The Top 3 Kickstarter Comics in Each Genre for January, 2025

The heaviest hitters in each genre by funding dollars to kick off 2025

Since December, 2024, I’ve spent time each day gathering and collating data on each and every crowdfunding campaign launched in the Kickstarter Comics category. Each campaign’s title and direct link goes into an Excel spreadsheet organized by genre, and, as each campaign ends, I enter the final funding amount and number of backers. When all campaigns launched in a particular month are ended, I have summative data on total funding, backer counts, campaign success rates, and other measurables that may then be used for insightful analysis into the current state of the Comics category.

A little glance at my working spreadsheet. A paid subscription gets you the full document at your fingertips.

As of today, all projects launched in January, 2025, are ended, with the exception of two, both of which are sci-fi stories and safely projected to succeed. Regardless of these lingering, 60-day (who does that to themselves?) campaigns, there is great meaning to be extrapolated from the otherwise complete January data set, beginning here with the top performing campaigns in each genre for that month. First, take a look at the 3 highest funded Comics projects overall for January:

• ZOMBIE TRAMP Birth of the Cruel pt. 1: $119,607 (1195 Backers)

• Robert Venditti & David Laphams HANK HOWARD, PIZZA DETECTIVE: $113,919 (445 Backers)

• SHI: GATECRASHER KICKSTARTER EXCLUSIVE!: $101,980 (1338 Backers)

It’s easy to extract the secret to success for all three of these 6-figure campaigns, as all three involve established, high-profile comics creators, including Dan Mendoza for Zombie Tramp and Billy Tucci for Shi, who’ve been published by major companies and distributed far and wide to both the direct market and book stores. Read as: there’s a lot of creative clout and a lot of high regard and a lot of marketing dollars behind this success, and good for these creators.

Below is a full listing of the top 3 funded comics for each of the top genres, by launch volume and total funding (remember, if the campaign is not for an actual comic book, it doesn’t get entered into my spreadsheet or considered with these statistics):

Action-Adventure ($203,937 total for January):

• SHI: GATECRASHER KICKSTARTER EXCLUSIVE!: $101,980 (1338 Backers)

• Mamluk: The Untold Legacy of Slave Soldiers: $12,060 (7 Backers) ($12K on 7 backers? Bullshit…)

• THREE new ZAGOR graphic novels!: $11,762 (110 Backers)

Fantasy ($124,119 total for January):

• I, DRAGON Trilogy - Medieval Fantasy Graphic Novels Box Set: $45,152 (779 Backers)

• ClosetWorld: $12,231 (162 Backers)

• HELLFORGED #1 - #4: Arthurian Fantasy Meets Science Fiction: $11,233 (372 Backers)

Horror ($165,867 total for January):

• The Passenger of U-977 - A Horror Graphic Novel - Make 100: $18,104 (527 Backers)

• A Town Called Collegeville: $16,560 (238 Backers)

• DEVIL-GIRL #1: SORROW - NSFW Supernatural Revenge Horror 18+: $13,591 (545 Backers)

NSFW ($816,972 total for January):

• ZOMBIE TRAMP Birth of the Cruel pt. 1: $119,607 (1195 Backers)

• The Little Mermaid & The Pirate Queen #1 - Sapphic Adventure: $74,512 (1672 Backers)

• Death Nell #1-5: FINAL ISSUE! A nsfw, magical comedy series: $62,740 (1019 Backers)

Romance ($191,015 total for January):

• THE PRINCE IN THE BASEMENT: $66,764 (1130 Backers)

• Yuri Comic Magazine "Galette- Special English Edition02": $54,309 (764 Backers)

• 【vol.2】yuri manga「Her kiss, my libido twinkles」: $25,966 (390 Backers)

Sci-Fi ($83,005 total for January):

• THE FINAL FINAL FRONTIER Number1: A GAME OF DEATH: $20,891 (253 Backers)

• A Place Where Time Doesn't Exist #1: A Sci-fi Adventure: $15,560 (524 Backers)

• CTRL+Z Volume #1: $9,537 (266 Backers)

Superhero ($46,551 total for January):

• JUST A LITTLE CRITTER #25 THE CRITTERVERSE REVEALED!: $9,255 (192 Backers)

• Bridges Comic Book Issue #1: $4,849 (146 Backers)

• WHO'S B.A.D.? #0 - 3: MOON WALKERS: $4,391 (108 Backers)

Top 3 Others:

• Robert Venditti & David Laphams HANK HOWARD, PIZZA DETECTIVE (Crime) - $113,919 (445 Backers)

• Dark Pink Comics (Supernatural) - $47,683 (921 Backers)

• Worthy Chaos Devastation: Supernatural Western Comic Issue 1 (Western) - $13,867 (330 Backers)

Key Takeaways

• The Romance genre dropped some megaton warheads on the Comics category in December, with 3 campaigns cresting the $25K (spanning up to $60K+) mark and another just behind at $24K+. I didn’t see that coming. Well done. Let’s see if that holds up in the next few months.

• NSFW projects continue to dominate the Comics category at all points, especially at the top end, with, again, the highest funded comic for the month, followed closely by 11 more successful campaigns that funded between $20K and nearly $75K. Far and away the most robust genre in Kickstarter comics in all aspects. The numbers don’t lie.

Want to Review & Access My January Kickstarter Comics Genre Funding Data for Yourself?

Initiate a paid subscription to The Comic$ Crowd now, and you can access January’s genre launch funding spreadsheet immediately after the paywall below! That’s all 242 verified Comics projects launched from January 1-January 31, each neatly sorted by genre, titled and linked to its Kickstarter page for tracking, with funding and backer amounts already entered and summed for the month.