Like many of the new crop of digital startups, Legend takes its cue from the success of manga and webtoons in general, and Naver’s WEBTOON in particular, citing analyst estimates that the markets is expected to boom over the next five years and grow into $42 billion (manga) and $26 billion (webtoon) markets by the end of the decade.
The company’s first title is "Lonely Iter," a collaboration with the Paris-Saint Germain team, in English, French, Spanish and Japanese. Interestingly, no creator credits were included in the release.
Legend CEO Fee comes out of the world of tech, videogaming and esports. Cofounder and CCO Kyra Pahlen has an entertainment industry background and produced a graphic novel on cryptocurrency that won a business award in France. Neither appears to have especially deep ties with the U.S. or Asian comics industry, and launching with a sports-themed title, which is not a traditional genre in the U.S. market, certainly indicates this company is determined to do things differently.
I was not able to preview the product, but the announcement emphasizes the digital reader app’s ability to "play a digital comic like a show" and "move you through the title from panel to panel playing the character audio in sequence." Hopefully the management and illustrious investors in this company have learned from the example of Madefire and its numerous high profile, well-funded, but ultimately unsuccessful attempts to crack the market with this kind of offering (see "Madefire Liquidating").
Omnibus is not interested in reinventing the comic reading experience or adding a lot of bells and whistles beyond what Meyers describes as "the best, smoothest, fastest comic reading app you can find." They don’t do motion, they don’t do "digital collectibles," they don’t do subscriptions. They sell single-issue digital comics with the simple "click to buy" button that we haven’t seen in an iOS-based comics reading app since 2014.
"We believe in the [pay-per-download] model because it provides the most sustainable revenue for publishers and creators," said Meyers. "It’s hard to make comics. The people who do it should make some money from it." The cofounders acknowledged that they haven’t ruled out subscriptions and will see where the market is going, however.
Schmeisser said the main issue facing readers is finding the next great thing to read amid the constant barrage of new materials. So rather than stocking the digital shelves with self-published and user-generated content or commissioning new material from creators or studios, Omnibus is counting on its publisher partners to act as the curators. In less than a year, the company has signed up ABLAZE, Ahoy Comics, Black Panel Press, BOOM! Studios, CEX, Dark Horse Comics, Humanoids, Image Comics, Mad Cave Studios, Oni Press, Scout Comics, Silver Sprocket, Titan Comics, Valiant Entertainment and Vault Comics, with more announcements coming.
Since launching in May, Omnibus now has about 8,000 titles available, with more arriving all the time as the back-end systems can bring them into the storefront. Meyers characterized early revenues as "better than anticipated," and the team hopes for greater uptake once the Android and web versions become available later this year.
"We saw an opportunity to provide customers who prefer to read comics on digital with the equivalent of their local comics shop, and give publishers an answer to the pain points of dealing with Amazon," said Schmeisser. "The joy of the internet is accessibility, and we think more is better."
Global has forged good relationships with top publishers including Image Comics, BOOM! Studios, Oni Press and others, with rumors of a major new announcement or two on the horizon. CEO Chris Carter has an expansive vision of the market with plenty of room for retailers, independent creators and adventurous readers (see "In the Digital Comics Space, GlobalComix Offers Signs of Life Amid the Wreckage").
2011 is calling; they want their digital visionaries back. Industry veterans might be excused for feeling a little bit of déjà vu from the early days of digital comics, when Graphicly, iVerse, ComiXology and PanelFly duked it out to be top dog in the newest frontiers for the market. A dozen years down the road, the new crop are just as fired up about the potential to expand the market, bring in new readers, open new revenue streams for publishers and creators, and get the whole world on board with the magic of comics. Hopefully at least a couple of them have learned the hard lessons of their forebears.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
Rob Salkowitz (@robsalk) is the author of Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture and an Eisner-Award nominee.
