Ever wanted to make your own comic strip? Planetwide Games Comic Book Creator can help!

by Dino R. Federico, BNN Reviewer


Comic Book Creator(TM)(c) by Planetwide Games is hot, easy to use, and a must for anyone who ever wanted to make a comic strip or even a comic book. This is not just for professional artists, this is for ANYONE! There are easy-to-navigate windows and toolboxes; there's the desired drag-and-drop ability, and much more features. Read on for more details, and check your Spidey sense which should be tingling.
On May 5, 2007, I had the opportunity to interview the maker of this great software, Mark Politi, from Planetwide Games. Now before the interview, I had already downloaded a free trial version at
http://www.mycomicbookcreator.com/download/hypercomics/

I was able to create a simple comic strip based on ideas I've had for awhile. Being computer saavy, I found it easy to navigate and create a comic strip in less than 30 minutes.
When I began the interview with Mark, he walked me through all the toolboxes and menu screens. I got even more excited as he showed me options and functions I hadn't discovered yet. One of my favorite is when you publish the comic strip (at hypercomics.com), the screen acts as a real comic book where you hover your mouse over the top right corner of the page and the page peels back and actually "turns" to the next page. This is a great function to share with your fans when you share your work.
Another function that had me itching to make more comics: the easy drag-and-drop feature. Now the software comes with a basic set of images, backgrounds, text fonts, etc., but you can also open any web page, find your favorite graphic, and drag it into your comic strip. (Yes you should respect all copyrighted material, so get permission on logos and such.) Any graphic is available from photos to animated graphics. Speaking of copyright, there is NO ability for anyone to copy or steal your comic book, it can only be viewed.
Other functions include audio clip insertions, rotatable text balloons, rotatable images, and resizable backgrounds and overlays. The future versions will include embedded avi clips.
When you want to publish your final work, the licensed copy of Comic Book CreatorÓ gives you unlimited publishing ability at hypercomics.com. When you include a link to your comic book to anyone in an email or on your web site, it automatically opens up the cover of your comic book! Yes it's a pop-up, but a wanted one :) Also, you can copy your comic strip/book to a DVD to play for any of your fans.
Now what about ideas for a comic strip? Maybe you would like to try making your own story line on a current comic strip. That's right! Planetwide has acquired licenses for Speed Racer, Charlotte's Web, Nacho Libre, and many more. You can obtain add-on packs which include all the graphics, fonts, and character sets for your favorite comic. Currently there are about 10 comic strips available with more to come.
In my working with this comic book software, I have to say it's also definitely for the professional artist. If you create your own characters and graphics, they are easy to import. Think of this like presentation software, but designed specifically to create and publish YOUR comics.
I want to thank Mark Politi from Planetwide Games for the time and information for this article. Keep up the great work!