Cut the Rope, the hit game for iOS and Android, is getting the comic book treatment.  Application developer ZeptoLab has partnered with Ape Entertainment to produce a digital comic book and graphic novel series based on Om Nom, the voracious candy-eating creature featured throughout the game.  The pair will announce the licensing agreement Thursday at Comic-Con in San Diego.  “People love the character,” ZeptoLab Chairman Misha Lyalin says of Om Nom, “but he doesn’t have a story yet. Now, Om Nom gets a story.”  The likable creature isn’t the only one getting a story — the comic series represents the beginning of a new narrative for developer ZeptoLab. The company now has the opportunity to expand its immensely popular game title into an even more recognizable entertainment brand — just as Rovio has done with Angry Birds.  “In order to build a franchise, we wanted to expand the storyline,” Lyalin says. “The best way to do that is with comics.”  The Cut the Rope comic series will start with the full-color iOS Cut the Rope Comic App to be released in late August. A print version is also scheduled for publication at a later date.  First released in October 2010, Cut the Rope, says Lyalin, has been the number one free, paid and top grossing application on the App Store in every country in the world. It has been downloaded more than 45 million times, with 9 million of those being paid purchases, he says.  ZeptoLab will join the Ape Entertainment crew at their Comic-Con booth. Fans of the game can stop by to get a preview of the comic application, meet the artist, take photos with a life-sized Om Nom character and check out the Om Non plush toys that are scheduled for September release.
Could Cut the Rope be the next game to outgrow its iOS roots and become a full-fledged entertainment brand?