Today atSXSW,Marvel announced a partnership with Autonomy’s Aurasma platform to lets users watch video trailers of books they see in stores, as well as 3D animation, recaps, and other augmented reality extras by holding their phones up to comics. That means 3D super heroes will soon be stepping out of your print books. Marvel will release free iOS and Android apps to power the augmented reality experiences as part of its Marvel ReEvolution revamp.
New lines of “Marvel Infinite Comics” written especially for digital are also on the way.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQFT0sY8HtA]
Aurasma demoed the augmented reality experience and it was quite impressive. A phone, screencast to a projector, showed that when pointed at an Iron Man comic book, a giant 3D Iron Man appeared in front of the page, flexed his metal muscles and hovered around complete with sound.Aurasma debuted its AR engine at CES in January
Marvel representatives explained that the goal is to “build out DVD and Blu-Ray extras into the comic book itself.” Whether users buy a print or digital version, they’ll get to check out animated videos, pencils, colors, and primers on past issues in a series. The features will appear in a several month-long Avengers Vs. X-Men run later this year.
Marvel Infinite Comics will be “the first marvel comics built strictly for digital. They’ll use parameters of your iPhone or iPad. It’s a new canvas for storytelling.” Readers will still control the pacing, but starting with the Nova series, panels of the digital comics will be slightly animated to make them feel alive.
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Constine currently writes a weekly newsletter called Moving Product at https://constine.substack.com/ where he discusses big ideas facing the startup industry, the most exciting new tech products, and interviews top industry talent about the most important recent launches.
Previously, Constine was the Editor-At-Large for TechCrunch where he wrote over 3500 blog posts about social tech giants like Facebook and Snapchat as well as early stage startups across verticals. His work was cited on the floors of the Senate and House Of Representatives, and led to the shut down of Facebook’s Onavo market surveillance app.
Constine was formerly the Lead Writer of Inside Facebook through its acquisition by WebMediaBrands, covering everything about the social network.
Constine graduated from Stanford University in 2009 with a Master’s degree in Cybersociology, examining the influence of technology on social interaction. He researched the impact of privacy controls on the socialization of children, meme popularity cycles, and what influences the click through rate of links posted to Twitter. Constine also received a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Stanford University in 2007, with a concentration in Social Psychology & Interpersonal Processes.
Josh Constine is an experienced public speaker, and has moderated over 190 on-stage interviews in 18 countries with leaders including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram’s founders, whistleblower Edward Snowden (via on-stage video conference), and U.S. Senator Cory Booker. He also delivers keynotes on how to pitch startups, press strategy for tech companies, and how to turn your passion into your profession. He is available to moderate panels and fireside chats, provide keynotes, and judge hackathon and pitch competitions. You can contact him at Joshsc [at] gmail .com
Constine has been quoted by The Wall Street Journal, CNN Money, The Atlantic, BBC World Magazine, Slate, and more, plus has been featured on television on Good Morning, America, The Today Show, China Central Television, and Fox News. Constine was ranked as the #1 most cited tech journalist on prestigious news aggregator Techmeme from 2016 to 2020.
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