Paramount has teamed up with Singapore-based Omnitoons to develop “Manga-styled” mobile comics based on Paramount movies. So far, the three tie-ins announced aren’t SF – they’re based on the Brit-com Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging the thriller Eagle Eye and MIssion: Impossible – but Paramount has films like the new big screen Trek, Transformers 2 and Monsters Vs Aliens scheduled for next, all of which would be great for this format, we reckon.
According to Omnitoons, "The comics will be available in 3 different formats including: single-panel comics, four screens per comic strips and short stories with more than 20 screens in each episode. Currently, these comics are made available through MMS and J2ME formats in the United States, Australia, Europe and India. The mobile comics will be made available by download through key carriers and major content distributors worldwide. And we bet they charge a packet to download them.
Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging seems an odd choice to launch with. Mobile comics are already a huge success in Japan, but we're not too sure how popular Brit-coms are. And quite whether a shoujo comedy romance is the best way to get the rest of the world into the habit remains to be seen.
Oh, and the reaction of SFX’s manga expert, Leah, was: "Good God, the art’s awful!"
