Mirabilis: Year of Wonders, a graphic novel by Dave Morris and Leo Hartas, launched in the App Store this week.
The full-colour graphic novel was originally serialized in The DFC, a weekly print comic published by Random House UK, who financed the production. Mirabilis is the first of the DFC strips (which include Mezolith, Mo-Bot High and Monkey Nuts) to appear on iPad.
“iPad is a game changer for graphic novels,” says Mirabilis writer Dave Morris, a former number one UK best-selling author. “Go into most bookshops in Britain, you’ll be lucky to find the graphic novel section. Even in the US, they’re mostly just available in hobby stores.Yet suddenly the graphic novel market is worldwide, portable, affordable, open to everybody.”
Leo Hartas, the story’s co-creator and illustrator, says: “As soon as we saw the iPad we knew we had to release Mirabilis on this platform first. The quality is better than print. The colours have to be seen to be believed.”
Mirabilis is a fantasy adventure story for young adults. On New Year’s Day 1901, a green comet appears in the sky. As it gets bigger, the line between reality and fantasy blurs. Soon there are mermaids in the Thames, elves in Parliament and a dragon roosting on Big Ben. But then the comet rounds the sun and starts to fade. Will the world be able to go back to a life without magic?
The iPad app comprises the first 200-page season in what Morris and Hartas plan as a four-book epic. A hardcover edition is due for release in the UK next year by Printmedia Productions, and serialized print editions are in negotiation for India and the USA.
Learn more at www.mirabilis-yearofwonders.com
You can get the Mirabilis iPad app here: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/id405743224?mt=8
