The beta for Longbox Digital, the application that’s been heralded as the iTunes of digital comics, is scheduled to make its debut this month, according to LongBox CEO Rantz Hoseley.

Longbox is actually much more than just an iTunes program and will eventually feature integration with gaming consoles, electronic book readers and several mobile phone operating systems (iPhone/Android/Blackberry).

While multi-platform support won’t be available for quite a while, the desktop app’s official launch is tentatively set for Oct/Nov. (If you’ll recall, we acquired a beta key for the app at San Diego Comic-Con) [READ: SDCC 09 Video: Longbox Digital Comics App Demo]

Check out the short Q&A with Hoseley below for more launch details…

The discussion from the Longbox panel at San Diego Comic-Con evoked heated commentary against DRM file formats, flash development, and the business of digital comic books.

“If I purchased a comic on my computer, I should be able to also read that on my xbox or my iPhone or my hypothetical (touch screen tablet) reader… There should not be an additional price for that. There should not be an additional penalty for it and [it] shouldn’t dictate to me how I logically can use the content I purchased,” said Rantz Hoseley, CEO of Longbox, a company that’s producing an application that seeks to do for digital comics what iTunes did for music and video.

[For a demo of the Longbox application, see our video coverage — Read: SDCC 09 Video: Longbox Digital Comics App Demo]

Hoseley’s comments read like they were part of a discussion thread on digg or reddit when written down. It’s not difficult to understand why there’s been a decent amount of buzz surrounding the efforts of the Longbox crew after the public debut at Hero Con. The app is scheduled to launch late October/ early November with (tentatively) more than seven publishers that include: Archia, Shadowline Sliverline, Boom Studios, Top Cow, Richard Starking’s library of content (Elephant Men), and other creator owned and published comics.