Jonathan Liu of GeekDad fame posted a comprehensive review/overview of Robot Comics as a mobile comics publisher.  He pointed out the exact strengths and weaknesses we’d give ourselves.

Here’s a snippet:

One of my favorite sources of comics for the iPhone (and iPod touch) is Robot Comics. They have a decent catalog of titles, and the best part is that most of them start off free. For comics with multiple issues, the first one is usually free and the rest are available for $.99 each through an in-app download. There are several single-issue comics that are free as well, including several adaptations of Cory Doctorow stories. (”Craphound” is one of my favorites.) When you purchase a later “episode,” as they call them, it simply shows up in the index. Each comic has its own app icon on your home screen which contains all the issues. It might be nice to be able to combine them into one Robot Comics viewer app, though I suppose the new iPhone OS will allow you to group them if you choose.

Some of the comics I’ve reviewed previously have been through Robot Comics: Erfworld and Robot 13, for instance. A more recent release is Valentine, a fantasy-horror set during the War of 1812, which was simultaneously released in about a dozen languages. I compared the English and Chinese versions, and was pretty impressed with the way both of them looked.

Read More http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/04/the-first-ones-always-free-robot-comics-for-iphone/#ixzz0lI3mZhMd

Thanks, Jonathan and GeekDad!  And just for your info, Jonathan (and also to you readers out there who care), a single iTunes viewer to store all the comics is coming very, very soon. So stay tuned.

Another full length review from the wonderful munchkins over at Comics Bulletin.

This one by Karyn Pinter on the glamorous Erfworld #1.

Here’s a snippet:

Parson Gotti is a gamer, but not just any gamer. He’s a mad, crazy gamer who’s bested every strategy game the world seemingly has to offer.  That’s where Erfworld and Lord Stanley come in.  Lord Stanley is in need of a great warlord to lead his armies to victory against Prince Ansom. Using a spell that cost a half million shmuckers, Lord Stanley and his Croackamancer, Wanda, summon Parson to lead their armies and win the final battle for Gobwin Knob.

In many ways Erfworld is brilliant, but too much about it is poorly executed, which was disappointing.  It felt like little sections of the story were left stranded out on a desert island while the rest of the story sailed on by to continue on the next panel.  There were times when there was no wording on a panel, setting up for comedic pause, and that worked out nicely.  But other times the comic just seemed to become scatterbrained and disoriented.  It’s that unfortunate tendency that really cost Erfworld points. Other than that, the comic is a real nerdy joy and it’s cute to boot.  It’s drawn in a very basic, yet fitting style, like a chibi, the sort of tiny, cute anime style. Well, whatever style it may be, it’s adorable.  Even when little demon-things are axing other spider-things in the head it’s cute.  I want to hug the little demon-things, which are called Marbits, with their little pointy ears and beady eyes.  Sorry, my girliness spilled on the page. Some of the sound effect illustrations are hilarious, like the PLOT explosion as the hero is pulled into the game world.  Or the ever-popular PWND as something gets knocked down.  Oh, and I can’t even get started on the secret nerd code woven into the dialog.  There are just moments of silliness, and moments of hilarity, and sheer genius.  The magic word for making something disappear is “Hoffa.”  Come on, how funny is that?!

Read the whole review

Creator Jason James and his Scarycaravan Media crew – the fellas behind the unique mobile comic experience known as “ghostboy” (and look for a major announcement concerning ghostboy in the coming months), have donated a gorgeous donated an original ghostboy panel to Hi-Ex Comic Con for inclusion in their charity raffle (the proceeds of which, like the auction, will be donated to Children 1st).

The panel is taken from the upcoming ghostboy Issue #1, and here’s a peek:

So if you’re attending Hi-Ex over in Scotland this year during March 27th-28th, make sure you enter the raffle and give lots and lots of money to the children!  Who knows?  You may just walk away with original ghostboy art….

Click the image below to visit the Hi-Ex website for details:

Announced yesterday on the Tom Hall’s (writer of Robot 13) “Enlightened Words” blog:

The 8th annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards Ballot has been released, and Robot 13 has been nominated for Best Horror Comic Book!

The Rondo awards are a yearly program to allow fans of Horror to vote for their favorites in Horror film, books, comics, music and general fandom and can be voted on by YOU the fan!  If you go to Rondoaward.com, you can get the ballot information as well as info about the Rondos and lists of past winners.  You can vote for as many or as few of the categories as you like- so if there are those that you just don’t know anything about, feel free to pass on those and vote for the categories you feel strongly about.  All votes must be emailed to taraco@aol.com with your name (so they can adhere to the One Person=One Vote rule) by Midnight of April 3, 2010.

While we would LOVE for you to Vote for Robot 13 for Best Horror Comic Book, I want to also encourage you to check out the site and vote for as many of the categories as you feel knowledgeable about. It’s an awesome, grass roots type of thing and a HUGE honor to be nominated for everyone involved.

Rock The Vote Today!

Well my goodness will wonders never cease – a full length review of a mobile comic on a major comic book news site!  Hopefully this trend will continue.

Big, big, big shout out to Chris Kiser (reviewer) and Matt Mclean (editor) for giving VALENTINE a nice fat spotlight review over at COMICS BULLETIN.  And a glowing review to boot!

Here’s an excerpt:

Valentine #1 – #4 Review

(via Comics Bulletin)
By: Chris Kiser

If comics are to thrive and grow as a medium in the 21st century, they’ll have to find their place somewhere in the midst of the digital world. Of course, you don’t need me to tell you that. It seems like everyone with a blog, column, or message forum login has offered his or her opinion on how online comics will (or won’t) work. But while these pundits drown themselves in speculation, a few innovative creators are actually putting their digital comics on the market.

Valentine, by Alex de Campi and Christine Larsen, is one such effort. It ventures into the era of Napoleonic France’s ill-advised invasion of Russia, focusing in on young Valentine Renaud, one of the failed campaign’s few surviving soldiers. As Valentine seeks to make his way home, he finds himself embroiled in an ages old conflict involving a supernatural, demonic foe, and a mysterious, powerful sword.

The series has been created specifically for reading on an electronic mobile device, meaning that it’s not simply a regular comic book scanned onto your computer screen. Following an iTunes-like sales model, episodes of Valentine may be purchased for many of the popular smart phones as well as for an e-book reader like the Amazon Kindle. The specific restrictions of these formats, as well as their unique capabilities, contribute to a reading experience that couldn’t be replicated on paper.

Read the rest of it by clicking here.

We got a nice little mention over at Scott McCloud’s site.  Apparently we aren’t the only ones releasing a series in multiple languages simultaneously.

Here’s the article from scottmccloud.com:

Zahra’s Paradise is a new comic being offered online by First Second. From what we’ve seen, it promises to be an absorbing true story and I like the art. It’s being released simultaneously in English, Farsi, Arabic, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutchs—seven languages in all. Eight, if you count the language of comics.

Zahra’s release follows closely on the heels of Robot Comics’ Valentine, released in a whopping twelve languages simultaneously. If this is a trend, I like it.

Understanding Comics has been translated over the years into 16 languages, but like any book project, the process of getting it printed and distributed from scratch in each country requires an enormous amount of effort for its respective publishers.

The idea that all these dammed-up rivers of art and story might start breaking free all over the world soon is encouraging.

That’s the whole article, but feel free to check out the original source here.

And you can find VALENTINE by Alex de Campi and Christine Larsen on the iTunes market by clicking here or on the Android market by searching for “Valentine the Comic”.

FONE HOME’s (”The Mothership of UK mobile”, I kinda like that tag line) Linsey Fryatt declared Robot Comics’ own ACV Droid Comic Viewer as one of the 50 Best Android Apps on the market today.  They actually announced this back in December, but we just noticed, and wanted to say: Thanks, Linsey!

Seeing as how there were 20,000+ apps already on the Android market at the time, being chosen as one of the tip-top 50 really means something to us.  We’re pleased users have gotten so much out of ACV to date, and you better believe the big update to the viewer (coming very soon) is going to live up to all this hype.  Stay tuned.

BTW: if you’re new to all this, read more about Droid Comic Viewer here.

New article over at Digital Media Buzz on the emerging industry of “eBook Brokers“, and Robot Comics’ own Dave Baxter gets quoted quite a bit!  Might have something to do with the fact that the article is written by one of our own authors, Ron Callari.  Hmmm…nah.  We’re probably just that quote-worthy.

Here’s a snippet:

By Ron Callari

Digital content distribution as an industry emerged as a result of books moving from the traditional world of publishing to online platforms such as PDFs, eBooks and other ePub formats. Some licensing brokers for eBooks like Ingram Digital grew out of their traditional publishing units that have been in the industry for more than 40 years. Others like Robot Comics emerged within the last few years to solely focus on digital formats for specific genres like graphic novels.

Other publishers acting as their own distributors focus on specific genres. While Robot Comics publishes graphic novels and currently works with Apple, Google and Amazon, its deputy director, Dave Baxter, refers to these companies as “marketplaces” or “storefronts” vs. distributors. According to Baxter, “in the digital world, there’s very little distinction between the store and the distributor, often none at all.”

Graphic novels have the inherent challenge of adapting color images to Kindle’s black-and-white-and-shades-of-grey format. Baxter indicates that “few are flexible enough to handle the needs of a graphic novel library and allow them to shine.”

READ THE WHOLE THING (Dave had even more brilliant things to say, oh, yes….)

And make sure you check out Ron Callari’s own Kindle Graphic Novel – CRUDE BEHAVIOR: a fundamental tale told by kidd millennium

BOING BOING’s Jessamyn West gave Alex de Campi’s beautiful multi-lingual VALENTINE (which we are publishing in 14 different languages, by the by) a gorgeous nod over at that most popular of blog sites.

Here’s a snippet:

Valentine: A supernatural thriller published in 14 languages, and multiple digital reading devices, simultaneously. Creative Commons licensed. Multilingual peeks over at Robot Comics.

Valentine is a fantasy / thriller graphic novel series by writer Alex de Campi and artist Christine Larsen. It is available in 14 languages and counting. You can’t buy it in a comic book shop because it’s not a traditional comic; it’s a project which has been tailored specifically to be enjoyed on wireless devices.

First one’s free, cheap after that. Full-color digest edition available in print format when the run’s done. From an interview with de Campi:

The thing you also need to keep in mind is that comics overseas are far, far bigger than they are in America. In France and Japan, there are single issues of a bande dessinee or a manga tankubon that regularly outsell in volume the entire US comic industry’s output for the year.

Read the whole thing HERE

And be sure to subscribe to our NEWSLETTER for updates on VALENTINE!

And Download the first issue for free right now:

Continue reading »

(*comic above is Bear Beater Bunyan -

this is a mock-up, not the actual iPad version of the book)

Bleeding Cool’s Rich Johnston was one of many sweet-talking about Apple humongous iPad announcement and unveiling today.  But we’re gonna feature his article in specific because brilliant fellow that he is, he quotes Robot Comics.

The presentation has concluded. We haven’t heard a thing about LongBox, and Rantz Hoseley didn’t tweet once. And anyway, the iPad doesn’t seem to do flash. Wherefore Zuda?

But with the likes of RobotComics and Comixology having iPhone apps that can port right over to the newly announced iPad, mean they should have a field day with the new Apple tablet device.

And the iBooks application is a direct book reading device that could well work for graphic novels. Prize for the first shot of someone reading a graphic novel on the iPad.

READ MORE (including what we had to say…)

Be sure to subscribe to our NEWSLETTER to hear all the latest in Robot Comics and the iPad, including a soon-to-be-announced contest you will WANT to be a part of!!!