What will Iron Man, Captain America and the rest of Marvel Comics' characters look like on the iPad? Marvel offered a first look at its app for the upcoming touchscreen device Friday, promising a slew of superhero stories, all "optimized for the iPad through painstaking recoloring and redigitizing of select content."
"We’re excited to introduce an unparalleled digital comic experience to our fans with the Marvel Comics App for iPad," said Dan Buckley, publisher and CEO of Marvel Publishing, in a press release Friday. "The iPad is the first device that offers us a chance to present digital comics that are even close to replicating the experience of reading a print comic."
The free app will let fans dive into more than 500 comics from Marvel's library, with "launch titles ranging from the first appearances of characters such as Spider-Man and the X-Men to modern classics like the debut of Red Hulk, Jonathan Hickman’s acclaimed Fantastic Four run, Joss Whedon and John Cassaday's Astonishing X-Men and lots more," Marvel said. "The Marvel Comics App features multiple viewing modes, taking readers panel-by-panel through the comic book in a smooth, action-packed progression using just the swipe of a finger."
Readers can preview three pages from each available comic before purchasing individual issues, which will cost $2. The app, created by Marvel and ComiXology, includes a recommendation engine and a comic shop locator, and also works with the iPhone and iPod Touch. You can see the app in action in Boing Boing's hands-on video review, embedded above.
Several landmark titles will be available free for a limited time, including first editions of New Avengers, Captain America, Invincible Iron Man, Thor and Super Hero Squad, Marvel said.
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