I can't possibly know what conventional ad networks pay to a site this size, but knowing how they work I can't imagine it's a lot at all, for ads that I've seen a lot of users complain about being some sort of weird/offputting/inappropriate

May I suggest: a model similar to Pixel Cat's End's ads where a player donation of a certain amount grants you an ad slot for a month? I know on PCE this resulted in delightful things such as people putting cat pictures and memes, advertising player shops, and other much more thematically appropriate [and enjoyable] stuff occupying ad space instead of another suspicious crypto ad

PCE's creator has been transparent that it is a much better deal for them income wise, so I'd love to see this site too, try something like that for extra footing.

+I would love to support the site but I'm someone very hesitant to buy game currency, so placing say, an ad for my comic instead would feel a lot more agreeable to me

However, I understand that this may take too much moderation time, so perhaps an alternative could also be comicad? it has Much better payouts in my experience and welcomes non comics as ad space providers and can be finer tuned in what content you allow on your site.