"Print and digital can co-exist; we’re trying to level the playing field"

February 8, 2013 9:31 PM

What happens when you’re a crimefighter and your sidekick grows up to be an arrogant, ungrateful douchebag? What on Earth could draw the two of you back together again?. Insufferable is a new web comic from Mark Waid (writer of Captain America, 52 Kingdom Come and Daredevil among others), creator of Irredeemable, and ex-chief creative officer of Boom Studios) being offered via Thrillbent, a platform he he and others hope will revolutionise digtial comics. Waid's goal in the long run: to create a collective of new creators and industry veterans who want to aggregate their content and use the digital medium in new and different ways.

Other stories include The Walking Pandas, Luther, Pax Arena and City of the Dead.

posted by Mezentian (22 comments total)

Navigate through each week's installation via the dots under the panel. I missed it at first.
Each week is also available for downloading in CBZ and PDF versions.

Now to find the contact form and deal with that dratted ampersand....
posted by Mezentian at 9:33 PM on February 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

Mod note: Changed out the ampersand; the title is used as the URL so special characters don't always survive.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 9:41 PM on February 8, 2013

Thanks!
posted by Mezentian at 9:45 PM on February 8, 2013

Wow. I don't read a lot of comics these days, but I did enjoy Irredeemable. This is really good and makes good use of the medium too.
posted by sauril at 9:50 PM on February 8, 2013

My wife and I are working on a digital comic, and the Thrillbent stuff has been really helpful in thinking about how to use the horizontal format and the smaller pages of a tablet screen (as has been some of DC's digital-first stuff, I should add). I'm not a big fan of the page-to-page "animation" effect, but otherwise I like how Waid et al are approaching it a lot.
posted by aaronetc at 10:02 PM on February 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

I'm a huge Waid fan, and I think it's pretty awesome to see a stalwart of the print industry attempt to drag it kicking and screaming into a new model. He's suffered more than his share of abuse for the attempt, though, including having his print comics banned at Coliseum of Comics.

I also liked being *in* Insufferable, so I'm biased.
posted by taterpie at 10:41 PM on February 8, 2013 [2 favorites]

I bowed out of comic when they hit $2.99. Now they're $3.99, print or digital. It's just stupid. That's a really terrible model.

Look, you make comics consistently .99¢—like apps, like songs—and you increase your fanbase beyond imagination. It's a working model. Use it.

In fact, I cannot understand what is taking so long for comic industry to get this. It's such a no-brainer: at .99¢ comics I will buy. Seriously, the day I pay $3.99 a minth for a digital copy of a comic book is the day I have way, way too much money on my hands. Jesus, for $3.99 for the hard copy I'd better get the digital for free.
posted by Mike Mongo at 10:43 PM on February 8, 2013 [4 favorites]

May I suggest Saga then? I mean, I'd suggest it anyways because it's a great comic, but digital issues at Comixology go for $1.99 versus $2.99 for print, and the first hit - I mean issue - is free. It's also the first comic I've bought digitally.

I didn't care for Irredemable, and Insufferable seems just okay so far, but I'm impressed at the adoption of a tablet/phone friendly format.

I'm also not a big fan of the page-to-page animation, but it definitely works better for a comic designed for it than a comic adapted to use it, and I imagine people will find interesting things to do with the idea.
posted by dragoon at 10:53 PM on February 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

I take it back - I'm really enjoying this comic. Any series with baby armor is good in my book.
posted by dragoon at 11:16 PM on February 8, 2013 [2 favorites]

including having his print comics banned at Coliseum of Comics.

Wow. That's just silly.
Seems to me, digital for monthly and trades for collections is the way of the future for many comics.

US$3.99 for something that tales 10 minutes to read (of a two issue story stretched over five or six) is just nonsense.
posted by Mezentian at 11:24 PM on February 8, 2013

I quite enjoyed that, thanks for sharing! I really got into the format and the way they used it to their advantage. Midway through I had visions of (for some reason) reading Transmetropolitan again in the same format .... and then was brough back from my reverie to reality.

Can't wait to see what else they do.
posted by barnacles at 2:11 AM on February 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

I know people who pay a hundred bucks a year for a Usenet feed. If Diamond ( they're the distributors, right? ) offered the same access for a hundred a year, they'd clean up.
posted by mikelieman at 5:23 AM on February 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

Piranha Repellent! *chortle*
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 5:29 AM on February 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

I quite liked that. Good story, though it froze a couple times on iPad. They definitely did a good job of playing with the medium.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:11 AM on February 9, 2013

I also liked being *in* Insufferable, so I'm biased.
posted by taterpie


HA! Nice tweetin!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:25 AM on February 9, 2013

#Failahad
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:25 AM on February 9, 2013

The style of the updating in-place digital comic is an interesting one. The first place I ran into it is "About Digital Comics", an experimental thing posted on DeviantArt in 2009.

Part 1
Part 2

At the time I was particularly taken by the effects achieved during the 'twilight' riff in the second part, and I've been very happy to see Insufferable thinking along similar lines in how it plays with the format.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 9:10 AM on February 9, 2013

So, it turns out I pretty much want a stylin' babysuit.
And to bring this to TV is there is a network willing.
posted by Mezentian at 10:35 AM on February 9, 2013

Just finished the last issue. Amazing comic - I was a bit surprised that it managed to take an idea like "dysfunctional batman dad to Robin the son" and make it feel so fresh and interesting. It's got that Watchmen feel in that sense, but still managed to me anyway to hold my attention so much I couldn't stop reading all day. I look forward to the second arc.

I love reading comics on the iPad. It's actually what got me back into reading comics again. It's kind of a pain where I live to go get comics as it requires a special trip that isn't on the way home. So I've appreciated that I can read so much more often and regularly again. It also makes me a little more realistic and honest to my son because I think I never wanted to really admit aloud my own comics are not worth in value the space they actually consume in the boxes under his bed. With an iPad and digital comics more generally, I can just go back to enjoying the stories.
posted by scunning at 11:31 AM on February 9, 2013

A good read, not revolutionary in and of itself but I can see how it could help open up the range of possibilities.
posted by jeffen at 2:40 PM on February 9, 2013

(This is good.) Glad to see Waid keeps sharp and solid, the mainstream superhero comics these days could use a few duplicates of his, most writers today can't plot their way out of a stale cookie. Bring on Calvin's duplicator!
posted by Iosephus at 5:51 PM on February 9, 2013

I wish more webcomics would release CBZs collecting arcs. I have spent quite a few hours building my own CBZs so I can conveniently catch up on webcomics on my iPad.
posted by robcorr at 10:56 PM on February 9, 2013