Continuing the frantic pace of digital comics announcements, acquisitions and positioning, Graphicly has announced its acquisition of Double Feature, an application for mobile phones that was developed by the studio of Tim Seeley of HACK/SLASH fame. While the app was originally built to showcase the work of Seeley and his studiomates, apparently it will be available for more content from Graphicly.
Graphicly is excited to announce that it has acquired Double Feature, a top independent comic reader mobile application from Four Star Studios. The well respected application and its developer will become part of Graphicly. The application will allow Graphicly to bring the innovative interface and functionality of Double Feature to their mobile applications, enable a more diverse catalog of content. Lead Developer Josh Emmons will join the Graphicly team.
Double Feature was the first mobile application to truly give independent creators the ability to showcase their work by bundling their comics with pencils, inks and scripts in an innovative platform. Four Star Studios titles will be available on the Graphicly platform, including iOS devices like the Apple iPad, Android devices including the Nook Color and Kindle Fire, and the web including Facebook.com and will continue to be available through the Double Feature application, currently available for iPad.
“When we evaluated mobile readers on that market, we just kept coming back to Double Feature as the application we would most like to emulate. It was from that fandom, that our conversations with Four Star Studios began,” said Micah Baldwin, CEO of Graphicly. “The more we talked the more it was clear that our shared vision for publishers and creators almost required that we work more closely together. Adding Joshua Emmons to our already deep team is just amazing icing on an awesome cake.”
“We’re all really excited about this deal! Obviously, we’ll get to improve Double Feature taking advantage of Graphicly’s resources,” said Tim Seeley, co-founder of Four Star Studios and creator of Hack/Slash, “But also, we know Graphicly truly gets what we’re doing with digital comics. Some of our influence will flow back in the other direction, too, and that’s good for everyone.”
“When it came time for Four Star to publish digitally, we were lucky we could build our own app. A lot indies out there can’t.” said Joshua Emmons, developer of Double Feature and new Graphicly employee, “Even from my very first talks with Graphicly, it’s been clear they’re committed to enabling these creators. I can’t wait to employ everything I’ve learned from DoubleFeature in the furtherance of that goal!”
Four Star Studios content available now through Graphicly includes:
• Action Double Feature #1 featuring “The Answer” by Dennis Hopeless and Mike Norton and “Jack Kraken” by Tim Seeley Ross Campbell
• Science Fiction Double Feature #2 featuring “Brigantine” by Joshua Emmons and Mike Norton and “Piper 2.0” by Tom Stillwell and Jethro MoralesAdditional titles are coming soon, and will be available through all Graphicly channels, as well as the current Double Feature application.
This is just great. Double feature is the best digital comics experience and the four star guys seem like a good bunch so hopefully they made out a bit too.
I really feel like this creative model is a very modern and growing platform for comics publishing in the very near future! These folks are ahead of their time!