Comics Books Reviews

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Graphicly expands to the Nook, but apps are hard to find

Nice book... but where is it?

Barnes & Noble’s unveiled its app store for the Nook Color e-reader, yesterday, edging the $249 device even closer to being an alternative to the iPad. And Graphicly was right there at the launch with three graphic novel apps Mouse Guard: Fall 1152, Wanted, and Irredeemable.

This is not Graphicly’s fault, but the Nook Color app store is not very well organized; they have cute headings like “Explore” and “Organize” but not “Comics” or even “Read.” Plugging the titles in to the search engine gave mixed results: The Mouse Guard app turned up alongside listings for the physical books. Clicking on the title brought me straight back to the generic Nook Apps page. I couldn’t find Wanted or Irredeemable at all. Maybe if I had a Nook it would be easier, but the website should be as well organized as the built-in app store.

The bottom line is this: It’s great that Nook is getting into apps, and it’s great that Graphicly was there on Day One. But if no one can find your books, no one can buy them, and unless Barnes & Noble comes up with a better way to feature content than this—vague categories and no complete listing of all the apps—they aren’t going to move many comics.

April 26, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by Brigid AlversonTagged: Archaia, digital comics, Graphicly, image, Mouse Guard, Nook Color, Top Cow

8 CommentsShaun M.April 26, 2011 at 8:11 am

My sense is that the most recent Nook update was a response to people hacking it to get a more “pure” Android experience; but since that’s not what BN actually delivered with the update, those who are comfortable hacking their devices will continue to do so while those who aren’t will be stuck with a kind of hybrid, less-than-fully-satisfying experience. The Nook, unlike the Kindle, is capable of functioning as a midgrade tablet, so what you get out of it really does depend on the software.

The Android app store has its own issues, of course, and I’d love to see BN or another company turn their efforts toward improving access, search/browsability, etc. to what’s already available.

CraigApril 26, 2011 at 8:13 am

I have a Nook Color, and found all three graphic novels right away as soon as I upgraded the firmware on my device and pawed through the app store. Can’t speak to the website issue, as I haven’t gone looking there yet.

JenniferApril 26, 2011 at 8:55 am

I personally felt like the nook app store was a huge disappointment. Very limited free apps. Also, may now use google for their calendar and email, but there was not an available app for that. All the hype on how the nook would be a competitor to the iPad for a fraction of the price is a lot of bull. I am crossing my fingers that some better apps come out soon.

TorstenApril 26, 2011 at 9:24 am

It looks like the website functions differently via nook/android than it does via a computer web browser. For example, I cannot click on the apps via my computer, and the exact address on my Droid phone shows a different screen with no access to the apps shown on my desk PC.

Looks like we’ll have to visit a store and test-drive it…

TorstenApril 26, 2011 at 9:32 am

Hey! Look! The “exclusive” elephant is back in the room! I thought we got rid of that beast!

(Yup… how soon before these GN apps are available on the regular Comixology site? What if Marvel, which offers no digital comics outside of their DCU, offers GNs via nook? Or (even worse) Amazon?)

PeterApril 26, 2011 at 10:20 am

It sounds like the onboard app store is better organized, and I think there’s a pretty good reason for that-

BN e-magazines ONLY work on the Nook Color (which may or may not be up to Barnes and Noble), and IMHO BN.com pretty clearly labels them as such. But a lot of people have decided to try to download them anyway and proceed to give one-star reviews because “it didn’t work on my Ipad, pandigital novel, etc.”

So now, BN has to be very careful about how they list apps on the non-nook website to avoid similar confusion. On the one hand, it sucks for Graphicly to not get quite as much exposure as they otherwise would. But on the other hand- do you really want people getting angry at you (and possibly screwing up your apps rating) simply because they can’t follow directions?

TorstenApril 26, 2011 at 11:38 am

whoops… graphic.ly, not comixology! *blush* But the concerns are still valid.

Comics CavernApril 26, 2011 at 3:49 pm

Torsten, that may have been a typo/Freudian slip but it’s 100% valid and one of the reasons digital distribution is such a mess and still so uninviting to consumers. There’s a great piece in Ars Technica about how Crunchyroll is defeating anime pirates by doing digital distribution right. Comics still have a ways to go in that regard, sad to say.

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Natalie Nourigat catches Catwoman and Batman the morning after

Cartoonist Natalie Nourigat has captured Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne in an awkward moment the morning after…well, we can only speculate what last night was all about, but it’s sure got someone nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

Totally love that Bruce Wayne wears Batman PJs and slippers to the grocery store as he groggily shops for melons.

April 26, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Michael MayTagged: art, batman, Catwoman, Natalie Nourigat

One CommentWraithApril 26, 2011 at 2:32 pm

Awesome, glad you shared this.

She just nailed this drawing, pretty much every line should be there, and nothing is left out.

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Creators battling cancer (and how you can help)

Bendis reveals the cover to Brilliant #2

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Brilliant #2

Over on his Facebook page, writer Brian Michael Bendis shares the cover to issue #2 of Brilliant, the new series he co-created with artist Mark Bagley for Marvel’s Icon line.

The comic, about a group of students who “invent” super powers, kicks off in July.

April 26, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by JK ParkinTagged: Brian Michael Bendis, Brilliant, cover art, Icon, mark bagley

2 CommentsTrevorApril 26, 2011 at 11:14 am

You know, I typically don’t care for Bagley’s artwork (I admire his ability, it’s just not my cup of tea) but the few preview pages I’ve seen and now this cover…I’m sold. Looks really dynamic. Can’t wait for the first issue.

Other ChrisApril 26, 2011 at 4:23 pm

With Bagley on board, I’m sure everything will be Brilliant but the script.

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Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Scott Campbell visita el Planeta de los Simios

Robot 6 has Planet of the Apes on the brain lately. Kevin Melrose just finished a PotA marathon that made me want to start my own and I’m anxiously looking forward to BOOM!’s prequel comic tomorrow. But while talking primates fans wait for that, I thought it might be nice to check out Scott Campbell’s version that also includes King Kong, the flying monkeys of Wizard of Oz, the primates of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Ro-Man Extension XJ-9 from Robot Monster.

Be sure to check out the rest of Campbell’s post too. He has a playground full of werewolves, a picnic with the Draculas, a floating bar for sea monsters, and much more.

April 26, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by Michael MayTagged: art, King Kong, Planet of the Apes, Scott Campbell, The Wizard of Oz

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Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 04/20/11

A double dose of Green Lantern reviews for everyone tonight as I take a look at the two new chapters from War of the Green Lanterns released this week, Green Lantern #65 and Green Lantern Corps #59. Hit the jump for the full reviews!

GREEN LANTERN #65Written by Geoff JohnsArt by Doug Mahnke & Keith Champagne
While Green Lantern has been consistently great, this was easily my favourite issue in a long, long time. Everything about it hit all the right notes with me and, believe it or not, Hal Jordan was interesting and had a personality beyond cardboard for the first time, well, ever. That's quite the feat making me actually care about Hal beyond his adventures all things considered.
The issue begins with what amounts to a recap of the current events as Krona, the mystery villain that was collecting the various entities over the past year or so of Green Lantern, tries to figure out why Kilowog was unaffected when Krona used Parallax to corrupt the Central Power Battery. Turns out the people that were unaffected by Krona's scheme weren't just overly strong of will. Hal, Guy, John, Kilowog, Kyle and Ganthet were all touched by and/or possessed by Parallax at some point, most notably in Green Lantern: Rebirth, and that is the reason they were able to resist the corruption of their rings.
As far as this recap of the story up until now goes, it was well done and didn't feel like a recap. Too often, writers fall into the trap of wasting two or three pages on catching people up to speed, so this was an excellent use of page space that didn't feel like it was wasting the reader's time.
Once the recap was complete, we were treated the only Hal Jordan moment I can ever recall being interesting or fun to read. He and Guy Gardner were stranded without rings leading into this issue and needed a way to get back to Oa to help stop Krona. This leads the duo to a Green Lantern safe house where a space craft is on standby for any unforeseen problems. Hal, being the resident pilot, takes the lead here and he and Guy play off each other beautifully. It was too much fun reading this scene as Guy is at first impressed with the ship and its various functions (voice activated beer dispenser!), but Hal quickly takes the lead in the scene putting Guy out of his comfort zone as he takes them on a manually controlled, star and planet dodging trip through hyper space as they make a beeline for Oa.
Really enjoyed seeing Hal Jordan, who is usually written in such a generic way that literally anyone could be wearing the Green Lantern costume and the story would be unaffected, finally show the signs of a personality with the ribbing of Guy and general banter back and forth between them during this trip to Oa. Only a few pages, but a treat to read and enjoy Hal Jordan for Hal Jordan for once.
Pick your poison.From here, the War of the Green Lanterns has its first big Sinestro Corps War moment as once the four Earthling Green Lanterns meet up, they all find out Hal has stockpiled the various corps rings from his New Guardian cohorts, who all disappeared into the Book of the Black at the start of the storyline. Hal's plan, seeing as none of them can use a green ring anymore, is to each pick a ring suited to them and join a new corps to fight back against Krona, who only has influence over the Green Lanterns.
Hal joins the Sinestro Corps, which makes sense with his experience with Parallax and having joined them/used their ring momentarily back during the Sinestro Corps War. Guy rejoins the Red Lanterns, which means a return of the blood spewing, Black Lantern wrecking ball we saw during Blackest Night.   Will be interesting to see how he survives it seeing as he nearly died last time. Kyle joins the Blue Lanterns, which is an odd choice, seeing as they power up Green Lanterns and they are fighting an army of them. They actually make a reference to this and show the ill effects of him being a Blue Lantern over in Green Lantern Corps this week. John wants to go with Orange for avarice, but Hal makes him take an Indigo Tribe ring instead.
The donning of these rings to end the issue was inspired and I loved the panel composition by Mahnke to close out the issue before that epic splash page. It's hard not to want to read the next part of this or see where they go with it after seeing that splash page.
My only complaint about the entire issue, however, comes from the same splash page. In it, everyone looks fantastic in their newly costumes with the exception of John Stewart. As a member of Indigo Tribe, a tribal band of compassionate members and in which they all wear tribal/minimalistic clothing, John is shown in complete military fatigues with a bandana and sniper rifle instead of the Indigo standard staff. I can sort of tolerate the whole pushing of this new sniper/military defining personality Johns has a mad on for John Stewart, but come off it, US Iraq war vetern in full fatigues as a member of the compassion based corps? Completely ignoring the design and motif of the Indigo Tribe? It just looks out of place and tacky compared to the others. This is a very minor complaint as far as things go, so I'll have to just stomach it for the time being.
Verdict - Must Read. Fantastic issue that made me actually want to read more about Hal Jordan out of costume for the first time ever and an ending that has me absolutely chomping at the bit to read more of this storyline and see where Johns and the rest of the Green Lantern team take this story from here.

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #59Written by Tony BedardArt by Tyler Kirkham
In a follow-up to Green Lantern #65, this issue continues shortly after each of the Earth based Green Lanterns has donned a ring from a different coloured corps - Hal using a yellow Sinestro Corps ring, Guy using a red ring again, Kyle wielding a hope based blue ring and John now a member of the Indigo Tribe.
I was quite eager to dive right into this issue after thoroughly enjoying GL #65 and seeing its excellent ending of everyone joining a new corps. I wanted to see how each reacted to their new rings and where the story was going from there.
While the issue starts a little shaky with what I believe to be a really poorly executed comparison of this fantastical cosmic ring possessed 'war' to the suffering and death found in the Iraq war, even going so far as to try and compare events to IEDs and other such things, I was not disappointed with the follow-up story and was quite impressed with how they handled the new rings and progressed the story.
Using their new rings, we quickly see that each are having their struggles, from Guy's blood boiling rage and desire to just run off and go kill Krona to John's inability to adjust to the compassion ring, I was happy to find out that they weren't just going to magically be the best users of their new rings or masters of those emotions (well, Guy is still awesome regardless of what ring it is, ahaha). They even addressed the concerns over Kyle using a blue ring when its main function is to power up nearby Green Lanterns, which is a huge problem when they are facing a veritable army of Parallax influenced Green Lanterns.
Mogo goes where Mogo pleases!While Guy was eager to go take the fight to Krona, the group actually makes it their priority to find Ganthet, who helped John and Kyle escape being captured in previous issues and who is now having a great deal of difficulty fighting off the possessed Green Lanterns out for his blood at Krona's command. This leads to another jaw dropping moment as Mogo makes his appearance. Yup, you guessed it - not even Mogo was able to resist Parallax and he puts a serious beat down on our heroes to end the issue, leaving us to wonder what happens next and an agonizing wait for the next chapter of the story.
For those wondering about the art, as that cover is less than flattering, the interiors are actually quite solid and that cover is by no means indicative of the interior artwork. I'm not sure if the cover was rushed or a fill-in occurred or what, but hopefully it doesn't turn too many people off this issue, which was more than adequate on the art side of things.
Verdict - Must Read. War of the Green Lanterns started a little slow, but has really kicked it up a notch with these last few chapters of the story.

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Posted byKirk Warrenat10:07 PM

Thought Bubbles:Green Lantern,Review,War of the Green Lanterns,Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews

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4comments:

Anonymoussaid...

The reviews and Kirk are back! yay!

April 22, 2011 1:07 PM

Mike-Elsaid...

Argh, what's up with all these Green Lantern reviews?! You guys are totally biased towards DC.

j/k - welcome back Kirk! Hope you're feeling better.

April 22, 2011 9:29 PM

Patsaid...

Love the way the white on the green lantern symbol is now yellow. Cool idea. Also love this "event" and can't wait to see the aftermath and where Johns takes this book next.

April 22, 2011 9:56 PM