwheel said; ‘Never before has a leading comic force such as 2000AD taken such an exciting step forward. We have taken the lead from our competitors such as Marvel and DC Comics, and now with new launch services, 2000AD and Clickwheel are pioneering comic book distribution and above all, enjoyment.
‘The 2000AD page on Clickwheel.net has been redesigned inline with our 2008 plans. We now offer a full subscription service, where for an annual or monthly fee you can receive each 2000AD issue one week after it hits the news-stands. We have continued our expansion of the 2000AD archive where presently you can access all of 2007 issues and this will continue, so over the coming months customers can access every 2000AD issue from 1999, and we have plans to go even farther back to bring some classic 2000AD comics into the digital fold.
‘Adding to the 2000AD portfolio, the Judge Dredd Megazine will be available for the first time digitally. The Megazine has been a very popular partner to 2000AD since 1990 and we have high hopes for this title.
‘And by popular demand, we have added the Comic Book Reader Format to the site so our customers can now read our comics in via any of the popular Comic Book Reader applications.’
Matt Smith, Editor-in-Chief of 2000AD said, ‘2000AD has been at the cutting edge of comic books for over 30 years, so it is only right that it is 2000AD which takes the lead in the digital age so fans all over the world can enjoy the comic. 2000AD and Clickwheel are a perfect match and 2008 promises to be a very exciting time for us.’
Tim Demeter, Editor-in-Chief of Clickwheel adds; ‘In addition to our 2000AD digital service, we have added original Clickwheel content in the form of our quarterly iNKED anthology. The best creators and artists have collaborated to produce a series of exclusive comics for the 100pp anthology designed specifically to view on the Apple iPhone and iTouch. At Clickwheel we cater for all genres of digital comics and iNKED is the very best comic we have ever created.’
To find out more about Clickwheel’s digital comics visit their website www.clickwheel.net or click on the banner at the top of the page.