Posted 1/28/11 3:48 pm ET by Charles Webb in Apps, ComiXology, Comic Books, Digital Comics, Dynamite
You can continue the adventures of the Green Hornet using your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch with comiXology's new Green Hornet comics app (in partnership with Dynamite Entertainment). We chatted with comiXology CEO and co-founder David Steinberger about the new app and what digital comics readers can expect!
MTV Geek: What titles were included in the app’s lineup?
David Steinberger: We currently have five different Green Hornet series that are included in this App: Kevin Smith’s Green Hornet, Green Hornet: Year One, The Green Hornet Strikes Back, Green Hornet: Blood Ties, The Green Hornet: Parallel Lives. Overall we have 30 Green Hornet comics so far and more to come.
Geek: How did the decision come about to offer a platform purely for Green Hornet?
DS: To tweak the terminology – we see comiXology as the platform, and the Green Hornet as a “branded app.” Branded apps have much more visibility in the iTunes app store, so popular properties deserve their own “top-level” visibility. Dynamite, one of our amazing partners, recently revamped the Green Hornet property with Kevin Smith ‘s take on the characters. This alone would justify having it’s own platform, but with the release of the movie last week, we wanted anyone looking for Green Hornet in the app stores to be able to read the comics and understand the back-story.
Geek: What kind of response do these title-specific releases typically get?
DS: The response is always positive as we choose titles that are popular and have mainstream appeal. Scott Pilgrim was amazing as an app last year - it brought a whole new audience to our platform. While any comic purchased in the app will sync with all of our other powered apps and Web Viewer, we want to insure that the reader can enjoy the comic all in one central location with a specially branded environment.
Another example is our Walking Dead app that we created for the very popular property, right around the time of its AMC debut.
Geek: Do you think digital comics can reach out to audiences who don’t traditionally read comics?
DS: Absolutely. Our last survey showed well under 20% of our buyers being regular comic book buyers. Having comics on your mobile devices allows anyone to read a comic pretty much instantly, at their leisure. It’s this ease of use and the large selection (5500+) of comics that we offer that is attracting new customers who generally wouldn’t go to a comic book store.
Geek: Do you think having multiple apps for reading comics might segment the audience in any way?
DS: Nope, in fact I think it is likely to bring different segments of the population to comics. If everyone knew about The Walking Dead comics, for instance, our Walking Dead app wouldn’t be popular. We’ve had The Walking Dead in our apps for a year and a half, and yet we managed to reach a new audience with the dedicated app.
Is it the best experience for the hard-core comic fan? Nope. But is it a gateway for fans of other media, like The Walking Dead TV show to discover comics? You bet. And that’s nothing but a good thing. Put the retailer finder on top of that, and we’re creating more print comic buyers as well.
Geek: What other upcoming releases via Comixology can you talk about?
DS: Nuh-uh! No pre-announcing! We release over 150 comics every week into the Comics by comiXology app for iPhone, iPad, Android and the web, so there’s always something new!
You can get the new Green Hornet app for your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch at the iTunes Store!
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Posted 12/5/11
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