Stephen King’s “N,” the tale of a psychiatrist who becomes the victim of the same deadly obsession as his patient, won’t be available to readers until the master of horror’s new short story collection, Just After Sunset, is published on November 8th, but the first 2-3-minute “mobisodes” in this groundbreaking collection of 25 videos created specifically for downloading on mobile phones are already available at the Nishere.com Website ($.99 for five episodes, $3.99 for a season pass for all 25).  The episodes will also be available on the Web through the CBS Audience Network.  Five episodes will be released per week for five weeks.  Marvel will also publish an N mini-series comic adaptation in 2009 and Simon & Schuster will market a limited edition of Just After Sunset that will come with a DVD that includes all 25 video episodes.

Marc Guggenheim, co-creator of the Eli Stone TV series and current writer of Young X-Men, adapted the Stephen King short story and Alex Maleev (Daredevil) created the art specifically for this mobile phone application.  Maleev’s art is presented in a custom designed “pan and scan” format and backed with an original score, sound effects and a full cast of voiceovers featuring Emmy and Golden Globe nominee actor Ben Shenkman.

Limited animation, pan and scan versions of comics are popping up all over the place.  An authorized version of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons Watchmen is a big hit on the Web, and a music-driven adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s Invincible will soon start appearing on MTV (see “Robert Kirkman Made an Image Partner”).  It should be interesting to see how the Marvel/S&S adaptation of “N,” which was designed from the very beginning for this sort of animation, differs from after-the-fact versions created out of existing comic material such as Watchmen or Invincible.