Suske & Wiske 315 out November 9.

While volume 315 of the succesful Belgian comic book series 'Suske & Wiske' (also known as 'Suzy & Spike' abroad) will be out on November 9th, the next issue has already been made available by publisher Standaard for digital download through the Mac Appstore.

People who like to read their comics 'oldschool' on paper will have to wait till next week to read 'De Bananenzangers' ('The Bananasingers'), as the next issue of the popular series is called. But eager fans who own an Apple Ipad tablet or the Iphone have already been able to get a hold of it, as a digital version was released early to promote the free download of Standaard's new Suske & Wiske app. Through this gadget, readers and fans will be able to check out all titles available and more. With the early digital release fans were also able to check out the new cover for the book (above), which has been redrawn by Luc Morjaeu and edited since the Vandersteen Studio had released the artwork earlier this summer. Below: sketch for the original cover of S & W 315, for the final rendering go here.

Because of high demand, Standaard also published five older titles from the series: 'Amber' (259), 'De Curieuze Neuzen' (296'), 'De Elfsteden Stunt' (298), 'Het Babbelende Bad' (299) and 'De Dartele Draak' (301). (An official translation doesn't exist yet for these titles, so I'm giving you a rough translation here, don't quote me on them! English titles would be 'Amber', 'The Curious Noses', 'The Elfsteden Stunt', 'The Blabbering Bath' and 'The Playfull Dragon'.)

In December Last year the Belgian publisher introduced their first digital comic book for the Ipad with the release of Suske & Wiske 311 'De Stuivende stad' ('The Windy City'). The app, created with Little Miss Robot was downloaded over 100.000 times in the first week and was also released in March this year for mobile devices using Android, the open source Operating system developed by the OHA and Google (version 4.0 nicknamed 'Ice Cream Sandwich' was just released October 19th).

WPG publishers, of which Standaard is part of since September last year, has now announced they will use Adobe's Digital Publishing Suite to create all their digital interactive content from now on. As many as 150 apps are announced, bringing also older titles of their long running comic series as Vandersteen's 'De Rode Ridder' ('The Red Knight).
Below: cover by German artist Claus D. Scholz for the new 'Red Knight' volume 232, titled 'Duivelsmist' ('Devilsmist'), which will also be out on November 9.