------- Clearing Up the Confusion E-Zine ------- Vol 2, Issue 20 Lisa and I are up in Traverse City for our annual getaway. It's been beautiful up here, with the trees just starting to change color for the Autumn. Of course, this is Kaylie's first time up here. Things are a *little* less relaxed with an honest to goodness toddler on our hands. All this relaxation has me thinking about fun things to do with the computer. Recently, my wonderful sister-in-law, JoAnn, found a new way for me to spend time staring slack-jawed into the monitor. She bought me a gift subscription to Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited. If you love comics or love someone who loves comics, you might want to read my review. ---------------------------------------------------------------- In This Issue... ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Article: Spider-Man! Spider-Man! Does Whatever... 2. Shameless Self-Promotion 3. The Fine Print ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Article: Spider-Man! Spider-Man! Does Whatever... ---------------------------------------------------------------- Anyone who's been reading this newsletter for a while knows that I love comics. I have a subscription for a variety of titles at my local comic shop, Vault of Midnight (http://www.vaultofmidnight.com/). I read the funnies every day such as Doonesbury and Garfield (http://www.garfield.com/comics/todayscomic.html) on my personalized online comic strip page. I subscribe to several other strips, such as "User Friendly" and "Kevin & Kell" of which I've read their entire runs (again available online). A few years ago, I heard of a new service called CrossGen Comics. They were a comics book publishing house who decided, in addition to paper copies, they would publish their books on the Web. Moreover, in buying a subscription, you got access to *all* of their Web titles -- close to 140 comic books in all! Yes, life was good... ...until they went bankrupt. This year, my lovely sister-in-law, JoAnn, got me a subscription to Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited (http://www.marvel.com/digitalcomics/). For those not in the know, Marvel publishes books about the heroes Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, etc. They've been doing this for a number of years -- most of thie big titles started in the 60's. With the subscription, as with the one through CrossGen, I get access to the entire online collection. As of this writing, that's over *5000* issues! Woo-hoo! Again, similar to CrossGen, you read the issues with your web browser. They've developed a pretty nifty Flash-based reader which displays each page in beautiful color. I particularly like the "Smart Panels" feature. The problem with viewing a comics page on your monitor is that often the words are too small to read comfortably. They way the Marvel folks have gotten around this is by creating a "path" through the comic book which magnifies different sections of the page in turn, making it easy to both appreciate the art *and* follow the storyline. One minor quibble is that every once in a while, the "path" gets lost and it can be kind of annoying to have to fiddle with the interface to get back on track again. With such a wide selection, chances are that you or the comic-reader in your life will find something they love in the catalog. One minor warning is that there are often holes in the series runs. They seem to have done a pretty good job of keeping the major story arcs intact, but, still, it's kind of annoying to jump from Daredevil #45 to Daredevil #53 without getting to read what happens to our hero in the meantime. According to their official blog, they are continuing to add both new and old issues every day, so those holes will eventually be filled. In fact, according to the calendar I saw, every weekday sees between four and six new issues -- even I would have a hard time keeping up with that pace! For the price of the annual subscription, you could probably buy three or four anthology collections (storylines for a particular title bound as a single book). That's about the equvalent of 20 tothirty individual issues. If you are just into reading the stories, then the online service is definitely the way to go. Oh, and if you just want to check things out, they do have a whole section of free comics. I took a quick look at the page (http://www.marvel.com/digitalcomics/free/) and there were over *60* issues that anyone can read without a subscription. Try it out. I will warn you, though, that the stories can get addictive. You might be heading over to their subscription page with credit card in hand before you know it. So, take a break, grab a big glass of milk and a handful of chocolate chip cookies and return to the days of childhood heroes. You'll be glad you did. Copyright 2008, Greg Peters ---------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Shameless Self-Promotion ---------------------------------------------------------------- The "Clearing Up the Confusion" E-Zine is a production of Greg Peters, owner, chief cook, and bottlewasher of Cyber Data Solutions. CDS has been helping website designers develop better web presence for their clients for more than a decade. Visit us on the Web at www.cyberdatasolns.com to see how we can help your webmaster. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 3. The Fine Print ---------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: You can subscribe to the "Clearing Up The Confusion" E-zine at: http://www.cyberdatasolns.com/ezine Questions: If you have any questions, concerns or comments regarding the Clearing Up the Confusion E-zine, please email Greg Peters at: gpeters@cyberdatasolns.com This content may be forwarded in full, with copyright and contact information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Greg Peters is required, with notification to the original author. We never send the "Clearing Up the Confusion" E-zine uninvited, and we NEVER share, sell or rent our mailing list to anyone. Your privacy is safe with us.