PlayStation Network Digital Comics

It’s definitely a very nice service and convenient to be able to carry around a whole bunch of comics on one machine as opposed to a whole pile of comic books.

The only down side to these digital services is the collectable aspect. There is no collectability in them so in some sense other than giving you something nice to read, you have no way of making any money out of them.

Still, if they did a combined system where you could get hold of the digital and paper versions for a cheaper price, that could be something worth while.

Nice service though.

Is there a possibility of the Middle East (the countries that SCEE supports, Saudi Arabia and UAE) ever getting this service? =/

I know licensing issues make it a lot complicated, but I want to know if you’re even trying.

Hey Pete,

Sorry in advance if you’re not the right person to ask for this but I don’t have the comic reader on my oldest PSP model which I upgraded to firmware version 6.2. It appears on 2 of our PSP-2000′s but not on my original PSP-1006 model (from Asia). Do you know if the PSP-1000 models are restricted from using the service?

Thanks!

Pete loving the comics reader so far and the freebies! (Also got All Hail Megatron last week)

Just one thing i’ve noticed, it will only play MP3′s, no AAC support in the reader itself. This poses as a problem as the majority of my music is AAC as its come from iTunes and I suspect most people who have PSPs would be the same.

Any chance you could pass this on to whomever may be able to implement it?

Many thanks.

Definitely an interesting service, but I have always read most comic books as compilations (including the superb Simpsons comics +1 to trying to get them getting them on board!). Growing up in the UK (I’m now in my 30s) comic books meant Beano, Dandy, etc. I’d like to go back and read some important stories for the likes of Batman, Spiderman, X-Men, etc. similar to the “Essential…” series available in bookshops. I’m really a lot less interested in paying over-the-top for one comic at a time – that’s fine for people buying the latest issue each month (but I suspect that those are people who would prefer the paper version anyway).

The real way that this will be successful is as an easy way for people to read whole story arcs from classic comics at a competitive price. The price must reflect the fact that the content is worth considerably less than the equivalent paper version because it is not collectible, has no resale value, is less portable (you are tied to carrying around the PSP which needs power, etc.), cannot be lent, is being viewed on a small screen, etc. The pricing for downloadable PSP games has been too high and the price for downloadable videos is ludicrously high. I really hope that this trend won’t continue and that Sony have been able to negotiate a sane price for these comics, because I think that this has the potential to be a terrific application of the PSP if the content is priced competitively.

Don’t care until some manga’s there.

from trying the viewer with the free comics i have to say it is fantastic.
i predict this could cost me a fortune.
there are a couple of things i would like to see for the future.
manga titles, some of the tokyopop books are pretty good and there are other manga publishers you could do deals with, just one issue, can the autoflow work with books that are read from left to right?
and something else i would like to see is some webcomics available for the viewer, you could either do the strips from the site free or do digital version of the print comics some of the bigger ones have.
thanks for the free comics, i know they’re just to get us to buy the rest of the issues in the series, but i don’t mind, that arcane one is a title i would probably never have tried otherwise.
you should try to do a deal with the comics publishers to give a code for a digital version of the comic in the paper version, like quite a few movies have digital copies included now.
and hope the ps3 version comes soon and the comics are usable on both

sorry for the wall-o-text

Yessss, Judge Dredd is coming! Looks very promising.

I just hope we’ll get the choice of language – I want to read comics in English.

A general question: When you bring these comics to the bigger non English speaking countries, will we have the option to get the comics in English or will there only be translated versions?

I look forward to using this app on my PS3 (1080 ftw!). But i hope, we’ll have the choice about the language. For instance the Video store is only with movies in french dub, so, I don’t use it.

Well done Pete and team on an awesome piece of work! I reckon it makes the PSP so much more useful too

I haven’t read comics for sooooo long, it was wicked reading them again and that Autoflow is simply brilliant.

You guys rock! Keep up the good work

But
All
Titles.
More
Announced
Now
?

Hey, my names Pete too:)

Is this service coming to Spain? If so… any date better than just “next year”? Personally I don’t mind if they come only in english, spanish, or a mix of both. But I’m sure a lot of people prefer to read in is own language.

What about Poland!?!?
Help us!!
We can’t download free promo comics to!

I second comment number 60! Please give us the option to choose the language, because I absolutely hate it when we are not given options and I assume that you guys don’t want to take away options from us right!

I just want to take this moment that there are many people in the Netherlands that don’t care about localization in the dutch language (hint: inFamous) and are more then satisfied with some english subtitles in games or in the case of comics, let it be in the original language.

Because I’m sure people on this blog are growing tired of delays of product due to localisation!

Keep up the good work and I hope this remark will be noted!

hey mr pete is there any plans to get udon entertainment onboard with this… my local comic shop only gets a few copys of the street fighter comics in and they usually go to people with pull lists, be awesome if i could just get em offa the psp store

Thanks for the information Pete. It’s a shame but I’ll try and get round it if you get mangas up eventually

Hey again,

Will any comics have a feature similar to Amazons ‘Look Inside’ where you get to preview a couple of pages? The art style of a comic really weighs in on if I’m going to read it. Be good to know what I’m getting into.

I agree with the earlier comment, get The Simpsons comics on board! (Published by Bongo Comics) Some people might roll there eyes, but people from 8 to 80 could be using this service – got to appeal to everyone!

….also I want to read The Simpsons/Futurama Comics.

One online comic I would love you guys to obtain – Order of the Stick!

I have a Japanese PSP-1000, have firmware 6.20 and have downloaded the comic reader from http://au.playstationcomics.com/comics-coming-soon.html (I’m in Australia and my PSN account is Australian).

I downloaded the Australian free comics above and when I go to the comic reader on the XMB (which has some japanese characters on it, but looks to be just the image with the characters on), it says there is no software for the reader and asks me to go to some webpage (http:://book.dl.playstation.net/book/psp/NPWJW00001/) launching the browser which appears to be some japanese webpage with no links to click on that I can see..

Am I locked out from using the comic reader?

No codes for Spain? T_T

PSP Only? Waste of time.

Hi Pete, I’m very impressed with the functionality, it’s gonna be great listening to my music and comics at the sametime.

Would we perhaps see manga on store? I’m thinking specifically of Ghost in the Shell.

The way the comics are read seems to be the same sort of thing as the web browser when zoomed in, is that so?

Hi,

as usual:

all countries are equal but some countries are more equal than others…

you’re well aware that by acting like this you won’t stop hackers and pirates.

Cheers ^_^

If it ever launches in Belgium, will we have access to all comics from all publishers or only to comics from local publishers?
I would prefer those from the original publishers, not those from who only did the localization (which means bad translations and sometimes censoring part of the story).
Don’t care about local comics as they still use the age-old format of 50 page stories. But I prefer sagas like those found in US comics and manga comics.

Didn’t realise you could preview some freebies already, haven’t even got around to downloading the firmware yet. Thanks for letting us know, shall give a whirl tonight.

I’m not too fussed wether the Digital Comics store comes to the PS3 or not as I prefer to read comics direct from it’s source material (a.k.a paper ) but if you were to launch a PS3 version I just have one (possibly stupid) question.

Will the comics already bought for PSP be transferrable to the PS3?

Might I suggest DYNAMITE as a publisher? They’ve got some great work out there at the moment, and I’m pretty certain they’d be happy to join the venture.

Also, how much of a back catalouge will you have and how far back will it go? I know you haven’t announced DC yet but… BATMAN FTW!!

Hi Pete,

answering your response to #61, I for my part would actually only consider getting the english version of most comics.
From what I can tell, a couple of my friends and I always went for the english version if it was remotely possible for any kind of comic in the last decade.

I would actually go as far as saying that I’d be only interested in english versions at all, but that’s just me and my grudge against bad or sometimes just silly translations that break the immersion.

Same applies to movies (*hint hint* at the video store, even if you have nothing to do with it )

And now I just need some content for that reader to test it out. Yet another fine example as to why Sony should have the same content in one big store (or at least continental ones) as opposed to country stores.

I’m curious to see how the new content will turn out for us.
Bring it on!

just a quick question, i know you’ve got idw listed but do you know if the g1 transformers series that started with infiltration will be available?
don’t know if you have that much detail on what’s available yet, it’s just i started getting the books but missed everything after about half way through the second series escalation.

oh and if you can go after dc to get their titles that would be fantastic.

I liked the Aleister Arcane issue — but whoever is responsible for the “camera” on that comic deserves a special pat on the back for the care and thoughtfulness they brought to their work.

One panel in particular struck me as well-executed: can’t remember what page it was, but the camera moved to the bottom of the panel first, and then, on the next click, up to the top of the image. The sequence seemed counter-intuitive at first, but for that particular image it was exactly the right choice for communicating the panel’s contents.

In comparison, I found the camerawork on All Hail Megatron less succesful. The early sequence where the camera over-rides the click-through control and zips over the panels without stopping — that annoyed me. I’d like to be able to determine the pace of my own reading. And the “shake the page when an explosion occurs” technique… the less said about that the better. (I’ve only read the first few pages of this comic, however, so perhaps things improve as it goes along.)

Anyhow, thanks for the free comics, Pete, and good luck with the service!

This is awesome *clap clap, clap clap clap*

If this doesn’t end up undergoing some chaotic pricing, Sony has stumbled upon a winner here! Get some Garfield and Nemi on there and I will collapse from the excitement

Love the reader. Love the free comics. Any word on a release date for comics on the store?

Re: 84

That’s an interesting one. I agree with the pricing (see my other posts above. But I like your comment about Garfield. This service is obviously aimed primarily at comic books, but it would work equally well for daily comic strips.

Classic Dilbert and Peanuts would get my vote.

Hey Pete, thanks for the reply earlier. I knew it was a stupid question…

Haven’t got around to trying the reader yet, my battery needs to be charged before I can install the firmware.

May I ask a cheeky question? I’ve noted the two codes you posted earlier, and the code on the website http://www.playstationcomics.com , but is there any chance you could tell me where to find the fourth code you mentioned?

Sorry if I’m cheeky.

Thanks for your time and effort, I’m sure the service will be fantastic… Even if I haven’t tried it yet. This is much more exciting than the video store anyway.

Spider-man and Wallace and Gromit?

Right digital comics you dont need to add any more

But how will the pricing work? Subscription? 50p a comic?

Will the comics be, for example the last 20 spider-man comics plus every new release?
(i hope you understand this question)

Also, Will we be able to buy the comics through the digital comic reader or will they have to be brought through the psn store.

How do I delete a comic I no longer want?

@WrestleBlog

The four UK codes released so far are:

Transformers: All Hail Megatron #1

A8D2-KMBF-JKE4

Aleister Arcane #1

ANTL-MGBH-BN2H

Star Trek: Enterprise Experiment #1

MH75-L3BF-HA95

Astro Boy Movie Adaptation #1

FG9D-NFBB-GQ33

Pete (and team) – thanks so much for this application. After the recent onslaught of superhero movies, such as Dark Knight and Watchmen, my love for comic books has come back a little but had so far extended to reading Graphic Novels.

I wanted to start subscribing at my local comic store – but to be honest, the concept of filling my flat with comic books fills me with dread (and no doubt my wife would be none to pleased too!).

Digital Comics is a great alternative for me. Thank you so much for providing it. The feedback and questions about the application itself on this thread are very observant, so I hope you pay attention.

Also, I noticed that comics don’t need to be downloaded through the PSP at the moment – you can redeem codes through the PlayStation Network webpage – and then it’ll provide a download button for the user to download through Media Go. I did it at work yesterday. Hope that helps guys.

thanks for the codes!

Any chance for the comic store to show up in Poland anytime soon?

High, I hope I haven’t posted this comment a bit to late so you don’t read it but I do hope you reply!

Anyway I have a few ideas/requests/questions for the comic service which would make it a lot more convenient.

To start with I’m an English speaking person living in Belgium ( A country which already has multiple languages anyway!) And I was wondering whether you would be able to chose which language you purchase a comic in for people who can’t read the local language. Maybe have BIG licenses (Marvel etc.) available in English, French and Flemish but the local ones (Kid Paddle, Suske & Wiske, Smurfs etc.) just available in French and Flemish? I can speak Flemish but I prefer reading in English with international comics and Flemish with local ones.

Also, at the moment the music player only plays mp3s, will you update so it plays all PSP compatible formats?

And this one isn’t desperate, but will you expand the comic service when Sony expands the Sony online service (PSN) to other platforms? (Sony Ericsons for example?) So that people only have to download the player made for their platform, but the actual comics are all the same file type. (Aka. You will be able to read the comic on your PSP while your brother would rather read it on his phone because he doesn’t have a PSP, and it only requires one download.)

That is quite a lot of requests, but I believe they are all valid, apart from that the comic store is a very exiting prospect which I can’t wait until I get hands on it!)

I know that you haven’t announced the store for Belgium yet, but it does have a TON of good local comics. (I personally recommend Kid Paddle)

Also I would like to see some MANGA available please.

: )

aw, march for the infiltration series, sad face.
gonna be tough waiting, quess you’d better give us some decent stuff to read in the meantime.

one thing i have just thought of that i would love to see on the comics store is some of the classic 2000ad strips, some of the ones that are near impossible to find.
stuff like zenith, skizz and halo jones, a few of my favourites from 2000ad, which are really hard to find in print these days.
just saw a copy of zenith on amazon going for selling, or not at that price, for 500 quid, and on ebay it goes for over 30 quid.

This was already asked 2 days ago by oliveiraf, but the answer only went to France.

Is there a release date for Portugal?

greetings from mexico

DigitalComics the Library will be available for Mexico?

Thank you VERY much for giving us New Zealanders some more free comics! Usually we get left behind because we are such a small country so a thank you for including us in the December opening!!!

You mentioned to another member that there are 4 free comics availble but I can only find the NZ codes for ‘Transformers’ and the two listed here. Is there a NZ code for ‘Aleister Arcane’?

Again THANK YOU!!