Ursula Vernon has a wonderful post on self-publishing. Being Ursula, there's potatoes, cauliflower, and nonexistent forehead tattoos ... in short, funny and realistic.
The rocket ship on her mantelpiece she mentions is the Hugo award she won for her web comic, Digger. She mentions Girl Genius in her post as well, a web comic that has won several Hugos. Yes, plural.
I currently have no plans to self-publish. It's a lot of work I don't have time for because of the Day Job. If traditional publishing doesn't happen, I'll consider it. But only as a last resort.
After you digest Ms Vernon's good thoughts, check out Digger (a fantasy story). Here's the link to the first episode: http://diggercomic.com/?p=3
Girl Genius, a steam punk story written by Kaja and Phil Foglio, is still ongoing. It's updated Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Link to the first episode: http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20021104
I love plugging favorite authors!