Are NSFW Comics Really Taking Over Kickstarter?

It's a common narrative, but is the perceived dominance of NSFW comics a real phenomenon?

Intro to NSFW Comics

Few topics about crowdfunding comics on Kickstarter raise the bile of struggling comics self-publishers like the prevalence of porn comics…NSFW comics…whatever you want to call them. It feels like the quick and dirty way to make a fast buck (or a lot of fast bucks) by sneaking your unsavory sequential wares to backers via the seedy back alleys of Kickstarter. Just draw some naked women splayed across the cover and take it straight to the bank, right? Well, kinda…

Before I delve any further into the NSFW comics mine, let me clarify a couple of points:

1. I personally have no problem with sexually explicit comics, whether crowdfunded, distributed to the direct market, sold at conventions, or any combination of the above. This analysis is not a moral judgment in any sense. Rather, it’s a consideration of the actual place those comics hold in the Kickstarter Comics category and their influence on the marketplace therein.

2. It’s important to note that, for this analysis, I considered only those comics projects that include explicit sexuality and blatant sex acts (to the extent I can determine that from a Kickstarter project page), beyond brief, in-context nudity or demure or implied depictions of sexuality. In more common parlance, this discussion pertains to hardcore, more than softcore, sexual content. There’s definitely some subjective gray area in there, but that’s impossible to fully eliminate in this general analysis.

Death Goddess of Cthulhu Cover art by Leirix

The Nitty-Gritty

To kick this off with the utmost objectivity, let’s look at the real numbers as of the morning of November 20, 2024:

• Out of 268 Comics projects live on Kickstarter right now, 17 of them are of the sexually explicit variety. That’s a measly 6.34% of all live projects.

• Total funding for those 17 projects is $287,745. That’s an average of $16,926, not including one project that has only 3 backers and is unlikely to fund.

• The all-time average funding for successful Kickstarter Comics projects is $14,038.

• For these 17 projects (yes, I know that’s an absurdly small sample size, but it’s what we’re working with), the success rate is 94.12%, while the all-time success rate in the Comics category is 67.51%.

The number of these 17 projects currently funding in the indicated ranges:

• $0-$5000: 3

• $5000-$10,000: 2

• 10,000-$30,000: 9

• $30,000-$60,000: 3

The Breakdown

Simple consideration of this data yields a few important conclusions:

1. At this point in time, at least, NSFW comics comprise a minute (6.34%) proportion of the project population in the Kickstarter Comics category.

2. Even give extreme funding outliers (like BRZRKR and the G.I. Joe Compendium) that skew the all-time average funding for Kickstarter Comics projects, this small set of live NSFW comics outfunds the field by 21%.

3. Funding for the live NSFW comics is robust, with 12 of the 17 rising above the $10,000 level, and includes a project currently funding over $50,000.

4. The success rate for NSFW comics is substantially higher than for other comics in the category, although the current 91.67% rate is likely exaggerated.

Real Talk

So, to answer our initial question: No, NSFW comics are not taking over Kickstarter. Even if the current prevalence of the genre is depressed for some reason, there’s no evidence to suggest the relative presence of sexually explicit comics rises at times to much higher levels. Perhaps the superior funding totals and success rates manifest a false sense of omnipresent nude covers, but, while amongst this current group of NSFW comics, there are a LOT of nude and sexually explicit covers, they are confined to a clearly small population of projects. Look, I’m as surprised by this information as you are, but it’s real.

What’s Working for NSFW Comics

You don’t need me to explain to you the appeal of nude human figures or same engaged in sex acts as depicted by talented artists. Ask your parents. But there are clear and, some, obvious strategies working for them, such as:

• Porn Cover Mills: 12 of the 17 currently live NSFW comics projects offer 8 to 12+ nude and/or sexually explicit variant covers, available separately or in bundles. Most (but not all) of those are high-level attractive renderings, exclusively of women. The nude/sexually explicit covers are generally priced at twice or more the ask of their clothed alternatives and, thus, contribute mightily to funding totals.

• Actual stories: While 10 of the 17 NSFW comics projects I reviewed offered little or no story or sequential art, a full 7 of them emphasize story and sequential art and are producing real comics in addition to maintaining a sexually-charged vibe. And, in each case, the interior art shown is attractive and professionally produced, and the story synopses are thought-provoking and appealing.

  Note that 5 of those projects without story information are plainly advertised as pin-up books or art books (which should NOT be approved for funding in the Comics category). 4 others claim to include comics between their porn covers, but their Kickstarter pages offer little or no evidence of such in the way of synopses or sequential art samples. Then, there were 2 other NSFW projects that I…well, I honestly couldn’t figure out what direction they were going other than to push the limits of Kickstarter’s porn policies to the absolute edge (and they got away with it…).

• 4 of the live NSFW Kickstarters rely completely on intellectual property that is either in the public domain (The Wizard of Oz and Winnie the Pooh…wtf…) or owned by DC or Marvel Comics, which seems…risky (and risque…I’ll be here all week). Capitalizing on the weird juxtaposition of nostalgia, fandom, and sexuality makes sense and is obviously working for these creators, at least until that big cease-&-desist shows up.

• 1 project acknowledges heavy use of AI for its many nude covers, and, judging by its $15,000+ funding level, that’s a successful gambit for them. Given the visceral reaction from most comic creators when the letters AI are even used in the same words these days, I guess I’m a bit surprised that there’s not more backlash. All things become ordinary with time and exposure, I suppose.

AI-Generated Cover Art for Vampire Call Girls 2

The Final Analysis

We can all relax now, correct? Now that we’re absolutely convinced porn comics are not the reason our self-published darlings are not funding at the levels we saw a few years ago, all our fears are put to rest, right? Well, no…but we can adjust our focus to the super-creators - 2 of whom I discussed at length in a previous post and have projects in the NSFW mix I examined for the present post. I maintain that the nature of their content is not the problem.

The problems stemming from their behavior on the platform are their never-ending presence in the Comics category, their freezing of backer funds while their innumerable projects resolve and fulfill, and the false sense they communicate to backers that all comics crowdfunders are out to launch as many projects as possible without concern for those that remain unfulfilled. These practices undermine backer confidence in Kickstarter comics creators far more than the number of nudie covers they offer as campaign rewards.