ANOMALY

This superbly well-crafted sci-fi epic is massive in scope and scale—and takes up the disk space to prove it. 

Written and produced by Hollywood bigwig Brittenham and longtime comic-book creator Haberlin (Witchblade), this app has a storyline that at first seems to echo that of James Cameron’s Avatar but soon moves beyond it. Rendered in a hybrid of animation and graphic panels, with fly-in elements and plenty of pop-ups, the story opens with a “standard first contact mission” made by “Conglomerate Enforcers.” (Pop-up featurettes include geeky matters such as the history of a particular off-Earth colony or the specs of a spacecraft, in the manner of Star Trek’s old Star Fleet Technical Manual.)Things go awry, and the leader of the insectoid species, called Cliks because of the sound they make, is killed. Then comes genocide—or, perhaps better, insectoidicide. The event destroys the career of top enforcer Jon, who has faithfully served the Conglomerate, a hyperfascist government that controls the known universe and, by crushing alien worlds and suppressing the citizenry, “is credited with the single longest period of peace ever recorded.” Well, you can’t have an empire without a rebel, and Jon (voiced by Vincent Corazza) serves the role nobly, aided by scientist/humanitarian Samantha (voiced by Olivia D’Abo). The story has its clichés: The women are large-breasted, the good guys handsome, the bad guys deformed. But the huge story, taking in 300 frames, is more than satisfying, and readers could gallop through it in the space of a few hours or linger over its endless details and detours for days.

An exemplary app, deserving of a wide audience—and almost sure to get it. (iPad 2 & above)