Here’s how it works:
Commission, day 1.
Work begins day 2.
Work completed day 30.
Invoice day 31.
Invoice paid day 61.
Cheque from US required to clear: 4-6 weeks (ie day 89 to day 103)
Bills arrive: day 1 – 30. And repeat.
It’s insane.
Cheque from the US is unusual (but just happened) normally it’d be a direct bank transfer, in which case payment is more-or-less instant (from the invoice paid date).
But even at that generous scenario, at any one time, as a working comic artist you need to have approximately 2 months worth of money in the bank, one month for the month you’re working, then another for the month you’ll be waiting on payment.
And even that assumes nothing goes wrong.
And if you’re smart you’ll bank 50% of your income for tax (you won’t need it, but it keeps you right at the end of the year, and any you don’t spend on tax acts as a nice little bonus for you).
(Don’t forget, you’ve got to keep doing this month after month, until you die)