X-Men and Spider-Woman on iTunes from Marvel

Marvel Entertainment will now be releasing a series of motion pictures via iTunes that can be viewed on a PC, AppleTV, iPod, or iPhone.

Still from Astonishing X-Men motion comic trailer

Astonishing X-Men and Spider-Woman are the first books to be released under this format. The announcement was made at the Digital Media panel at New York Comic Con.

This new format will feature the first ever iPod and iPhone-bound digital books taking on characteristics of both print and animation with audio and motion enhancing the typical panel-based format of print.

The most exciting aspect of this format is that the dialogues won’t be in the bubbles as usually seen in the orthodox comic books but the dialogues would be spoken and the drawings would be used to compose the digital books.

Wolverine in Astonishing X-Men Gifted motion comic

“It became very, very evident to me that as technology moves forward, there will come a day where we’ll be able to not just create animation based upon our comic books and our characters and stories that we’ve told, but there will come a time when eventually we’ll be able to take existing comic art, the flat, static art, and be able to animate it,” said Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada. “So [now] we can put out a product that is not quite a comic book and not quite animation, [but] a wonderful hybrid that incorporates all of our great talents.”

Experts believe that the best way to get the most out of the format would be using it through the devices that have a great audio and video facility.

Marvel panelists said they would like to release more of their library in motion comic formats to add a new dynamic to the stories.

“Sure you’ve seen the origin of Fantastic Four in the movies and in cartoons, but we’re giving it to you with Jack Kirby’s art, come to life,” said Quesada. “That to me, ultimately, is the coolest part of this.”

“I’m not saying that we’re there yet but, those are the possibilities,” Quesada said.

The Comic Con panel offered a preview of an Astonishing X-Men motion comic based on the recent Joss Whedon run, with more original content planned in the future, according to Brian Michael Bendis. Bendis, along with frequent collaborator Alex Maleev, will do a new Spider-Woman motion comic starting in February 2009, which will be the first in-continuity title produced specifically for the new digital medium.

There has been no announcements on the pricetags of this new creative innovation.

Marvel is still fine-tuning its distribution plans. It has said that the Astonishing X-Men and Spider-Woman motion comics will be distributed through iTunes and other digital distribution outlets, through the Marvel website, Marvel YouTube channel or through other streaming websites.