Since 2009, Spike Trotman’s Iron Circus Comics has leveraged the power of crowdfunding to produce comics on its own terms.
Until this month, those terms included Kickstarter. But after the crowdfunding leader announced in December that it would be pivoting to blockchain technology — the stuff that makes cryptocurrency and NFTs possible — Trotman opted to pull out of Kickstarter and take Iron Circus’ campaigns in house.
That starts with The Poorcraft Cookbook, a guide to cooking and buying groceries on a budget in the spirit of previous volumes Poorcraft: The Funnybook Fundamentals of Living Well on Less and Poorcraft: Wish You Were Here, the Tightwad’s Guide to Travel. The campaign launched Feb. 7 and since then has raised nearly four times its fundraising goal of $6,000.
So, y’know, don’t worry about Spike. She’s doing OK.
(It’s worth noting that on Thursday, Kickstarter said it was slowing its roll on the whole blockchain pivot, taking more time to study the issue, establish an advisory council, etc.)
But as far as Iron Circus is concerned, some bells can’t be unrung. ComicsXF talked to Trotman about bringing Iron Circus’ campaigns in house, the challenges involved and why people should support Poorcraft.
Dan Grote: I see your site crashed just as the campaign for The Poorcraft Cookbook was launching due to high traffic. So, congratulations on having such an in-demand product?
Spike Trotman: Yeah, we were SURE we’d prepared sufficiently, too! We’d warned our webhost, we’d tested the system, we’d optimized the database. But it JUST WASN’T ENOUGH. But now that everything’s in the rearview mirror, I can say this much: I’ve been professionally ignored, and I’ve been professionally overwhelmed. I’ve been in both positions. And I’ll take and prefer the latter every time, website crashes and all.
Dan: Kickstarter’s decision to explore blockchain technology (and the recent public spat between Box Brown and Gumroad over NFTs) seems to have hastened a move toward more DIY crowdfunding solutions. Was this something you’d been looking to explore prior to the Kickstarter announcement?
Spike: Not at all! I’ve gotta say, I was 100% resting on my laurels. I was satisfied. No interest in leaving Kickstarter. I had (and still have!) friends in the offices, I was a Project We Love dang near every time I launched a new crowdfund, I was regularly the MOST POPULAR project on the WHOLE SITE every time I launched something new, no matter what it was, for at least a few hours. That felt good! And even at the capacity I was running at, repeatedly funding +$300K projects, I was okay with Kickstarter taking its 5%. I figured they earned it. Iron Circus owed its existence as a company to them. If it ain’t broke, y’know?
Dan: What were some of the challenges of moving your crowdfunding operation in house?
Spike: Pretty much all our challenges turned out to be software-based, ha ha. I knew pretty early on, I didn’t want to ever have to do this again. I didn’t want to choose a new, third-party site, get comfy, get complacent, and then have to pull up stakes a second time if it turned out WheeLetsFundIt dot Org or whatever was funneling money to moon pirates in 2029. So I knew from the moment I decided I was leaving Kickstarter that I was moving everything in house. With that decision made, it came down to figuring out how to build out a crowdfunding module onto the pre-existing Iron Circus site. Something simple, that we could direct backers we already had to, that wouldn’t be too different from what they were used to. We settled on WP Crowdfunding, with a few tweaks.
Dan: How many and what kinds of conversations did you have to have with various parties to set this in motion?
Spike: Well, Iron Circus has had an IT guy for years, his name is Kevin! HI, KEVIN. He does a lot of internet and website stuff for the small-press comics crowd, he’s really good and he’s been around for ages. He was the first person I went to with the brief, “I need something as Kickstarter-ish as possible, aesthetically. It should look familiar to everyone who’s ever backed me on that site before. Cost is no object.” And he went out and found WP Crowdfunding.
I also sent out a mass email to ICC creators. It was basically me explaining I wouldn’t be running the Kickstarters I’d promised them; they would get crowdfunds, but not on that site. If they were upset, I was willing to talk to them about it, but that particular aspect of things, I wasn’t going to negotiate about. But thankfully, they were all amenable to the change, and even thankful for it.
Dan: What’s different about a DIY Iron Circus campaign vs. going through Kickstarter?
Spike: A few things! No comments, for one. No shipping charges at the time of purchase, we’re waiting until it’s time to fulfill to charge that. The video is hosted on YouTube, not locally. And people’s cards are charged right away, not on the funding date! I think they’re all positive changes. More streamlined.
Dan: How do you see this move altering the makeup both of the people who support Iron Circus projects and the creators you work with?
Spike: I don’t see it changing much about either of those groups!
If I can be frank, ICC has never been a “safe” publisher. We experiment, we get weird. Folks who’ve stuck around for any amount of time know that; it’s why they like us. We’re not mainstream, have never wanted to be. So going off on our own, I think everyone watching is probably thinking, “Yeah, that’s on brand.”
Dan: After your interview with Rob Salkowitz at Forbes, Kickstarter issued this statement: “We should have told the story of why we are supporting a decentralized protocol better, and it’s on us to make it clear how this will benefit creators in the future. Spike Trotman is an incredible force in the independent comics world whose work we deeply respect; we’re honored to have played a role in so many of the books and projects she’s brought to life over the past decade, and we wish her tremendous success with this project as well. We take our responsibility to creators like Spike very seriously, and though we’re in the very early days of this new direction, we are committed to being thoughtful and transparent and involving our community much more directly as plans take shape from here.” It’s surprisingly contrite. Has anyone from KS reached out to you directly since then?
Spike: Oh, I was talking to my buddies in the KS offices pretty much right away, after the first announcement about the blockchain integration. There were multiple emails, there was a Zoom meeting. I asked for a roadmap, I asked for more details. I didn’t get anything that satisfied me. post-Zoom meeting was the point I was definitely like, “Yeah, they’re not gonna walk this back, I have to go.” But that wasn’t about my friend there personally. They’ve emailed since, they send me goodies in the mail. I still really love and respect KS and its staff. It just sucks this is how everything had to go down.
Dan: Alright, let’s talk about this book. What makes now the right time for another volume of Poorcraft?
Spike: Ahaha, seen the news lately?
But more seriously: It’s always time for Poorcraft. For people new to being on their own, people downsizing, people who just wanna live frugally. And more specifically, The Poorcraft Cookbook has been something readers have been explicitly requesting for years! Ever since the original Poorcraft released, even. That was 2012! This is something people have been wanting for 10 years! I’m just glad we can make it happen, finally.
Dan: Since the first Poorcraft, other creators have expanded on it with a travel guide and now a cookbook. Was this a concept you always intended to share with other creators?
Spike: Oh, I never thought it would go beyond the first book. I thought it would be done in one volume, who would need more? But then the requests came pouring in. And I was like, “Oh, wait, I guess I’m onto something, here.”
Dan: How did Nero Villagallos O’Reilly come into the mix?
Spike: Nero’s worked with ICC in the past, and me, personally? I’ve known him for years. We’ve chatted online, we’re convention buddies. I love his work, his drive, his professionalism. And he’s just so thoroughly Team Comics. It’s difficult to describe what that means, but in this day and age, a lot of people who make comics look at them as a waiting room, a proving ground for other media? That’s not what we are. And you can sense when someone you meet in the scene THINKS that’s what we are, and it shows in their work. But that’s beside the point, ha ha. Suffice to say, I am always rarin’ to work with people who’re Team Comics.
Dan: What’s a tip in this book you found helpful that you hadn’t been aware of personally or that more people should be aware of?
Spike: SHOP AT DOLLAR STORES. Welllll, maybe not for meat or fresh foods? But spices, cereals, canned goods, pantry staples? Go for it. It’s incredibly cheap, and some of the time it’s even just repackaged or close-to-sell-by-date stuff from the big grocery chains! That’s another thing to keep track of; “best by” or “sell by” dates and expiration dates aren’t the same thing!
Dan: What other creators should we be reading right now?
Spike: OH, wow. They’re basically all on Twitter, haha! Twitter and Instagram.
I am absolutely obsessed with :
Scott Base’s Bad Space Comics: https://www.instagram.com/badspacecomics/
Pocketss’ comics on Twitter: https://twitter.com/_pocketss/
Magera Gordon has an amazing imagination: https://www.instagram.com/dimespin/
Go read them all!
The Poorcraft campaign runs through March 3.
Dan Grote is the editor-in-chief of ComicsXF, having won the site by ritual combat. By day, he’s a newspaper editor, and by night, he’s … also an editor. He co-hosts WMQ&A: The ComicsXF Interview Podcast with Matt Lazorwitz. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, two kids and two miniature dachshunds, and his third, fictional son, Peter Winston Wisdom.
