Digital Comics Coming To PSP, Marvel Signing Up

Sony is bringing downloadable graphic novels to its PSP, the company announced today, with major publishers including Marvel on board. The program, simply called Digital Comics, is part of a larger Sony initiative, the "digital reader," that will bring "a range of media" to the portable console. "Hundreds" of comics are said to be lined up for the service starting in December, with publishers Marvel, IDW Publishing, iVerse, and Image Comics contributing brands such as Spider-Man, X-Men, The Fantastic Four, Star Trek, Archie Comics, and Proof. Digital Comics will first launch in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, with additional PAL territories getting the service in 2010. It will allow users to zoom in on individual panels, which are displayed one-by-one in an attempt to mimic the natural reading method of the human eye. According to a Sony statement, "the stunning graphics leap out from the screen." "PSP's new digital reader offers an unprecedented consumer experience that will extend the world of Marvel from print pages into the hands of fans around the world," said Marvel Entertainment global digital media group EVP Ira Rubenstein. Added SCEE hardware and platform marketing manager Isabelle Tomatis, "PSP offers a whole world of entertainment in your hands."