Apple iPad Reveal

4:08 pm EST January 27th, 2010 | Comic Books | 11 Comments

I want one, and I want to be able to read comic books on it. Comic book artist-gods Erik Larsen and J. Scott Campbell concur.

Make this happen, Marvel/DC/Image/Etc.

Topic: Apple, Tech

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11 Responses to “Apple iPad Reveal”

White Whale says:

January 27, 2010 at 5:16 pm

I’ll second that motion! Comic book stores are dying out and this could be a new lifesblood.
Sean D. Martin says:

January 27, 2010 at 7:31 pm

Yeah, when you can download comics onto a reader that’s going to work out well for comic book stores.
Rheinhard says:

January 27, 2010 at 8:22 pm

Dunno about the comic book thing, but here’s what I wrote about this on a Mac discussion site this afternoon:

I am always a little skeptical of overblown pre-release claims, but I think this will be a game changer for a few reasons:

1. The price point is really good for such a device. Hell the max cofiguration with 65Gb RAM, WiFi + 3G is under $900! This will appeal to a wide range of possible customers, from the cash-strapped older folks who just want to access mail and see grandkids photos, to the high-flying exec who wants to both show off his latest gadgetry and needs to edit Powerpoint (excuse me, Keynote) presentations in Business class, which brings me to…

2. The presence of iWork. This could be the beginning of the first major chink in the MS Office monopoly. How many of those execs, who otherwise think they need M$ for the enterprise, will get one of these, find they want to edit a Word or Powerpoint document, learn there’s no MS Office for iPad but there is this nifty iWork which is even better, and pretty soon will be talking to their corporate IT people about why they don’t have iWork on the office desktop? Also how many regular folks who get the low end pad and have never tried iWork will think “Hey, for $10 extra, might as well give it a shot” and then find going back to using M$ Office feels like having a tooth pulled?
calling all toasters says:

January 27, 2010 at 11:00 pm

It looks fabulous. Now all it needs is a keyboard. Maybe they could make it the size of the screen, and hinge it so that it folds up. And then you wouldn’t need to lean it against anything to make the screen upright. You could even put the whole thing on your lap!
calling all toasters says:

January 27, 2010 at 11:03 pm

Oh, I like this: type in “iPad” to Google and the top autofill says “a disappointment.” I can’t imagine why….
Carl Martin says:

January 28, 2010 at 12:02 am

Hey Sean D. Martin (no relation) – love the sarcasm.
“call all toasters” – great comments.

They’ve had these nifty little things for the past 8 – 10 years called Tablet PCs. Remeber those? Probably not since you never see them any more – since nobody bought them. The iPad seems to be another tablet PC, just with LESS functionality.

In responce to Rheinhard’s comments:

1. They make durable, powerful, fast, lightweight laptops with tons of storage for under $300. So how is the iPad a good deal?

2. iWork… Seriously?!?! Apple has had alternatives to MS Office for more than a decade and they coul never break into the professional/corporate arena. If ease of use and price was the deciding factor, every company would run on open source software by now. I’ve been an IT professional in the corporate world for almost 15 years. I have spearheaded efforts to move away from MS software in several companies. Even after demonstrating the user friendliness of the options and explaining how they could save tens-of-thousands to hundreds-of-thousands of dollars, I was still met with intense resistance. There is no power strong enough to break Microsoft’s hold on the workplace.
Oliver Willis says:

January 28, 2010 at 1:08 am

Now all it needs is a keyboard.
done
White Whale says:

January 28, 2010 at 8:17 am

“I’ll second that motion! Comic book stores are dying out and this could be a new lifesblood.”-

Of course I should clarify that it will be new lifesblood for the comic book industry.
Frowny says:

January 28, 2010 at 11:39 am

What Captain Kirk’s lawyer said. Also, the format is a little too limiting for some artists. . . Simonson-esque double splash pages are right out, and I can’t see Chris Ware or Dan Clowes shrinking something just to fit it on the iPad. Considering a lot of artists decried the gradual shrinking of the comics page in newspapers, and how it forced artists to adapt to the format instead of vice versa, I don’t see it being universally accepted. Not everyone sees the world the way Scott McCloud does, and I don’t really see Larsen and Campbell as ‘visionaries.’

Also, god is stretching it. A lot. More in Campbell’s case than Larsen’s, but still.
Oliver Willis says:

January 28, 2010 at 12:36 pm

Simonson-esque double splash pages are right out
I don’t see why, the book application seems to do 2 pages at once. Furthermore, considering the long-term economics of the comic book form, they need to adapt. The iPad or something like it is the inevitable future of comic books.

I don’t really see Larsen and Campbell as ‘visionaries.’
Before the 1990s, nobody was doing art like they were. They may not be your cup of tea, but they shouldn’t be discounted either. I really don’t like Chris Ware, but I can easily acknowledge that his stuff has been groundbreaking.
Frowny says:

January 28, 2010 at 2:10 pm

I haven’t read Savage Dragon since around his crossover with the Ninja Turtles, but (to my eye) you can see some John Romita Jr. and Simonson in Larsen, though his lines aren’t as heavy, and Joe Madureira was doing the whole anime influenced thing around the same time as Campbell, just not as cheesecakey. (You’re right that I’m not a fan of this style.) I don’t discount them as influential artists, but not on the level of Jack Kirby, or Steranko, or Crumb, or (crazies I can’t possibly agree with but can’t deny the influence of) Sim, Byrne, Ditko or Neal Adams. Among more recent artists, Michael Lark, John Cassaday or J.H. Williams III would be more likely to sway me.

And I’m still not really okay with the idea of the device determining the canvas. No matter what you start with, it has to fit in the dimensions the device offers. It’s fine for a lot of stuff, But “widescreen” comics are going to lose some of their impact. You can landscape them, but it’s just the same size image sideways. You’re probably right, honestly, and the whole current business model has serious problems but I’ll have to be dragged in kicking and screaming.

Also, I’ve been going to the same comic book store for fourteen years and the thought of the march of technology shutting it down just really pisses me off.