It's been so long since we've looked at the webcomic power rankings that we're effectively starting over in our data prognostication, but. It does compel me nevertheless. So let's do it.

1. Jeph Jacques - Questionable Content. 12,635 subscribers.

Thats why hes the goat meme

2. Alice Oseman - Heartstopper. 10,889 members. When we last did this about two or so years ago Alice had about a fifth of the subscribers she has now and was somewhere in the top 20. This is a meteoric rise in a short timespan, when most popular webcomic authors are lucky to get a few hundred more subs in a year.

3. Faizan Durrani - Paperback. 3,681 members. This is a closer to what normal is. I don't know why this man is still considered a webcomic artist, but his project is still cranking along. Good on him.

4. David M. Willis - Dumbing of Age. 2,832 members.
5. Rich Burlew - Order of the Stick. 2,829 members.
6. Chris Onstad - Achewood. 2,823 members.

I want to point out that there is a gap of 9 patrons between ranks 4-6. This is a calcified ranking. This is an ossified ranking. These people are locked the fuck into this spot just under top 3.

7. Zach Weinersmith - SMBC Comics. 2,772 members.
8. Sean Reiley - 1900HOTDOG. 2,769 members.

The battle of a heating up new property versus a slowly cooling dying star. These two are four patrons away from flipping. Also of note is that the top 10 in general, outside of some absolutely ridiculous top ranks, is very lockstep with each other nowadays.

9. Tom Bloom - Kill Six Billion Demons. 2,739.
Two years ago I predicted that Tom would be the next big name after Diaz to slide out of the top spots, and yet I come back and here he is, pegged exactly where we left off. Good on you.

10. Kate Beaton - Various. 2,703.
Kate's return to comics after burnout has been celebrated and she has apparently finally made it back to the top 10, where honestly she belongs.
Also, I want to point out the margin between 4 and 10 on this list, which is effectively the standard range, is all of 129 patrons. Razor thin compared to the old days.

Now what is interesting is, for as close and static as the top 10 is, 11-20 has its own curious trends here.

11. Tracy Butler - Lackadaisy. 2,511 members.
12. Abel Hagen & Christiaan Albers - Wooden Plank Studios. 2,414 members.
13. Aina Palm - Idiots Don't Catch Colds. 2,280 members.
14. Jenny Hefczyc - Loving Reaper. 2,195 members.

For example, notice that these ranks each have about a 100+ member drop between them. Jenny is the last one to crack 2000 patrons.

In the old COVID and just after days I termed this sort of numbers the LODZ - Low Oxygen Death Zone, because like in mountain climbing this referred to a space that couldn't sustain life. You either had the momentum to push up and through into higher sustained numbers or you were on your way to tumble out of the running for any real audience growth.

But looking month-over-month changes for these four, with the exception of Jenny being on a pretty strong rise and Aina being on a fall - and numbers there look more like they'll swap positions - this is the new normal. This is a stratified air that has stabilized, rather than being a sign of big changes.

The LODZ doesn't seem to exist as we knew it anymore.

Or maybe we're not looking close enough. Let's keep going.

15. Guy Elnathan - Chronicles of Us. 1,751 members.
16. Joshua Barkman - False Knees. 1,701 members.
17. Tom Siddell - Gunnerkrigg Court. 1,675 members.

I am glad to see number 15. That is the first new webcomic in this listing even though it's been literal years since we've done one of these, and that was becoming disconcerting.

Also I want to highlight the meteoric drop here. There is a 444 patron gap between ranks 14 and 15, which is essentially the gap between ranks 3 and 12. Likewise, Tom gets to be here because there's no one in the rankings between him and people in the 1400s. We are in comparative freefall.

I'll finish out the top 20 for old times' sake, but I think I see the pattern now.

18. Marko Raassina - Nerd + Jock. 1,461 patrons.
19. Emily McGovern - Emily's Cartoons. 1,451 patrons.
20. John Allison - Bobbins. 1,367 patrons.

Marko is our second and only other new artist to break into the top 20, which is one of two trends I noticed on this chart. the other is one of stratification.

Once we get out of the turbulence that is 11-19, things begin looking more and more like they did at the top of the charts in terms of gaps. We get little bands of close numbers, then a drop.

Slots 20-22 are all in the 1300s.
23 & 24 have 1200+ subscribers.
The 1100s are 25-29.
Four digit club is 30-35.
900s are slots 36-40.
800s are 41-49.
And 50, the end of the chart, sits at 799.

Newer names congregate at the bottom, as well.

The lowest a former top 10 contender has slipped is 30 (Sarah Andersen) and lowest a top 20 perennial has gone is 37 (Sophie Labelle). Technically there's one lower but I'm not counting the Schlock Mercenary guy because he's retired.

My theory is that the LODZ still exists, in the 11-20 zone now, and it has gotten bigger and bigger as time has gone on. It's now a nearly nightmarish climb for anyone who is trying to get in, and the fall out of it seems to go slower but still just as steady.

The numbers are smaller, without people stuck inside from COVID, the rises less dynamic, but the game still plays the same.

yeah, that tracks with...the webcomic industry in general.

additional notes: most newcomers are nowadays gonna get trapped in the Hellscape that is Webtoons/Taptastic/etc.

which means their numbers aren't on patreon.

Yeah Aina Palm and a couple others seem to have grandfathered in patreons.

I'm interested to say where Rich goes. OOTS moves glacially these days but it is undisputedly in its endgame as a comic, and while the OOTS patron is more a life support IV for the last reasonable place to discuss elfgames on the internet, I do wonder if the end of the comic might change his numbers one way or another.

I'm also mildly amused and surprised at Lackadaisy's return to (relative) relevance.