From Static to Interactive

The story

Print comics are page orders; motion comics are timelines. PanelWave models a chapter as a directed graph in which panels are nodes and edges carry conditions and transitions. Readers get pace, path and choice; creators get branching that is data rather than code, drawn in a visual graph editor and tested with a simulator. Consequences are carried in typed story variables and reflected by panel variants, which keeps the graph small even in a heavily branched work.

Why now

Interactive storytelling has mainstream reference points, from Bandersnatch to visual novels, but no comic-native, no-code tool for it. The CMS's graph editor, panel variants and hotspot execution all shipped in summer 2026 and are demonstrated live at the Frankfurter Buchmesse.

Key facts

• Conditions are JSON Logic, a small rule language that reads like a sentence and is evaluated by any implementation the same way.
• Variables have five scopes, from a single page to persistent across visits, so unlockables and completion flags are possible.
• The graph editor flags unreachable panels, dead ends and cycles before a reader finds them; preflight repeats the check before publishing.
• Reader analytics show a funnel per panel and a click heatmap, including taps outside every hotspot.