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Clearing Up the Confusion E-Zine Vol 02 Issue 20
------- Clearing Up the Confusion E-Zine -------
Vol 2, Issue 20
Lisa and I are up in Traverse City for our annual getaway. It's
been beautiful up here, with the trees just starting to change
color for the Autumn. Of course, this is Kaylie's first time up
here. Things are a *little* less relaxed with an honest to
goodness toddler on our hands.
All this relaxation has me thinking about fun things to do with
the computer. Recently, my wonderful sister-in-law, JoAnn, found
a new way for me to spend time staring slack-jawed into the
monitor. She bought me a gift subscription to Marvel Digital
Comics Unlimited. If you love comics or love someone who loves
comics, you might want to read my review.
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In This Issue...
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1. Article: Spider-Man! Spider-Man! Does Whatever...
2. Shameless Self-Promotion
3. The Fine Print
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1. Article: Spider-Man! Spider-Man! Does Whatever...
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Anyone who's been reading this newsletter for a while knows that
I love comics. I have a subscription for a variety of titles at
my local comic shop, Vault of Midnight
(http://www.vaultofmidnight.com/). I read the funnies every day
such as Doonesbury and Garfield
(http://www.garfield.com/comics/todayscomic.html) on my
personalized online comic strip page. I subscribe to several
other strips, such as "User Friendly" and "Kevin & Kell" of which
I've read their entire runs (again available online).
A few years ago, I heard of a new service called CrossGen
Comics. They were a comics book publishing house who decided, in
addition to paper copies, they would publish their books on the
Web. Moreover, in buying a subscription, you got access to *all*
of their Web titles -- close to 140 comic books in all! Yes,
life was good...
...until they went bankrupt.
This year, my lovely sister-in-law, JoAnn, got me a subscription
to Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited
(http://www.marvel.com/digitalcomics/). For those not in the
know, Marvel publishes books about the heroes Spider-Man,
Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, etc. They've been
doing this for a number of years -- most of thie big titles
started in the 60's. With the subscription, as with the one
through CrossGen, I get access to the entire online collection.
As of this writing, that's over *5000* issues! Woo-hoo!
Again, similar to CrossGen, you read the issues with your web
browser. They've developed a pretty nifty Flash-based reader
which displays each page in beautiful color. I particularly like
the "Smart Panels" feature. The problem with viewing a comics
page on your monitor is that often the words are too small to
read comfortably. They way the Marvel folks have gotten around
this is by creating a "path" through the comic book which
magnifies different sections of the page in turn, making it easy
to both appreciate the art *and* follow the storyline.
One minor quibble is that every once in a while, the "path" gets
lost and it can be kind of annoying to have to fiddle with the
interface to get back on track again.
With such a wide selection, chances are that you or the
comic-reader in your life will find something they love in the
catalog. One minor warning is that there are often holes in the
series runs. They seem to have done a pretty good job of keeping
the major story arcs intact, but, still, it's kind of annoying to
jump from Daredevil #45 to Daredevil #53 without getting to read
what happens to our hero in the meantime. According to their
official blog, they are continuing to add both new and old issues
every day, so those holes will eventually be filled. In fact,
according to the calendar I saw, every weekday sees between four
and six new issues -- even I would have a hard time keeping up
with that pace!
For the price of the annual subscription, you could probably buy
three or four anthology collections (storylines for a particular
title bound as a single book). That's about the equvalent of 20
tothirty individual issues. If you are just into reading the
stories, then the online service is definitely the way to go.
Oh, and if you just want to check things out, they do have a
whole section of free comics. I took a quick look at the page
(http://www.marvel.com/digitalcomics/free/) and there were over
*60* issues that anyone can read without a subscription. Try it
out. I will warn you, though, that the stories can get
addictive. You might be heading over to their subscription page
with credit card in hand before you know it.
So, take a break, grab a big glass of milk and a handful of
chocolate chip cookies and return to the days of childhood
heroes. You'll be glad you did.
Copyright 2008, Greg Peters
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2. Shameless Self-Promotion
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The "Clearing Up the Confusion" E-Zine is a production of Greg
Peters, owner, chief cook, and bottlewasher of Cyber Data
Solutions. CDS has been helping website designers develop better
web presence for their clients for more than a decade. Visit us
on the Web at www.cyberdatasolns.com to see how we can help your
webmaster.
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3. The Fine Print
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