Is it a spoiler if it’s in the title?

By Ayo

“The Butler Did It”
Legends of the Dark Knight, No. 1
Damon Lindelof & Jeff Lemire
DC Comics for cell phones

Hey, the butler did it. There is literally zero purpose in reading this story because the title isn’t a clue, it’s the solution to the mystery. So YOU are fired. The real reasons to read this comic are 1) Jeff Lemire art. Fans of his /Sweet Tooth/ will want to see his Batman pages. And reason 2) to test out DC’s Digital First program to see if these cell phone comics are right for you.

Number one is completely subjective. Do you like Jeff Lemire’s art or not? I happen to like his art. Your mileage may vary. That’s secondary to number two (should have been number one to me) : how are cell phone comics in the year of our Lord, 2012?

Cool, dope, excellent.

If you left it up to me, I would have DC move further in this direction. I am a /heavy/ iPhone user and rely on it for my day-to-day computing. I also live in an NYC apartment the size of your NYC apartment’s walk-in closet. I can’t wait until I move just so I can announce that I’m coming out of the closet.

For that reason, I am very interested in significant advances in comics made FOR the smartphone market. I recently had a chat with David Steinberger of Comixology where I pointlessly complained at him that comic publishers aren’t producing books that “fit” in the small screen of the mobile phone. They rely too heavily on the cut-and-pan technology and the inevitability of larger tablet screens. None of this is Steinberger’s fault he just puts out what the publishers send him.

I love bothering people about things that aren’t their fault.

What Steinberger may have forgotten to suggest at the moment (to get the crazy man away from him) is that DC is pushing heavily on the cell market and that their “Digital First” comics are probably right up my alley. He could have totally mentioned that and been correct.

Now, let me square up with y’all I’ve used DC Comics as my personal punching bag for quite a while. I’ve been harsh on them for their faults and I still am. But seriously, honestly this is good. This is an excellent project and I urge you digital people to support it. It matters that other people support this because MY continued enjoyment of this platform depends on more people than just lil ole me buying these comic nuggets.

And comic nuggets is what these are. These scratch the same itch behind my ear as scroll-form webcomics that appear as one-off treats on Tumblr. Little pieces of self-contained, self-sufficient comicness that can be acquired cheaply and easily and consumed in-between tasks.

So if any readers ever use their phones for comics, help a fellow out?