Mass Effect 2 is getting praises left and right.  Mass Effect: Redemption #1 follows along and sells out across the land.  Have no fear though as Dark Horse is on the job and getting a second printing going.  If you really can’t wait, there is always the App Store route.  It is all of $0.99 (at the time of this writing it was still free) on there, and it never goes out of print!  Just a thought.

Mass Effect: Redemption tells the exciting events that take place just before Mass Effect 2.  Lead ME2 writer, Mac Walters, gives comic fans a taste of what gaming fans have enjoyed two games over now.  The added benefit is the writing style of the comic will match the writing style of the game.  Fans of both the comic and the game will get one cohesive story telling experience.  It is a Win-Win!

In the Comics app, by comiXology, you can download and read tons of new comics each week. We’re here to share these with you, as we are cool and you are overwhelmed by information every day. We’re like your comics information filter. Lucky for you we’re here, right?

New Series

The Mighty Avengers #1-6
The wait is over!! The Mighty Avengers assemble!! Gathered together to be the greatest Avengers team ever, but who picked them?? And why?? And which A-list Avengers villain returns, revamped and reloaded for the ultimate revenge. Big super hero adventures every month from the multi-award winning team of Bendis and Cho.

Jesus Hates Zombies: Those Slack-Jaw Blues Vol. 1
Disgusted by the sight of the walking dead devouring His precious creation, God has sent back His only Son to once again set right the wrongs of the world. But this time there’s no room to turn the other cheek. This time, the message isn’t one of love and compassion. This time, the J-Man is looking to unleash some Wrath of God, because this time… JESUS HATES ZOMBIES!

The Blade of Kumori #1-3
In the mid 19th century, the samurai disappeared forever from the face of the world. Or did they? BLADE of KUMORI is the tale of present-day samurai, of warriors steeped in honor carrying on their traditions in the modern world. It’s also the tale of a woman who discovers she is something more than a warrior…perhaps even something more than human.

Elephantmen: War Toys #1 (of 3)
INVASION! Africa and China are at war. The battlefield: Europe. Enter: MAPPO’s genetically engineered soldiers, The Elephantmen. At last, Starkings & Moritat tell the story of the war to end all wars in this special three-issue miniseries.

Berserker #1
A brutal new series produced by Heroes star Milo Ventimiglia and DiVide Pictures! The lives of Aaron and Farris, two young and completely different men, are turned upside down when they discover an animalistic and uncontrollable rage living inside them. Meanwhile, two mysterious organizations seek them out for their newfound strength and power for their own purposes. But what good is strength and power when you can’t tell friend from foe?

Tracker #1
The first property from Top Cow and Heroes, Villains Entertainment is here! Alex O’Roark, the FBI’s top tracker, has his perfect life ripped to shreds when a case to capture the world’s most dangerous serial killer leads him straight into the maw of a werewolf. Now, keeping his secret from his gorgeous fiance and the FBI, he must hunt down the wolf that infected him before the disease turns him into a monster.

Marvel Comics for Download

• X-Men #s 157-160
• X-Men #s 18-19
• The Darkness/Pitt #2
• Hunter Killer #s 5-7
• Witchblade Vol. 1 #s 2-4
• The Darkness Vol. 1 #s 2-3
• Impaler Vol. 1 #s 2-3

Book: Grimm Fairy Tales: Return To Wonderland Mini-series
Publisher: Zenescope
Price: #0 – Free, #1 -#4 $0.99
Author: Raven Gregory
Art: Rich Bonk & Al Rio
Colored By: Thomas Mason & Nei Ruffino
Obtained: ComiXology on iPhone
Verdict: This is a great dark spin on the classic tale.

Background:
I was browsing through the free comics on the ComiXology store and found Alice waiting to be read.  I am really stoked for the new Alice in Wonderland movie so, like a horrific scream outside my window, this peaked my interest.  I downloaded the free comic, loved it, and proceeded to spend all the rest of my lunch money while lying in bed downloading the rest of the comics available.

I am panting with my frustrated urges to read the last few books; it’s that much of a page-turner. Or page tapper, in this case.  I enjoyed this new take on the story  so much that I came into work and told another comic fan about it.  He promptly downloaded it as well. Choirs of angels began to sing.

This one’s dark. Dark like twisted black metal in a deep, dank cave You know what we mean – no kids allowed!  The themes and artwork are most certainly geared towards the adult crowd.  If you are looking forward to the new movie, or played the American McGee’s Alice PC game, you will love this comic.

The Story:
The free comic starts out on a mission to sink its dark fantasy teeth deep into your head and probe you with it’s tongue through the new cranial orifice it will create.  Alice has come back from Wonderland and led the life of a normal woman.  Alice went and got married, had some kids, and  ….wait, no spoilers here!

The mini-series throws a few dark and sex type things at readers before diving head trip first down the rabbit hole to Wonderland.  The story follows Alice’s daughter, Calie, through some interesting scenarios in this magical world. Interesting in a “I just took some acid and the colors on your shirt are starting to bleed” sort of a way.

New monsters and a new spin on well-known characters all make for an engaging and thoroughly tasty story.  There’s no sweet an innocent here. Then again, the source material wasn’t actually sweet and innocent either, was it now?

The Artwork:
The art in this mini-series is fantastic. Rich Bonk and Al Rio invest every panel with rich, dark colors and strong line work. Each page of full, rich illustration portrays more than just the story, it immerses the reader into an experience of what Wonderland would be like had it been in some sort of Stephen King movie.  The story is enjoyable, but the art and coloring takes it up a whole new, dirty notch.  This is a great example of how good a comic on the iPhone can look. Seriously, where’s my freaking iPad? This comic brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “eye-candy.” You perv.

Developer: ComiXology
Price: FREE
Verdict: Comic fans and iDevice owners need to have this on their iDevices
Pros: Fantastic way to read comics on the go
Cons: Could we get a paid subscription service?  No DC Comics at this time.

There are a few of us here at Comics are Evil who are horribly impatient.  We enjoy taking in great art and engaging story-lines no matter where we are at.  We just have a bit of want the it now syndrome.  The rise of the digital comic is feeding this habit like no tomorrow.  The PSP Comic store and Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited are both great services to feed this lust at home and work.  But what happens when you’re traveling and don’t have a laptop with internet to browse the Marvel catalog and your PSP is at home?  Grab the iPhone and hit up Comics by ComiXology that’s what!  Yup, our ever growing need for instant comic gratification is enhanced even more by this stellar app on the iPhone.

The app can feel a bit slow at first.  Keep in mind that it is doing a lot of updating and information pulling upon its first few launches.  Patience will bring its rewards though as this reading experience is one of the best on the iPhone.  Having a wealth of features at one’s finger tips while on the go is well worth a fraction of your time!

can you say "cover flow?"

Every time Comics is opened, it will do an update.  It is looking for updated comics, store offerings, chart changes and more.  The first time this happens it takes a minute or so to pull all this information down to the iPhone.  Once it is done, the subsequent updates take but a few seconds and don’t really hinder the experience.

The controls are very simple and easy to understand.  Tapping on the right side of the screen to move the comic forward, left side will go back, and middle will allow some panning around the current panel.  Pinch, or double tap, to zoom in.  Reverse pinch, or another double tap, to zoom it.  The controls are all very well laid out and work really well.  It is nice as one does not need to think about the controls and can pretty well just start using the reader.

Navigating through the app is almost as easy as thumbing through a comic itself.  At the bottom of the screen you’ll find the ever familiar home, featured, free, top 25, and browse features.  The top of the screen lends to the featured, new, popular, and rating search options.  Comics that have been freshly downloaded show up on the home page under Just Downloaded.  You can search the store and your collection by Series, Creator, Publisher, or Genre.  Comics that are currently being read open up right where they were left off.  Overall, the whole process really feels geared towards getting users to the comics they want and into reading them.  It is a nice touch.

Comics does a great job on presenting your chosen reading pleasure as well.  Different panels will come in portrait or landscape.  This reader easily handles those situations with a simple turning of the phone.  ComiXology has done a pretty good job of keeping the panels the same orientation to reduce all the flipping around of the phone.  We appreciate this….a lot!!

even the tutorial is fun in this app!

A feature we often refer to as ‘flow’ shows up in this app as well.  Comic flow makes reading a digital comic very easy; it’s what makes comics like Moongirl #1 as enjoyable as they are.  Comic flow simply travels where the eyes would normally travel on the pages of a physical comic.  For a digital comic, especially one being displayed on a small screen like the iPhone, this is a huge help.  It not only speeds up the reading process, but it helps with navigating through the comic.  The PSP and Marvel Digital Comics both use this type of feature and we love it.  You do not have to use this feature if you don’t want to, but we recommend you give it a try at the very least.

What is a comic reader without the comics?  Nothing, that’s what it is. Luckily, ComiXology has a great variety of comics available to users of this app.  We are not just talking small unknown publishers, either (not that there’s anything wrong with unknown publishers).  Top Cow, Marvel, Image and many others have offerings available on this digital store.  Hopefully we will see more publishing houses taking advantage of this growing market.  DC, we are looking at you right now! Very much looking! In your direction!

Prices here are not out of the ordinary for a digital comic.  Prices pretty well stick to the $0.99 – $1.99 range.  Sure for a dollar or two more you could get a paper printed copy.  You can’t do that sitting at the airport though.  Besides, most people take their phone everywhere they go.  What better way to bring along some great reading material without all that worry about destroying a comic book. Also, as many of us are grown adults, the shame of reading a comic book is ameliorated by “hiding” it behind an iPhone or iPod Touch. Just lookin’ at a spreadsheet, Gus!

he's baaaaaack

There are not only paid offerings here, though.  There are plenty of free comics to fill that handy dandy iDevice with as well.  Ever thought about checking out Wanted #1 but did not want to pay for it?  You can try that free with this app.  New free comics get added as well.  You could get in a bit of light reading and probably never pay for a comic if you really wanted to.

Purchasing a comic is just as easy as it is buying an app in the iTune store.  Find a comic, click buy, and enter your password.  Everything is done nicely and easily without having to deal with extraneous extra accounts.  Keep in mind that this ease also makes it very easy to spend your paycheck increasing that library!

One of the best features we like is that an account created on the iDevice carries over to the ComiXology website as well.  They really thought this through and have made the whole experience pretty simple and painless for users.  Why don’t more developers follow this type of thinking?

One of my complaints is that this great app is not on the Android platform.  I carry a Moto Droid around and would love to see this on the Android Marketplace.  Sure, it might be a smaller audience, but still a bit of an audience none the less.  Beside, the screens on some of the newer Android phones are phenomenal.  More colors and twice as crisp as the iPhone/iTouch.  Just sayin!

you know you want some

Lastly, we at CrE would really enjoy a paid subscription service.  Something like what Zune has with their Zune Pass.  I’d be more than happy to put out $15 – $20 a month to be able to get unlimited comic downloads.  I know I wouldn’t “own” then, but then again I just want to be able to read all the comics my grubby eyes could digest.  So what say you ComiXology….could we maybe see this as an option in the future?  Please!

Those of you who have an iPhone/iTouch really need to check this out.  It has become one of my most heavily used apps on this platform.  Sure the iDevice screen might be a tad small, but just think of what this will look like on the iPad! Exclamation point!  No matter the device you are using, however, this is a simple and convenient way to read some great comics.  Now quit reading this article and go get Comics for the iPhone!

There is an unusal amount of hatred for the iPad, and I think I know why.  Almost everyone had already decided what they wanted it to do, and in traditional Apple form, they made it do what they wanted to.  It is not a 2 way video chat device, it is not a hi definition cam corder, it is not a mini Microsoft Surface clone, and it is not a net book killer.  If it didn’t meet your multi-tasking space tablet needs, then move on.  You probably have a macbook and/or an iPhone.  Apple has no love (or revenue) lost on you.

What it is is a platform to expand Apple’s already deep foothold on digital media distribution.  It is also an alternative to the $500 netbook that does many things and none of them well.  Apple guarantees they will do only a few things, but they will be done very well.  If you need to use it as a laptop, then you can get the keyboard dock.  If you need to get photos on it, you can sync it or use the adapter for it.  There will be software the enables and further expands the device; that was the key to iPhone growth and will be key here.  They have the killer price point, just need the killer app to go with it, and don’t kid yourself, devs have 60 days to do so and they are all knee deep in the iPad sim as we speak.  Already VOIP over 3G is enabled in the 3.2 SDK and how long until a camera over bluetooth app is announced?  To paraphrase Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park, “Apps find a way”.

The most important aspect of the entire announcement, except the $499 price point.

So really, calm down.  It’s almost like people are mad at it for just being bigger.  I have 3 iphones, 2 macbook pros and 2 mac pros.   I do not have an iTouch.  But now, I would almost certainly buy a $499 iPad before I would buy a $399 iPod Touch (regardless of capacity differences.)  Apple is going after that remainder market, not trying to cannibalize it’s existing market.  It is a 3rd category, something that has the ability to run every app already out there (and don’t kid yourself, software sells hardware, not the other way around), and if they shift 5 million units of the $499 model, the revenue will justify hardware refreshes.  Remember, Apple built it’s current empire on giving you just enough to need it, and only when it sold like hotcakes, did it become what you wanted.  So you hate what they announced, and granted it was enough to send Apple stock down (after record profits) but remember, this is what this thing is for:

Comics by comiXology concept from comiXology on Vimeo.

At the end of the day, for some people this will be a very satisfying book reader, and for me, the ability to store up to 64GB of CBR, CBZ, PDF, RAR, and/or ZIPS of my comic collection make this a zero day purchase.   I already use myComics on the iPhone, and with the added benefit of local storage syncing on the iPad, the cumbersome upload process will be eliminated.  I guarantee you the players in the digital comic market will compete ferociously on the iPad to bring a best of breed reader to market, and the winner of that war will be us.

(For another good take, look here)

Moon Girl – the new iPhone comic on Comics, by Comixology – is making the scene across the comicsphere. If you haven’t heard of it by now, what is wrong with you? Lucky for you, however, we have a direct line (we call it ‘email) to the creators, Tony Trov and Johnny Zito. We assume that these are their real names, but since they make comics, anything is possible.

We sat down with the gruesome twosome today and learned a bit more about them, their comic, and life in general. Honestly, it changed us. Here’s what we got:

1 – Who are you and what do you do for a living?

Tony: We are Tony Trov and Johnny Zito. The greatest hermaphroditic duo to come out of Temple University since Hall and Oates.

Johnny: We’re are also full time comic book writers and are known to run the most arrogantly awesome Twitter pages on the internet.

2 – How long (have you been) involved in comics?

Tony: We’ve been involved with comic as professionals since we started out on Zuda Comics way back in the year ’08.

Johnny: For those who don’t know, Zuda Comics is DC’s online imprint. Sort of like Thunderdome for comics.

Tony: Ten Comics enter. One is left standing.

Johnny: The Black Cherry Bombshells is our first series. It kicked butt and they let us have a second comic, LaMorte Sisters.

Tony: Which also kicks butt.

3 – What’s so dang special about your current project (Moon Girl)?
Tony – Moon Girl is a character from EC comics and is actually about 60 years old. In it, masked vigilantes wage a psychotic war against 1950’s bourgeois; it’s The Dark Knight meets Mad Men. Clare is a Russian Princess happily exiled to New York. When enemies from the past threaten her new life the repressed Warrior Queen fights back. In the media her secret, nocturnal adventures are attributed to a mysterious hero; Moon Girl.

Johnny – Champion of the counter culture, Moon Girl represents a movement of young people fed up with the corporatism and conformity of post World War II opulence. The urban legends of Moon Girl inspire the ‘Super Manifesto’ – a post human gospel. Fundamentalists subvert the establishment by dressing in bright technicolor clothes and taking futuristic new names. Extremists turn to violence and terror, expecting to shock the system into change. Only Moon Girl stands between them and us, anarchy and order.

Tony: It’s out on Comixology, which is an awesome iPhone and iPad application. If we did this interview an hour ago, I wouldn’t have said iPad.

Johnny: The thing that makes Moon Girl so special is the amazing art by Mr. The Rahzzah. He’s unreal.

4 – What other work or projects can we look forward to in the near future from you?

Johnny: We have two ongoing series over at Zuda Comics. ’The Black Cherry Bombshells‘ is the tale of ultra-violent girl gangs fighting for survival in a world where every man on Earth has been mutated into a flesh eating zombie. It updates every Monday. LaMorte Sisters is the story of Maddie, the new girl at the vampire orphanage run by strict catholic nuns. It updates every Wednesday.

Tony: Oh and did I mention they are free?

5 – If Superman was your best friend, what color tree would you be?

Johnny: I would be seasonal. Zito Red in the fall and Zito Blue in the spring.

Tony: I’m friends with Batman. So…you know…

A big thanks to Johnny and Tony, two mortals among men. Enjoy the gallery of stunning artwork below, and be sure to grab Moongirl from the Comics App.

A ton of releases this week for Comixology. It’s like having a local comics shop in your iPhone or iPod Touch. Don’t get us started on how amazing this’ll be on the iPad! Here’s this week’s list.

• Bardo Preview
• JFH: Justice-For-Hire Preview #1
• Box 13 #8
• Beautiful Creatures #2 (of 2)
• Grimm Fairy Tales #11
• Grimm Fairy Tales #10
• Hunter Killer #4
• Hunter Killer #3
• Hunter Killer #2
• Irredeemable #9
• Irredeemable #8
• Irredeemable #7
• Irredeemable #6
• Irredeemable #5
• New X-Men #24
• New X-Men #23
• New X-Men #22
• New X-Men #21
• The Darkness Vol. 3 #5
• Tom Corbett: Space Cadet #3
• Tom Corbett: Space Cadet #2
• Tom Corbett: Space Cadet #1
• Valentine (Russian) #1
• Voltron Defender of the Universe Vol 2 #11
• Witchblade #84
• X-Men #17
• X-Men #16
• X-Men #15
• X-Men: Colossus Bloodline #5 (of 5)
• X-Men: Colossus Bloodline #4 (of 5)
• X-Men: Colossus Bloodline #3 (of 5)
• X-Men: Colossus Bloodline #2 (of 5)
• X-Men: Colossus Bloodline #1 (of 5)

Mass Effect 2 is in full swing now.  Gamers everywhere are getting to play through the sequel.  This brings on the plethora of goodies and mass marketing campaigns.  The positive side to all this is we now get a nice new comic mini-series on the iPhone!

Mass Effect: Redemption will give some back-story of the events that lead up to Mass Effect 2.  Those who have played the first Mass Effect and plan on getting Mass Effect 2 will get to enjoy the story in between the two games.

Mass Effect: Redemption will be free at release and then hit the $0.99 price point.  Look for this to hit the AppStore on February 3, 2010.