The war for comics is hitting cyberspace with a vengeance, as Archaia announced that it will produce original graphic novels exclusively for the the Kindle. iPhone and iPod users can access these comics via Kindle’s app on the iTunes store.
Archaia announced that of its first four graphic novels, Josh Hale Fialkov’s Tumor would be the first one to be released to the Kindle. The first chapter is free, and each subsequent chapter is 99 cents. Chapter Two will be released August 3, and they will release a new chapter every three weeks.
The story of Tumor is about a Los Angeles detective who struggles to solve one last case before his brain tumor does him in.
“Archaia is consistently working to break the boundaries of comic book distribution,” said Stephen Christy, Archaia’s Director of Development, in a press release. “I’m psyched to be able to say that we will now be the first comic book company to produce a full-length graphic novel exclusively for the Kindle. Working with a partner like Amazon has been amazing, and I couldn’t be happier that we’re launching this partnership with Tumor, from one of my favorite writers in the industry.”
Additionally, tumorthecomic.com promises to have “behind-the-scenes” extras and commentary. Archaia says they also plan to release Zachary Quinto’s Mr. Dead to the Kindle as well in a spring 2010 release.
July 29th, 2009 at 8:21 am
This is very smart. I’ve been thinking that the Kindle or something like it is the answer to making digital comics successful.
July 29th, 2009 at 8:37 am
Barnes & Noble just rolled out a free e-reader that’s compatible with iPod (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ebooks/index.asp?r=1). I wonder how long before another publisher tries to take advantage of that market niche.
July 29th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Until Kindle comes in color, consider me unimpressed.
July 29th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Too bad Tumor isn’t very good which could make people think publishers only send comics to Kindle if they don’t think they can compete on the store shelves. Maybe Mr. Dead will be better?
July 29th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
As the link embedded in my name would show, I’ve been fairly certain for awhile that Kindle would be the killer app/device. Once they committed to increasing the size, it was obvious they could deal with the non-Big-Three-or-so publishers (i.e. the ones prone to selling B/W comics). A color Kindle probably isn’t all that far down the line.