1-Applications
a- My top 3

1- Professeur Cyclope — ARTE
Two examples
Lycéennes, Stefen Vuillemin
This comic, which is part of the digital comics magazine produced by the European cultural TV channel Arte, is made of a big column of successive animated gifs.
Website

Le sourire de Rose, Sacha Goerg
Sacha Goerg uses the turbo media’s vocabulary with elegance. There is no animation, only several steps, several moments to be swiped.
Website

 

2-Opertoon : Upgrade Soul
Ezra Claytan Daniels
Upgrade Soul is a science-fiction saga. The animation is really simple and limits itself to the blinking of the eyes and the use of sober 3d parallax in relation with the device’s accelerometer. The same one gesture (the swipe) activates the panels with transitions well managed by the author
App
Website
Video demo

 

3- McSweeney’s editions : Sensitive Touch
Chris Ware
Sensitive Touch is a comic published within the McSweeney’s editions’ iPad magazine. When we swipe the screen either pictures appear on the same page, one next to the other, or a tracking shot is activated inside the same page, or there is a simple transition from one page to another.
Unfortunately, the comic doesn’t work on the new iPad’s version, probably because the app hasn’t been updated.
Video demo

b- Then

4- Scrawl Magazine
Michael Golan, Roni Fahima & Shiraz Fuman
Scrawl is a comic and illustration magazine. It looks a bit like a portfolio, with no real theme on each episode. The drawings and the interactions are nice, even if they don’t work perfectly on my iPad. It has been made with a tool named Mag + (I didn’t tested it).
App
Website
Video demo

 

5- Quelle histoire éditions : Napoleon, the graphic novel
Bruno Wennagel, Albin Quéru, Victor Malhaury
Unfortunately, the rhythm is a little bit clumsy, as well as the use of the comics’ vocabulary. But as the actor’s voice and the drawings are great, we enjoy following the course of the story (of history).
App
Video demo

 

6- La Revue Dessinée
Franck Bourgeron, Sylvain Ricard, Elhadi Yazi, Olivier Jouvray
La Revue Dessinée is a quarterly magazine, in digital and paper, dealing with reports, documentaries, and chronic comics.
The app is almost as the paper version, digitized, with digital contents in addition (mainly interviews).
By contrast, the website adds much more content, and is updated each week. You can also find digital contents, along the line of drawn webdocumentaries.
App
Website
Drawn webdocumentaries

 

7- Wormworld
Daniel Lieske
Wormworld was a web saga, a long scroll by each episode. As it gained popularity, Daniel Lieske adapted his work to an app.
App
Website

 

c- Also

ARTE : Anne Frank au pays du manga
Alain Lewkowicz, Vincent Bourgeau, Marc Sainsauve et Herminien Ogawa
In this application, there is a lot of media (videos, sounds, diaporamas) hidden behind the frames. Too much in my opinion. Also, I personally have difficulties with the arrogant tone (but maybe honest) of their text, but it’s an interesting app that is delivered here.
App
Project on the website
Video demo

 

MoComics
Guy et Christian Moreillon
Technology permitting to make and read comics assembled in a long scroll with parallax.
Website
Video

 

Magnificat films : Je vous ai compris
Franck Chiche
Despite a comic-like aspect, this story is to be watched as a movie which moves forward all alone.
App
Video demo

 

Dupuis : spirou Z
Despite a weak interaction design (with buttons and instructions everywhere) and irritating sounds, Spirou Z offers a nice sample group of digital comics’ actual narrative systems. See for example at :
– World Wide Ted, Steve Baker : features scrolling in different directions and animations into the frames
App
Site web
Video Demo

 

Deep comix : teaser app
The comic shows frames in full-screen mode. Their interest is in their stereoscopic transition between the comic’s frames. Tiring but worth to be watched.
App
Video demo

 

Comixology : Infinite comics
Among the most interesting « infinite comics »:
• Wolverine: Japan’s Most Wanted Infinite Comic
• Infinity: Against The Tide Infinite Comic
• Ultimate Spider-Man Infinite Comic
Website
Video demo
See also : Bon anniversaire le turbomedia
And an example here, by Geoffo and Mast : http://ybrik-media.com/gg/

 

Aquafadas Ave!Comics : Bludzee
Lewis Trondheim
Small motion inside a humoristic episodic story of a domestic cat by Lewis Trondheim.
Not updated anymore.
App
Video demo

 

Bookapp : Lala
Malika Fouchier
The app is adapted from a paper book, so the reading system has been adapted with two navigation modes : the entire page, or frame by frame. This last mode is more suitable to an iPhone reading than an iPad reading.
App
Website

Opertoon : Ruben and Lullaby
Ezra Claytan Daniels
A speechless comic, where you have to manipulate the device to modify the tensions between the members of the couple on the screen.
App
Website
Video demo

 

Sesame Street : The monster at the end of this book
App

 

Bottom of the ninth
Ryan Woodward
Wait, I have to read it to make you a review.
App
Website
Videos demo
Also visible on the web

 

d- The gang of the digital comics in which you have to make the frames appear one by one, with « in-between » transitions. And often, with a total recomposition of the page at each event.

 

Cognito Comics : Operation Ajax
Stephen Kinzer
The drawings aren’t fantastic, but we can see here some little systems that can be seen in several other comics app. For example, the borrowing of some vocabulary from the world of cinema (opening credits, zoom in the frame, tracking shot…), with short animations, composed on the pages.
App
Video demo

 

Office National du Film du Canada : La guerre de 1812
App
Website

 

Madefire
Example above : Houses of the holy
Mike Carey, Dave Kendall
Madefire team : Ben Wolstenholm, Eugene Walden, Liam Sharp
It’s a bookstore, which contains interactive comics.
App
Website

 

Imaginism Studios : Niko and the Sword of Light
Bobby Chiu, Kei Acedera
Ok so, in an ergonomic and interactive point of view, this comic is the inverse of what should be done. Actually, it’s a cartoon adapted in order to looks like a comic. But it’s not. You’re not master of the time (the animated parts – everywhere – are long and indispensable to understand the story). The frames are assembled in a view (oh, it’s a comic) and you have to tap outside the frames already on the screen to make appears the next one (oh, it’s interactive), but to find a good balance between the media, it doesn’t work like that.
App
Website
Article to find more about what I’m talking about

 

Disney studio : Brave
It is also interesting to note that Brave (Rebelle, in french), has been adapted to several apps, several ways to tells stories, with the game Temple Run : Rebelle, the Read-and-Play app Brave:Storybook deluxe, and Brave, a story to listen.
App

 

Anomaly Productions : Shifter and Anomaly
Ryan Woodward
App
Video demo

 

2- Notable examples on the web :

 

1- Scott McCloud’s webcomics
The source.
Website

 

2- Les autres gens
Une initiative de Thomas Cadène. Les Autres Gens est un feuilleton quotidien en BD, chaque jour un nouvel épisode est publié. Chaque jour c’est l’équivalent de 4 ou 5 pages de bande dessinée qui vous est proposé.
Website

 

3- Hobo Lobo of Hamelin
One of the first webcomic’s using parallax scrolling. A nice work.
Website

 

4- Turbomedia :
blogs of Malek and Balak
Malek and Balak are two french authors who named «turbomedia» the narrative system they deploy.
First’s Balak turbo media
Malek turbo media
Gipo curatorial’s webpage

 

5- Operation Opera
Vincent Perriot, Simon Kansara
The use of the perspective is amazing and totally gives sens to the vertical scrolling reading. The story takes place in space, and, indeed, I feel like in Space Mountain reading this comics and losing my sense of where is the top, where is the bottom… It’s a simple trick, all made with the drawing.
Website

 

6- Eiland : The way of Man and Guy
Stefan J.H. Van Dinther
On the web version of the Eiland series. You make the frames appears, one by one, clicking on the right arrow. One frame, one music loop. I feel always a lot of pleasure to make those characters evolve in the space while making music.
Website
Androïd app
See also, by the same author : Sugarcube geometry, Man and guy as photographers, The morning of man and guy

 

7- du9.org : on Hugues Micol by Gregg & Xavier Guilbert
On that WordPress website, the authors of the article have added different kinds of animations by the vertical scrolling.
Website

 

8- NonstopBar
Motiv Collectif : VojtĚch šeda / ondřej novák
Part-game, part-comic, I don’t know why it works. Maybe because the atmosphere is good painted enough to maintain the reader in it.
Website

 

9- Super Pixel Quest
Emmanuel Espinasse
Frame by frame, moment after moment, the space of this castle is revealed, and the story unfolds.
Website

10- Succursales
Florent Ruppert, Jérôme Mulot
A « succursale » is like a « branch ». Each of their books has been expanded by a web branch version of the book, and you can fin here a lot of good principes. They have now give up this idea.
Website
Branch of Safari Monseigneur (use with trackpad)
Branch of La poubelle de la place Vendôme
Branch of Gogo Club (choose a character)
Branch of Le tricheur
Branch of Sol Carrelus
Branch of La maison close

 

11- Le long voyage
Boulet
A long page’s comic without separated frames.
Website

 

12- Notre Toyoto était fantastique
Boulet
An entire page in a gif, so all the frames have the same rythm
Website

 

13- 3 secondes
Marc Antoine Matthieu
Password : I don’t know if I take the liberty to give you the password… Go to the library, open the book, you’ll find it in it.
Website

 

 

14- Disney studio : Tron
The particularity of this linear animated (mainly translation, not animation) comics is a long smooth panoramic page.
The web version is actually down, but an app version that I haven’t tested yet exists.
Video demo of the app

 

15- Sunderlevel : Nawlz
Stuart Campbell
I personally think that the drawings are horrible and the navigation is rough, but it exists, take a look at it…
App
Video demo
Website

 

3- Some French webcomic’s platforms

 

Grandpapier
Website

 

Delitoon
Website

 

Lapin
Website

 

Coconino World
Unfortunately, this website is heavy and not updated anymore, but it’s beautiful and it have a lot of wonderful resources. Well, actually, it’s not webcomics at all but I wanted you to know that website :)
Website

 

BDZMag
La BDZ thèque and the concept « Pirate ta BD »
Website

 

Mauvais Esprit
Website