I don’t envy a small business owner in this economic climate, and as a semi-long-term Achewood reader, I’ll hang in there, even if it is frustrating that comics are thinner on the ground these days.

That said, I’ll be cold in the ground before I pay for “subscriber only” content. Anything that puts up a pay wall (whether it’s the Wall Street Journal or some goofy comic about stoned cartoon cats in California) can count on me saying no thank you. I think a tip jar approach would be much better.

However, I’ve been following Achewood since the good old days when he: a) posted Achewood daily, rather than weekly-ish; b) had more that 4 t-shirts & a tattered pamphlet in his store; c) didn’t make you pay to read his other content.

I wouldn’t mind subscribing, ordinarily. However, it appears that his attention is focussed on this monetized content, and the “regular” strip is tossed out just often enough to keep the punters coming back.