Bitstrips Launching at SXSW: "YouTube For Comics"
Online comics service Bitstrips will be one of the startups hoping to become SXSW Breakout App of 2008. In fact they responded to our Breakout Apps post by creating a special comic strip for ReadWriteWeb (see below). So what is Bitstrips? It's an online comic strip that you can create and run as a series, kind of like a visual blog. I think this has a great chance of gaining traction, because a lot of people think visually and everyone enjoys comics.
Some of my buddies already run comic strips to great effect; e.g. check out Josh Porter's tech-focused comics. Also an early blog friend of mine, Andrew Chen, used to run an excellent comic strip on cyber-ethical themes. So Bitstrips will make 'comic blogging' easy and encourage communities to form around them. Frankly I think it's an awesome idea - there's a good chance there will be latent demand for this, and it could go viral among the SXSW crowd and beyond.
Here's the comic the Bitstrip editors did for us:
Bitstrip is rolling out a major upgrade tonight, in preparation for tomorrow's "pre-launch" at SXSW - where they will send beta invites to hundreds of SXSWers. They also plan to "comic blog" the SXSW event.
What do you think? Will Bitstrip be the Breakout App we're all looking for?
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I'd relish an invite to them. I've been using Toonlet.com and Toondoo.com for creating cartoons online. This one looks interesting for the flexability.
So if you can worm me an invite out, please let me know.
Posted by: Todd Jordan | March 2, 2008 3:22 PM
This looks promising... when are they planning on completing the invite-only beta phase?
Posted by: Henry | March 2, 2008 3:48 PM
Hey Todd and Henry. Jesse from Bitstrips here.
Thanks for the interest!
You can email us thru our homepage and we'll send you an invite as soon as they're available.
Posted by: Jesse | March 2, 2008 4:16 PM
I agree - this could have huge potential for people to develop their own web comics as an alternative to a more traditional blog.
"comic blogs" could become huge within a few different crowds - artists and illustrators, designers and geeks.
It's a great idea
Posted by: Ben Rowe | March 2, 2008 8:42 PM
There's also http://www.toondoo.com
Posted by: Swaroop | March 3, 2008 2:33 AM
This looks very promising.
http://www.i-guide.ro
Posted by: i-guide | March 3, 2008 7:24 AM
I've been using Toonlets on my blog.. love to give these guys a try... already sent the email..
Posted by: Jon | March 3, 2008 9:29 AM
toonlet was lucky enough to get a mention from RRW a few weeks back, and we're happily keeping our heads down and banging out features as quickly as we can.
It's exciting to see so many new products cater to users who want to be empowered creatively.
-Craig
(from toonlet)
take the toonlet tour:
http://www.toonlet.com/tour
Posted by: Craig | March 3, 2008 6:51 PM
I don't mean to be sarcastic, but the guy in the comics above scared me.
Posted by: Odin Chen | March 5, 2008 12:19 AM
This looks promising... when are they planning on completing the invite-only beta phase thanks for your subject. it is very important for internet users.i will write your site .. please write me back. thank you
Posted by: Moto Kurye | March 5, 2008 10:04 AM
Odin, if THAT guy scared you, how do you function out in the world every day? You must be a dribbling mess!
I'm excited by what I see above....looks much more professional than anything I've seen on toonlet or toondoo in the past. I looking forward to checking out Bitstrips very soon!
Posted by: Fi Fumble | March 5, 2008 11:25 AM
The best way to comment on a story about comic blogs is, of course, with a comic blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/officeoffline/archive/2008/03/05/hey-i-resemble-that.aspx
Posted by: David | March 5, 2008 1:50 PM
@Fi Fumble: I'm still functioning well enough. In fact, I'm a heavy comics reader, especially webcomics. I'll just say it straight away that the character in the comics above is ugly and he looks creepy.
Want me to show you some REAL good webcomics? They're made from Photoshop or even Paint, and they still look neat!
http://normallife.livejournal.com/81110.html (one sad and beautiful story, my favorite)
http://grim.snafu-comics.com/?strip_id=0 (one of the most famous webcomics drawn in manga style, it's a fan story of the cartoon The Grim adventure of Billy and Mandy on CartoonNetwork)
http://www.multiplexcomic.com/archive.php?name=1 (one neat comics about movies, have wide range of characters and good story line)
http://www.robandelliot.cycomics.com (also one good comics about 2 best friends Rob and Elliot and their weird lives)
....
and there are still many more. In my opinion, image editing programs are better in making web-comics, though it requires some more time to learn. Of course the services like Bitstrips is not bad, but I suspect any "ass kicking" quality web-comics will come out from them.
Posted by: Odin Chen | March 6, 2008 6:55 AM
@Odin: Some of the web comics you linked to are good, no doubt, but I think you're comparing two very different things.
This new site seems to be about giving amateurs the ability to make comics, not just those with drawing/animation skills.
Posted by: Simon | March 6, 2008 6:56 PM