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Companies experiment with putting epic tales on cell-phone screens
By David Twiddy
Associated Press
Published on Sunday, Sep 16, 2007
KANSAS CITY, MO.: Sean Demory realized a long-held dream of becoming a published comic book writer when Thunder Road, a post-apocalyptic adventure he developed with artist Steven Sanders, was released.
''I've been plugging away and pitching things for 15 to 20 years,'' Demory said. ''This is the first one that landed in fertile soil.''
But don't look for the tales of Merritt and his buddies on the shelves of a comic book store or even the Internet. Thunder Road is the first comic book released in the United States exclusively on a cell phone, part of a lineup of mobile comic books offered by uClick.
''It opens up a market that wouldn't necessarily be seen as a traditional comic market,'' Demory said of the launch last month.
Several companies are experimenting with putting printed material on mobile phones. Publisher HarperCollins announced in the summer that it will begin putting excerpts of new books on Apple Inc.'s iPhones.
Mobile comic books are in their infancy in the United States; uClick said it has grown to about 55,000 readers a month in the first year of offering its GoComics service.
But the field touches on two strengthening trends: Comic book creators looking to leap to the digital arena, where production and distribution are cheap, and the demand by wireless providers for data-rich applications to drive future revenue.
''Obviously comics have a pretty large following,'' said David Oberholzer, associate director of content programming for Verizon Wireless, which offers GoComics along with competitors AT&T Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp. ''You want to mimic what's out there already and have that on your deck.''
For $4.49 a month on Verizon, or $3.99 a month on AT&T and Sprint, subscribers can view nearly a dozen traditional comic books. A separate subscription service for Japanese comics is called ''manga.''
The comic books range from well-known names such as Bone and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to up-and-coming books such as crime noir-ish Umbra and Hindu folklore-inspired Devi. The comics site adds new chapters or issues for each title every week.
Jeff Webber, vice president of product development for uClick, the Kansas City-based digital arm of newspaper feature distributor Universal Press Syndicate, declined to provide revenue figures, saying some of the 55,000 monthly readers include people using free trials.
But he said the company, which already lets people view comic strips on their wireless devices, is pleased with the comic book feature's growth.
Mobile comics have been a cellular mainstay for years in manga-crazy Japan, where some titles begin life on cell phones before going to print.
The GoComics reader displays each comic book one panel at a time, reformatted from the printed versions with larger typeface in word balloons, although some comics are harder to read than others. The phone's buttons advance each frame, allowing the reader to scroll across larger pictures.
Sanders, who did the art for Thunder Road as well as Image Comics' Five Fists of Science, said the smaller screen poses challenges because space is at a premium. But he said the single panels also allow creators to better control how their audience reads the story, preventing them from ruining surprises by glancing at the next page.
He said he was initially attracted to the project because he believes digital publishing is a faster and cheaper way to get to market.
''I think the future of comics itself lies in digital format,'' he said.
Wireless companies are undecided on the future of mobile publishing as small screens and short battery lives make online reading a chore.
KANSAS CITY, MO.: Sean Demory realized a long-held dream of becoming a published comic book writer when Thunder Road, a post-apocalyptic adventure he developed with artist Steven Sanders, was released.
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