If it’s another day in the comics business in late 2011, you can be sure there were announcements on digital developments. Archaia announced that it has partnered with Panelfly on an iOS app tied to the release of the feature film Immortals this weekend. Archaia created an OGN anthology of stories tied to Immortals (see “Archaia to Publish ‘Immortals’ OGN”), which will form the nucleus of the content in the free app. Other content will include “contextual multimedia and video integration,” social integration and news feeds for live social commentary, and ongoing feature updates and new content releases. This is the first branded app release by Panelfly since its relaunch at New York Comic Con last month.
And IDW Publishing re-affirmed its status as the comic publisher with the broadest deployment of its content across multiple platforms with the announcement that a range of its graphic novels will be made available on the Kobo Vox e-reader. Kobo was spun off by Canadian retailer Indigo Books & Music, and also had an investment by defunct book retailer Borders (see “Borders Joins e-Book Gold Rush”). Titles now available on the Vox include Bloom County, Dragon Age, G.I. Joe, Last Unicorn, Locke & Key, Parker, Star Trek, Transformers, and True Blood.