Now, you can carry Shaft, Badrock, Diehard and all your Youngblood friends in the palm of your hand. Rob Liefeld’s catalogue of creator-owned comics will be available for download on the iPhone exclusively through ComiXology’s comics app. The launch was announced to Newsarama today - - so now it’s in your power to go download YOUNGBLOOD #1 for free and then pay 99 cents for each issue after that.
So says Mr. Liefeld….
"I wanted to launch Youngblood with an exclusive relationship with ComiXology because I believe that they can provide the extra push that a launch like this requires… ComiXology has been very supportive and enthusiastic about getting Youngblood as well as the rest of the Awesome/Extreme catalogue online. Hopes are high that this relationship leads to more online comics… They fully support printed comics and the direct comics market with their 'buy in print' button that will lead the reader to a retail location… It encourages connecting digital readers with retail outlets. That's a win-win for all involved, encouraging the expansion of the market through digital and print."
I can get definitely get behind that last part. While I personally don’t have a smart phone (I’ve still got my trusty, scuffed-up Verizon flip-phone) and I prefer to read my comics in print, the winds of change are a’blowing (and not just in that Scorpions song). More and more kids are getting used to reading comics this way, and this is a great supplementary experience to draw their attention to the print versions.
ComiXology’s president, David Steinberger, is also enthused about the deal…
"Rob has remastered the Youngblood series, so this is the right time for him to go digital… It's cool to have an Image founder as one of our exclusives, because we're all about the creators. And Image is part of our comics history, and it's something I remember from growing up. We have a lot of great Image titles, and having [Robert] Kirkman on exclusive has gone quite well. With Image being creator-owned comics, these guys have to kind of find an avenue to digital themselves, and we can offer them a deal that works on their behalf."
He went on to drop some hints that this will be laying groundwork for eventual apps on Apple’s iPad. As I said before, I can get behind reading comics on the iPad as opposed to the iPhone, since the screen dimensions better approximate that of a full comics layout. I won’t have to squint and piece the page together in my mind!
What do you think about this announcement, oh young-blooded Comics Vine community?
-- Tom Pinchuk is the writer of UNIMAGINABLE for Arcana Comics and HYBRID BASTARDS! for Archaia Comics. Watch out for the HYBRID BASTARDS! hardcover collection this March - - available for pre-order now on Amazon.com.