Electric Team

Since about 1991, I have known that the greatest, most rewarding thing I could possibly do in life is write an ongoing comic book series. Over the decades I made a few stabs at doing that, but never quite made it. Then, in recent times, I finally committed–if no one was going to pay me to write a comic book series, I’d self-publish my own. Abi had made up the characters and concept of The Electric Team, as I’ve written about before, and I couldn’t get the idea out of my head. Abi and I brainstormed, I wrote a script, and we recruited Sam to do the artwork.

Before we actually started the series, I had spent a few years saving up money.  You have to have money; not just for printing the comics, and hosting the website, but to pay the artist. Artists don’t work for free. Sam works hard, putting so much thought and effort into the comic, spending hours on each page, that she deserves to be well-compensated. And I’d like to compensate her more but, the sad truth of the matter is, I’m running out of money in my Let’s Make Our Own Comic fund. We’ve already cut back from update twice a week to updating once a week, both because of the dwindling funds and because Sam has to balance this, her part-time art job, with her regular, full-time job. We make some money off selling the print copies of the comic, but generally that money goes toward offsetting the printing costs.

So I am living my greatest dream, writing an ongoing comic book series, and I’m co-writing it with my daughter, and working with Sam Albert, and it’s a joy, and I’m proud of the work we’ve done. It’s all going wonderfully, except for the money thing. But money is an important factor, here on Earth. The kind of factor that can certainly dampen your spirits.

Fortunately, here on 21st century Earth, there are ways for artists to raise money,  and one of those ways is Patreon. Have you heard of Patreon? It’s a way for people to support ongoing creative projects, like web comics and podcasts, by signing up to make a monthly donation to that project. We have launched a Patreon, which means that you can SIGN UP TO GIVE US MONEY! Wait, let me rephrase that . . . you can help support us, enable us to continue making the comic, and at the same time GET REWARDS! We really tried to make the rewards appealing, so hopefully there’s something that sounds good to you.

Check it out, over at Patreon!