So this app has been featured heavily in two podcasts I listen to (Around Comics #279 and 11 O’Clock Comics #156), and I figured I’d do a review.  It’s a digital comics app for the iPad (no Android yet), which releases a two-story, sixteen page issue each month.  This will not be quick in any way, shape, or form, so I’ll give a quick breakdown and then go in-depth to features I really like.

Pros:

• Incredibly affordable ($0.99 for 16 pages of content + extra pages)
• Easy navigation
• Creator commentary
• Each page has pencils/layouts, inks, colors (without word balloons), and the final page. 

Cons:

• Lacks a zoom functionality
• One-sided commentaries

The ‘Pros’ easily outweigh the ‘Cons’ especially given the nit-picky nature of the Cons.  I definitely feel like this app is the way other companies should be going, both in terms of issue pricing and content organization.  A more in-depth review (with a metric butt load of screenshots) is featured after the break, so hold on to your hats.  It’s going to get interesting.

The app was created by Four Star Studios, a group of four comics creators in Chicago.  Their motto is “Deeds Not Words”—and they live up to this motto.  DoubleFeature is basically a comics store, but it only serves up an issue a month (currently).  April 2011 was the month of Action, and featured two stories featuring new properties: Tim Seeley’s Jack Kraken and Mike Norton’s The Answer.

The app solves one of the great problems with digital comics: how to make the comics available digitally while also placating the existing distributors.  This is precisely why comics are as expensive on digital devices as they are in your local shops (besides the otherwise obvious advantage of raking in high margins).  However, the existing distribution model is not only broken, but is in decline.  What Four Star Studios has done is completely eschewed Diamond and will not print these comics.  This is a high-risk position, but I think it will pay off.

I should also note that you can purchase individual .pdf format issues at their website.  The .pdf version lacks the functionality I will be discussing, so if you are purchasing the .pdf the only relevant portion of this review will be my review of the content at the end.

The App Basics

The store/library is pretty basic, but that just means it is easier to figure out what comics you are buying.  I don’t know how it will look when more issues hit the store, but I imagine it will be simple swipe navigation.  I do like that you see both what you have purchased and what is available on the same screen.  It is a little odd that so much screen real estate is taken up by the logo, especially when the logo isn’t exactly that complex.  Either a more complex logo, or maybe some sort of slideshow of promotional images could be a better use of the space?

I should also note that setup is a breeze.  No signups or user accounts required here.  How this will affect users that switch devices has yet to be seen, but at least you don’t have to go through the annoying registration process like you do on Comixology (twice if you are using the Marvel app which forces a Marvel.com registration).

It should be noted that the logo disappears immediately when selecting an issue. You get a nice summary of each story which are read individually.  What’s nice is that this serves as a recap page without detracting from actual content, thus solving the whole recap/no-recap conundrum.

Here we have an actual page of content. The top toolbar does hide away, and you can just have the full comic art open.  In general you are going to be viewing the comic pages this way.

However, if you rotate your iPad into landscape mode you get two pages up at once.  This means you still get double page spreads, which is pretty awesome.  That said, in the first issue there was only one double page spread between the two comics.  I have a feeling that it isn’t likely to be something that will be seen a lot.  There are only eight pages of content per story so that means compressed storytelling, not decompressed, splash-heavy, Bendis-type storytelling.  That said, it is a good functionality to have in the future.  This is also where the one real flaw I’ve seen in the app shows up the most.  The lack of a zoom function here in particular means it is more difficult to appreciate the art.  Also, the dialog gets shrunk significantly which may make it difficult to read.

Awesome App Features

Here I’ll be discussing the different features of the app, including navigation, commentary, and art breakdowns.

Here’s what in-issue navigation looks like.  Yes, you can just press either margin to flip through the pages (with that sexy iPad page-flip animation), but the navigation allows users to jump straight to the individual pages.  And it has very nice and large preview images which is better than the Comixology-based DC and Marvel apps.

Perhaps the best selling point of the app is the “DVD commentary” portion of the app.  This gives you behind the scenes information about characters, the creative process, etc. for every single page of the story.  It is very cool.  In the Action issue, Tim Seeley probably provided the most in-depth commentary information for Jack Kraken.  What is very cool is that it looks like it is more than just bland text, but also can include media elements like photos.  Video content may be a really good addition here (maybe a video of the artist drawing the page, for instance).

If there is one thing that the commentary suffers from it is that it seems very one-sided.  Both commentaries were from the perspective of the two main creators, Tim Seeley and Mike Norton.  It would be great if we could get some input from others, like The Answer writer Dennis Hopeless or Jack Kraken artist Ross Campbell.

This may be the most celebrated part of the app and certainly the most mind-blowing.  Every single page comes in finished art with dialog boxes, colored art, inked, and layout/pencils.  For process junkies this is the best experience you can ever have.  Instead of just giving you eight pages per story, it is more like 32 pages per story.  Perhaps the only piece missing from this puzzle is script for the page.  But honestly, this functionality outclasses every other comics app on the market to date.  If you like this stuff like I do, this means you will read and reread each page over and over.  And again, all this for 99¢ per issue.  That’s a lot of added value right there.

The Actual Content

There were two stories in the first Action issue: Mike Norton’s The Answer and Tim Seeley’s Jack Kraken.  Both are very good issues for very different reasons.  I think I will end up liking The Answer more as time goes on, but right now my favorite is Jack Kraken, mostly because there was a lot more meat to the story than the Answer.  The Answer has better art though.  I’m not going to get too in-depth about the stories but here’s a quick summary of both.  The Answer is basically a Steve Ditko-style superhero modeled partially after the Question (get it?).  In the first issue he fights bikini-clad assassins.  Jack Kraken is much more of a throwback to the 90s Image super heroes.  Seeley describes him as something like Spider-Man crossed with Mr. Fantastic with a cool gun and a jetpack.  Kraken works for a secret organization called H.I.M. dealing with supernatural threats like sasquatches and ghosts.

Perhaps the coolest thing, though, is that next month is going to be a completely different anthology.  My understanding is that there are four planned anthologies, including a horror-themed book (which will have a story by B. Clay Moore!).  I hear that they even want to do a romance book.  Talk about expanding the comics-reading public! The plan is that the first four months will spotlight the individual issues and then start releasing them all on a monthly basis on the fifth month.  So eventually we’ll get back to the stories started this month, but there will be a glut of new content to actually sample.

Conclusions

If you read all of this, you are a hero.  But obviously you knew that already.

What you also probably knew is that I desperately love this app.  It is both great in terms of design and content.  Not to mention, I have to give these guys a lot of credit.  Not only are they putting their money where their mouth is, but they have done it well.  I have a feeling that this will be incredibly profitable for them, and I hope them all the best.  If you have an iPad, this is definitely a comics app worth getting and a comic worth buying.  If you don’t think the content is going to be your thing, then wait until one of the other issues piques your interest.  Absolutely fantastic.