R.I.P. Madefire, a startup that recruited high-profile artists to reinvent comics for brand spanking new codecs and platforms.
An announcement on the Madefire web site states the corporate entered into “an assignment of benefit for creditors” (defined as “a state-level insolvency proceeding similar to bankruptcy”) earlier this month, which was then reported this morning in The Beat. As a end result, no new books shall be printed, customers will be unable to buy any further books and so they’re additionally inspired to obtain all their bought content material earlier than the tip of the month.
This information impacts different apps constructed with Madefire’s know-how. The Archie comics app has shut down as nicely, with the writer writing, “We realize this comes as a surprise and we are making every effort to do right by our loyal customer base,” particularly by providing readers a free one-month subscription to Comixology Unlimited. (Amazon acquired digital comics platform Comixology in 2014, launching an Unlimited subscription service two years later.)
Madefire first launched in 2012, again when publishers had been experimenting with codecs like movement comics. The firm described its titles as “motion books,” combining the animation and results of movement comics with a extra conventional studying expertise.
“Motion comics are a passive experience, a watching experience that is tantamount to bad animation – it’s like watching a movie,” co-founder and CEO Ben Wolstenholme mentioned on the time. “Motion Books is a reading experience, actively controlled by the reader – it’s like reading a book. Our goal is to be the best reading experience developed for the iPad.”
Perhaps essentially the most spectacular factor in regards to the firm was the artists it had enlisted earlier than launch, together with Dave Gibbons and Bill Sienkiewicz.
More just lately, Madefire introduced partnerships with different tech platforms, together with Snapchat and troubled augmented actuality firm Magic Leap.
According to Crunchbase, Madefire had raised $16.four million in funding from traders together with True Ventures, Plus Capital, Kevin Spacey (sure, that Kevin Spacey) and Drake, however The Beat stories that the entire was “even more than that.”
