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Art Spiegelman's The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale is the only graphic novel to have won the Pulitzer Prize.
have been able to provide. Individual is- sues of the comic, released by boutique publisher Olympian Publishing, sold out almost immediately. But when it came time to release all three issues in a collected edition, Olympian founder T omas Negovan had a problem: T e company's dedication to high-quality recycled materials meant he wouldn't be able to price the end product aff ordably. T e solution? Negovan started a
campaign on Kickstarter to raise funds for Cursed Pirate Girl's print run, and aſt er countless hours of reaching out to potential donors via social networking and e-mails, the campaign was a success. T ough they set a goal of $2,500, 882 backers donated more than $36,000. When asking people to donate their
hard-earned money to help get your project off the ground, it's impossible to underestimate the importance of of- fering a tangible benefi t in exchange for
your patrons' generosity. In the case of Cursed Pirate Girl, supporters received anything from a trio of buttons to a spe- cial signing event with Bastian, depend- ing on the size of the contribution. Also of importance, notes Negovan, is know- ing who to target for donations; in the case of Cursed Pirate Girl, the key group was, surprisingly, non-comics readers. "I would say that only half [of the
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Crowds gather at the 2011 MoCCA Fest, presented annually by the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in New York City.
donors] were ever avid comics readers, and fewer than one-third had bought a comic in the previous six months," says Negovan. "What Kickstarter did for us was give us a platform to expose a book that had appeal to non-comic readers, to people who liked great art and classic storytelling... We lobbied hard for blogs outside of the world of comics to give us a mention... You have to fi nd people who are interested in the heart of what you're doing, not the medium." While technology has revolutionized
how comics can be funded, perhaps even more profound is its impact on how they reach their audiences. On the frontlines of this changing face of distribution are Webcomics, which are comics distrib- uted via the Internet. Publishing on the Web is good for an
artist's creative vision, as it allows him or her to "hear instant feedback from read- ers, meet and collaborate with other art- ists, disseminate their work and see their creative visions through to the end," says Sarra Scherb, curator of "Morning Se- rial: Webcomics Come to the Table," a current exhibition at Seattle's Henry Art Gallery (www.henryart.org). "T ese art- ists are able to act as editors, publishers, marketers and retailers," Scherb contin- ues. "[T ey] no longer have to compro- mise on any front to see success."
Admittedly, Webcomics success—at
least fi nancially speaking—can be diffi - cult to come by. T ough Webcomic art- ists typically sell merchandise, including prints and T-shirts, on their Websites, they're still giving the comic itself away. Will people actually buy the print ver- sion of a comic—or donate a few dollars to its artist—when they're already get- ting what they want for free? As it turns out, yes. Over the last
decade, more and more artists—like Aaron Diaz (www.dresdencodak.com) and John Allison (www.scarygoround. com)—have been able to make a living through their art, something Scherb at- tributes to "the fl ow of communication between artists and readers." T e gener- osity artists show in putting their work out for public consumption, she notes, "in turn spurs readers to be generous. Webcomics artists oſt en put so much of themselves online—e-mailing, blogging, commenting, using social media—that readers begin to feel a personal connec- tion to them. T erefore, when an artist confesses that they have medical bills to pay, their computer has broken down or that they just need some funds for a reprint, readers can directly impact that artist and be an integral part of the process." Maintaining a connection with the
MARCH/APRIL 2012
Photo courtesy of Pantheon Books.
Photos by Gary Dunaier for MoCCA, © Gary Dunaier