Throughout the year, many of the comics that we talk about are ones that take advantage of crowdfunding to facilitate their creation. In truth, comic creation is one of the many campaigns that drives Kickstarter’s business model. As such, they keep close tabs on how their comic campaigns fare when compared to previous years.
With the San Diego Comic Con approaching, it seemed like a good time for Kickstarter to release some of the numbers for the first half of the 2023. Here are what the comic numbers reveal via our friends at Kickstarter.
H1 2022 Compared to H1 2023
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.
Comic Projects Launched
Number of Comics projects launched: 1,666
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.
Success rate: 78.1% of all Comics projects met their funding goal
Top 5 Comic Project Markets
Top 5 markets: 72% of all Comics projects in H1 2023 were from the U.S., followed by:
Great Britain: 11%
Canada: 5%
Italy: 1.8%
Australia: 1.6%
Top Five Funded Comic Projects
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Oriana Leckert, Kickstarter’s Head of Publishing & Journalism (Former Comics Head)
“We’re thrilled about the growth we’re continuing to see in Comics this year. In H1, we saw increases in both the number of projects launched and the number of dollars pledged to those projects. It’s clear that creators are bringing more projects to Kickstarter than ever, and backers are enthusiastically supporting the books and comics they want to see in the world. It’s a true testament to the vibrant, creative ecosystems Kickstarter supports, and it’s such a joy to be a part of. We’re so proud to be a platform that helps bring such a high volume of new work into the comics industry.”
Bryce Gold, Kickstarter’s new Head of Comics – who joined in May:
“In the first half of the year, 78% of all Comics projects launched on Kickstarter were successfully funded. This means that when a Comics creator launches their project on Kickstarter, it is far more likely that they will succeed in meeting their goals to bring their project to life. That’s an incredible achievement that I’m excited to build on as I step into this role as the new Head of Comics. As we get ready to head to San Diego Comic-Con next week, I’m looking forward to meeting creators who are already familiar with Kickstarter’s power and fresh faces who are curious about how to get started.”
With these numbers, Kickstarter Comic Campaigns are shaping up to be ahead of the pace going into H2. Just in time for the excitement of SDCC. As always, Geek Vibes Nation will be monitoring the different new projects and talking to some the creators involved. Looks like an exciting 2nd half is in store.
Senior Writer at GeekVibesNation – I am a 60 something child of the 70’s who admits to being a Star Trek/Star Wars/Comic Book junkie who once dove headfirst over a cliff (Ok, it was a small hill) to try to rescue his Fantastic Four comic from a watery grave. I am married to a lovely woman who is as crazy as I am and the proud parent of a 21-year-old young man with autism. My wife and son are my real heroes.
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