Google is producing its own browser, called "Chrome." It's a fully open source project, and the way it's designed makes it more than a browser. For all intents and purposes, it's a computer operating system.
The thing is, there are already big, established browsers. Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Firefox, which I use, has become a significant (20-33%) competitor. There's Apple's Safari, which works on both MacOS X and Windows. Not to mention Opera et. al. How do you communicate Chrome's value, against that kind of lineup?
With a comic. A rather brilliant comic that takes very technical concepts and features, and makes them easy to understand, even if you have very little technical literacy. Without compromising the comic's interest to very technical software developers.
That's hard, and pulling it off is a great example of marketing. I'd add it's also hard to beat as part of a product development process...
If you can pull off a compelling comic like this, which explains your new product's key features and why they matter, you know you have a winner, and everyone groks why the goals matter as development proceeds. If your new product or iteration looks dumb or ineffectual in the comic, doesn't have a compelling rationale, and doesn't explain (as Google's does) how it leverages the company's existing strengths, it's probably time to back to the drawing board.
It would be a great test for any would-be product team to put themselves through. And besides, deep down inside, don't we all know that a comic is really the perfect briefing medium for executives?
UPDATE: lurker makes a good catch re: data rights in Chrome. Read the fine print, indeed.