But that’s all right. The mystery is part of it. This is a story about creating the correct answer.
. . . There is also a monster in it. So watch out for that.
The Artist is Dead! is a handmade webcomic by Noah Farlee
. It tells the story of five living drawings — a woman, a witch, a child, an elderly man, and an unfinished figure drawing — that are forced to deal with their own neuroses and a World of Chaos after an Eldritch Abomination murders their own artist.
The comic began in 2011 and was updated regularly on Tuesdays and Fridays until it concluded on April 2013. The comic used to be available on this site, but it has since moved to the author's tumblr blog as said site broke and failed attempts by the comic's author to bring it back resulted in the loss of the entire comic.
The author has, however, made the best out of this situation, as he has decided to remake the comic with high quality photography instead of simply reuploading all the crammily scanned 246 pages. The artwork remains the same, though.The comic has finished uploading and can be read in its entirety on Tumblr.
The Artist is Dead! provides examples of:
- Anachronic Order: Attained via flashbacks and perspective flips.
- The Blank: The Figure lacks color and facial details shared by the other characters.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Sometimes as a plot point, as seen when the woman and the figure must bridge a gap... Between one page and the next.
- Nameless Narrative: There is nary a proper noun to be found in this comic.
- Mad Libs Catchphrase:
- The witch has one that's mixed between this and a magical incantation. "The word is X."
- Played with in one page. The word is Sarcasm.
- Medium Awareness: The Fourth Wall remains intact, but the characters know they're drawings.
- Minimalist Cast: There are only five characters.
- Robe and Wizard Hat: The Witch dresses like this. Plus scary, shiny Opaque Lenses.
- Room Full of Crazy: The universe is one. The Corpse is almost a walking example of this.
- Title Drop: "Dear, listen to me very carefully. The Artist is Dead."
- White Void Room: Whenever the characters are on a mostly blank page.
