xkcd has a really great comic today, which touches obliquely on a number of aspects of modern digital life. Randall Munroe has dug back through various historical sources to find some terrific observations on how terrible everything is now and how much better it used to be…in print sources dating from 1871 to 1915. An awful lot of reading is involved to go through it, and I don’t like to think about how long it must have taken Randall to gather them all. Those following the kerfuffle about the quality of self-published books might find the quote I clipped to...

Comic strip publisher Universal Uclick has created a digital place on the Internet for avid readers of old-school newspaper comic strips. And now, to further plant the print staple into the modern world, they’ve introduced their GoComics website to the mobile Web sphere. Launching the GoComics application for iOS, Android and WP8, users can now access all content from the company’s website, which includes a massive chunk of the most popular comics strips worldwide. Some notable series from yesteryear include the complete Calvin & Hobbes archives and a slew of Peanuts, Garfield, Dilbert and Doonesbury comics. Today’s stuff is there too: FoxTrot, The Boondocks, Pearls Before Swine, et al. Did I mention the app is free? Even if...

As promised, ComiXology began sending out emails with personalized links to individuals who asked to be notified about the continuation of the Marvel #1 promotion. The email contains a link that can only be accessed from the email address it was sent to. The recipient has 48 hours to claim their free comics (over 700 in all) before the link becomes inactive. I just got my invitation, and can tell you the process worked flawlessly. All of the eligible comics are displayed on a single page. The are separated by specific categories. The categories include Marvel Now! Avengers, Marvel Events, Marvel Zombies, Punisher, Ultimate...

Apple Threatens to Kick Out Comic Book App Over Adult Content (Techdirt) Sony Displays Massive Resistance to Illuminated Readers (Good e-Reader) Google Could Face Antitrust Investigation in EU After Microsoft Complains (GigaOM) Is an eBook an Experience or Thing? (Digital Book World) Kindle Daily Deals: Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson (and 3 others)...

Remember last month when Marvel was offering over 700 issues #1 for free? And we all crashed their servers? Well, the promotion is back. If you signed up to be notified when it was available, you probably received an email today. (Check your spam folder if you didn't get it.) Or just click this link to ComiXology between now and tomorrow at 11:59 p.m. to sign up for your promo invitation. Although the email says to "register for a free ComiXology account," you can still sign up for the promotion with an existing account. I tested it, purely for research purposes, of...

As part of their SXSW2013 celebration, Marvel is offering over 700 first issue digital comics, for free. Yes, this includes X-Men, Avengers, Spider-Man and other popular characters. You can "buy" them from either Marvel's Digital Comic store or through Comixology. Proof that this is a popular promotion? I couldn't get the comic store to open online, and when I opened my ComiXology app, it gave me an error message (no Internet connection). Yes, I have a connection. Unfortunately, everyone else was trying to get their comics, and it looks like we all crashed the site. Don't worry. You still have until Tuesday, March...

Independent comic book creators will get a new outlet for their creations. Earlier today, ComiXology announced the launch of ComiXology Submit, where comic book and graphic novel creators can upload their files for free. ComiXology will then transform the files to be read on its platform, which itself can be accessed across a variety of apps. “While we continue to push ourselves to innovate the digital comic experience, ComiXology Submit provides an incredible opportunity for creators to sell their work to a highly targeted and global audience of comic book and graphic novel fans,” said ComiXology co-founder and CEO David Steinberger, in a release. “The next generation...

It’s an Amazon roundup! Here are some Amazon stories from the last few days that might not deserve full pieces by themselves, but are nonetheless interesting tidbits. Wired reports Amazon has released a firmware update for the Paperwhite that will allow readers to enlarge panes in manga novels—undoubtedly aimed mainly at the Japanese market, but potentially useful over here, too, for translated manga. And perhaps also for those single-issue DC comics, if DC decides to allow reading them on black and white devices after all. It also fixes some issues with novels that only filled half the screen, and improves handling...

Seems like only yesterday that DC Comics was adding the Nook tablets to its formerly exclusive deal with the Kindle Fire platform, and releasing graphic novels via e-book stores. But the thing about DC on those color tablets was that the comics were actually sold through third-party stores like comiXology, or DC’s own app Vertigo. However, today DC announced it will be selling digital comics in single-issue (DRM-protected) format directly through the Kindle, Nook, and iBooks e-book stores. DC will start with current-release issues, then move into backlist titles. 70 titles were available as of today. At the moment...

  Prior to becoming a household name, Stephen King did time as a high school English teacher and a laborer in an industrial laundry. These days, he could insulate his lovely Victorian home with crisp hundreds if such were his whim. Yet it seems he hasn’t forgotten what it’s like to watch every penny, wishing there was enough fat in the budget for the purchase of one measly comic book based on an insanely famous author’s obscure short story… Are generosity and the remembrance of past struggles motivating King to dole out artist Dennis “X-Men Noir” Calero’s graphic adaptation of his short story, “The Little Green God...

          The Humble Indie Bundles frequently add more titles to their selections midway through the sale period, and the e-book bundle is no exception. Today the bundle added to its existing titles five more books. These are all webcomic collections, available as DRM-free PDFs (regular and high-resolution) only: two from Penny Arcade, two from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, and one from xkcd. They are available to anyone who pays more than the average purchase price (currently a bit over $13), or have been added to anyone who previously paid more than the average (even if the average is higher than what...

Ever heard of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon? Even if you haven't, you've almost certainly experienced it: It's a cognitive bias that occurs after you hear or see something that is relatively odd or obscure, and then begin seeing or hearing that same thing over and over again. * * * I mention this because after writing recently about an amicus brief filed in the DoJ e-book price-fixing case that was produced to look like a comic book, I seem to been seeing tech-related comics books everywhere. It's starting to get a little creepy. Just this  morning, for instance, I got a press release about the Mark Zuckerberg...