10 Questions with the team behind the digital comics reading app for Windows!
Now updated for all Windows devices!
- Who are you and what are you working on right now? (2 questions in 1, I know!)
We’re just a small team of french developers and we’ve been working on a comic reader for Windows platform: Cover.
- What drew you to digital comics?
For me, it’s really just the limited space in my living room. Also, it’s easier to discover new stuff in digital form than accumulate issues #1 of many series on your shelves. That really looks bad. And you can read comic books from anywhere on the planet without having to wait for a publishing in your country, if it comes at all.
- Webcomics or digital comics?
We’re talking managing libraries of comics, so digital comics. I’d say webcomics are more of a hobbyist thing for me, i’ll read a few from time to time when i have time, but i’ll always come back to my digital library.
- What do you think works with digital comics?
Right now anything that works on paper works in digital comics if you have the proper device to display them. In the future though, i hope digital comics will offer a new layer of interactivity or rich content such as audio, animation, choices/consequences.Also, what really works is you can go on vacation and take 100 comic books with you. Try to negociate 100 print comics with your flight attendant
- Can digital comics replace print comics?
According to my crystal ball, i’d say that more and more people will read digital comic books, but print comics will never be replaced. It’s a collector thing, you can discover stuff on your tablet but when you really enjoy a serie, you’ll want to align the issues on your (physical) shelf. But in the long run, i’d see it become a niche as the vinyl discs have become for the music industry.
- How can print comics work with digital comics?
Not sure it’s related, but i think that a digital copy should be provided when you purchase a print comic. I know everyone is afraid about piracy but we can now download DRM-free comic books from publishers such as Comixology so we’re in the good direction.Besides that, i’m not really sure how they could work together. A book being a non-interactive medium, i can’t see it work with something else. But i never really thought about it.
- What don’t you like about digital comics?
Well, the feeling will always be superior on a book. And you can read for hours without eye strain. I hope someone can make e-ink screens with vibrant million colors one of these days.And you get to have these wonderful shelves filled with book that have the same sides. Except when the publisher changes them mid-serie, i hate it when they do that.
- What digital comics/webcomics do you read?
Being french, i love our good old “bande dessinées”. Thorgal, Lanfeust, the likes.. But i’ve recently read Death Note and it was amazing. Berserk too. i’m also a big fan of The Walking Dead comic book, Saga as well. And everybody loves Batman. Just read the Kev issues from The Authority and i LOVED it as well. Well, don’t get me started
- Where do you see digital comics going from here?
I’d love to see more some softwares available for comic book authors, that allow them to create rich content that can be seen only in digital form. Standards should be created for metadata, rich content. I’d like an experience that is between the comic book and the animated movie. With the good tools and mindset, it wouldn’t be so much more work than a comic book. I think.
- Who do you think we should look out for in digital comics?
Of course we all have an eye on the big one, Comixology. With Amazon they have enough weight to really move this industry forward. But i think the softwares i have in mind will come from other smaller companies, there has already been some work.
Thanks to Sophiane Ammour for the answers!