Eben Matthews Talks Macroverse & the Future of Comics | Comic Crusaders Podcast #769

WEPA! Comics have survived damn near everything. Distribution collapses, changing formats, disappearing newsstands, digital disruption, crowdfunding, NFTs, social-media algorithms and more “THIS WILL CHANGE COMICS FOREVER!” announcements than anybody should reasonably have to endure. Yet here we are. People still want great stories, creators still want to make them and the industry is still trying to figure out the best way to connect those two groups.

That’s what made my conversation with Eben Matthews, co-founder and CEO of Macroverse, interesting. Macroverse isn’t simply positioning itself as the digital-comics app some readers may remember. The company currently describes itself as a broader entertainment and storytelling operation beginning with digital and physical comics while supporting more than 100 creators, 50 series and 500 episodes.

So naturally, I wanted to know what Eben has learned from actually trying this shit. It’s easy to sit outside the business and announce that you’ve solved comics. It’s considerably harder to build the technology, work with creators, find readers, experiment with different business models and then admit when your thinking has to evolve. That’s where our conversation gets much more interesting than another technology sales pitch.

We get into creator ownership, digital versus physical comics, mobile storytelling, crowdfunding, collectibles, audience building and the economics behind independent comics. Macroverse’s current platform mixes comics with collecting and community features, while the company’s terms state that ownership of third-party and partner content remains with those respective partners.

But there’s a bigger question underneath all of this: where are the next readers coming from? Comic shops matter. Physical books matter. Collectors matter. None of that means we should pretend everybody discovers entertainment the same way they did twenty or thirty years ago. If millions of people spend their lives on phones, social platforms, games and streaming services, comics have to compete for some portion of that attention without sacrificing what makes the medium special in the first place.

We also talk about the uncomfortable part of the creator economy. Followers aren’t necessarily customers. Distribution doesn’t automatically create demand. Technology doesn’t automatically create readers. Crowdfunding doesn’t magically make a business sustainable. And slapping “creator-first” onto a website means very little if the actual creator doesn’t maintain meaningful control over the work and participate in the economics around it.

Then there’s AI, because apparently nobody working anywhere near technology in 2026 gets to escape that conversation. Rather than treating it as another buzzword, I wanted Eben’s perspective on where these tools belong, where the boundaries should exist and whether an “efficiency” that removes the human creator from the equation is actually progress for a creative medium.

What I appreciated about this conversation is that the future we’re discussing isn’t simply PRINT IS DEAD or DIGITAL FAILED. That’s lazy. Macroverse itself currently operates across both sides, including digital comics and physical products, and its Collectors Club explicitly connects digital editions with ongoing physical fulfillment.

The better question is whether all these pieces can finally start working together. Can somebody discover a story digitally, become a fan, buy the physical book, support the creator directly, collect something special and stay connected to that creator’s next project? If the technology makes THAT relationship easier instead of getting between the creator and reader, now you’ve got my attention.

Check out the full conversation with Eben Matthews and hear where Macroverse is going, what he’s learned along the way and what he believes creators should be thinking about as comics continue evolving. Visit Macroverse.com and follow @macroversehq on Instagram and @macroverse on X for more.

Follow Macroverse:
Website:
Macroverse.com
Macroverse Media:
Macroverse.media
Instagram:
@macroversehq
X:
@macroverse

THE CRUSADE NEVER ENDS! WEPA!