Webcomics revolution : Becomics rules !
Becomics is a new platform designed for comics lovers. A place for artists to share their work, and for fans to discover new content.
Its goal ? Reimagine the format and bring web-comics to its maximum potential.
We’ve met the founders of www.becomics.com
– Hi both ! Who helm this crazy project and what’s your mission ?
Yaniv Hefetz and Michael Seltenreich. We met in college and became really good friends. We also discovered that we make a great team, and not long after started working on Becomics. I (Yaniv) used to collect com
ic books during high schooland in later years started reading comics online. When we discovered we couldn’t find an online platform that we both like we decided it’s up to us to make it. We wanted to create a platform that gives both artists and readers the flexibility to create a universe the way they envision it.
– Why are you different from others (Tapastic, Spiderforest , Smackjeeves)?
In a nutshell, whatever you can do on the different platforms, you can also do in Becomics, but many of the things you can do on Becomics you can’t do anywhere else.
This of course refers first to our viewer that allows you to read in Vertical Mode like you would on other platforms, but also read in Free mode and most importantly, in Hypercomic mode (we’ll elaborate on this later).
Additionally, in Becomics, every comic comes with a reading-time estimate so you can have a good sense of how long it’ll take you to read a comic, and find the right comic for you depending on what you’re looking for at that specific moment. We also keep bookmarks so you can continue reading a comic where you left off.
The fact that we are relatively new, allowed us to use the most current technologies and really make webcomics ‘smart’. For instance, there’s virtually no limit to the dimensions of the images you are uploading, and same goes for the format. Pages are not still images on a webpage, but rather they belong to an infinite SVG canvas that can be manipulated in ways that we’ve only begun to explore. While it’s already pretty powerful,
The real power of what Becomics will be able to do for webcomics is still just in its infancy.
Also worth mentioning is that any comic on Becomics can be embedded on external websites,
so users can use our viewer on their own personal sites and blogs for free.
But I think what really sets us apart is our deep relationship with creators and users. We make sure to let our users know that they can write to us and request a feature, or share their thoughts about what could be improved. Once a week we sit with the list of the requests we get, and place them into our task board. If it’s technologically possible, and if it doesn’t conflate with our vision of what Becomics should be, more likely than not, the requested feature will be included in an update.
– Tell us more about about the specific becomics reading modes ?
Becomics currently has three reading modes:
*Hypercomic – Allows the user who uploaded the comic to add transitions and animations, as well as control the way the readers are exposed to the content. By using Hypercomics you set your readers free from the old-fashioned pages and panels, and instead move to a continuous and totally interactive reading experience. You can choose to hide elements only to reveal them later, or have the next panel of your comic be revealed as you zoom in to the character’s eye and see it in its reflection. I can’t even begin to describe the things you could do with our simple editor.This is mostly because many users discovers thing that even we didn’t think of. The bottom line is that it’s very flexible and so it functions as another expressive tool for the artist to use in innovative ways, and the ways are countless.
*Free – Is a more traditional reading mode where each page is displayed on the screen, but users can move the page around and zoom in and out of elements. It allows them to have ‘free’ control of their reading experience. If Hypercomics let the creator control the content, this mode is meant to let the reader control the way they would like to read.
*Vertical – This is the reading mode people know from some other platforms. All the pages are stacked vertically and all the user has to do is scroll down the page.
Users can seamlessly and quickly move between reading modes, and the artists can choose which of the reading modes will be available for their readers.
Again, it’s all about making the platform as flexible as possible and to have something for everyone. We want to explore what can happen to webcomics in a more technological era, but we also want to respect the good-old-fashioned way comics have been read for decades.
– Do you think webcomics is a new era for creators and the industry ?
Absolutely, that’s because we put the creators in the center. They know what’s best for their comics and readers. We are here to provide that.
As I mentioned before, we keep in touch with many of our creators and we make sure we address their requests on a weekly basis.
Becomics is so young, yet seeing what the crazy imagination of our creators can do with the platform is unbelievable.
– Is there any way to pledge for creators on becomics, an ad rev program ?
*Currently there is no way to pledge for creators on Becomics. We encourage our users to link to their Patreon pages, and there’s nothing we like more than to help creators make a living by creating original content. Until now our focus was on allowing creators to have the power to display their content better than on any other platform.
Now, it’s our first priority to integrate a monetization scheme into our platform so users can finally earn money on the platform. That’s the next big update.
– Is becomics is for everyone ?
We think so. We put a lot of thought into making sure every voice is heard and every opinion is accommodated.
It’s really simple. That keeps surprising our creators, because when you see some of the comics on our platform you think you’ll have to spend hours to create content. In fact, first time users usually are able to use even the most advanced features of our editor without having to read a single word in the help page.
When it comes to the readers, we provide more reading modes than any other platform, and we will keep adding more. We want to make sure that everyone gets what they always wished to have when it comes to webcomics.
– What about the becomics app ?
An app is on its way, but until it’s ready, we made sure our website integrates perfectly on any smartphone and tablet.
– An advices for beginners ?
Creators, you’ll be surprised how intuitive the platform is. Have no fear making mistakes (you can undo anything). It’s quicker and simpler to do than it may seem.
When you see you have a free weekend you can upload a bunch of comics at once and schedule them to be published later, so let Becomics do the work for you.
Many thanks to Yaniv Hefetz and Michael Seltenreich !
https://www.becomics.com
