As the battle for a mandatory $15/hr minimum wage is fought in the service and retail industries, artists remain neglected. It is our belief that the creative teams of comic books deserve a living wage. Specifically, we feel Page Rates should be commensurate with the labor involved, ideally no less than $15 an hour for any position (writer, artist, colorist, letterer). It is the responsibility of the publisher and not the freelancer to provide this minimum wage and to structure their business model accordingly.

At this point in time, the comics industry does not have a guild or union to set fair rates and enforce them. We are now presenting this data in order to help artists not only be better informed about the standard rates of the industry but to also encourage them to not accept work that falls below the standard. Artists, although you may feel you must take what you can get, it only helps you, your artistic community, and the medium, to refuse any job which pays lower than the current page rates.

This website only covers work-for-hire agreements, and does not attack or defend any particular publisher, organization, or person. The information presented here has been gathered and researched by professionals from across the industry.

If you’re being offered lower than standard page rates from a publisher, take the 2015 Year In Review Survey. We are compiling data to see what the real actual page rates are for working cartoonists today.

or email us at FairPageRates@gmail.com