Even Keanu Reeves is doing it: why are comics going to Kickstarter?

The crowdfunding platform has boomed in the year of coronavirus, with indie mavericks joined by Hollywood royalty

Comics have had a record-breaking year on Kickstarter. By October this year, backers had pledged $22m (16.5m) to comics projects, up from $17m by the same point in 2019. Since the platform began in 2009, Kickstarter has funded 10,000 comic book projects, to the tune of $127m. With Marvel and DC putting out around 850 individual issues this year between them, that makes Kickstarter far and away the single most prolific publishing platform for comics in the world.

That even actor Keanu Reeves is dipping his toe into Kickstarter, raising $1.45m (1m) for his comic BRZRKR, created with Matt Kindt and Ron Garney for Boom!, is indicative of a quiet revolution in the medium, one that is now posing a challenge to traditional publishing models.