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This digital comic could be yours for a dime. 

Dynamite is launching their own digital comics store today.  The comics will DRM-Free, which makes DRM-free the new (and welcome) trend in digital.  And just because they can, they’re launching with some $0.10 comics and 10% of all digital sales for the first month will be donated to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

The initial format they’re offering the comics in is .PDF, with plans for ePub and .CBZ in the future.  Dynamite is also planning on rolling out the library slowly, with new releases posted each Wednesday.  You might be thinking there’s not going to be a lot of DRM-free titles coming out of Dynamite, given all the licenses they deal with, but that doesn’t necessarily seem to be the case.  Besides the creator-owned, Dynamite-owned and public domain properties, the first batch includes Dresden Files, Wheel of Time, Pathfinder, Green Hornet and it looks like the pulp line will be DRM-Free, too, with The Shadow being the first of the Conde Naste characters in the store.  Figure it will take several months for Dynamite to get their entire back catalog online, but the Wednesday release schedule is established.

Dynamite is also offering some free wallpapers on their digital page.

(As an aside, if you haven’t read Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg!, it’s a hugely influential classic that happens to be in the initial roll out.  Definitely worth your time.)

This is yet another domino falling after Amazon’s acquisition of Comixology.  We’ve seen already seen Valiant expand to iVerse and Madefire, where they used to be exclusive.  Now Dynamite is opening their own digital sales outlet.  It’s not a common practice for publishers to go exclusive with Amazon, so we’ll probably have a few more changes to the digital landscape sooner than later.

Official PR follows:

Dynamite Entertainment Launches New DRM-Free Digital Comics Program;

New Digital Initiative Benefits Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

August 20, 2014, Mt. Laurel, NJ:  Dynamite Entertainment is excited to announce the debut of its brand new digital comic program featuring DRM-free comics. Launching initially with comics available in PDF file format, the initiative makes a selection of its most popular and celebrated titles ready for download today directly by consumers.  The sale of DRM-free digital comics coincides with the comic book and graphic novel publisher’s 10th anniversary celebration, and can be found at their company website’s dedicated digital sales page: http://dynamite.com/digital/

The program launches today with an available selection of over 80 individual comic books, which includes creator-owned, company-owned and licensed titles from Dynamite’s massive library.  The debut selection represents a wide variety of titles, spanning numerous genres, featuring name brand creators including Kevin Smith, Bill Willingham, Mark Millar, Grant Morrison, Alex Ross, Gail Simone, Robert Jordan, Jim Butcher, Walt Flanagan and Bryan Johnson, Frank Cho, Art and Franco, Garth Ennis, Darick Robertson, and more, as well as highlighting some of the industry’s most beloved characters (Red Sonja, Vampirella, and The Boys, just to name a few).

Throughout its first month of operation, Dynamite will donate ten percent of all sales to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of the First Amendment rights of the comics art form and its community of retailers, creators, publishers, librarians, and readers.

Charles Brownstein, Executive Director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, says, “CBLDF is delighted to be named as the charitable partner for Dynamite Digital! As comics advance in so many new directions, the CBLDF remains vigilant in our efforts to protect the comics medium in each aspect.  Dynamite’s contribution underscores our commitment to protect comics in the digital environment as vociferously as we do in the comic store and education spaces.”

Barrucci adds, “As part of our launch, we’re donating a portion of all sales to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.  Charles, Alex, and their team work tirelessly to protect our First Amendment rights.  The Fund needs the help of the industry to continue to support free speech.”

By Matt O’Keefe

The first series out of Dynamite Entertainment’s Creators Unleashed program, The Devilers is a comic book about an apocalypse inspired by a number of different faiths. Joshua Hale Fialkov writes and Matt Triano illustrates a group of holy men going into battle against an enemy that’s a culmination of all their beliefs. I spoke with Fialkov to learn what part of himself he tapped into to write his multi-religious armageddon.

How developed was The Devilers when you came aboard as the writer? How did it grow after you did?

JHF: I think the broad idea was there, and they had a sense of the tone they wanted, but, a lot of it was left up to me to do what I (theoretically) do well. For me, part of the fun is taking the religions not as dogma, and not as hard fast rules, but as a place to build story. The trick is doing it without being, y’know, horrifically offensive, which I think we manage to do pretty well. If you take their religions and the methodology behind their powers as, well, just that, as superpowers, it becomes a lot of fun to play with .

The Devilers features a Catholic Priest, a Jewish Rabbi, an Islamic Mullah, a Hindu Brahmin, and a Buddhist Monk. With such diverse viewpoints, where can they find common ground?

JHF: There’s also our non-believer who’s a bit of our POV character through out. Again, part of the fun is that ALL of them are right. Each of their religions sort of rub up against each other in the evil department, although, obviously, there’s some stretching. Ultimately, the fact that they don’t see the world the same way as each other contributes to the tension and drama of the story. So, stay tuned.

Each Deviler has a different view of the afterlife. How do you compile those into a single Hell?

JHF: We actually play with that a bit in the issues. It’s a hell, that I think, is fairly pan-religious, and, our villains are not quite the typical renditions of the evil below, so to speak.

How will the characters’ religions be put to the test in the series?

JHF: I think being constantly confronted by the truth and fallacy of your beliefs forces those beliefs to become a bit more practical. Again, even our atheist character is put in a place where suddenly he has no choice BUT to believe.

Where do God, angels, and Heaven fit into The Devilers? Do they at all?

JHF: Oh they do, but not the way we’re used to seeing them. God himself shows up around the end of Issue 3.

The demons’ looks are far removed from the stereotypical red with horns. What inspired their appearances?

JHF: It’s a mash-up of the various hells. The idea of it being a true place of eternal suffering, and something that every creature sentenced to live there is in abject misery and pain creates some visually wonderful stuff, especially in Matt Triano’s immensely talented hands.

I love the way sound effects are used for subtle actions like a gulp or look of confusion. Was there a specific intent to focus on those kind of uses instead of the standard “Bif! Bam! Pow!”?

JHF: Jeez, completely unintentional. I think that’s just how I do sound effects, and with Simon on lettering, there’s very cool stuff afoot.

The solicitations say seven issues, but it looks like the story could easily grow bigger than that. Have you considered future Devilers stories?

JHF: Of course. I have a feeling there’ll be Devilers stories for years to come.

Religion is such a divisive topic. What kind of questions do you hope this series raises about it?

JHF: I don’t know that I’m looking for profundity on the religious front. For me, it’s about a bunch of people who believe things that aren’t quite the same in practice as they are in concept. Each of them is going to be challenged with their understanding of the universe and their roles in it. So, I guess the message is don’t be so damn sure all the time.

You’ve written creator-owned comics for a lot of different publishers. What’s different about the Creators Unleashed program from Dynamite?

JHF: Nick and the crew are throwing their backs behind these books in a way that you usually don’t see from independent publishers. I’ve been given a completely free hand to tell the kind of story that interests me in the way that interests me, which, again, is not quite as easy to come by.

The Devilers is on sale July 16.

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We’re currently in the midst of a long-running Sherlock Holmes media explosion, from the Guy Ritchie films starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, to the hit BBC series SHERLOCK, and the American approach ELEMENTARY, however comics have plenty to add to the Holmes mythology, and Leah Moore and John Reppion are poised to release a new arc of their series SHERLOCK HOLMES this Wednesday, December 12, with “The Liverpool Demon” #1 from Dynamite Entertainment. The comics medium may even prove to be a more satisfying approach to the great detective, with its ability to conjure mood, give detailed characterization, and draw on the literary traditions established by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

“The Liverpool Demon” takes Holmes and Watson out of their more familiar London setting, and challenges the duo to prove their salt on new turf. Their initial task, to track down a murderess who’s stealing identities from her victims, gives readers a chance to see Holmes and Watson in action, complete with gun fights and street brawls. Illustration by Matt Triano is heavy in atmosphere, rife with historical detail, and takes a fresh look at the grittier aspects of the Victorian period, often all too romanticized in films and comics alike. Moore and Reppion focus on Holmes characterization that’s bound to satisfy knowledgeable fans, bringing in nuance and continuity with Doyle’s original portrayal of the character. When Holmes is knifed with a nasty Spanish blade by the struggling murderess, he pauses to comment on the make and workmanship of the blade rather than attending to the gash he receives: this is classic Holmes, with his brain continuing to process information in contrast to any more basic human needs.

Unlike the original Holmes stories, however, “Liverpool Demon” allows readers to view events happening outside the perspective of Holmes and Watson, laying clues for the reader to assemble in the developing plot. This often highlights social factors, like violent conflict between the police and lower classes, and introduces lesser characters who appear later in the story. This essentially gives the reader a jump on Holmes, and the chance to grasp the challenges Holmes is up against before we see him in action. When a conversation between Holmes, Watson, and some colleagues  turns to the supernatural, readers get a chance to hear Holmes’ circumspect thoughts on the matter, thoughts which become a major theme for the “Liverpool Demon” arc: what “seems inexplicable” is deemed “supernatural”, but for Holmes, the “impossibly is merely a diversion from the real facts”. But what will Holmes make of a visible, fiery-eyed and leaping figure striking dread into city inhabitants? His reaction, intriguingly, is to rush toward the unknown. When Watson asks Holmes if he actually saw the creature with his own eyes, his only answer is “perhaps”. He, of course, wants more “data”.

“The Liverpool Demon” #1 creates a finely balanced introduction to a storyline that promises to pit Sherlock Holmes against something that even he isn’t sure he believes exists. For those who love the Doyle Hound of the Baskervilles novella, this story takes scientific inquiry into the supernatural one step futher. Hardly “elementary” stuff. The pacing of the story is solid, with an excellent attention to visual detail, a careful consideration of historicity, and, perhaps most importantly, it creates a driving sense of curiosity that keeps readers, like Holmes, in pursuit of the truth.

Leah Moore and John Reppion have provided the Beat with some exclusive insights into their work on SHERLOCK HOLMES, and “The Liverpool Demon”, as well as some hints of things to come.

HM-S: Sherlock Holmes has become such a multi-media figure over time from the original stories to TV, films, and comics. What elements of Sherlock Holmes tradition have influenced you the most?

Leah Moore &John Reppion: We’ve tried to stick as close as possible to Conan Doyle’s original stories in terms of the era, settings, and characters of our own Holmes stories. We both really love the BBC Sherlock series and thought the Guy Richie films where really good fun but we wanted to bring the classic Victorian Holmes and Watson back to life on the comic book page.

HM-S: Have you always been big Sherlock fans? What makes you particularly want to work on a project like this?

LM&JR: Prior to working on The Trial of Sherlock Holmes back in 2009 neither of us would have categorized ourselves as Holmes fans really. As it turned out though, we were both much more familiar with The Great Detective’s work than we’d imagined. As well as having each read a smattering of Holmes’ adventures, we’d both seen much of the wonderful British ITV television series and listened to many a radio adaptation. We’d just finished work on The Complete Dracula when the opportunity to write The Trial came up, so we were already steeped in Victorian research. Les Klinger’s New Annotated Dracula was an invaluable resource for the Stoker adaptation and his Annotated Sherlock Holmes proved no less so for The Trial. I certainly wouldn’t class us as Victorian experts, or Holmes experts but we’re “enthusiastic amateurs” who have amassed a really good lot of reference material.

HM-S: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had a strong interest in the occult, didn’t he? What do you think it is about the original Holmes stories that lends itself to bringing in “weird tales” elements and the supernatural?

LM&JR: Doyle was a Spiritualist, a member of The Ghost Club (the oldest extant paranormal investigation group in the world), a believer in fairies, and notoriously fell out with his friend Harry Houdini because he refused to believe that the magician did not possess genuine powers. Holmes on the other hand is about the most skeptical character that one can imagine. Perhaps that’s why Doyle got so fed up of writing him that he decided to kill him off – maybe Holmes’ ability to see through even the weirdest and most unlikely of circumstances to the cold hard facts began to grate on him?

The weird, the supernatural, the Gothic; it’s all there in tales such as The Hound of the Baskervilles, and The Sussex Vampire but Holmes always cuts through all the atmosphere and sees the naked crime at the heart of it. In this first issue of The Liverpool Demon we’ve come at this idea head on, giving The Great Detective a nice little speech on the matter:

“That which seems inexplicable, supernatural… that is my business, sir. And I have never yet met either wizard, demon, or ghoul. The impossible is merely a diversion from the real facts”.

HM-S: The art style and color palette of “Demon” really depicts the gritty reality of life in the Victorian period, and there’s a strong emphasis on violent conflict. Did you have a particular goal in working against the romantic views people often have of the period?

LM&JR: Our first Holmes series was set in London and dealt with royalty, government, and politics. There was a bit of down and dirty poor London in there but it was still very much the accepted and expected London setting of many a Holmes tale. With this second series we wanted to take both Holmes and the reader out of the that London comfort zone and make things a lot grittier and dirtier and generally more hostile. We want it to be a tense, scary place and Victorian London sometimes feels too overdone, too familiar, to be genuinely menacing.

Matt Triano is doing a fantastic job of rendering Victorian Liverpool despite having never been here. Lots of the buildings and locations featured in the story are still extant and pretty much unchanged so it’s fun to see these familiar (to us) places crop up on the page.

HM-S: Any hints or teasers for audiences about what they can expect from the rest of the series?

LM&JR: Well, in the best British tradition, once the newspapers get hold of the demon story there’s bound to be a bit of a panic… who knows what might happen next…

Also, readers (and Holmes) can look forward to meeting Thornton – a no nonsense Irish copper whose on a one man mission to clean up the mean streets of Liverpool.

HM-S: What other projects are you all currently working on?

Damsels, our Dynamite Entertainment ongoing, is currently on its third issue with number four coming out in the first week of the new year. Damsels is a fairy tale/fantasy series in which we get to play with all the established characters and stories of the entire folk/fairy tale world and put our own twist on them. We’re following Rapa – a dread-locked, tattooed, wanderer – as she tries to piece together her own story whilst trying to contend with all manner of monsters and people who seem  to want to get in her way. It’s great fun to write and people seem to be really enjoying it. Aneke, our artist, manages to create such wonderful, bouncy, art without ever overstepping the mark into full on Disneyness.

HM-S: Thanks, Leah and John, for feeding my own personal Sherlock Holmes addiction in such a compelling way and taking the time to discuss SHERLOCK HOLMES: “The Liverpool Demon”.

Hannah Means-Shannon writes and blogs about comics for TRIP CITY and Sequart.org and is currently working on books about Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore for Sequart. She is @hannahmenzies on Twitter and hannahmenziesblog on WordPress.