When the Internet first burst into creation, there was about 25 seconds of awe before someone thought to themselves “Hey, I bet I could use this to make money.” 4.3 seconds before that, someone thought, “Hey I bet we could use this for pornography!” Fortunately, eventually people realized that the Net could be a great distribution method for some rocking comic strips. Making money has remained in the backs of peoples mind, and rightfully so. People invest a lot of time and effort into building a site and a comic, there’s nothing wrong with trying to get a little bit back for their effort.

There are many ways that cartoonists have tried to raise some money from their strips. These are just two of the more recent and interesting ones that I’ve come across.

 

Scott Johnson of ExtraLife is now offering a chance to buy your way into Web comics. He’s latest profit scheme, along with shirts and other more common practices, is to let fans pay him to draw them into his comic as a minor character. He’s done it a couple of times so far that I’ve noticed and it seems to work so far.

Mr. Johnson is just looking for additional income at this point, Aaron S. Diaz however is going all in. The creator of staff favorite Dresden Codak  recently announced that he has left his earthly employment and is now attempting to be a full time cartoonist. This is great news for Codak fans because it comes with schedule change to a new comic once a week from the random and sparse schedule it held before. It also comes with great responsibility.

When a cartoonist tries to live of their strip and the income it produces, there’s always the chance that they will fail and the strip will die. Rather than let that happen to DC, Diaz swears that if this doesn’t work out, he will die along side his creation. Yes Dresden Codakers, you hold Diaz’s very life in your hands. Don’t let him down or you’re helping commit murder. No pressure.

Best of luck to both Johnson and Diaz. I look forward to the day that all those hard working creators get some if not total compensation for the time they spend entertaining us all for free.