Penny Arcade announced their plans to sell out yesterday via Kickstarter and so far, they've been raking in the benefits of a soulless corporation. Or, maybe they're just trying to prove that fans can purchase and sponsor original content while making sure employees don't go hungry or can't pay rent?
The fact is, Penny Arcade have returned to their fans to beg for money hone the crowd sourcing incentive they pioneered a decade ago when people thought having webcomics were as serious as a Xanga page. And they're offering plenty of incentive to donate including ad-free front pages, the promise to follow your boring Twitter feed and to work on more original comic concepts like their "Lookouts" and "Automata" one-shots from last year.
Their even loftier goal? A million dollars. It sure does sound like a lot of money, until you break down the costs and what comes from running an overly successful Kickstarter campaign like Amanda Palmer. The fact is without relying on ads, Penny Arcade will make an interesting experiment for a year of content paid for by the reader directly.
Or, at the very least, proof that the Internet is a vindictive misteress that wants to watch Gabe chase a duck, screaming names like a Tourette's patient, for a few minutes. That's just a buck.
At the very least, it certainly makes the case for this comic.