Comic lovers around the world, get ready to turn a new page.
Kobo, owned by Tokyo-based Rakuten, has announced an exciting new partnership that will see Dark Horse Comics’ best-selling titles immediately available on the Kobo Vox eReader.
Dark Horse is one of the world’s leading and most innovative comic companies, bringing readers titles such as Mass Effect, Star Wars, Serenity, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hellboy and Sin City.
“All of us at Kobo are thrilled to be adding Dark Horse’s amazing titles to our library,” says Michael Tamblyn, EVP Content, Sales & Merchandising.
“Based on strong visual storytelling, comics are a great fit for the eReading industry.”
Kobo is one of the world’s fastest-growing eReading services offering more than 2.5 million eBooks, magazines and newspapers- and counting. Built using an open-standards platform, the service is now available in nearly 200 countries.
“This partnership truly marks a continuation of Kobo’s ‘Read Freely’ philosophy, where we’re dedicated to providing a world-class catalogue of titles suitable for any market.”
With a seven-inch, FFS+ multimedia touchscreen, the Kobo Vox allows readers to experience a comic in vivid color.
Readers also can take advantage of everything from seamless page turns and automatic bookmarks, to outdoor screen optimization and an extra-wide viewing angle.
Plus, the Kobo Vox makes reading more social through integration with 15,000 apps, including Kobo’s own Reading Life, which lets users share their progress and earn awards for time spent reading.
“Kobo is the perfect partner for Dark Horse. Like us, they’ve established themselves on a basis of innovation,” says Matt Parkinson, Senior Director of Marketing for Dark Horse.
“We couldn’t be more excited to reach new readers around the world with some of the most exciting and dynamic storytelling that our comic titles offer.”
The news comes shortly after US based rival Amazon unveiled plans for a Japanese language version of the popular Kindle eReader, in a partnership with NTT DoCoMo.
The Nikkei business journal said Amazon could launch the Kindle in Japan as early as April this year.
With competition in the eReader field hotting up, it can only be good news for bookworms and publishers alike.
