King Features Syndicate has just released a DailyINK iPhone/iPod Touch app through the iTunes App Store. The free download connects DailyInk allows everyone to access “dozens of strips, panels and editorial cartoons will be featured in ‘Today’s Comic'” and the ability to go back seven days for the feature comics. Those with paid subscription accounts will have access to their subscriptions plus full access to the archives.
Here’s a quick rundown of my experience playing with the app.
The four featured strips when I tried it out: Baby Blues, Bizarro, Dustin, and Hagar the Horrible. Zits showed up at the top of the screen (the other four are featured links). Across the bottom are four options: Daily Comic (the featured strips), My DailyINK (access for subscribers to get their strips), Browse and Help. In the browse feature, you see the titles of all the comics in the King Features portfolio. Each feature includes a short description, seven day samples, information on the artist, feature and characters and the ability to add the feature to your subscription (for subscribers).
One of the difficult things about comics on such small screens – especially for multi panel strips is that they either render so small as unreadable or the zooming feature is clunky. The comic loads in the middle of the screen (landscape or portrait). In landscape, I can read the print (I still have good vision). In portrait view the comic is illegible. But King did an excellent job with the zooming. Double tap on screen and the comic zooms larger and automagically pans to the left to the beginning of the strip to start you out at the beginning panel. This was great for the Arctic Circle strip I was viewing. Mother Goose and Grimm is often a horizontal one panel so when I zoomed it moved to the left when the punchline was in the middle of the strip. With comics, there is no perfect solution and King deserves credit for doing it in a very polished manner.
The app is a free download. Subscriptions run $1.99 a month or $19.99 for a year.
While I cherish my iPhone, the iPad is a much better experience for consuming media. Yes, I drink (guzzle) the Apple Kool-Aid heartily so I can’t wait for the iPad version which will be released “shortly.”
Check it out.
Finally, a syndicate that is getting the right idea on digital comics. Now all they need to do is open this up to a few more comics so ones people may have heard of can get a look in. Hagar the Horrible is a start on that, I suppose.
What I’d like to see is an ipad app that is more like a daily parade magazine. Any Syndicate could create their own daily app with crosswords, games, columns, AND of course comics all spread out across pages where the features are all mixed together. Also included would be archives, and social features like comments (except for 9 chickweed lane and Pibgorn)….It would be a potpourri of fun…why just limit it to comics? If they did it that way for the Ipad it’d be worth $1.99 a month to me. Let’s get on this, people!!!
Dan “I got an Ipad for Christmas” Thompson
I agree with Alan, there’s a future for this and a lot of other media on the Ipad, not so much with the phones.
..and another door opens up for the cartoonist….
I just downloaded it for my Iphone and thing they did a really great job, seems really user friendly and easy to navigate. This is the direction everything is going so better to ride with the wave instead of being swamped by it.
Mike M