One thing I heard about my Webcomics book, which isn't exactly a complaint but I think caught some people by surprise, was that I spent a fair amount of time discussing the financing of webcomics. How people make money from webcomics. I felt this was a necesary discussion point for a few reasons. In the first place, it's a distinct differentiator from traditional comics. Historically, people were able to make comics by selling physical copies of the actual comic. You give the creator money (directly or indirectly) and they give you (directly or indirectly) a bunch of pages stapled or glued together with some ink on it to relay a narrative of some kind. But with webcomics, that transaction is out the window; that narrative is still given to the reader, but not in any way that transfers a physical ownership. The webcomics are offered up for free; there's no exchange of any sort to get the narrative. So how are webcomic creators able to afford to keep doing that over an extended period?
In the second place, because we collectively haven't figured out how to do that at scale means that webcomic creators have to handle that directly. A traditional creator today is often paid by a publisher or syndicate to create the work, and their business transaction can (but doesn't have to) end with that contract. After Steve Ditko turned in his artwork for any given issue of Amazing Spider-Man. he'd collect his payment for it from Stan Lee, and he was done having anything to do with the issue after that. He didn't sell it, he didn't promote it, he didn't license it. He was done. It was up to Marvel to print and distribute and promote it. If the issue didn't sell, that was because Marvel didn't do its job. Dikto was only hired to create the story. Same with any creator working on Spider-Man today.
Now, many creators DO indeed try to promote the books they're working on. More sales means they get more money, as they often get a percentage of the sales revenue. And if their work sells well, that means more publishers will pay more to secure their services. So there is an incentive for creators to stay involved with the work after its creation. But they don't HAVE to do anything, and there's not a lot of abstract account crap for them to go through. Whereas a webcomic creator HAS to be involved at every single level. They're not just creators, but they're also accountants and PR and marketing and licensing and publishing and tech support and...
Third -- and this is why I'm bringing this up today -- webcomics are judged less on their popularity but more on how much money they bring in. And that is frequently judged by how well they sell in print form. Some of the most seen, most popular webcomics on the planet make no money. How many multi-panel memes circulate online on a daily basis and receive no credit, much less any financial reward for them? Those aren't considered a "success." What's considered a success is Smile and Lumberjanes because they sold a bajillion copies after they transitioned from the web to print.
ICv2 is having a "Webtoon Week" this week (sponsored by Webtoon) and even in the couple days' of material so far, the underlying theme of the articles is NOT how good the comics are from an execution standpoint or how many readers each one has, but how much money they're bringing in. Rob Salkowitz's piece is all about how Webtoon can financially run their operation at scale. What their options are for becoming profitable. (So far, they are not.) I mean, even the short introduction article about Webtoon Week leads with how well things are selling in print. ("With more and more webtoon collections being released (including the best-selling Dungeon Crawler Carl) and a growing backlist, sales of print collections of webtoons are hitting new highs in 2026.")
It's all about the Benjamins, as the kids say.
Comics as a medium can be creative and expressive and really speak to people in a way that no other medium can. That's why I love them. That's why I've been writing this blog for twenty years now. But let's be clear, too, that any form of comics -- graphic novels, newspaper strips, webcomics, whatever -- need to be considered financially as well in a capitalistic society. They're simply not sustainable otherwise. We talk about printed comics in terms of their financial success -- how many issues of any given issue sold each month, what percentage of sales were from this publisher or that, what creators have exclusive contracts with which publishers, which publishers have what licenses... those are all financial discussions. Webcomics have proven they can be financially sustainable for individual creators, but no one has quite figured out how to do that at scale. Webtoon is trying to do that but, as I said, they haven't become profitable yet. No one else has either. And that's why it's still relevant to talk about webcomics in financial terms and that's why it's a not insignificant part of my book.
In the second place, because we collectively haven't figured out how to do that at scale means that webcomic creators have to handle that directly. A traditional creator today is often paid by a publisher or syndicate to create the work, and their business transaction can (but doesn't have to) end with that contract. After Steve Ditko turned in his artwork for any given issue of Amazing Spider-Man. he'd collect his payment for it from Stan Lee, and he was done having anything to do with the issue after that. He didn't sell it, he didn't promote it, he didn't license it. He was done. It was up to Marvel to print and distribute and promote it. If the issue didn't sell, that was because Marvel didn't do its job. Dikto was only hired to create the story. Same with any creator working on Spider-Man today.
Now, many creators DO indeed try to promote the books they're working on. More sales means they get more money, as they often get a percentage of the sales revenue. And if their work sells well, that means more publishers will pay more to secure their services. So there is an incentive for creators to stay involved with the work after its creation. But they don't HAVE to do anything, and there's not a lot of abstract account crap for them to go through. Whereas a webcomic creator HAS to be involved at every single level. They're not just creators, but they're also accountants and PR and marketing and licensing and publishing and tech support and...
Third -- and this is why I'm bringing this up today -- webcomics are judged less on their popularity but more on how much money they bring in. And that is frequently judged by how well they sell in print form. Some of the most seen, most popular webcomics on the planet make no money. How many multi-panel memes circulate online on a daily basis and receive no credit, much less any financial reward for them? Those aren't considered a "success." What's considered a success is Smile and Lumberjanes because they sold a bajillion copies after they transitioned from the web to print.
ICv2 is having a "Webtoon Week" this week (sponsored by Webtoon) and even in the couple days' of material so far, the underlying theme of the articles is NOT how good the comics are from an execution standpoint or how many readers each one has, but how much money they're bringing in. Rob Salkowitz's piece is all about how Webtoon can financially run their operation at scale. What their options are for becoming profitable. (So far, they are not.) I mean, even the short introduction article about Webtoon Week leads with how well things are selling in print. ("With more and more webtoon collections being released (including the best-selling Dungeon Crawler Carl) and a growing backlist, sales of print collections of webtoons are hitting new highs in 2026.")
It's all about the Benjamins, as the kids say.
Comics as a medium can be creative and expressive and really speak to people in a way that no other medium can. That's why I love them. That's why I've been writing this blog for twenty years now. But let's be clear, too, that any form of comics -- graphic novels, newspaper strips, webcomics, whatever -- need to be considered financially as well in a capitalistic society. They're simply not sustainable otherwise. We talk about printed comics in terms of their financial success -- how many issues of any given issue sold each month, what percentage of sales were from this publisher or that, what creators have exclusive contracts with which publishers, which publishers have what licenses... those are all financial discussions. Webcomics have proven they can be financially sustainable for individual creators, but no one has quite figured out how to do that at scale. Webtoon is trying to do that but, as I said, they haven't become profitable yet. No one else has either. And that's why it's still relevant to talk about webcomics in financial terms and that's why it's a not insignificant part of my book.











