Executive Summary Snippet (1999)

MyComix.com(www.MyComix.com), Inc. has developed the leading comic strip community for comic creators and their fans. The Company plans to become the dominant provider of on-line comic strips and related merchandise. Revenues will be generated through the sale of merchandise from comic-specific stores, through the sale of advertising space and through syndication. MyComix.com already has the leading on-line position....

Market Potential

The $7 billion comic strip industry is controlled by five major Syndicates and bottlenecked by traditional distribution channels (e.g. newspapers).

The comic strip industry shares similarities with other popular art industries: music, movie and book publishing. High risk, high initial costs and limited distribution channels have shaped these industries as oligopolies. Currently, five major Syndicates control the comic strip industry, pre-screening and distributing most of the 225 comic strips carried by publishers. The Syndicates are a filter between the suppliers (the creators) and the customers (the readers).

The Internet is revolutionizing the comic strip industry by turning it from a ‘push’ industry controlled by the Syndicates to a ‘pull’ industry controlled by the readers.

For the first time, creators have an economic/low risk way of promoting their art and readers have access to a bigger pool of comic strips at a low (and sometimes at no) cost. This will enable fresh talents to flourish and be directly rewarded by online readers.

The challenge for technologically unsophisticated comic strip creators is to find a way to easily leverage this new technology-based channel for their art. Eventually, even technically sophisticated creators who have already set up their own website will look for extra traffic and online services (e.g. merchandising). MyComix.com will provide the creators with the full panel of online services to help them find their audience.

MyComix.com was founded in the summer of 1999 to create a community for comic strip creators and their readers. Creator and reader feedback convinced the two founders—Jonah Schwartz and Heath Silverman—to build a full-blown alternative distribution channel for comic strips.