The future of JL8 is uncertain.
This is an incredibly difficult post to make for a plethora of reasons, not least of which is that there are a great many people here in the States having much more difficult times, but please know that I’ve been putting this off until the last possible moment, and that moment feels like it’s finally arrived.
It’s no secret that JL8 has been largely inactive for years until very recently. I want to clarify that the lack of updates was never due to a lack of interest or desire to produce the comic, but because of a myriad of health issues—that I’d prefer to keep personal—that I’ve been struggling with since late 2018 that have been preventing me from working on the series with any degree or regularity. As I’m sure anyone can surmise, not working on a comic regularly is not a great way to find success when you’re trying to live as a cartoonist. So much so that at the beginning of this year, my wife and I had a serious discussion about whether it was time for me to accept that I’m no longer capable of making this my living, and that I need to move on.
With the writing so clearly on the wall, and with a LOT of help from support networks, I threw myself into the work in a way I haven’t in years. So far in 2025, I’ve produced and posted more pages of JL8 than I had in the past four—nearly five—years COMBINED, even with occasional spates where my health prevented me from working as regularly as I’d liked. I was, and am, determined to save this project that I love so much, but the reality is that it may be too little, too late. Nine months into this return, and the needle doesn’t feel like it’s moved much.
To be clear, this is a financial problem. I wish that we lived in a world where that didn’t matter, and people could make art for the sake of it without having to worry about how they’ll put food on the table, but that’s not the world we live in. As it stands, it requires about 30+ hours of work per week to maintain the current JL8 output, and that’s only if I have other things—commissions, shop orders—to also work on. If I don’t have those extra obligations, JL8 gets a full 40+ hours per week. A full-time workload.
I try to monetize my work via convention appearances, commission work, online sales, and Patreon. Conventions are sporadic in occurrence and becoming increasingly difficult to get into, Of the five conventions I’ve done in the last 12 months, only one has been truly profitable with three actively losing me money, which is by FAR my worst showing since becoming a professional. Commissions are great but they take a lot of time away from working on comics, and because they’re expensive, fewer people can afford them. Online sales are good, but it becomes difficult when you don’t have time to produce new merchandise, or worse, produce new merchandise that no one cares to buy. Couple that with how hostile social media platforms have become to sharing links to other websites, and they’ve become very unreliable. That leaves Patreon, which is far and away the steadiest stream of income I have, as I receive a payout every month. However, my Patreon pledge total sits at just a bit over $700—seven hundred—a month, and only manages to grow by 4-5 $1 pledges per month. I am eternally grateful to the Patrons who have been supporting me, but unfortunately that amount isn’t enough to live off of.
I’ve never set out to get rich making comics, but I do need to be able to at least pay the bills, and I’m just not sure if producing JL8 can meet that need. Having a number of emergency home and car repairs in the last year have only exacerbated that reality.
As such, starting next week, I’ll be kicking off some massive sales on prints, commissions, original art, everything in an attempt to drum up funds to keep this thing going. You’re also welcome to join the Patreon at any time. But the truth is that if these sales fall flat, I may not be able to continue working on JL8. Please, PLEASE believe me when I say that I’m just trying to be honest about my situation.
I am not entitled to a career as a cartoonist. That decision has always been in the hands of the readers. If you decide my time has passed, then it’s passed, and I thank you for these many years of support. But if you decide to keep me around, believe me when I say I’ve still got plenty of stories to tell.
