Maine’s creative economy is about to acquire a new element from an obscure source: The world of comic art on the Web.

Two men who founded some of the most popular and influential comic art sites on the Internet, places like ComicSpace.com and WebComicsNation.com, are teaming up and setting up shop in Portland.

Joey Manley and Josh Roberts were in the city last week, scouting office space downtown and reviewing resumes for a programmer to add to their staff.

Their effort, funded by an infusion of venture capital from investors in Web development, is set to launch in the spring under the ComicSpace.com name. When it debuts, the site will strengthen Maine’s connection to the world of Web comic art, in which artists and writers publish and sell original work on the Internet.

Although the venture will only employ a handful of people, Manley, who has extensive experience in the online world, says it has the potential to grow. He believes he and Roberts can offer artists the tools they need to find and reach an audience and make a decent living.

“In the broadest possible strokes, we want to be what Flickr is for photographs and Blogger is for blogs,” he said, referring to the popular sites for publishing photos and weblogs.

Search the Web for comic art and you’ll find the work of thousands of artists around the globe, in genres that range from super heroes to crime to horror to science - and dozens of others.

While technology has made it increasingly easy for artists to publish their work, Manley says the number of people making a living selling comic art online numbers only “in the low dozens.”

Some of the most well-known include Diesel Sweeties, American Elf and Penny Arcade. There’s plenty of talent out there, Manley says, but artists don’t necessarily have the technological or business aptitude – or the time – to find an audience and market their work.

That’s where ComicSpace.com will come in. The site will offer artists a suite of services, including Web hosting, with the software to publish work on the Internet, a blog and forum so artists can communicate with each other and their fans, a directory, marketing expertise and access to merchandising of spin-off products.

“The main thing they need is merchandising of items such as posters, coffee mugs, T-thirts and mouse pads,” Manley said. “That’s where the money is in Web comics.”

Manley and Roberts bring a solid background in Web comic art to their venture.

Manley, 42, who is moving here from Kentucky, already runs several popular Web comic art sites. They include ModernTales.com, a pay site for high-quality comics; TalkAboutComics.com, which features blogs and forums and has 35,000 members; and WebComicsNation.com, which offers hosting.

Manley’s partner, Roberts, 33, runs ComicSpace.com from his home in Unity. It is a social networking site with about 25,000 artists and comic art enthusiasts who chat and post galleries. He also runs OnlineComics.net, a directory site that links to Web art by genre.

The duo’s new venture will consolidate in one place all the features offered on their assorted sites, with the addition of access to merchandising and marketing services.

Daniel Scott Gabriel Murray, a comic artist from Gardiner, says he supports any effort to give artists more exposure and the tools to reach a broader audience. Murray’s portfolio of digital art includes work for well-known studios, including Lucasfilm Ltd., DC Comics and Upper Deck.

But the contract work doesn’t pay him enough to make a living. So he has a full-time day job as a police officer in Gardiner. His online art work, done under the name All Night Light and Power Company, is squeezed into his off hours.

He uses ComicSpace.com to network with other artists and comic...