I'm developing a section on Futurebook.net of book app reviews and previews. Critiques of book apps; their usability, functionality and whether the app has enhanced the original book/narrative. I'm hoping these reviews will come from bloggers, reviewers and book trade folk. If you'd like to be involved, email me at sam.missingham@bookseller.co.uk. Kicking this off is Jennifer Lucy Allan's review of the Marvel app. 

Marvel app review: iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch: Free (comics cost an average of £1.19)

The first time you click to buy a comic through the free Marvel app for iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad, you’ll be guided through the reading process by Iron Man, who explains how to read a comic in the app in a mini comic strip. This simple, common sense approach is a recurring theme in the Marvel app.

When reading, the Marvel app displays panel rather than a whole page, and the movement from panel to panel reflects a virtual page lay out  - a panel on the virtual far right will scan diagonally across a page to zoom in on the next panel on the left side of the page. It’s a way of Marvel making a compromise between the original and digitised versions, by restricting any disruption to the flow of the comic. 

To put the app through its paces I read the first edition of the Fantastic Four from 1959 on an iPhone 4, which has been digitised into an edition for the app. It’s with these older comics that the app really shows its value, as the cost is so drastically different than a physical copy, and opens up vast swathes of vintage reading material to a new audience. Fantastic Four #1 cost £1.19 through the Marvel app, whereas in print I’d have to buy an expensive omnibus edition, and the ori­­­­­ginal (if I managed to find one) is valued at around £34,000.

The gesture controls when reading in the Marvel app generally match the standard iPhone controls - pinch or double tap to zoom, swipe to skip to the next or previous panel. Outside of reading comics, navigating the app is simple and well structured. Browse‑ by series, creator, genre, rating, storylines and release date, or look at the free comics, featured comics by popular or new editions, or the top 25 by series, creator or genre.  

The Marvel app is still in version 1.0, which means it hasn’t been updated for iOS4 yet. This caused problems, whereby my iPhone 4 asked repeatedly to update the comics I had bought, which then took around 25 minutes to download. The lack of iOS4 update means that the app does not work with the iPhone 4’s multitasking, so you’re forced to watch update after update without being able to do anything else. I found a reinstall, or simply cancelling the update, stopped the problem. This lack of iOS4 upgrade also means that the images aren’t as sharp as they could be, as the app has not been modified to make best use of the iPhone 4 retina display.   

The best ideas in this app have gone into its functionality. The Marvel developers have taken note of the importance of the physical object for comic book fans, and have built the app with this in mind. This means that I can read the original Spiderman series digitally, and should  I want to go and buy a physical copy, the app uses my GPS location to source the nearest comic book shop. This is a big boon to independent comic book sellers, serving to push customers straight from the app into their stores.

The Marvel app gives you everything you need, but could still be offering more in terms of features unique to the medium. While the screen moves in a way which reflects the way I would read a physical book, and therefore does a lot to preserve the original integrity of the comic, there’s a lot more potential for the app in terms of multimedia features - an animated kapow! or a panel where the user can watch the Hulk transform could add another level of engagement and interactivity to the static panels, and while purists might turn up their noses, all that’s needed is a setting for switching these additions on or off.  

Jennifer Lucy Allan currently works as reporter on tech website Electricpig.co.uk, and freelances for Wired UK and The Wire. Her primary interest is the way digital developments affect our consumption of culture, and wants to see arts and media taking full advantage of the possibilities of digital.  Her twitter name is @jennifer_piail.