A strip from Pictures for Sad Children.
John Campbell, the cartoonist behind the webcomic Pictures for Sad Children, has ceased deliveries of the strip’s second hardcover collection to Kickstarter backers and threatened to burn the remaining books to anyone who complains.
On the latest Kickstarter update, Campbell posted a long and mostly incoherent post about how the world views “value.” One paragraph that reads crystal clear from Campbell, however, is the statement regarding undelivered books to backers who supported the Sad Pictures for Children Kickstarter. As stated in the post, 75% of those orders were shipped to backers, but Campbell has no plans to fulfill the rest. No refunds will be offered and anyone who complains about it via email or social media will have their book burned.
I shipped about 75% of kickstarter rewards to backers. I will not be shipping any more. I will not be issuing any refunds. For every message I receive about this book through e-mail, social media or any other means, I will burn another book.
Accompanying the troubled post, Campbell posted a video of those crowdfunded books being burned in a bin. On top of this, Campbell has deleted the webcomic from their respective sites. Picturesforsadchildren.com, Sadpicturesforchildren.com, and Boohooboo.tumblr.com (Campbell’s tumblr) are nothing but blanks now. Needless to say, backers and close friends of Campbell are displeased with the move. K.C. Green, who was close to Campbell, characterized today’s event as the feeling “you feel when someone dies and there’s no dead body.”
Campbell originally faced scrutiny in 2012 for claiming to have faked depression and capitalizing on it. Judging by Campbell’s latest action, that claim may not have been real.
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February 28, 2014
John Campbell used to be a great artist. Now he’s just a con-artist. Capitalism’s flaws are no excuse to defraud hundreds of people and steal thousands of dollars. John can rail against “the affluent” all he wants, but only they can afford to waste their money on crooked kickstarters. For the rest of us? Well I am never funding another kickstarter again. I can’t afford to.
March 1, 2014
I messaged John in January asking him if he needed more money. He did not respond. He might have burned a book because of it. I pledged $75 because I wanted something beautiful from an artist I respected and I wanted to see him succeed. He took my money and spat in my face.
I am not rich. I cannot afford to acknowledge money is a “joke.” I cannot create the support system that John wants to see in the world. I worked for eight hours to afford to support John’s vision. My work was delivered to him in the form of money. He took my work, in the form of money, and told me that it was a “joke.”
I am sad today.
March 1, 2014
John Campbell is not trying to “con” anybody. He is seriously troubled by the unintelligibility of a society of money and dispassion, and by the possibility that there may not be any feasible society not definable by these terms. His depression has always been real; his above-mentioned claim to have faked it was a satirical commentary on people’s skepticism and criticism of mental illness. Kate Beaton and KC Green, as well as many others, soon joined it in “confession.”
He knows damn well about the trouble he could be in, and the trouble he may be causing, but right now he probably does not *care*; the most reasonable guess to be made is that this situation is cultivated by a difficult period of his affliction. It’s very possible that he does not expect to be around for the cleanup.
Recent tumblr posts of Campbell’s mention our society’s fetishism with work as a necessary component of humanity, and as an inability to work, or an individual’s not working, being construed as a symptom of societal malignancy. If you really “support John’s vision” then try to understand that he needs help, and is more than what he produces.
March 4, 2014
Thank you Trevor for being one of the few voices of reason in all this.