Hidden Chamber NFT Comics: Bringing Web3 to the Comic Book Industry
What is Hidden Chamber Comics?
Hidden Chambers Comics is a project building on Cardano aiming to utilize both the technology behind the blockchain and Non-Fungible Tokens in their initiative to revolutionize the Comic Book scene using the power of Web3.
Aiming to break barriers; Hidden Chamber Comics aims to provide a new alternative to enjoy comic books and offer a solution to revive the declining paper comic book industry.
Why was Hidden Chamber Comics Created?
Hidden Chamber Comics is the brainchild of Mike Ponce, a freelance comic book illustrator and visual artist, working actively as a penciler, inker, colorist, and letter for the past six years,
In 2020, Mike began working closely with Comic Book School.com, an informative and collaborative website and forum for aspiring creators run by Buddy Scalera. Buddy, an accomplished comic book writer and editor in his own right, is credited with over a dozen ‘Deadpool’ comics in addition to issues of ‘Avengers Assemble’ and ‘Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four’ to name just a few.
Through his collaborations with Comic Book School, Mike has been able to make inroads within the comics industry, working on two anthologies and gaining an abundance of experience and wisdom from other creators across the world.
Dedicating his life to this industry, Mike, like so many other creators, dreamed of releasing his own comic book IPs for comic book lovers, free of the restraints brought upon by major comic book publishers in the physical/Web2 space. Typically, publishers not only retain the vast majority of rights to creators’ characters and stories, but also retain a staggering majority of the profits from the sales of those IPs, resulting in creators needing to become runaway hits with their creations to even see a respectable monetary return.
While working and conversing with Buddy and the ComicBookSchool community; they both realized the immense potential of utilizing NFT technology to serve as a new medium for comic book studios and creators to deliver compelling and interactive content that can be distributed across the world affordably, and securely with the power of the blockchain while still empowering all parties involved. Having been exposed to the amazing capabilities of the Cardano space by working with trailblazing Web3 creators such as KrimeFyter and Sick City, Mike saw a path to the future of comic books that benefits the creators and readers alike by creating a valuable secondary market. In the Web3 secondary market, Comic Book owners are rewarded by not only receiving content that doesn’t deteriorate physically on the blockchain, but also boasts the ability to make money through re-sales of comic book titles. Additionally, these resales have baked in royalty percentages that flow back to the comic book creators and contributors, thanks to smart contracts. For creators that aren’t backed by major publishers, this means that even modest sales of their IP can result in substantial revenue numbers, allowing them to continue creating for years to come!
The combination of comic book industry experience coupled with the exposure of the revolution that is Cardano resulted in Hidden Chamber Comics’ creation. Aiming to be a hub for digital comic book releases, Hidden Chamber Comics’ releases will also contain interactive elements such as flippable pages, clickable links, and musical accompaniments, ultimately building a decentralized library of content for the visual comics community. Similar to the current comic book scene, these comics can be viewed, collected and resold with the same high levels of quality one would expect from major comic book publishers.
What’s Planned For Hidden Chamber Comics
The team behind Hidden Chamber Comics have several titles in the works set to publish in the next few months for readers, the first of which is an action comic called “SINSilence”, written by popular Cardano musician and writer Matthew Ross, illustrated by Mike Ponce.
Their next planned release is a one-shot fantasy; called “Bitter Suite”, a story co-written by Andres Avila and Mike Ponce, with Mike covering illustration duties as well!
Hidden Chamber Comics also has a marquee release in the works for early 2023, a new comic book fantasy IP titled “Inheritors of Suurnyti.”
Dubbed an “‘Indiana Jones’ meets ‘Lord of the Rings’ adventure”, Inheritors will span across several issues, Similar to the current comic book scene, these comics can be viewed, collected and resold with the same high levels of quality one would expect from major comic book publishers.
What Do These Issues Offer?
Working with their partners at Sick City, Hidden Chamber Comics seeks to implement a variety of interactive elements within each release, including additional opportunities for rare variant covers, NFT unlockables (such as comic character NFTs, etc.), and even in rare cases an actual physical copy of the comics as well. They also plan to include RPG elements into the ‘Inheritors’ lore so that “tabletop RPG fans can utilize character sheets of their favorite cast members into their campaigns.”
The Sick City and Hidden Chamber Comics collaboration has created a clear concept to bring their vision into reality, providing a multitude of utilities into the digital comic books Web3 space, with amazing content and a proven track record both in Web3 and the Comic Book space.
Web3 Onboarding in the Comic Book Industry
Mike Ponce also plans to attend the New York Comic-Con event on October 6–9 2022, representing Hidden Chamber Comics and its partner Comic Book School in order to spread awareness to quality digital comic creators and accessibility in the Web3 space with a platform providing valuable opportunities to showcase high-quality content that empowers creators without the need for monopolistic publisher interference.
Conclusion
Hidden Chamber Comics has arrived at a time when the comic industry struggles to be universally accessible to creators without the backing of a major publisher. An easily accessible, affordable, and supportive Web3 community new interactive and engaging stories can be told, and readers now have a new reseller market to trade and collect their favorite titles, pushing the medium forward in ways previously thought impossible.
