Pictures for Sad Children

Pictures for Sad Children
Author(s) Merry Graves[1]
Current status / schedule Unknown
Launch date 2007
End date 2014
Genre(s) Absurdist humor, black humor, Comedy

Pictures for Sad Children was a webcomic created by Merry Graves in 2007.[1][2] The comic variously employed dark, surreal, or gritty humor and was mainly story-driven until shifting to more self-contained strips.[3] The author acknowledged that the tone of the comic can be a little sad in an interview with The New Yorker. [2] Pictures for Sad Children was a finalist in the 2008 Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards (WCCA) as an Outstanding Newcomer.[4] The comic was based on two characters who worked unfulfilling office jobs.[5] In 2010 Graves held an art show with similar themes and styles.[6]

Kickstarter

In May 2012, Graves set up a Kickstarter crowdfunding project to fund production of the second book of Pictures for Sad Children, entitled "Sad Pictures for Children". Some of the perks were outlandish or bizarre, such as Graves drawing a comic under the influence of DMT, going to the dentist "for the first time in ~8 years" or putting up paste-ups in the donor's city under the risk of being arrested.[7] The campaign succeeded, with $51,615 raised from a goal of $8,000.[7]

On September 19, 2012, Graves posted an update to the Kickstarter project claiming to have faked depression "for profit".[8][9][10] This post was followed up by a post stating Graves had "faked faking depression".[8][11]

On February 27, 2014, Graves posted a final update explaining that 75% of the rewards for supporting the project had been sent out, and that no more would be sent out in the future.[12] Attached was a video of Graves supposedly "burning one book for every email received asking about the unreceived books", totalling 127 burned copies of the book.[13][14] Graves claimed that the funds to ship the remaining books were not available.[15] However, in May 2014, Max Temkin, one of the creators of the card game Cards Against Humanity, announced he would send surveys to anyone who paid for a book but hadn't received one, and that he would be paying for the shipping costs.[16] On July 17, Temkin announced books had been shipped to everyone who completed the survey.[17]

Closure

In September 2015, the domain picturesforsadchildren.com lapsed. The web page became a GoDaddy advertisement offering to sell the rights to the URL. The page has displayed various contents since.[18] After ending Pictures for Sad Children Graves began work on a new project, Birdman.[19]

References

  1. 1 2 This person formerly used the name "John Campbell". A note about the name change is on this article's talk page.
  2. 1 2 "An Interview with John Campbell". The New Yorker. 12 August 2008. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  3. ↑ Morgridge, Dan (September 14, 2012). "Five Fall Reads For Chicagoans". CBS Chicago. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
  4. ↑ The Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards - 2008 List of Winners & Finalists
  5. ↑ Daileda, Colin. "Comic Artist Raises $50K for Books, Then Just Burns Them". Mashable. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  6. ↑ Hudson, Laura. "'Pictures for Sad Children' Webcomic Creator Holds Equally Depressing Art Show". Comics Alliance. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
  7. 1 2 "sad pictures for children by john campbell". Kickstarter. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  8. 1 2 Update #3 - I'VE BEEN PRETENDING TO BE PRETENDING TO HAVE DEPRESSION FOR PROFIT AND I'M SORRY
  9. ↑ Update #2 - I'VE BEEN PRETENDING TO BE DEPRESSED FOR PROFIT AND I'M SORRY
  10. ↑ Fidel Martinez (September 20, 2012). "Artist's confession of faked depression draws mixed reactions on Kickstarter". The Daily Dot.
  11. ↑ Daniel Fries (January 7, 2012). "How to disappear completely from the internet". Killscreen.
  12. ↑ Johnston, Rich (2014-02-28). "Kickstarter Fail: John Campbell Burns Comics Rather Than Sending Them To Donors". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
  13. ↑ Brogan, Jacob (11 June 2015). "FTC Fines Kickstarter Campaign Creator Who "Used Most of the Funds on Himself"". Slate. Slate. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  14. ↑ "Update #32 - IT'S OVER". Kickstarter. February 17, 2014. Archived from the original on March 2, 2014. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
  15. ↑ Alisa Hauser (March 5, 2014). "Kickstarter Fail: Artist Raises $51K to Publish Books, Burns Them in Alley". DNAinfo.
  16. ↑ "Update #34 - An Update From Max Temkin". Kickstarter. May 14, 2014. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Update #36 - Shipping Update". Kickstarter. July 17, 2014. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Screenshot history". Domain Tools. Oct 6, 2016. Retrieved Oct 6, 2016.
  19. ↑ Sims, Chris. "John Campbell's Weird Michael Keaton Bio Comics For 'Birdman'". Comics Alliance. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
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