Hey, everyone!  First off I'd like to just say hello and that this is my first time coming to Drunk Duck and that I'm in need of some sage advice from those of you who've been here longer than myself.

Anywho, I've been wanting to start a strip for literally years now, but only recently in the last month or so have I been dedicating serious thought and preparation to the idea.  As it is, I have barely any money to pay for web fees and hosting, so hosting my comic at a place like DD for free seems logical.  I'll be willing to invest in my comic in the future, but for now I want to just see if I can get into the swing of updating 3 times a week, you know, to see if I'll have the ability to make it work long-term.

I don't want to host on DD forever.  I want to one day have my own site and my own branding independent of any comic host.  I've heard that what I could do until I'm fully prepared to set up my own site is to just host at a place like DD, but simultaniously register my comic's intended domain name.  That way I could set up my domain and just point it at my DD comic so I could establish my site's brand while waiting until I'm really ready to put money down on my own hosting.

So, is that something that's possible?  Can I set up my comic here and then go over to GoDaddy and register a name that'll point to my comic here?  Is this a viable option to use until I'm really sure whether I want to commit a bunch of money to making my own site?  Owning just the name is orders of magnitude cheaper than setting up a whole site.

Also, I read through the terms and conditions here, and maybe it was just because I was skimming, but I'm still not sure how DD handles intellectual property.  The creators of the comics on Drunk Duck are still the all-rights-reserved owners, right?  I mean, I can host here until I get my own site up and then painlessly migrate away without suddenly discovering tha DD owns everything that's mine...  right?  I think I'll do some searching on that point, but I'd like any advice you can give.

Thanks for taking the time to read a newb's words, gang.  I appreciate you taking the time to read :D  If you've got some advice you can give, I'd really enjoy hearing it :)

My advice is to stop thinking so hard about it and just update the dang comic. I've heard nothing about people losing character rights if their comic is uploaded here... otherwise none of us would be here.
and there's a ton of us who still come here to update even though they have their own site already, it's hard to stay away is all

The creators own their content. All Wowio owns here is the layout and their domain name...well...they probably own more than that, but they don't own any work that you put up.
 
Tons of people set up mirrors here.

I have five or six comics here.  All of my hosting started here, and two of my comics are now hosted on their own sites through a collective.  I still continue to mirror here, because I have a pretty loyal audience here.
 
The intellectual rights remain with you, unless Wowio woos you into a full time contract or something which I've only seen a couple of times.  Don't fear any suit being brought should you decide down the road to move your work elsewhere.
 
Welcome to the duck and good luck on your comic!

Hey, thanks for the replies and the warm welcome, gang!
I guess I'll host my first ever comic here at the Duck.
Thanks all y'alls!  The help is much appreciated :D