{"id":5634,"date":"2011-11-15T11:42:44","date_gmt":"2011-11-15T17:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcitement.com\/?p=5634"},"modified":"2011-11-21T14:08:49","modified_gmt":"2011-11-21T20:08:49","slug":"comic-chaos-strikes-the-tablet-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/hardware\/tablet\/comic-chaos-strikes-the-tablet-universe\/","title":{"rendered":"Comic Chaos Strikes The Tablet Universe"},"content":{"rendered":"
Amazon\u2019s highly anticipated Kindle Fire begins shipping this week, and that means discussion in the tech world can turn to only one thing: comic books. Fine, maybe not just one thing, but Amazon has already dramatically changed the landscape of the comic book industry without even shipping its outrageously low-priced<\/a> tablet.<\/p>\n The Fire was announced alongside an exclusive deal with DC Comics<\/a>, giving the new devices\u2019 owners exclusive access to 100 of DC\u2019s most famous graphic novel titles (for the uninitiated, graphic novel can be loosely translated as a big, and often really good, comic book), including classics like Frank Miller\u2019s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns<\/em> and Neil Gaiman\u2019s The Sandman<\/em> series, as well as popular newer titles like Green Lantern: Blackest Night<\/em> and Y: The Last Man<\/em>. DC had previously made fans happy<\/a> by announcing that many of their popular series would be coming in digital forms released the same day as their paper equivalents. But the Amazon deal covers existing issues, and DC made no promises regarding their tremendous back catalog. Kindle Fire owners are the only comic book fans able to purchase some of the most iconic stories in comic book history in digital form.<\/p>\n Fans were less than pleased by the deal, because many have already purchased competing tablets for comic book viewing. DC seems to have left those readers some hope, promising that the titles would be available eventually through the Amazon Kindle app on devices other than the Fire. Unfortunately, DC could give no time frame for when the titles would move beyond Amazon\u2019s device.<\/p>\n Barnes & Noble was outraged by the deal, which provides the Fire with an important edge over the brick-and-mortar bookseller\u2019s own popular tablet, the Nook Color, and it\u2019s new successor, the Nook Tablet. Following this announcement, B&N struck back by pulling the DC titles<\/a> included in the exclusivity agreement from its physical store shelves. The retail bookstore giant is taking a stand, refusing to promote via its valuable shelf space any book available in a digital form only through their competition (though they\u2019ve already stated an exception for the Harry Potter books, which are only available for digital consumption through author J.K. Rowling\u2019s Pottermore<\/a> website).<\/p>\n