The Dark - Markosia Enterprises

I've blogged about digital comic publishing a couple of time recently, exploring the pros and the cons as I see them, speculating how publishers, particularly the smaller, independent publishers, might embrace this format.

Here's a really good example of what I was talking about.

Markosia Enterprises are releasing a new title - The Dark - that will be published initially as a digital download via iTunes with a printed collection to follow later in the year.

So, what's The Dark about?

A brilliant young scientist on the fringes of the establishment creates a technology that encodes information and memories into a liquid form allowing anyone to 'drink' the information. Terrified that his invention will be used for military purposes he decides to destroy his research, but not before he takes one last trip … with disastrous results.

Two years on, and the Memetech genie is out of the bottle. The scientist, having perfected his own version of the technology, fights a one-man war against the spread of his own invention and the collapse of our information culture in the guise of 'The Dark'.

But all may not be as it seems.

Who is the new and mysterious enemy who seems to know The Dark’s every move?
How did the Memetech, thought destroyed, reappear?
Why can’t The Dark wake his wife and son?
And why is everyone in Dante named after an English poet?

[Source: Markosia Enterprises]

I read the 8 page preview issue that Markosia have released and really enjoyed it. The writing was nicely paced and the dialogue felt real: the fight scenes had a real sense of danger whilst the opening panels, set in a hospital room as the scientist sits alongside his wife's bed, had a genuine feel of desperation, of regret. Likewise, the artwork was very much to my own personal taste - clean, confident, subtle colouring.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this story develops.

As I said before my preference is for a printed publication although I appreciate it's not always going to be feasible for publishers to release all of their titles in a printed form. I also appreciate that I probably need to get used to reading digitally!

It seems to me Markosia have found an ideal approach here by releasing the single issues digitally and then following up with a printed volume. Based on the strength of this preview issue I would be happy to pay for the digital downloads and then buy the printed collected edition.

The Dark
Written by Chris Lynch, art by Rick Lundeen
Published by Markosia Enterprises, August 2009