NEW YORK, Nov. 21, 2022 — Creator-first digital storytelling platform Tapas announced one of its most-loved webcomic titles “The Beginning After the End” (hereafter “TBATE”) will be published through volume 6 as a graphic novel. This extends the existing partnership with Yen Press, having released volume 1 in August. “TBATE” volume 2 will hit the shelves in February and the remaining volumes are set for a consecutive triannual release.

The news was announced during Anime NYC, where creator of the series TurtleMe attended for his first-ever face reveal. During the three-day event, TurtleMe drew large crowds, with over 800 fans attending the creator reveal panel session at the Tapas booth and additional signing sessions.

“Over the weekend, I met my fans for the first time at Anime NYC. After meeting fans who had flown to the con all the way from Japan and Korea, it really hit me how much The Beginning After the End has grown globally over the years,” said Tae Ha Lee, better known as TurtleMe. “My sincere gratitude goes out to all the fans who came to see me at Anime NYC and to everyone who supports my series on Tapas. I look forward to more in-person events in 2023!” he added.

“The Yen Press team is very excited to continue our print partnership with TBATE and TurtleMe. It’s also clear so are the fans – we sold out of TBATE books at our booth after the volume 2-6 announcement,” said Director of Sales and Marketing at Yen Press, Mark De Vera.

First introduced as a web novel by TurtleMe, “TBATE” was adapted into a webcomic and illustrated by Fuyuki23. The popular Tapas Original has been translated into Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and French, garnering a large, passionate, and diverse global fan base with millions of readers. The story follows Arthur, a former king in a past life, who is reincarnated into a new world filled with magic and monsters and is on a quest to understand his role in the new world.

Ahead of Anime NYC, Tapas temporarily unlocked all of TBATE season one, making it free for all users until Dec. 2 and unveiled an update to its existing “Wait Until Free” feature. The feature update allows users to unlock premium episodes every three hours for free from over 100 of Tapas top series. With this update, Tapas aims to foster creator fan communities and give users more access to mega-hit titles.

“At Tapas we are committed to empowering creators and connecting readers with the content they love. By making some of our best premium series available for users to read for free every three hours, we continue to honor that commitment,” said Chang Kim, CEO of Tapas Entertainment.

With the feature update, readers can dive into some of their favorite genres including leading titles such as “TBATE,” “Overgeared,” “The Viridescent Tiara,” and “The Siren.” Moving forward, every month new series will be accessible for free every three hours, adding to the robust collection launched last week, and provide more content for avid readers to enjoy.