Author: Brian Alvey

Online Comic Book Reader Gets a Redesign at ComicMix

Online Comic Book Reader Gets a Redesign at ComicMix

Last Friday, with no fanfare, we released the first major upgrade to our ComicMix online comic book reader since we launched our free online comics last October. We have done small upgrades every month or two — like adding the ability to link straight to a specific page, remembering what zoom level you like and remembering that you always want two-page spreads. But this upgrade was significant.

First, we eliminated those little page number links at the top of the screen. We were only using about 30 pixels for that strip, but vertical space is already limited by all the toolbars and junk in your browsers, so why waste any more? Since computer screens are almost always wider than tall, we put the page navigation on the right — the same way that applications like Adobe Acrobat, Apple’s Preview app, Quark and Pagemaker do.

Do you need to click on those little page thumbnails to flip through our comics? Of course not.

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Mahalo Daily Interviews Stan Lee

Mahalo Daily Interviews Stan Lee

I have often been told that Stan Lee is the easiest interview subject in the world. You put him on stage or on camera, do a quick introduction and then stand back and let him talk.

Mahalo Daily featured an interview with Stan Lee today. One of the highlights? Stan Lee explaining how the first X-Men movie could have made twice what it did if they had given him a speaking role.

Of course, the Mahalo team has to be thrilled with Lee’s endorsement of Mahalo after the credits at the end of the video.

We’ve got issues!

We’ve got issues!

Okay, technically we’ve got issue with no "s", but today is a pretty big day for ComicMix.

We have a new design. We published the first installment of one of our comic books online. We added the ability to leave anonymous comments. We added an easy way to listen to our podcast archives. Best of all, we moved the site to an entirely rebuilt publishing platform which will let us release new features over the coming weeks at light speed.

The amazing thing to me is that it’s just a start. It’s everything that comes after today that has me so psyched.

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Shooting pool with Paul Jenkins in Chicago

Shooting pool with Paul Jenkins in Chicago

In the back of Wizard World’s Chicago convention program was a full page ad featuring Paul Jenkins. It read:

This man is here to take your money! He is Paul Jenkins. Some call him a comic writer. You will call him "master." He is shooting pool at the Hero Initiative booth, #140. You can challenge him for $30, and possibly win fabulous prizes. But you will not win fabulous prizes. Because Paul will beat you. No, "beat" is not the correct word. He will destroy you, humiliate you, and debase you. He will leave you a broken shell of a man, woman, or whatever vaguely walking-erect mammal you purport to be. Paul Jenkins owns you. You just don’t know it yet.

How could I resist that? My ComicMix crew got their camera ready and I paid my $30.

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