If you have dropped by in the last couple days you may have noticed ad space. Indeed, there are ads right now, sitting quietly above the banner on the main page as I type this blog entry. This is the first time in the entire 8-year history of In Contempt that I have sold space for ads. For all that time I used the site as a giant ad for the comics, hoping to attract regular gig at weekly alternative newspapers.

Well, a funny thing happened. The newspaper industry, daily and weekly, began a slow death spiral when I launched my little strip, and nowadays it is teetering on the brink of the abyss. So they ain’t taking any more cartoons. In fact, friends of mine are losing clients left and right (well, mostly left, as it were), and there’s even been some speculation that the Old Grey Lady will kick up her heels and croak. Or at least go the way of HuffPost, which is a dubious half-life, fer shur.

So obviously the only recourse I have is to Sell Out to the Man. Actually, no, I took up a more lucrative career as a community college librarian. We are soooo rolling in the dough, we community college librarians. It’s like while everyone else is selling pencils from tin cups and queuing up for greasy soup ladled from giant Salvation Army vats, we royalty of the Academe lounge on silken pillows as slave-boys peel our grapes and keep our pedis nice and cured. Clap, clap! Dance for me, girls, the seven veils!

I think the ads might pull in enough revenue to pay for the cost of hosting this site. That is my wildest fantasy right there. I might add some more ad space as I learn how to use Project Wonderful more intelligently. I really doubt that there will suddenly appear ads promoting imperialism or militarism or 70% off sale at WalzMurt. That isn’t PW’s style. More than likely other comics creators, gamers, lefty activist organizations and other like-minded folk will find my site a hospitable place to hawk their wares. I hope so. It’s certainly a nice way to start building community.

So join my hand and skip with me to a land where the rivers run free, or the horses run free, or where lots of things are free, but a few people are trying to scrape up enough dough to afford a table at Stumptown.