Tag: Comic books »

Who doesn't want to be inside a comic book? Exactly. While ComicBook! doesn't exactly enable this, it does at least ensure that its users can pretend to feature in a comic book.

In case it isn't already obvious, ComicBook! is a comic book creation app enabling users to star in their own adventures with the ability to add realistic comic styling, captions, graphics and multi-panel page layouts. Finally, everyone can kapow their way out of trouble.

Options are pretty varied with a whole plethora of different graphics and layouts to use. There are 55 comic book style illustrations alone that can be included in a composition. It's simple enough to add photos and it's even simpler to go onto share such creations via Facebook, Twitter or email. Users can even print out their creations from within the app if they so choose to. The only real limitation is the depth of the user's imagination which can certainly be inspired by this app.

ComicBook! looks set to be a very entertaining app for young and old alike. It's available now as an universal app and priced at only $0.99 for a limited time.

One of America's classic pulp heroes from the 1930s is coming, again, to the silver screen in January of 2011. That's right, in, like, a few weeks from today. In honor of and preparation for the film's release, Dynamite Entertainment (publisher of the comic series, that's plural) and comiXology (makers of an exceptionally good comic book reading app and subscription site) have come together to release an app centered around the Green Hornet's fiction.

Those familiar with the comiXology site and application will certainly feel right at home with this little collection. The presentation, the reading software and the fluid navigation are all present except they've been done up in green and black in honor of the Green Hornet and his trusty sidekick, Kato.

Download the free app and you'll get access to free samples and full issues (for purchase) across six different series. In total, 29 books are here for nerds new and old, while even the samples typically come in at about 10 pages in length. Fans of the old Green Hornet lore should know that these new runs by Dynamite rock in with new plots and a new rogues gallery.

And, yes, the Kevin Smith you see listed as an author on some of these titles is really that Kevin Smith. Clerks, Jay and Silent Bob, Zak and Miri. That guy. Bet you didn't know he wrote comics. And, like that, it's all coming together.

Sure, you could absolutely write this production off as nothing more than comiXology in green, but where's the fun in that? The project serves as a great launching point for fans looking to dive deeper into the Green Hornet story than what will be offered in theaters later this month.

Not having iOS 4.0 on the iPad is a total drag for a number of reasons, one being that you can't listen to your iTunes music unless the app has built in music access. ComicBookPad 1.0 works around the limitations of iOS 3.x and lets you use the app as well as iTunes simultaneously, something that can't been done on many other book readers in the app store. "There are quite a few comic book readers for iOS," commented the founder Radi Danchev. "But none have both full iPad optimization, and iTunes plus reader capability."

As well as the nice iTunes functionality, ComicBookPad 1.0 is also designed to be "glitch-free, with no choppy images, sluggishness, or lags." When the desired comic book is launched, ComicBookPad loads all of the pages into the cache, enabling you to flip through the pages at an speed desired. The best part of all is that the animations are done right, moving to the next page without any strange animation jerks when you go for a page turn.

Book navigation has also been a challenge on many comic book readers, but ComicBookPad has seemingly fixed this with a large navigation bar in the bottom that is as handy as it looks.

Like all comic book readers, ComicBookPad 1.0 supports all the major comic book formats (.cbr, .cbz, .rar, and .zip), has a quick zoom feature, and a bookmark system.

With iOS 4.x coming soon to the iPad, the whole music aspect of the app will soon be a non-issue, but ComicBookPad still looks like a solid app if you are looking for an iPad comic book reader.