Patreon

For many people working in all kinds of creative fields, Patreon has been an absolute godsend. The ability to interact with fans and provide them with an easy way to support creators monetarily has in some cases been literally lifesaving, and the service has allowed many people the means to pursue their artistic ambitions. There are few fields that have felt the benefit of Patreon more than webcomics, and as of today it's even easier for creators to reach out to fans and get their support via Patreon. Digital comics publishing platform LINE Webtoon has announced a partnership with Patreon to integrate the two services and provide easy access for Webtoon readers to make Patreon donations.

With mere minutes on the official countdown clock to the DC: Rebirth livestream, writer Marguerite Bennett tweeted an announcement, but it wasn't exactly the announcement we were anticipating from her today: She's launching a Patreon. Good for Bennett, that she's launching a Patreon. It's a great way to stay funded as a creator of any kind these days. I use one myself, to help fund my podcast. But when I saw her tweet, I immediately said to my co-workers "Bennett's not going to be announced as the writer of Wonder Woman."

If you've not heard of Patreon yet, it's a service not dissimilar to Kickstarter, in that it allows you to donate money to projects and artists you'd like to support, sometimes for rewards, but largely because it's something you're invested in and would like to see continue. It's also different in that you can pledge ongoing support; giving a certain amount of money each month- say a dollar- although there's the option available to cancel at any time. As you can imagine, these factors make Patreon better tailored for those working and producing art online, as evidenced by the number of more established online artists doing well on there- KC Green, Anthony Clark, Meredith Gran, Ryan North, and more. With so much projects and content to sift through, it's easy to miss some perhaps lesser-known, but equally excellent comics worthy of wider attention, so I thought I'd spotlight three of my favorites here. Regardless of whether you choose to support them or not, at the very least hopefully you'll be introduced to a few great comics that you may not have been aware of.