The Topato Corporation (styled as TopatoCo) is an online retailer for merchandise of webcomics and other media. It was established in 2004 by artist Jeffrey Rowland.
History
After Jeffrey Rowland lost his job in 2004, he started TopatoCo to help sell shirts, stickers, and other merchandise linked to his webcomics. When the 2004 presidential election was won by George W. Bush, Rowland designed a satirical T-shirt and sold 1000 of them in one month.
Rowland later expanded the business to ship products ordered from friends' websites, who in 2007 moved their retailing to TopatoCo. While Rowland founded the company while living in Oklahoma, by June of 2005 he had moved to Easthampton, Massachusetts. In 2006, he began working with his partner Holly. The two were married in 2012, and still run the company together.
The company has been described as "perhaps the largest and most recognizable E-tailer of webcomic merchandise" by Caleb Goellner in ComicsAlliance and takes its name from the Topato Potato character in Rowland's Wigu Adventures. Rowland has described the company's business philosophy as being "give digital stuff away for free, sell real stuff".
In 2013, Holly started Make That Thing, a Kickstarter management and fulfillment service. Make That Thing originally served as a sister company to TopatoCo. Now Jeffrey and Holly manage and fulfill crowdfunding campaigns as part of TopatoCo's daily operations using the nickname TopatoGO.
Clients
Some cartoonists involved from the early days of the company are Jonathan Rosenberg, Richard Stevens, John Allison and Meredith Gran. In a 2008 interview, Rowland stated that the "big guys" in terms of clients were Dinosaur Comics and Dr. McNinja. Other clients include Questionable Content, MS Paint Adventures, and Girl Genius. The company found in 2009 that it was growing too quickly, and turned down some potential clients.
List of creators +CreatorNotable Title(s)Additional Note(s)Abby Howard, Black Tabby GamesScarlet HollowSlay the PrincessAlex SchmidtSecretly Incredibly FascinatingAndrew HussieMS Paint AdventuresAnthony ClarkBeartatoA. Senna DiazDresden CodakAsymmetric PublicationsKingdom of LoathingBecky Dreistadt, Frank GibsonBecky & Frank!Brandon BirdChris HastingsThe Adventures of Dr. McNinjaCohen EdenfieldSkulltendersFeatures KC Green, Jess O’Brien, and Amber CarrDave KellettSheldonDavid MalkiWondermarkDorothy GambrellCat and GirlErin McKeownEvan DahmGene AmbaumLibrary ComicIllustrated by Willow PayneUnshelvedIllustrated by Bill BarnesIan McConville, Matthew BoydThree Panel SoulIan WorthingtonWorthikidsJeffrey RowlandTopatoco FounderJeph JacquesQuestionable ContentJessica HayworthJess FinkJohn AllisonJohn HodgmanJon RosenbergScenes from a MultiverseGoatsJonathan CoultonJoey ComeauA Softer WorldIllustrated by Emily HorneJulia WertzKate BeatonHark! A VagrantKate LethAffiliated with Night Vale PresentsKC GreenGunshowKoiBeatKory BingSkin DeepLucy KnisleyMachine of DeathAnthology edited by Ryan North, Matthew Bennardo, and David MalkiMattie LubchanskyMC FrontalotMichael KuppermanNeil CicieregaNew Leaf LiteraryCassandra ClareHolly BlackLeigh BardugoLiz ClimoNight Vale PresentsAlice Isn't DeadThe Orbiting Human CircusWritten by Julian KosterWelcome to Night ValeWithin the WiresOh Joy Sex Toy!Originally created by Erika MoenOlive Rae BrinkerRae the DoeOlivia JaimesNancyContinuation of the 1938 Ernie Bushmiller comic of the same namePhil & Kaja FoglioGirl GeniusPost Everything ProductionsThe Story Must Be ToldRichard StevensDiesel SweetiesRosemary MoscoBird and MoonRyan NorthDinosaur ComicsSarah JolleyThe Property of HateSam LoganSam & FuzzyShen (Andrew Tsyaston)Shen ComixSmallbu AnimationCo-created by Lindsay and Alex Small-ButeraThis Modern WorldTom TomorrowTom SiddellGunnerkrigg CourtTrudy Cooper, Doug BayneOglaftwistCMYKUpright Citizens Brigade TheatreMission to ZyxxUrsula VernonRed WombatWill FlanaryDr. Glaucommflecken References
External links