Sometimes, get a friend to review a product

So, the last big player of last months (Gasp!) New York Tech meetup just came back from San Diego, Comixology.  Interestingly, so did my friend.  He’s in the middle of selling off all of his old school stock of his (now closed *sob*) comic book store at Comic-Con San Diego!  (hence the San Diego Connection)

I held off the review knowing this.  Sometimes, you want someone in the know to tell you some sort of truisms: One of the coolest New Yorker you’ll ever meet, cigarettes, beer, and comics, generally can give you a tell all if you ask politely.  It’s worth it to ask your friends for knowledge you don’t have.

Comixology had gone to the New York Tech Meetup to present the web version of their Iphone App. (I’m not rewriting how this thing works, they’ve been to the NYTM already.).  They’re impressively in partnership with Marvel (oooo).  But does it stand the test of my comic book friend, straight back from Comic-Con?

No.  For really legitimate reasons.  Apparently the algorithm Comixology uses is better for comics with more standard panels.  The way it works is as follows:

Panel with text bubble, Panel with text bubble, (If weird shape panel) Only text bubble and skip the art?????, panel with text bubble, etc.

To not see a really important panels, because they are odd shaped or sized, is an unreasonable demand on the user.  Comixology fails the test of extremities, and one that would only be found by the serious testers (comic book people who are willing to tell you this stuff)

Goodbye R. Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Plastic Crimewave, Chris Ware, David Mazzucchelli, or Craig Thomspson.  If you break traditional Panel Form ever, you’re screwed reading with Comixology: It’s this type of lack of respect for the the form that drives my an0nymous* source, a true comics book connoisseur, crazy.

So, yeah, fix that, you’re piss off your hardest core audience.  And prevent interesting growth the drawing form of the art, at least as a paper bound by the box art art.  (As an ex-drawing student with said friend saying, yeah, go back into drawing when you are ready^, paper as a square is a limiting factor.)

That, or fix the algorithms so that we can understand the boxes.

*He’s trying to strip as much of himself from the internet as a way of gaining control over the net.  On some theoretical level he’s right.  Since I am going to email this to him: Dude, I can do a deep web search on you and find your non-existent criminal record, your address, and all sorts of crazy info.  You may want to SEO the hell out of your name instead.  Just sayin’.  Besides, it will help you get rid of that ultra-cool vintage stock of comic books you went to Comic-Con for!!! (*sigh* some friends don’t get the internet)

^Drawing, it’s complicated when you like to go into semi-surrealist style states.  It’s complicated.  it will be good for me, but it’s complicated.  it’s under don’t ask don’t tell.