Research: Comic book resources- Marvels Augmented Reality by Timothy Callahan

Callahan clearly had quite a grounded and cynical outlook on the marvel AR app from the word go. Which is interesting considering that the app did eventually fail in the long term. He expresses what he thinks the app could build upon, giving real world examples of how it’s shortcomings show, making this an incredibly useful article.

So from this I got:

• marvel AR started with avengers vs X-men, a big event in comics.
• “Marvel AR? Well… it’s not all terrible.”
• Notes that it is flawed, and had a few production glitches. He believes that the app should have been tested on smaller comics first
• Notes that they will have chosen this comic to draw more attention to the big event
• “Issue 1 is forever bound together with the weak first attempt of what might become something actually useful for a little while, before paper disappears forever”
• Notes that doing this would have been like giving floppy disks out with big event comics in the 80’s, and states that with hindsight this will seem as strange a concept.
• Can’t see a real use for the app as a form of information, it’s just as convenient to search any queries about characters on Wikipedia. Or search for writer interviews on google.
• The issue contained a decent intro narration, awkward video interview, process gifs behind panels and character information sheets
• Speaks of showing it to his two children of 8 and 11 years, who initially loved the app, but found the information and process works to be boring. He says “by the end of the issue they were deflated”. “They just seemed to want more stop motion and sound effects.
• Can’t see an audience for the app when considering kids are uninterested, and adults can just google the info.
• He notes that the app wants to supply extra information, but marvel needs to put money towards that to increase the quality
• Describes the app as “inefficient” framing is wonky and difficult if sat on a couch, the app somewhat required you to place it on a table

Going through the batch of articles that I found this was the only one that goes into detail on the experience. One nugget of information I found that I feel indicates how little marvel cared about the app was from a message board. One user couldn’t understand why the app wouldn’t work for what they were reading, and it turns out they only for up to three weeks after release. They are literally making the content for it to be thrown away.