I sold out of my initial 25 copy print run of my graphic novel The Fill-In. I hear something similar from everyone I talk to who’s bought it: they can’t wait to read, but need more time to “really sit down” and “appreciate” it. Maybe they get through part 1, but are “confused” and feel they have to read it again in order to understand what’s happening- then they lose motivation, and quietly put it back on their bookshelf, never so much as flipping through the other three parts (all of which I think are better than part 1). I tell them to relax and just look at the pictures, get through the whole thing in one sitting without thinking about it too much, meet the story where it’s at and move through it intuitively, as that was my intention when I made the thing, it’s meant to feel confusing, but confusion is ok and should be experienced as part of the art. This doesn’t work. People seem to feel that their confusion is their own fault, like they’re not really capable of experiencing art, like art is somehow above them. Art is fundamentally a form of communication, and their sentiment is a sad excuse for my own failure to communicate. In my ambition, I’ve doomed The Fill-In, and whatever “hidden meaning” it contains, to a state of non-existence. I set out to make something for an audience, visual and visceral; instead, I made an untouchable void, and alienated my own readers. I haven’t sent the book to publishers. I don’t want to associate myself with this weird, inaccessible, esoteric failure of human connection, no matter how proud I was of it at a time, no matter how beautiful myself and my audience can agree (some of) the images are. I wrote the book in a language that nobody speaks, and I’m no longer convinced it means anything at all. Maybe if I write a better book next time, people will actually read it (or at least flip through to the end).
Hello!
Idk, I just finished all of the TFI chapters, they were prettty easy to read and very entertaining in a good way.
However, I downloaded those chapters, like, half a year ago, without knowing you as an artist, and they were waiting for their turn all that time… I kinda understand the feeling of waiting for a feedback for the comic you’ve put so much skill, soul and meaning into, and people just live their lives, quietly put that comic on bookshelves and forget about it for a while. But, I hope when they finally read it, they’ll tell you how great it is and how it made them feel.
That was basically my motivation for this comment.
The story was captivating and surreal fairy scenes really worked for me. Wish there was more backstory of both Emy and Yumeno, I guess?
I also wish you included your name and the name of the comic in every chapter file, as I literally had to read till the end, just to know who created TFI 🙂 Liked “Did I really have to make this?” joke at the end. Relatable, honestly.
p.s. I’m not a native English speaker so please pardon my language sloppiness
Thank you so much! This was really uplifting for me to read, you have no idea. I took your advice and changed the file names so they had my name in them, that was a really good idea and I’ll continue to name my files that way in the future. I will also continue to write about & draw Emy and Yumeno and would have regardless of whether anyone asked me to, but I really appreciate you expressing that you want more. There’s some info about them in the Nightmare City Guide, mostly about Emy, particularly in the “Fairy Cult” and “Characters” sections. Might be a while before I make anything new about them, but I love these characters, so I will for sure. Your English was perfect by the way, better than mine often is