Hello
(If you have been enjoying the Metropolis comic strip, then I hope you will consider helping me promote it. Please click here to find out how you can help. I would really appreciate it. Thank you.)
The following is the introduction to Metropolis Volume 1
On the Metropolis blog I talk a lot about why I stopped collecting comic books as a kid. Today I want to talk a little about what brought me back; comic strips.
One day I was feeling nostalgic about comic books as I was surfing the web. I stumbled upon a website that hosted one month’s worth of over 60 different newspaper strips (http://www.oregonlive.com/comics-kingdom/index.ssf). That day, I read strips until my eyes hurt.
The strips that I started to follow were, Prince Valiant, Flash Gordon, The Amazing Spider-Man and The Phantom. I was completely re-engaged with all the things I loved about comic books. And comic strips didn’t have any of the things that drove me away from comic books. They were free. They were fun. They had a sense of drama and humour. There were no endless crossovers.
However, there was a downside. I could only read them a few panels at a time. Then I had to wait a day to read the next part (or wait an entire week as in the case of Flash Gordon and Prince Valiant). This can get a little irritating. So I started to read comic strips the way most people watch TV shows nowadays; wait for a few episodes to pile up then watch them all at once. I imagine a lot of people do the same.
That’s why I’ve created Metropolis Volume 1. You don’t have to wait for the two strips per month that I am able to produce. Here is a conveniently packaged bundle of chapters that you can read on your favourite e-reading device. I should warn you now though… I don’t expect to get around to making Volume 2 until around early 2015.
Enjoy Volume 1 and have a great day.
João
Hi
I've finally figured out how to make a Comic Reader file. Not that making one is very difficult, but figuring out how to properly tag one is.
So I've started by making Comic Reader files of the Metropolis Yearbooks (available here). They are available in .PDF format and .CBZ format. Most e-readers will open .PDF files. Some even open .CBZ files.
Maybe some of you don't know that you can enjoy copies of comic books electronically now. Well, yes you can. Old and new comics alike. If you are looking for a good Comic Reader program, look here. I read comics on my ipad with an app called ComicBookLover. You can also get a Comic Reader for the Wii (here); but you need to have Homebrew installed on your Wii. I also recommend Calibre. It's an entire e-book (not just comics) management system that will connect to a lot of different e-readers. It connects to my Kobo no problem.
I also need to mention a wonderful program called Comic Tagger. This is the program I used to create tags for my Comic Reader versions of Metropolis. It's a cinch to use. So if you have a lot of e-comics in your collection or if you make your own e-comics, you should check Comic Tagger out.
Tags are the little bits of information about the comic embedded into the Comic Reader file. They help identify your comic for search and sorting purposes. In much the same way that music files have tags containing artist, singer and album information.
So check out the program and if you use it, be kind and click the guy's donate button. He should get a little money for all his hard work on such a good program. I did.
A while ago I promised to release Metropolis as a Comic Book Reader file. I'm happy to say that it will happen soon. How soon? I don't know. It's hard to schedule with a toddler and brand new baby in the house. I'm thinking it will definitely happen before summer 2014... Possibly sooner.
Sorry there hasn't been a new chapter of Metropolis yet. My wife and I are still working out our lives with the new baby.
Have a great day.
