The web site Fair Page Rates kept a list of all the rates in the comic book industry until the people running the site moved away from it. At Creator Resource, we believe the information that Fair Page Rates provided was invaluable to the community and to helping open up the floor to discussion in terms of what creators are being paid.
We’ve compiled the data from Fair Page Rates here on the site, as listed there, and going forward will continue our own lists from data collected ourselves. The information below from here on out is directly from Fair Page Rates.
The goal of this survey is to build a resource that allows creators to have more information about standard rates in the comics industry. We also hope this data will encourage more professionals not to accept work that pays below certain standards.
For practical reasons, survey responses are gathered from any comics professionals who choose to take the survey. This means the data is based on a non-representative sample — there is potential for a self-selection bias, meaning that the people who choose to participate might be more likely to have certain perspectives or traits, and therefore not be representative of the “population.” That said, self-selection sampling is a widely used and accepted research method of non-probability sampling.
The data below was gathered anonymously from a sample size of 127 comics professionals. The data represents a resource in the process of being built — given the small and non-representative sample, we are not drawing conclusions or interpreting the data at this point. We will continue collecting surveys about 2015 rates until July 2016, and these results will be updated quarterly. It is worth repeating that the more people who participate, the more useful this data will be for all creators in the industry.
Archie Comics
| Page Rate |
Highest |
Lowest |
Avg (# of respondents) |
| |
|
|
|
| Script |
$100 |
$35 |
— |
| Cover |
$500 |
— |
— |
| Inker |
$55 |
— |
— |
| Penciler |
$95 |
$70 |
— |
Boom!
| Page Rate |
Highest |
Lowest |
Avg (# of respondents) |
| |
|
|
|
| Script |
$35 |
$25 |
$26.40 (6) |
| Cover |
$300 |
$100 |
$143.75 (8) |
| Line Art |
$175 |
$20 |
$89 (25) |
| Colour |
$75 |
$20 |
$28.75 (12) |
| Letters |
$75 |
$5 * |
— |
| Flats |
$10 |
— |
— |
| |
|
|
|
| Script + Art (Line, Colours) |
$175 |
$40 |
$117.78 (9) |
*”Color: $5 extra on pages that I had penciled and inked — Boom! Studios”
Dark Horse
| Page Rate |
Highest |
Lowest |
Avg (# of respondents) |
| |
|
|
|
| Script |
$200 |
$20 |
$98 (5) |
| Cover |
$800 |
$500 |
— |
| Line Art |
$300 |
$100 |
$203.58 (7) |
| Colour |
$100 |
— |
— |
| |
|
|
|
| Script + Art (Line, Colours) |
$275 |
$5 ($500/100 pp) |
— |
DC Comics
| Page Rate |
Highest |
Lowest |
Avg (# of respondents) |
| |
|
|
|
| Script |
$150 |
$90 |
$111 (5) |
| Cover |
$400 |
— |
— |
| Line Art |
$650 |
$210 |
$352 (7) |
| Colour |
$200 (cover) |
$135 |
— |
| |
|
|
|
| Script + Art (Line, Colours) |
$315 |
$300 |
— |
Dynamite
| Page Rate |
Highest |
Lowest |
Avg (# of respondents) |
| |
|
|
|
| Script |
$95 |
— |
— |
| Cover |
$300 |
— |
— |
| Line Art |
$200 |
$100 |
$145 (4) |
IDW Publishing
| Page Rate |
Highest |
Lowest |
Avg (# of respondents) |
| |
|
|
|
| Script |
$75 |
$65 |
— |
| Cover |
$350 |
$200 |
— |
| Line Art |
$200 |
$100 |
— |
| Colour |
$50 |
— |
— |
Image Comics
| Page Rate |
Highest |
Lowest |
Avg (# of respondents) |
| |
|
|
|
| Colour |
$200 |
$40 |
— |
| |
|
|
|
| Script + Art (Line, Colours) |
— |
$66.67 ($8000/120 pp) |
— |
Marvel Comics
| Page Rate |
Highest |
Lowest |
Avg (# of respondents) |
| |
|
|
|
| Script |
$120 |
$30 |
$81.43 (7) |
| Cover |
$650 |
$450 |
— |
| Line Art |
$700 |
$200 |
$372 (8) |
| Colour |
$150 |
$80 |
— |
Oni Press
| Page Rate |
Highest |
Lowest |
Avg (# of respondents) |
| |
|
|
|
| Cover |
$300 |
— |
— |
| Colour |
$60 |
$50 |
— |
| Script + Art (Line, Colours) |
$300 |
$13 |
$103.38 (8) |
Valiant
| Page Rate |
Highest |
Lowest |
Avg (# of respondents) |
| |
|
|
|
| Script |
$110 |
$60 |
— |
| Cover |
$400 |
$350 |
— |
| Line Art |
$250 |
$235* |
— |
*including colour art
Lowest Reported Page Rates by Publisher, 2015 *
- Dark Horse Comics, Total Art + Script – $5 ($500/100 pp)
- Oni Press, Total Art + Script – $13
- Boom! Studios
*Sample size of 128 respondents
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