NYCC 2012: Skip Brittenham and Brian Haberlin Shows Us "Anomaly"

When you're traversing the chaos of the convention floor at NYCC, there are some comics that just speak to you.  The art is particularly compelling, the words are striking, or the premise is something new -- something that just makes the comic book just jump out at you.

When I came across Anomaly, something did jump out at me - quite literally.

Created by long-time entertainment industry collaborator Skip Brittenham and acclaimed artist Brian Haberlin, Anomaly is a 370-page "epic science-fiction adventure" set in the year 2717 that tells the story of a group of people that are sent on a seemingly easy first contact mission to a new world.  When they arrive, however, they discover that the whole mission was a ruse, and they were sent there to die by the forces that be.

That sounds like it's already a premise we sci-fi nerds like us can get behind, but there's a brand new component to this reading experience as well in the form of two companion apps that flesh out the reader's immersion into the Anomaly universe.

The first is an augmented reality app that will come free with the purchase of the massive, landscape-style tome.  Characters will literally pop out of the page when the reader's camera is pointed at the book -- no silly QR codes required.  It was really amazing to see the technology just understand at what you're looking and populate the screen with an interactive model that you can literally touch and poke.  Moreover, any character or creature that can be pulled up on the AR app also comes with a full appendix explaining who or what they are in the Anomaly universe.

The second app is a standalone tablet app with a full, motion comic version of Anomaly programmed right in.  Completely customizable, the reader can change how they experience the full story -- with or without a full assortment of voice actors reading the story to you, automatic progression, and info touchpoints.

Check out our interview with the creators for even more details about this brand new project, and for a demo of the new AR tech with the book!

Anomaly will be released November 15th.  You can pre-order your copy here!  (And, if it's any indication, we hear that the exclusive pre-release copies offered at NYCC sold out before the weekend was over -- so you had better pre-order today!)