Egmont Classic Comics on iTunes

[M.I.K.]

From the press release...

Egmont UK's Classic Comics imprint was created to re-publish the wealth of classic comics in their archive.

Four volumes of Roy the Rovers kicked off our e-comic publishing in June this year and now we are excited to announce the launch of further classics on popular comic series from the 70s and 80s.

A fifth Roy of the Rovers has been made available along with publications from Misty and The Thirteenth Floor.  From Battle Picture Weekly we will be publishing various strips including Johnny Red, Major Eazy and the ground- breaking Charley's War.  Some of the biggest names in British comics were involved in the creation of these stories, including Pat Mills and John Wagner.

David Riley, Managing Director of Egmont Publishing Group, said: "Roy, Battle, Misty...these are iconic magazines which still have a place in the national consciousness. They deserve to be brought back; their appeal also has the potential to transcend the generation gap and reach an entirely new, younger audience. With the limitless possibilities offered up by digital publishing, there has never been a better time to bring these comics to the fore."

More information here and some links to the comics here.

[Professor Bear]

They had me until the stupid iPad-only format.

[Frank]

" This book requires iBooks 1.2 or later and iOS 4.2 or later. Books can only be viewed using iBooks on an iPad, iPhone (3G or later) or iPod touch (2nd generation or later)"

Bugger, I quite fancied giving Major Eazy and Charley's War a go.

[M.I.K.]

Just discovered there are also Kindle editions available on Amazon.

[Banners]

Do you know if the Roy of the Rovers editions are issues of the entire RotR comic, or just the RotR strip itself?

[Frank]

Just discovered there are also Kindle editions available on Amazon.

No good for me either. I'd upgrade to an iphone if I thought it would play all my old 78's.

[M.I.K.]

Do you know if the Roy of the Rovers editions are issues of the entire RotR comic, or just the RotR strip itself?

Not 100% certain, but it looks as if it's just the strip.

[The Amstor Computer]

Hassled Egmont on Twitter and it seems as though the "Roy of the Rovers" volumes - and the others in due course - are available on Kobo. If I'm understanding it right, you could possibly read them on an Android tablet (or your PC using Kobo or Adobe Digital Editions) using the Kobo app so there's one option there if - like me - you don't have an iDevice.

[Professor Bear]

Honestly, I think their strategy is a total winner: make the comics exclusive to the most expensive devices on the market that are only utilised by the kind of tech-heads who know they can get similar material in greater quantity elsewhere that is also not 30 years old.  I can see no flaw in this business plan, not even all those filesharing sites full of free archived material offered in universal formats like .zip and .cbr.

Still, I'm sure they know what they're doing.

[The Amstor Computer]

Honestly, I think their strategy is a total winner: make the comics exclusive to the most expensive devices on the market that are only utilised by the kind of tech-heads who know they can get similar material in greater quantity elsewhere that is also not 30 years old.  I can see no flaw in this business plan, not even all those filesharing sites full of free archived material offered in universal formats like .zip and .cbr.

Still, I'm sure they know what they're doing.

Not sure about the security of iBooks DRM, but I suspect that is why they've gone this route rather than the more open formats.

[TordelBack]

No good for me either. I'd upgrade to an iphone if I thought it would play all my old 78's.

Not just me then.  If it won't run on a thing that I can build from bits found down the recycling centre, it isn't happening.

Half-joking aside, this is the kind of really excellent news that would practically force me to buy an appropriate platform, were such dreams feasible at present. The idea of one day having a portable device stuffed with the entirety of Battle... and Tiger... and Lion... and Eagle... bliss.

[Banners]

Are these things as good as we remember? I'm tempted by Roy of the Rovers which I used to love, but I recently bought the complete set of Thunderbirds which I adored as a kid - and it's crap.

[Professor Bear]

Not sure about the security of iBooks DRM, but I suspect that is why they've gone this route rather than the more open formats.

DRM doesn't stop filesharing.

[IndigoPrime]

Honestly, I think their strategy is a total winner: make the comics exclusive to the most expensive devices on the market that are only utilised by the kind of tech-heads who know they can get similar material in greater quantity elsewhere that is also not 30 years old.  I can see no flaw in this business plan, not even all those filesharing sites full of free archived material offered in universal formats like .zip and .cbr. Still, I'm sure they know what they're doing.

Yeah, those total idiots, supporting a store that's on hardware that's sold over 100 million units, yet also supporting other formats, such as Kindle and Kobo. The fools!

[The Amstor Computer]

DRM doesn't stop filesharing.

No, but it does make it that extra bit more awkward (assuming the DRM is able to be circumvented when it's shared).