When Matthew Dow Smith found himself facing the possibility of going unpaid at the end of August, he came up with an unusual way to ask for help: he offered to make a comic for everyone.
In a post on Bluesky, the creator of October Girl and Amelia Shadows explained that a delay in an expected payment could leave him struggling to cover his bills. His solution? Offer to make a comic. If supporters could help him raise $2,000, he would create a kids comic, releasing five pages a week on Bluesky. And if he reached $3,000, he would also make a free digital collection available for readers to download.
The comic he proposed was The After School Villain Society, a project Smith said had received the most requests from his followers.
“Think of it as a one-time Patreon pledge where you can support a creator and help a comic book happen that everyone can read,” he wrote.
Within days, Smith had raised more than $3,000, and he’s now moved forward with the project. It’s an interesting twist on crowdfunding; rather than creating a comic exclusively for backers, Smith is using their support to make a new story freely accessible to anyone who wants to read it.
You can follow The After School Villain Society as it unfolds on Bluesky.