Tech startup.

• Author: Peterson, Eric
• Position: TECH STARTUP OF THE MONTH

INITIAL LIGHT BULB: British comic book fanatic Kevin Mann had a vision for an online comic reader with a social-networking component. Calling it Take Comics, the Captain Britain-obsessed Mann applied and was accepted into last year's TechStars incubator program in Boulder.

There Mann met Micah Baldwin of Boulder search provider Lijit Networks. Baldwin served as a mentor for the program, and the pair immediately clicked. "It became clear we both thought the idea was great and that we'd have a lot of fun working together," Baldwin says.

Last August, Baldwin left Lijit and joined Take Comics as CEO. In January, the company closed on Series A funding and changed its name to Graphic.ly. In February, it took some of that funding and acquired iFanboy, an online comics portal.

The company currently employs 20 people at its Boulder headquarters and offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Mann's home base in northeastern England. (He's been unable to permanently relocate due to immigration issues.)

IN A NUTSHELL: "The fundamental idea has never changed," Baldwin says. "It's to facilitate reading comics online and talking about it with your friends."

To this end, Graphic.ly is developing free software that allows users to read comic books on just about every available platform. The desktop version was in a "public alpha" mode until recently, and the iPhone app has been available since earlier in the year. The schedule called for the company to have additional apps for the iPad, Windows Mobile 7, and Google Android by last month's Comic-Con convention in San Diego. "We're the only company trying to get on every platform," Baldwin says.

Graphic.ly's free-to-download application features a social-networking component, and users can embed comments into the comic books so their friends or the public at large can click through numbered icons for opinions and insights.

But Baldwin is aiming to appeal to a broader market than just teenage fanboys. "We're out to make comic books cool for everybody. We're not building a system solely for collectors."

Currently, Graphic.ly has deals with 20 comic-book publishers, majors and independents who control a combined 95 percent of the market. (Of the heavyweights, Marvel is on Graphic.ly's...