For you comic book lovers torn between Amazon’s upcoming Kindle Fire and the newly announced Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet — with all its reported Marvel comics goodness – here’s a bit of news to help fuel your debate. Or, perhaps, solve it.

ComiXology has officially announced their app, which features an array of thousands of comics from several publishers, will be included as a built-in with Amazon’s device and will ship with it at launch.

“Launching with a $199 price point makes Amazon’s Kindle Fire a great device for making comics accessible to the masses and the vibrant 7” screen is perfect for our Guided View™ reading system,” said CTO and co-Founder John Roberts.

This is good news for anyone who was worried the Nook Tablet might have the advantage over the Kindle Fire in the comic book reader competition. ComiXology has so many great comics it doesn’t seem like those who ordered a Kindle Fire, and wanted to use it to read comics, have any reason to be jealous of their Nook-using pals.

The Amazon Kindle Fire is available for pre-order now. Although, if you want one any time soon you better hurry as demand has been pretty big.

Check out the full press release from ComiXology after the break.

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If you’re one of the people who love to read your comics via a digital device like an iPad, this news about comiXology is directed towards you. As of today, comiXology will now be selling over 3,500 Marvel digital comics through their Web Viewer at comics.comixology.com.

Comic fans can now enjoy one of the largest Marvel digital comics’ libraries online whenever they want. All you need is a computer or other device capable of displaying a web page.

According to the company, comiXology’s Web Viewer “empowers comic readers with the same Guided View reading experience as in their iOS apps but with the added ability of being able to add individual comics, an entire series, or even all sales items into their personal shopping cart.”

In addition, all purchases sync automagically with the comiXology app for iOS so they are available wherever you go. Sounds pretty cool to us. We already gave it a try and it works well. We just wish they had more of a selection from other publishers.

Maybe someday. Let us know your experiences in the comments.

As an Android-powered phone user have you been jealous of your friends who get to enjoy reading comics on their iPhone or iPad? Well, time to feel better as comiXology has announced a Beta release of its industry-leading comics reader for Android.

The new beta is available in the Android marketplace and enables fans to read comics on devices running Android 2.1 or higher. The Comics by comiXology beta app gives users the ability to discover, purchase, and read more than 2,500 digital comics and over 300 free comics from 40 publishers.

Launch partners providing content for the app include DC Comics, Image Comics, Vertigo, Top Cow, Boom! Studios, Dynamite Entertainment, Archie and many more. Users can search and browse through comics based on titles, creators, publishers, genre and ratings, and find local comic book retailers with the built-in retailer finder.

“Our enthusiastic community has been asking us for an Android app and it’s with great pleasure that we bring it to them in time for the holidays,” said David Steinberger, CEO of comiXology. “Comics by comiXology on Android delivers comic books to mainstream audiences on even more devices. Now, more people who want to read a comic will have the opportunity to do so, when and where they want, while giving our content partners another major distribution outlet.”

Comics downloaded to the Android app will be available on the iOS and Web version as well through cross-platform synchronization so users can enjoy comics purchased on all their devices. So, great news for Android users. Even better news when those Android-powered Tablets start arriving in quantity.

Shhhhhhh! You hear that?

“Braiinnnnsssssssssssssssssssssssss!”

It’s AMC’s The Walking Dead arriving on your Apple iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad courtesy of the comiXology app. While the world anxiously awaits AMC’s Halloween premiere of the brand new zombie-destroying series, comiXology has launched a dedicated digital comic app in collaboration with Image Comics and the comic’s creator Robert Kirkman.

“Robert Kirkman and Image Comics have been great partners of ours and we love to see them continually pushing the envelope with The Walking Dead series,” said David Steinberger, CEO of comiXology. “Through this new app, zombie lovers everywhere will be getting a full dose of their favorite comic on their mobile devices all in one location. We’ve even added all the collected editions.”

In case you’re not familiar with the franchise, The Walking Dead is a mostly black-and-white comic first published by Image Comics in 2003, and created by writer Robert Kirkman and artist Tony Moore. The story arc focuses on Rick Grimes, a small-town police officer from Cynthiana, Kentucky, his family, and a number of other survivors who have banded together in order to survive a world stricken by a zombie apocalypse. The series won the 2010 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series at the San Diego Comic Convention.

“Today’s app release will provide fans of The Walking Dead, new and old alike, another way to enjoy this series,” said Robert Kirkman. “The Walking Dead app will make the series that much more accessible to the new generation that, more often than not, experiences their entertainment completely digitally. I couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with comiXology, on the eve of the debut of the AMC television series, to bring this series in front of a whole new generation of readers.”

Interested in grabbing the dedicated app? Head over to iTunes and download it now. And don’t forget about the new series on AMC, premiering on October 31, 2010.

With the Kick-Ass movie about to hit theaters Marvel is doing another cool thing to tie in with the film’s release. Starting today, they are offering the complete Kick-Ass limited comic series in single issue format for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. The comics can be downloaded via the Comixology or Iverse applications for Apple devices and PSP users can download directly to their device.

“I have an ancient cell phone given to me by a relative that’s so old it can’t take pictures so this tech is so far away from me it might as well be science fiction,” said Kick-Ass writer and co-creator Mark Millar. “But I read about it on Comic Book Resources and Marvel.com– the guys seemed excited so consider me excited by osmosis. More readers and new readers is always a good thing.”

John Romita Jr, artist and co-creator of Kick-Ass, said, “I’m excited about these advances in technology that I have been hearing about for, what seems like ten years. Now it has arrived, and all I can think of is that it advances the state of ‘comic books’ in that it will direct people to the source material. I believe this will cement the tangible material, the comics themselves, into the hands and minds of future ‘young’ generations! It always comes down to the quality of writing and the sequential art. Holding a comic and turning the page for more will forever be a novelty, even with advanced technology as an option.”

So there you have it right from the creators. This is a new way to discover the world of Kick-Ass and hopefully enhance your appreciation for the comic and what the filmmakers were able to accomplish when bringing the comic to the big screen.

Kick-Ass the movie opens everywhere tomorrow.

As we’ve debated on The Flickcast, digital distribution of comics and other content is here to stay and is the way things will be done in the future. To illustrate this point, comic book publisher Top Cow Productions has announced they are partnering with several companies to offer their comics and other content on mobile, portable and desktop readers.

Want to know more? For that, let’s check out the official press release from Top Cow.

TOP COW COMICS ANNOUNCES DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION PLANS

LOS ANGELES, Calif., December 9, 2009 – Top Cow Productions, Inc. proudly announced today that the publisher has partnered with comiXology, iVerse Media, WOWIO, Amazon.com and Longbox Digital to distribute their digital comics on mobile, portable and desktop readers. The move is in direct response to requests from fans and in an effort to tap into a new growth market.

The publisher plans to focus on primarily archival material and sold out issues of recent series. The first of Top Cow’s digital comics will be available beginning tomorrow, December 10th, 2009.

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