Action comic goes online

Will Turner, left, and Dave Reynolds, who have created an online comic called Reynard City.

05 June 2006 09:15

Forget the days of print coming off on your hand while you thumb through those old copies of Spiderman, two young entrepreneurs have come up with a unique online comic.

Will Turner and Dave Reynolds have set up the online comic called Reynard City based on a series of new animated characters. Instead of nipping into a newsagent to read about their latest adventures people can pay to download a copy of the comic.

Reynolds, 25, who lives at Queens Road in Norwich, has set up the comic with his friend Mr Turner, 23, who lives in Beccles.

Mr Reynolds works as a web designer for Paston Chase in Norwich. He went to school at Northgate High School in Dereham and to Anglia Polytechnic University in Cambridge.

Mr Turner went to school in Beccles and then graduated in English and media at the University of Chichester where he specialised in creative writing.

The duo met on a message board of cult comic book writer and film director Kevin Smith a year ago.

After chatting on the message board they met in Henry's Bar in Norwich and came up with their imaginative business idea.

Mr Turner said: “I've had the idea to do something like this for years and the characters have grown up in my head.

“Dave came up with idea of putting it on a website and he knew companies that could do the text billing system.

“The idea is that you pay a premium rate like £1.50 to buy the comic and then

you get a full 22-page comic online that you can read online or print out. But it only works once.”

After starting on the idea it took three months to get the first comic ready, but now they have several teams of artists and writers working on the future ones and plan to bring a new comic out every month.

They have already completed five comics. The writers and artists get up to 10 per cent of royalties on each of the issue they work on.

“We have got plots that could create 60 issues around the same characters and there are lots of interconnected stories and surprises,” Mr Turner said.

He writes the scripts and Mr Reynolds does the technical side of setting up and managing the web. They both plan to make it their full-time career if the idea takes off.

Mr Turner said: “I would like to make this my career. It's something I care about a lot and it's an idea I have had pretty much as long as I can remember.

“I hope we start getting customers in Norwich first of all because it is our home place.

“I would say 18 to 30-year-old men and women are our core target and we are not stereotypical about genders.”

The comic is influenced by characters such as French cartoon creation Asterix.

One of the main characters is a female fox called AK Girl who has psychic powers and superstrength. Another is Wondervixen, a blonde character who drives a Ferrari but who overeats for comfort.

Then there is Dr Antibiotix who is a witch doctor with therapy skills.

“Because we have got different artists they bring their own influences too,” Mr Turner added.

A launch party is set to take place at Po Na Na in Norwich next month.

For more information go to www.reynardcity.co.uk

Have you got a business story? Telephone Evening News reporter Naomi Canton on 01603 772418 or email naomi.canton@archant.co.uk

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