 2004 logo | |
 September 2005 screenshot | |
| Owner | Joey Manley |
|---|---|
| Editor | Joey Manley, Shaenon Garrity |
| URL | ModernTales.com (archived) |
| Launched | March 2, 2002 |
| Current status | Discontinued |
Modern Tales was a webcomics publisher active from 2002 to 2012, best known for being one of the first profitable subscription models for digital content. Joey Manley was the website's publisher and original editor. The site featured a roster of approximately 30 professional webcomic artists. Shaenon Garrity, one of the site's original artists, took over as the publication's editor in 2006. Other Modern Tales artists included Gene Luen Yang, James Kochalka, Dorothy Gambrell, Harvey Pekar and Will Eisner.
In the first four years of Modern Tales' run, its most recent webcomic pages and strips were free, and the site's archives were available by subscription. The website's archives eventually became free to read as well, as online advertisement rates improved. Modern Tales did solid business and Manley spun off a number of similar subscription services, including Serializer.net, Girlamatic, and Kochalka's American Elf, which together became known as the "Modern Tales family".