Neon Ichiban's Desktop App Plans to Unify Your Scattered Digital Comics Collection
The startup intends to consolidate comic PDF purchases from Kickstarter & Humble Bundle alongside your Neon Ichiban library.
Who else is guilty of purchasing Humble Bundles and Kickstarter comics PDFs only to have the files scattered across various folders and drives?
While the reading experience is fairly well covered, collecting digital comics has always had a sort of built-in level of friction associated with it. It's something digital comics startup Neon Ichiban wants to fix, with the announcement of a new desktop app that'll consolidate all those files into one place.
To put this into context: If you're a Lord of the Rings fan, think of this as the One Ring — the single piece that rules all the others, except for digital comics...
DRM-Free PDF imports For Publishers Not In Neon Ichiban's Store
What's also significant here is that it addresses a massive problem of fragmentation when it comes to where newly released digital comics are sold. No platform currently sells every single title available within a well-stocked physical comic shop. (And they certainly don't offer "day & date" releases of single issues alongside their print counterparts.)
That said, Neon Ichiban does have a decent selection six months after launching to the public: Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Dynamite, DSTLRY, IDW, Kodansha, Oni Press, Mad Cave Studios, Vault, Titan Comics, Legendary Comics, Ablaze, Udon, Rebellion Publishing, Panick Entertainment, and Bridgeverse.
Though notably absent are a handful of small press publishers (Avery Hill Publishing, Second At Best Press), Ignition Press, BOOM! Studios, Bad Idea, and most noticeably, Image Comics. Now any publisher that sells DRM-free PDF versions of their books can now be imported into the same platform ecosystem – essentially, you'll be able to read all your books from Neon Ichiban.
I haven't tested the Desktop app, though I've requested to join the Mac OS Alpha. I'm presuming that only the books you've specifically purchased via the Neon Ichiban store will have the panel view feature available. They also won't be eligible to be Remarqued or resold on Neon Ichiban's marketplace, I'm assuming.
Creator Commissions For Remarques, Community Features
Neon Ichiban also rolled out a slew of other updates including a handful of new community platforms, like profiles (follow me!). But in much bigger news, it's wasting no time in ramping up its Remarques program for indie creators, which we first reported about in May.
How? Well, fans are no longer left out of getting books autographed or commission sketches on books they purchase on Neon Ichiban via the new Commissionable Remarques, which gives creators 70% of all revenue generated (and lets them control pricing). The program is launching with over a dozen creators at first, but the company told Weird City in a statement it would be announcing more soon.
