As I mentioned earlier today, digital comics are now available for the PlayStation Portable through Sony’s PlayStation Network. Comic books from 2000 AD, Ape Entertainment, Archie Comics, Dable Brothers Publishing, Disney Digicomics, IDW Publishing, Image Comics, Insomnia Publications, Marvel, Red 5 Comics, and Titan Publishing are available. Some of the issues are free, but most of them cost $1.99.
Browsing through the store is a snap. The comics are divided by publisher then title. If you can’t find the available issues you want then you’re an idiot.
I immediately went for three comic books I know and love — Astonishing X-Men #2, Marvels #1, and Marvels #2. The “Gifted” storyline in Astonishing X-Men was fantastic and Marvels was one of the best books ever.
Downloading through WiFi wasn’t the best decision I made in this process. The three issues took around 25 minutes to download. It would have been faster to download everything to my PC and transfer the books to my PSP via USB cable. Lesson learned. Now let’s get to the experience!
I made the mistake of thinking these were motion comics, which have voices. Digital comics are just images and text. That’s totally on me…but had I known that, I wouldn’t have bought three issues for comics I already have at $1.99 a piece.
Overall, I really didn’t like the experience these digital comics offered. The way the reader went from panel to panel was annoying. At times, it strained my eyes and made my head hurt. I also didn’t like the relatively slow navigation from panel to panel and page to page. I’m always flipping back real comics to double-check on something a character said or did. You can’t easily do that with these digital comics.
While digital comics might be neat to have on an airplane and digital files won’t clutter anyone’s living room, I rather have a real comic book than a digital one. Considering that I’m mostly amped for digital distribution, this surprised me. While $1.99 is cheaper than what most comics cost these days, I rather spend an extra buck for a superior experience. Maybe things will get better with time, but right now I wish I had my $5.97 back.
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I like your "(Not a) Review" segments, Mr. Padilla. You should have more of them. Specifically, it would be cool if you had "(Not a) Review" of a few games you're playing or have played.
-M
@R-Pad
LOL At least one a week you get that question right?
@Iceman Perhaps one day. I like your idea of pile-on reviews better.
I just recently obtained PDF's of the complete Sandman series… which I never read before, but am familiar with alot of it. Now all i need is the time to read them.
@N8R The "Season of Mists" storyline is completely awesome. Start with that and you'll be hooked.
@ R Pad
I was just going to go from beginning to end.
@N8R Try Season of Mists first. You don't really need to know anything about the series to follow it.
@ R Pad
I have that listed as Volume 4… are you sure I should skip the rest before it when I'm definitely going to get to it anyway?
I have the feeling that if I made it through the newspaper clippings and "Under The Hood" stuff from Watchmen… I can get to Volume 4 no problem.
@N8R I promise you — it will rock!!!