Lots of coverage of Apple banning a comic from distribution thruough iTunes (even more links to stories on it at the comic publisher’s site here). Apple says the content can’t "offend" but The Register correctly notes that Apple doesn’t seem to apply the same standards to movies or tv shows (and I’ll add music as well). The comic called Murderdrome was put out by Infurious Comics (and is available at their website now if you’re curious at to it’s "offensive" content)..
TechRadar has an interview with the creators — England-based Al Ewing and Belfast-based Paul J Holden, where they seem to be asking Apple to adopt some kind of rating system. I have no idea if that’s a good idea or not at this point but given the iPod/iPhone dominance these days, it’s troubling to me that Apple is setting itself up as a censor for comics content on a platform that potentially could be huge if handled right. (Although Charlie Sorrel at Wired says no thanks to comics on the iPhone. h/t Journalista!)
I exchanged emails with Tim Demeter, the Editor-In-Chief of iPod/iPhone comics pubhlisher Clickwheel this morning, asking about how Clickwheel’s model was different and if he had any reaction to the story. Here’s his comment:
Clickwheel’s iPhone App is a free reader while our content is sold via the Clickwheel site, not the App Store, so it’s a different set of rules. The truth is, the App Store is something new for all involved and everyone still seems to be feeling out what can be done – including Apple. Either way, I’m confident Apple will ultimately resolve this situation. Anything that helps them sell iPods is in their best interests and there’s a big cross over between the comic reading and gizmo buying audiences so I wouldn’t expect this to be an issue for long.
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