Digital Comics

This month Dutch publisher Sanoma started releasing its weekly Donald Duck comic in digital format on the iPad. Readers must first install the free app Tijdschrift.nl and can then purchase 63 different Dutch magazines, including National Graphic, Cosmopolitan and Donald Duck.

Each weekly digital issue of Donald Duck costs €2.39 or $2.99, which is rather steep considering the paper copies cost only €2.05 in stores and €1.65 for subscribers. Each digital version does have 8 bonus pages. I just downloaded the latest issue 44 of 2011 (see screenshots below) and it has 52 pages instead of the standard 44 pages, including an 8-page bonus story.

This new digital comic is great for Dutch expats like myself. Now I can buy the latest copy of Donald Duck Weekly whenever I want. If I buy every issue it would cost me about €125 per year, which is cheaper than the €179.40 it would cost me to get a real subscription outside Europe. In my opinion it is still too expensive for this to become successful. Sure, the 8 extra pages are nice, but in the issue I downloaded the extra story (H96141) already appeared in the same magazine 4 years ago, which is not much of an incentive to pay the higher price.

Part of the high price must be because of the 30% revenue that Apple takes on everything that is sold through the App Store. That leaves €1.67 per issue for Sanoma, which is right about the amount they get from subscribers. Still, with Sanoma saving money on paper, printing and distribution I think that they should be able to lower the price a bit more. At the very least they should allow existing subscribers to download digital copies for free and offer digital subscription prices where you can download a half year or full year at a lower price.

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This coming May, Marvel will launch a new comics magazine titled Disney•Pixar Presents in the United States. The monthly all-ages magazine will feature 96 pages of content, with a mix of brand-new as well as class stories, puzzles, games and more. The magazine will sell for $5.99.

The press release:

Featuring characters from Disney/Pixar’s hit movies Cars, Cars 2, The Incredibles, Toy Story 3, and more, DISNEY•PIXAR PRESENTS will be available at bookstores, retail chains, comic stores and more. The series debuts with DISNEY•PIXAR PRESENTS: Cars Magazine #1.

“We’re excited for the launch of DISNEY•PIXAR PRESENTS, teaming with our friends at Disney/Pixar to bring some exciting new material to fans all over the world and introducing a whole new generation to comics,” said Axel Alonso, Editor-in-Chief. “We’re committed to providing a great product and ensuring these books are available in locations that parents and kids frequent. The Disney/Pixar library includes some of the most popular characters of all time, making DISNEY•PIXAR PRESENTS exactly the kind of comic magazine that kids and parents have been demanding!”

Rev up those engines and join your favorite characters from CARS in DISNEY•PIXAR PRESENTS: Cars Magazine #1 as Lightning McQueen organizes a charity race for young cars with special needs, but he didn’t invite Piston Cup champion Chick Hicks. The snub gets Hick’s competitive juices flowing, and he’s out to show McQueen a thing or two about racing! Will Hicks ruin the good nature of the Radiator Springs Rally Race? Find out this May everywhere books and comics are sold.

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The United Kingdom and Italy now have a DigiComics section on their local Disney websites. The two sites can be found at disney.co.uk/digicomics and disney.it/digicomics. They are only two pages, but provide some official information about the service.

The homepage has two large features for Wizards of Mickey and Superduck:

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Last Thursday, PlayStation launched their new Digital Comics service for the PSP (PlayStation Portable). Comic stories can be purchased from the PlayStation Store and there’s a large variety of different genres, from Astroboy to X-Men. Disney comics are available too (or I wouldn’t be writing about this here) as part of the new Disney DigiComics program from Disney Publishing Worldwide. Right now there are a total of 40 Disney comics available for download and DPW plans to add five to ten new stories per week! The PSP service is currently only available in English in Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States and South Africa. There are also sites for Ireland, Germany, Italy and Spain but these have a ‘coming soon’ message on the homepage. In 2010, other countries will be added and Disney DigiComics will become available on other platforms, like Apple’s iPhone and iPod.

Disney DigiComics is using the vast library of comics created by The Walt Disney Company Italy for Topolino and other Italian comics. The Disney stories are in a special section in the PlayStation Store on the PSP and they are organized by character. You can browse by Donald Duck, Daisy, Gladstone Gander, etc. Special series, like Double Duck and Wizards of Mickey, are listed separately. The short stories (around 25 to 30 pages) are $0.99 each and the longer ones (around 50 pages) are $1.99. There is one free 8-page comic for download, which is titled ‘Donald Duck and the Fussy Genie’ (I-2270).

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Just a quick note that Disney DigiComics have launched on the PlayStation Network today for the PSP (PlayStation Portable). You can view the available Disney comics here. Most of them are $0.99 each, but there seem to be some free ones too.

I received the following email in my inbox this morning. Check it out, there’s pictures of Wizards of Mickey and X Mickey in there!

Sony’s comics website is available in the following countries: Australia, Germany, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Austria, South Africa, United Kingdom and the USA. I haven’t tested yet if Disney comics are available in each country, but this is quite a big launch.

Disney Publishing Worldwide is working on bringing traditional Disney comic stories to the digital age by making them available in ‘animated’ format (with the panels scrolling by) on mobile devices around the world. I first learned about Disney DigiComics back in July and then they were reported to target a launch by the end of this year. Today I’ve received some new information about this exciting project from the DigiComics team in Italy.

Disney DigiComics has an ambitious rollout schedule. They are still planning to release them this year! In December they will first be made available in Italy and English speaking countries, including the United States. This will be on Apple iPhone, iPod and Sony PSP.

In the new year, DigiComics will enter some countries where Disney comics have a strong history and the paper versions are already read by millions each week: Germany, the Nordic countries and the Netherlands. Later in 2010, DigiComics will become available in France, Spain, Poland and other countries like China and India. More platforms will be added throughout next year as well, including Nokia phones, Nintendo and more.

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Disney comics are going mobile! Two Italians of the New Media division at Disney Publishing Worldwide in Milan are working on getting Disney comics pubished on digital devices. They’re planning to launch Disney DigiComics in Italy and the United States some time between September and the end of this year and globally after that.

Gianfranco Cordara (writer of 100+ stories) and his colleague Dario Di Zanni started their idea last year when they developed a working demo of a Disney comic on their iPhone. They showed it to their boss in Milan, then went to Disney offices in London, New York and eventually to Disney HQ in California. After convincing the Americans of their idea the two have been working hard to get Disney DigiComics off the ground. The plan is to release traditional Disney comic stories in animated format to iPhones, iPods, other mobile phones, Nintendo DSi, Playstation Portable and regular computers. Consumers will be able to purchase stories as they do music on their iPod through a digital comic store (similar to the Apple Store) and play them in a special Disney DigiComics player on their device.

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