Modern Tales

Other Modern Tales artists included Gene Luen Yang, James Kochalka, Dorothy Gambrell, Harvey Pekar and Will Eisner.

[1] The most recent update of each webcomic on Modern Tales was freely available, and readers could pay US$2.95 per month or $29.95 per year to get access to the website's archive.

Its launch line-up included Lark Pien, Jason Shiga, Jesse Hamm, Gene Luen Yang, James Kochalka, and Dorothy Gambrell.

[6] In January 2006, Manley launched a secondary, advertisement-driven version of Modern Tales, edited by blogger and critic Eric Burns.

Manley decided to establish this free version of Modern Tales in response to changes in economic circumstances that drive website models.

[7] In an interview with The Comics Reporter, Manley stated that "the Modern Tales brand isn't really sustainable in the current environment," and that he saw a need to append free webcomics to his subscription services.

[4] Narbonic-creator Shaenon Garrity took over as editor of Modern Tales in August 2006, and worked on reviving its long-form webcomic section and implementing the Project Wonderful advertisement system.

[10] Manley also published two single-webcomic subscription sites under the Modern Tales umbrella: Kochalka's American Elf and Lea Hernandez' Rumble Girls.

Whereas Modern Tales and its family was constructed in the style of traditional editorial magazines, Webcomics Nation was set up more as a service-bureau business.

[10] Manley's stated goal when he launched Modern Tales was for subscription revenue alone to provide a living wage for artists within five years, and the services did do solid business.

Manley in 2009