Comic Artist Raises $50K for Books, Then Just Burns Them

A comic artist in Chicago who raised over $50,000 on Kickstarter to publish and ship hardback books has decided to torch the product for which donors paid.

Though John Campbell says he was able to send a good number of them, he posted a rambling 4,500-word note on Kickstarter in late February that claims he ran out of money. Campbell's note is accompanied by a video that shows a flaming heap of paper, presumably the remains of over 100 copies of the book that is based on his online comic series, called "Pictures for Sad Children."

The series was taken offline to coincide with the end of the book project, but DNA Info reports that it was the story of two characters named Paul and Gary who worked unfulfilling office jobs.



That description may not sound particularly riveting, but Campbell had apparently built a sizable following. When he launched his Kickstarter in May 2012, he asked for only $8,000, but donations topped out at $51,615.

But two years later, and after shipping around 800 books, Campbell's money problems caught up with him. He spent $30,000 producing the 200-page hard-back comics, according to DNA Info, and even more money to put a plastic-wrapped dead wasp in each one. Then, his financial problems caught up with him.

Campbell's project page is now titled "IT'S OVER," and his accompanying note is mostly a rant (or "protest," in his words) against capitalism and the negative impacts humans have on each other and the world.

"If you have negative feelings about the actions I am taking, that is part of what I am protesting against," Campbell wrote on his Kickstarter page. "I am protesting the values you use to determine how you feel about and interact with the world. I will not be responsible for the manufacture of any more unnecessary physical objects. The natural world is being destroyed by unnecessary production."

But he does use parts of his declaration to address his former contributors.

"I shipped about 75% of Kickstarter rewards to backers," Campbell wrote. "I will not be shipping any more. I will not be issuing any refunds. For every message I receive about this book through email, social media or any other means, I will burn another book." Campbell already burned 127 copies, he says, because he has received that many emails about the book so far this year.

Kickstarter's regulations say it's the project creator's job to see it through to completion, but quickly state that they can't force anyone to follow through on the promise.

"Kickstarter does not guarantee projects or investigate a creator's ability to complete their project," the website's regulations say. "On Kickstarter, backers ultimately decide the validity and worthiness of a project by whether they decide to fund it."

Some backers were understandably disappointed to hear that Campbell wouldn't be shipping their long-awaited book.

"I love your work, but they way [you're] handling this is really harsh," Ellen Yu wrote in a comment on the Kickstarter page. "It would have been better if you ran away to be a mountain man and left the books abandoned in some storage unit. But instead, you take the books and burn them for us to see. It really breaks my heart."

But the majority of commenters expressed empathy for Campbell's problem or are still trying to find a way to get their hands on a book.

Jacob Weiss says he set up a Sad Children Book Club where members can share their hard copy or get a PDF version.

"John, I love your comics," Weiss wrote. "You were always my favorite web comic artist, and helped me feel less bad for a long time in my life, when very few other people did."

At five days prior to press time, Weiss had written that the club has 11 members.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.