Kickstarter Reports On Its 2023 Performance In Comics
by Olly MacNamee
Something new, I think. But, we have been passed on a report on Kickstarter’s first half-year performance in its comics category. And it’s looking pretty healthy.
Here are some of the highlights, as reported by Kickstarter:
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Compared to H1 2022: We saw a 14% increase in the number of projects launched in H1 2023 (1,666) compared to H1 2022 (1,457). We also saw a 22% increase in the number of dollars pledged. $14.4M in H1 2022 compared to $17.6M in H1 2023.
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Number of Comics projects launched: 1,666
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Number of successful projects: 1,171 Comics projects successfully met their funding goal. This is a 13.5% increase compared to the same time last year.
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Success rate: 78.1% of all Comics projects met their funding goal
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Top 5 markets: 72% of all Comics projects in H1 2023 were from the U.S., followed by:
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Great Britain: 11%
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Canada: 5%
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Italy: 1.8%
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Australia: 1.6%
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Most-funded Comics projects:
The top five most funded Comics projects between January – June 2023 earned a total of $3.8M in pledges. The top 5 projects are:
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THE EXPANSE: DRAGON TOOTH: THE EXPANSE: DRAGON TOOTH is the first new story since the Season 6 finale of the acclaimed Amazon Prime Video series. Developed alongside James S.A. Corey and TV studio Alcon Television Group, superstar writer Andy Diggle (The Losers, Green Arrow: Year One) and rising star artist Rubine (Voltron: Legendary Defender) the book promised to tie together the threads of the show and answer lingering questions in this monumental 12-issue comic book maxi-series. The project raised over $1M in just six days, blowing past its initial $25K funding goal. In total, the project raised $1,405,859.
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HOW TO THINK WHEN YOU DRAW VOL. 6: How to Think When You Draw books are each 200-page, full-color, hardback books that bring together drawing tutorials from creator Lorenzo Etherington. Lorenzo is one half of The Etherington Brothers – a duo that has created comics, art and stories for many of the world’s biggest publishers and studios including Disney, Dreamworks, etc. Lorenzo came to Kickstarter to raise funds for the sixth book in the How to Think When You Draw series and to get funding to reprint the sold out volumes 1 – 5. The project raised $864,358 – more than 685x its original funding goal.
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POWER RANGERS: A 30TH ANNIVERSARY COMIC BOOK CELEBRATION: To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Power Rangers series, this BOOM! Studios Kickstarter campaign offered fans the opportunity to collect three brand new, Power Rangers 30 Deluxe hardcovers. The books spanned the first three decades of Power Rangers storytelling in comics–Power Rangers Archives Book One, Power Rangers Archives Book Two, and Power Rangers Lost Chronicles Book One. For its backers, BOOM! Studios also offered a variety of new commemorative comic books and merchandise, including an exclusive POWER RANGERS 30 Angel Grove letterman jacket. The project raised $676,733.
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LADY DEATH CYBERNETIC DESECRATION: Brian Pulido, creator of Lady Death came back to Kickstarter to raise funds for a new, 48-page graphic novel. The new story would see Lady Death thrust into an alternative dystopian future Earth where her evil persona Empress Death has nearly extinguished the human race. Empress Death’s mission is to eradicate the last 999 souls on Earth to achieve the death of all life on Earth. Can Lady Death, weaponless and alone, navigate this nightmare and defeat the most evil foe she has ever faced? The project raised $511,170 and earned its first $100K in pledges in just five minutes.
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MEGALITH: In 2018, Matt Kindt (BRZRKR) partnered with the legendary Lewis LaRosa (SAVAGE) to create a comic book. They spent a mammoth five years in production to create MEGALITH, a cosmic odyssey that kicks off when a gigantic, hundred-story tall humanoid crashes onto Earth. The team came to Kickstarter to raise funds to help bring the book to comic stores around the world. They raised $393,850, surpassing their $10K funding goal.
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Oriana Leckert, Kickstarter’s Head of Publishing & Journalism – who was also overseeing the Comics category in H1 2023:
“The numbers show that we are fulfilling our mission to bring creative projects to life. Not only are more Comics projects being launched on Kickstarter but 78% of all those projects launched in the first six months of the year have been successfully funded. I’m proud that Kickstarter is such an effective springboard for independent creators, dedicated small presses, and established comics publishers. The comics community has never been stronger on Kickstarter, and I cannot wait to see what’s next.”
Bryce Gold, Kickstarter’s new Head of Comics – who joined in May:
“One of the best parts about going to comic conventions and trade shows is connecting with creators who have found success on Kickstarter. Often, these creators are eager to introduce the platform to like-minded, talented writers and artists who are curious about crowdfunding, but haven’t yet taken the plunge. At San Diego Comic-Con next week, we’ll be making sure convention attendees get to hear directly from our most successful creators. You can find us on stage alongside these creators talking about how fans can be co-creators and the basics of how to make your Kickstarter project a success.”
What’s interesting, but no surprise to me, is that the biggest campaigns are dominated by well established creators (although the How to Think When You Draw by Lorenzo Etherington are worth their weight in gold, and snapped up any many a professional animator working in the industry today) as well as an entry by professional publishers BOOM! Studios. On one hand, one could argue that many fans’ hard earned cash – of which there seems to be les and less to go around due to the current Cost of Living Crisis – is being vacuumed up b these bigger projects (I mean, juts look at those numbers!). But, on the other hand you could also argue that these bigger projects are bringing more eyes to Kickstarter and possibly to smaller projects too. I mean, the figures do show an increase in comic book projects backed, so there is some sliver of truth in that too.
But, I’m no mathematician. What do you think about bigger names using such crowdfunding platforms more and more? Either way, there’s more projects and more backers coming to Kickstarter than last year, and that must be good for many choosing to use this platform.