The Important Things (PDF comic) (Patreon)

I'm sorry about the lack of swift updates recently, it's been a little rough being a one-person customer service rep, warehouse manager, post office employee, comic artist, freelancer, biz developer, secretary... etc... I'll be uploading the pencils to the upcoming MI page when I'm done with like 12 other things but FIRST, a 8-pg comic to apologize for the update sporadicity of this month, and for making up the word "sporadicity."

This comic was a rejected submission for an anthology from 2009... the title page and description are from a small-run sketchbook I put together a few years ago. So go ahead and read the comic (pdf can be downloaded at the bottom), then come back to the comments here...

[intermission]

Okay so, I TOTALLY lied in that title page text, lol. Both to the reader and to myself. I actually do like the comic, though it's a bit old/ rough (and you can probably see some nascent themes in there that I've reused in other places) (also naming people who make bad decisions "Mike," apparently). It's not a very nice comic, I guess, but it makes me feel something? Anyways, this was the draft I turned in for the 7th Flight Anthology, which I was invited to via email out of the blue. It was the first time I'd ever been invited to anything, and also being in Flight had been a dream of mine. I was flipping out slightly and had no idea what to draw, and came up with this. Eventually I couldn't put off the critique phase any longer and I got reamed, at least for someone who had never been critiqued by professionals before. The one question that has stayed with me for the last several years was the venerable Kazu Kibuishi asking me in a disappointed tone, "what is the point of telling a story that isn't uplifting?"

TO BE HONEST, I don't know. A lot of my work as you know is sort of shocking at times, or depressing or whatever. I haven't really finished a big work yet so I don't think you guys can say for certain where I'm going with things, but generally speaking I do like to read stories with unsatisfying elements. Some people think it's a waste of time to engage with material like that, but other people (like me) like to see the harshness of reality portrayed in an artistic, curated way. But what is the point of that, was the original question... Provoking a response isn't a super lofty goal, I mean, I could tase you and provoke a response but it wouldn't be a nice one. In the same way, horrific or depressing works, do they have a point other than to elicit some reaction? or do they teach us something about ourselves and how we respond to stress or fear or sadness? But is it necessary for us to experience terrible things outside of real life, and should we invite that sort of thing into our casual everyday lives as well? Is there truly any more value to read an uplifting- but wholly fictional- work instead?

Anyways, I eventually turned in the dino comic (https://www.patreon.com/posts/flight-8-2987080 ), which appeared a year later in Flight 8 (lol). So yeah!! don't give up, even your crappiest comics can one day be a buffer between you and patient Patrons waiting for new updates. But I'm wondering, what do you guys think about "negative" works and their value? Do you think provocation for the sake of provocation has any use? All I know is that I feel compelled to make such works and don't have a great explanation as to why. 

(ps I'll be out most of the weekend tabling at SVCC but I will definitely be back to read and respond to any of your thoughts because like I mentioned, I've been thinking about this for years and have not come up with a good answer yet!)