Publishers Weekly

Feb 17, 2009

Thanks to Genus Corp, a software development firm based in L.A. that specializes in mobile devices, a new generation of comics readers is likely to discover the work of the late and legendary cartoonist Will Eisner on the iPhone. GC has developed Kamikaze, a new application for reading graphic novels on the iPhone and iPod Touch, that is available for download through the iPhone App store and the Genus website. The company has also secured licenses to the literary graphic novels of Will Eisner from the Eisner estate and W.W. Norton in addition to new graphic novels from IDW Publishing.

The software was developed by Melissa Pope and Helen Cho Anthos, co-CEOs of Genus Corp, who were on hand at the recent New York Comic-con to tout the application and the licenses to such classic Eisner works as A Contract With God, The Building and Life on Dropsie Avenue which are available for sale for $1.99 also through the App store and the Genus website. Mobile comics company Uclick also produces an iPhone application for reading graphic novels. But unlike the Uclick application, Kamikaze makes use of all of the iPhone functionality—the easy swipe, pinch and scale-up functions as well as functionality specifically designed for Kamikaze. There are full-page layouts, panel by panel slide-shows, easily enlarged word balloons and much more.

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