In a move that secures an ongoing source of talent and an online community, Byron Preiss's ibooks has taken an investment stake in Komikwerks.com, an online site offering access to serialized Web comics.
Preiss told PW that ibooks will take a "significant minority stake" in Komikwerks. Over the last few years, a number of Web sites have begun offering access to a wide variety of comics that are serialized. These sites also offer message boards that allow fans to gather online and communicate with the creators and with each other. While sites such as Serializer.net and Girlamatic.com charge a subscription fee for access to their comics, Komikwerks.com continues to offer mostly free access. Komikwerks.com offers access to more than 30 artists' comics online as well as in downloadable PDF format. The site was founded by Patrick Coyle and Shannon Denton.
Preiss said the deal offers ibooks access to the site's talent and to a burgeoning online community of comics fans. "We plan to offer comics in html and in PDF form with additional content that can be streamed or downloaded. We may charge a small subscription for some things," Preiss said. "We think people will spend small amounts of money for immediate access to content. We want to provide different options."
Preiss launched virtualcomics.com, his own online comics site, in 1995, but it was hampered by slow dialup access. However, he noted, high-speed Web access makes online comics "much more doable."
