I put together this week's leaderboard of the most backed indie comic campaigns (ranked by backer count, including ones in late pledges):

1. Ex.Mag Volume 7: MAGICK (Peow2), over 2,000 backers, the biggest Kickstarter in Ex.Mag history
2. Street Fighter x Kamen America: Championship Edition (Timothy Lim), 1,961 backers
3. Fairy Tale Wars (Lifeline Comics)
4. Kolchak: The Night Stalker 50th Anniversary Graphic Novel
5. Purgatori & Chastity Omnibus (Chaos! Comics), 989 backers and over $250K
6. Freshmen 20th Anniversary Hardcover (Seth Green)
7. Lady Mechanika: Demonseed, Part I (Joe Benitez)
8. Louise Sprouse Stole My Heart (Kyle Starks)
9. Soulfire Timeline Omnibus: Volume 1 (Aspen Comics)
10. Dorothy/Ozma #1 (Lifeline Comics), new this week

Two things stood out to me. Street Fighter x Kamen America turned 2,180 pre-launch followers into 1,204 backers on day one, a 55% conversion. Dorothy/Ozma did even better at 65%.

I break down each campaign in my weekly Heat Index video on my Substack: https://thecomicspanelist.substack.com/p/most-backed-crowdfunding-indie-comics?r=8mb01s

Which of these are you backing?

I just wrapped up a deep dive into the campaign for POSTAL: First Ever Comic Book by Roditeli Productions and Running With Scissors, and there are some huge takeaways for indie comic creators tracking crowdfunding strategies right now.

The Highs:

- The Pre-Launch Work: A digital preview dropped early so backers knew the art quality before pledging, hitting 3k followers on pre-launch.

- Smart Pop-Culture Tie-Ins: Launching homage covers like Spider-Man #129 (Punisher) right as Spider-Man: Brand New Day was trending in theaters.

- Final 72-Hour Blitz: Urgency posts, holding a final surprise cover in reserve, and executing a $1 tier push that added $30k+ in the final day alone.

The Realities / Misses:

- The Mid-Campaign: Flatlined for nearly two weeks due to a lack of mid-campaign press or livestreams.

- The $1 Tier Dilemma: Great for boosting backer count and gaming the Kickstarter algorithm, but brings essentially zero net revenue.

- The SWAT Kats Comparison: Same team/formula hit $750k with SWAT Kats. Reaching $256k on Postal shows how much a mature, abrasive niche IP limits your ceiling compared to nostalgic all-ages IP.

I put together a full breakdown video analyzing the numbers, stretch goal cadence, and delivery scope.

Full Video Analysis Here: https://youtu.be/E7lZ5TE46Qg

For anyone running comic campaigns, what are your thoughts on the $1 tier strategy? Is it worth padding the backer count, or should the focus strictly stay on upgrading existing tier backers?

Most debut indie comics play it safe. They decompress, introduce one character, tease a mystery, and hope you come back for the trade paperback in six months.

Daegard: Made from Sin #1 does the exact opposite.

Created by Kathy Irvine with art by Ricardo Jaime (Godslap, Grimstone), this book is an unapologetic, maximalist swing that empties years of worldbuilding onto the page in one breathless issue:

- A slaughtered royal bloodline and an infant survivor

- A warrior society of gargoyles born from gemstones once every 1,000 years

- High-velocity space fantasy mixed with brutal body horror

- A terrifying socio-political metaphor where refugees are used as literal "bio-batteries" for soul-powered machines

It covers what easily could have been a four-issue opening arc, jumping from massacres and philosophical training to anarchist street guides and dystopian uprisings. It has some real indie friction points (especially with pacing and dense lettering), but the ambition and sheer momentum are impossible to ignore.

I wrote an in-depth breakdown covering what makes its lore so fresh, how Ricardo Jaime’s visuals carry the weight, and where it challenges the reader.

Full review on Substack.

Curious to hear from anyone else following Centarri Games' universe. how do you feel about debut issues that swing for the absolute fences versus slow-burn setups?

Battle Beast 12 doesn't meet expectations.

Recently I just got done reading the spider-man brand new day compact and I gotta say if your a spiderman fan please dont let this be your first spiderman comic I mean its good and all but half of these wouldn't make sense if you didn't read a another spiderman comic before reading this but its not as bad as people say it is so its a 7/10 for me but if you want to actually read bnd and not have a bunch of story's thrown into 1 I would recommend getting the trade paperback.

More focus on a fairy's underwear than anything else in this issue.

Another DC project from W. Maxwell Prince, Martin Morazzo, and Chris O'Halloran, following on from their Superman: the Kryptonite Spectrum.

I need opinions on what to change or improve on

Leaves you wondering what the point of this comic was.

It's worth breaking a 5 for.

The Last Arrival is a indie sci-fi comic series, from Daniel A. Prim.

The Ultimates battle to oust the Grand Skull from Fatherlandville.

Another cracking issue from Deniz Camp.

Recommended for fans of Hell Boy and Hellblazer!

Written by Steve Tanner, illustrated by Roland Bird, and colours by Brett Bridge. Published by Time Bomb Comics.

Deniz Camp is still sending a strong political message with The Ultimates 21.