Did NSFW Comics Dominate Kickstarter Again in January?
Or did other big genres gain ground on the perceived Kickstarter juggernaut?
242 projects that were intended to create actual comics (e.g., not art books, pins, sketch books, how-to books, etc.) launched in the Kickstarter Comics category during January, 2025. That output more than doubles the same (109) in the previous month of December. So, the rebound from the holiday project lull was strong overall.
However, not every genre represented in that rebound increased in volume proportionately to the overall gain in campaign census, and that was especially true for the NSFW domain, which I define as:
Features nudity and/or explicit sexual content on covers and/or explicit sexual content on the interior pages of the comic.
Take a look for yourself via a full graphical breakdown by genre:
The top 5 genres on the platform, purely in terms of the volume of launches, for January (with December stats presented for comparison) were:
NSFW - 39 campaigns (16.1%); December: 32 (29.4%)
Horror - 35 campaigns (14.9%); December: 9 (8.3%)
Fantasy - 27 campaigns (11.2%); December: 13 (11.9%)
Sci-Fi - 26 campaigns (10.7%); December: 9 (8.3%)
Action-Adventure/Superhero - Tied at 23 campaigns (9.5% each); December: also tied at 11 (10.1%)
Key Takeaways
While the NSFW sector increased by 7 campaigns, its overall share of the Comics category, in terms of the number of projects launched, decreased proportionately by nearly half. That’s substantial.
The big mover for January was Horror, with an increase of 26 projects and a nearly doubled share of the category.
Fantasy more than doubled its launch frequency and, in so doing, held steady at around 11% of the category.
Sci-Fi essentially tripled its output in January but still lost a couple of points in terms of overall representation.
And, weirdly and coincidentally tied for a second consecutive month, the Action-Adventure and Superhero genres held steady at around 10% (each) of launch volume while doubling their respective number of campaigns.
Funding Data by Genre is Coming
Once all December launches end, by mid-February (yes, there are still some December-launched projects running), I will examine total funding, total backers, and total successful campaigns, all per genre for that entire month of launches. I’ll do the same for January in March. The resulting monthly data set can then be compared with succeeding months to identify trends, steady states, and anomalies. So, next week, look for a full financial breakdown of December Kickstarters by genre.
The Horror, The Horror
Why did the Horror genre make such a big move in January? There’s nothing in the launch frequency data to accurately give us this answer, but, anecdotally, it was almost certainly the top non-NSFW genre in October and November, which most of us would attribute to the Halloween season. But, perhaps, Horror is always a big player and simply receded with other non-NSFW genres during the December holidays only to bounce back hard in January. Hell, most of my output falls within the Horror realm, and I know I’m not alone in that. I’m interested to see how that plays out over the next few months and how the actual launch data supports or invalidates my hypothesis.
AGAIN: Create a NSFW Sub-Category Beneath the Kickstarter Comics Masthead
Despite the relative NSFW shrinkage in January, it’s still THE top genre in the Kickstarter Comics category in terms of the number of launches, and preliminary December funding data shows it’s far and away the king of the comics crowdfunding dollars. Even huge, multifactorial increases in launches in other genres couldn’t dethrone it. As such, allow me to once again advocate for a mandatory Comics sub-category for NSFW projects, where they can easily be found but also easily remain out of the view of casual indie comics shoppers who don’t want to see all that.
We’re all diminished by the perception of the Kickstarter Comics category as the dirty curtain-obscured VHS porn room of 1980’s video rental stores, but a few minor and constructive changes would rectify all of that.
Happy Hump Day,
Kevin
Hey, Kevin, for your analysis, are books that cross genres counted in just one category, or multiple? (Ex. a NSFW Horror book... does that get counted in both categories, or just one?)
I’m really curious what the numbers would look like of the NSFW category was interrupted more literally. Ie. images you would not want to be seen looking at in a work environment. Such as pretty much all Dynamite’s covers. Or anyLady Death book. These TnA books are more or less equivalent to outright porn books to the average kickstarter shopper.