As Comixology is gradually absorbed into “Kindle Unlimited”, many have wondered if another digital comics service will rise up to feature the kind of built-for-comics services that the standalone Comixology site and app once offered.

Well, it is an uphill battle, but here’s some PR from GlobalComix, which has been around for a while, and is still in there kicking. They bill themselves as “a digital comics publishing platform that enables comic creators and publishers to upload, publish, monetize, and translate their content.” Along with indie comics, they also feature comics from publishers like AWA, Humanoids, Mad Cave, Heavy Metal and the like.

They report that their “creator first initiative” has been a big success – a feature that allows creators to upload their digital comics and sell them on the platform. They just sent out a release that includes a lot of charts and graphs that show rising numbers, and you know we love charts and graphs here at The Beat! No indexes that give actual numbers, but trending up.

Since the beginning of 2022, the GlobalComix digital library has grown to over 12.5k published books, they report, with more than 110 publishers and over 1k creators publishing content, with over 2,000 books and over 50k pages uploaded in June . Unique site visits were more than double any previous month, with readership at 50%+ growth.

It’s unsurprising that readership and usage surged – Comixology Submit transitioned into Kindle Direct Publishing back in September. Although KDP is a very successful portal for authors, comics are way more complicated to upload and download than prose, and cartoonists seem to desire a tool more tailored to their needs.

There’s a video on how to upload to GlobalComix – I didn’t watch the whole 10 minutes, but it seems like a fairly robust interface. I checked on Twitter and indie creators seem to like the platform. 

You can look at the charts, and read more from the release below. This all sounds promising and good – and a Comixology alternative would be a great thing for the industry – although GlobalComix seems to be building from the ground up with smaller publishers.

That said, the jury is still out on whether all the changes at Comixology have actually hurt digital sales, according to this survey published at Popverse. Publishers were pretty vague when asked if digital sales had been impacted at all. I’ve asked around a bit myself, and received similar answers. I’m not sure what the reporting time is for Amazon/Comixology sales, but you’d THINK these would be pretty easy to track.

Anyway, on to the charts and graphs!

Membership has increased, as have follows, which surged by 800% – which they attribute to productive and positive social media engagement with both creators and readers and stressing their commitment to building an inclusive community.

And they have testimonials:

“Putting creators first is one of our core pillars, so to see the incredible response through the first six months of 2022 is humbling,” said Christopher Carter, CEO & Founder in a statement. “We are only as successful as our creators, so we will continue to build GlobalComix as a place that welcomes anyone, from anywhere, to share their passion with the world.” Carter continued, “our next big focus is to continue and increase initiatives that pull in readership across the entire spectrum of comic fans so that creators and publishers expand their readership significantly.”

“From the beginning our goal has always been to serve two unique communities – readers and creators – and help bridge the gap between them,” said Kevin Van Ness, Director of Community at GlobalComix. “By creating a support structure where we are actively engaged in discussions with our community, it enables us to be more than just a digital comics platform. It’s a place where creators can feel appreciated and celebrated.”