I want to thank even more those who make a contribution to the comic. In the long run, the print comic is dead. It's the devotion of a few aging Baby Boomers and becoming more and more a specialized item.

The graphic comic novel is holding its own for now, but you have to be an established quantity for them to publish that. In the long run, many cartoonists will turn to the web for their initial run---and the few who contribute just a few bucks apiece are helping support them for the rest of us.

SOMETHING POSITIVE for instance has received four thousand bucks or so, in the last few weeks, and if he makes a certain goal, he may be able to quit his tedious dayjob and devote his skills to one of the best comics on the web.

Strips like GOATS, another fine one, does special Sunday full-color comics every time his contributions get above a certain level.

In a medium where things are done for free, it seems odd to have to get down to the brass knuckles of asking for money. Yet it's part of the new reality of the web---the aneteurish, jack-of-all-tradish nature of everything we do. Most webcomics, you are your own writer, artist, editor, and web designer...well, you have to run your own financial department.

I haven't the faintest idea what "extra" I could give people if, say, the donations got above a certain level. Any suggestions about that would be appreciated...

But before the suggestion is made...some people promise to draw a picture of their webcomics characters naked if contributions or votes reach a certain level.

No.

I have nothing against nudity, but it doesn't suit my main character's personality, okay? This is the Internet, you can get all the nudity and sexual acts you want. You won't get it here. I offer something a little more..unique.

It would be nice, though, to make enough extra from the comic or the journal to have an extra income from it. There's a lot more I could do for my kids, for my wife, if I could. I get hundreds of readers at both places---and not all by means the same readers, according to my stats. The comic, especially is a work of pure imagination, and should be worth something...(some decry putting a possible paysite on the journal, but why? If I were writing a series of essays...which nine-tenths of my entries are...and put them out there for you to peruse at a bookstore, I would get paid...)

You don't buy even autobiographies for free...

Like a nymphomaniac trying to turn prostitute, I've been giving it away for free for so long, I feel awkward about turning pro...

The idea of getting four thousand dollars extra, a la SOMETHING POSITIVE, for putting my creations on the web would be wonderful, in and of itself...

I do occasionally get contributions...a trickle here, a trickle there...and they are deeply appreciated. Nothing compared to SOMETHING POSITIVE's, but deeply appreciated nonetheless. I also appreciately sincerely every one of you who reads the journal or the comic, and those who have linked to either and spread the word.

After Jamie died, venting here helped save my sanity. It's a debt that I owe many of you, of giving me a place to vent, and emails in return.

This essay is not to make you feel guilty. It's musing on the increasingly financial aspect of the Internet, and how to make it work...so things you like will still be here years from now.

And, to be sure, a rather wistful feeling of what I could be doing for my kids and family instead of this---say, a part-time job for extra income---and instead I'm doing this. It would be nice to be able to say, I'm not only doing what I enjoy---but I'm helping my family at the same time.

Maybe I should do the MODERN TALES thang, and make the archives of the comic acessible only to those who pay. Maybe I should make up a few added extra features (one person has suggested I do a short feature on how Mindmistress ever gets in that getup) that are available only to those who pay for "premium" membership...

Maybe I should get off my butt and get inventive about things so it would be worth its while to pay extra for added features.

Still, I'm doing one full-color page every other day. It's hard to imagine where I'll find the time to do such...

But I guess I'll find it somewhere.

If...it would be worth it to anyone else.

Still, I appreciate all of you reading...especially those who put the kind comments in the reviews of Mindmistress at the THE FUNNY PAPERS listing. It's...very encouraging.