More Comics Coming to Mobile Phones
by Trevor Soponis -- Publishers Weekly, 7/5/2007 10:39:00 AM
Upgrades to cell phone hardware and the networks they operate on are spurring publishers to expand the amount of comics content available to the tens of millions of mobile phone users in the U. S. And the budding market in mobile device content offers a familiar choice between Web business-models—subscription service or ad-sponsorship.
While it has been technically possible to support comic strips on cell phones since early 2003, the lack of sizable color screens, insufficient memory and slow networks, made it difficult to read and enjoy comics on mobile devices, explained Jeff Webber, director of mobile content for uClick, a wholly-owned company of comics publisher and newspaper strip syndicator Andrew McMeel Universal that publishes both conventional comics and manga for cell phones. But a new generation of cellphones, including the Motorola Razr series and the Apple iPhone that have increased high-speed capacity, now offer solutions to previous hardware limitations.
Uclick is working on expanding offerings from its two most popular outlets for mobile phone comics: GoComics Books, the consumer brand of uclick, and Tokyopop Mobile Manga. Uclick distributes mobile comics content through the major carriers (Sprint, AT&T, Verizon and others) and through Web partners like MSN, Yahoo and AOL. Both services operate on a subscription basis. For $4.99 a month, users chose six or more titles and each day receive a new installment of one title. In addition, users have access to an archive of all the comics, allowing them to catch up on each storyline. Webber said that more than 300,000 consumers have downloaded the comics player software.
GoComics now offers over a dozen comics, including Joe Casey and Tom Scioli’s Godland and Scott Kurtz's PvP (both from Image Comics), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (from Mirage). The latest title, Thunder Road, is an original made-for-the-mobile comic book offered exclusively through the mobile service. Tokyopop Mobile now offers eight manga titles, including Princess AI, Dramacon, and Van Von Hunter.
While most of the product development work so far has focused on adapting existing comic art to the cell phone, Tokyopop has visions for something new. Their upcoming iManga service will feature audio soundtracks joined with motion graphic episodes to create a new form of comic storytelling. "They represent a new form and look very different from the traditional ways of bringing comics to life," claimed Jeremy Ross, Tokyopop’s director of new product development. Ross said that new announcements, including a major channel partner, are expected in the coming months.
While GoComics’ and Tokyopop’s subscription services are the most visible business models, Cellufun.com, an ad-sponsored multiplayer gaming site, offers another. The site recently added comics to its offerings. "Cellphone entertainment is largely about downtime and diversion," said Cellufun CEO Arthur Goikhman. "Comics fit very well into that category." Currently Cellufin.com offers two daily comics strips, including work by established newspaper and magazine cartoonist Marc Nobleman, with plans for more to come. Goikhman acknowledged that "the subscription model performed better on the phone, but that is due to some very specialized circumstances, and it is not likely to be sustainable over time. We are strong believers in the advertising model."
What’s most surprising in the discussion around mobile phone comics has been the near–total absence of the major comic companies like Marvel, DC, and Image, at least until now. Recently, DC Comics was the first to announce a plan for mobile content with an investment in Flex Comics, a new Japanese manga production company. DC v-p, business development John Nee said no decision has been made on whether it will be a subscription based service or ad-sponsored.
"If you look at the web, you see a pattern as people favor either subscriptions or ads, and the same pattern will apply to mobile content," said Todd Allen, a professor at Columbia College Chicago who studies the digital comics market. "Ad values will fluctuate and when they’re high everyone will want that route. When they’re low people will look to subscriptions. It will likely be cyclical. Both models have their use and their place."
