Comics on your cell phone?

Comics on your cell phone? KC-based company is ready
By DAVID HAYES
Columnist

In the sphere of weird and strange new things you can do with your cell phone, here?s one more: read comic books.

Kansas City-based uclick is launching a new phone application in April that will allow subscribers to read comic books and Japanese versions called manga on their wireless phones.

The GoComics Books service initially will feature a half-dozen comic book and manga titles, delivered in a serial format.

Among the first books featured on GoComics Books will be Five Fists of Science, a comic book by Kansas City area writer Matt Fraction and artist Steve Sanders.

The Fraction-Sanders comic should break new publishing ground. It?s expected to appear on wireless phones before it?s available in printed form later this spring.

Five Fists of Science is a historical comic in which Mark Twain and inventor Nikola Tesla team up to save the world. GoComics Books also is planning to offer five other comics and manga, including super-hero-based Godland; a comic book for gamers called PvP; and an offbeat comic book called Too Much Coffee Man.

?Offering such a wide range in our first product launch invites fans to sample this new line and offers them a unique opportunity to catch up on comics wherever and whenever they want ? on the bus, at the park or standing in line,? said Jeff Webber, mobile content director for GoComics.

GoComics is a product of uclick, a division of Kansas City-based Andrews McMeel Universal. Uclick sells newspaper comics, puzzles, screensavers and other content on the Web and for wireless phones.

Webber said GoComics Books was a natural for uclick because manga-based screensavers are among the company?s most successful products for wireless phones.

The genre gives uclick an entree with younger readers, who may be more inclined to read manga and comic books than traditional newspaper comics, Webber said.

GoComics Books optimizes the comics for the mobile screen, making them clearer and easier to read, he said.

GoComics will offer the serialized service six days a week. One of the books will be updated each day, adding a few pages.

Completing an entire book could take a month, or longer for some books.

The service is expected to cost $3.95 a month.

?This is just the start,? Webber said.

Uclick made the announcement to coincide with the New York Comic-Con, a large comic book show held last weekend in New York City.

Also on your phone?

If comic books aren?t your thing, how about MTV or Comedy Central?

Sprint on Monday said it will begin offering video clips, music and on-demand programming from four Viacom-owned networks ? Comedy Central, CMT, MTV and VH1 ? on wireless phones.

The deal with Viacom and MTV Networks makes Sprint the first to stream the CMT, MTV and VH1 networks to wireless subscribers.

The deal adds four new channels ? one for each of the networks ? to Sprint?s on-phone television service. Sprint said each of the channels will cost $5.95 a month, and be available only on multimedia-capable phones.

?Sprint continues to lead the industry in bringing the best lineup of entertainment and mobile content to our customers,? said Jeff Hallock, vice president of wireless product strategy and marketing for Sprint.

Another phone thing?

Photo sharing programs such as Flikr and the Kodak PicturePlayground, which allow amateur photographers to share photos with others, are among the Web?s fastest-growing services.

Sprint is hoping to piggyback on the craze with a similar program for camera phone users.

Sprint PCS Picture Mail groups, expected to launch this spring, will allow camera phone users to create online communities to share photos and video clips with friends.

?As camera phones have become mainstream, wireless phone users are looking for new, creative ways to communicate with pictures,? said Pierre Barbeau, general manager of visual communications for Sprint.

The free service will send members of the ?community? a message when new photos or clips are posted.

Sprint is pitching the new service this week at the PMA 2006 photography trade show in Orlando this week.

AND cuz Steve is a buddy of mine I can show you a sneek peek of "Five Fists..."

Cover art....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6.../fivefists.jpg