Pictures for Sad Children

Pictures for Sad Children
Author(s)	John Campbell
Website	http://picturesforsadchildren.com
Current status/schedule	Deleted
Launch date	2007
Genre(s)	Absurdist humor, black humor

Pictures for Sad Children was a webcomic created by John Campbell in 2007 . The comic, first focusing on the adventures of Paul, "who is a ghost," later branched out to introduce other characters, such as Gary, whom Paul was forced to train at a call center after Paul initially lost his job because he was dead. Gary then became the main character and other characters were introduced including Gary's cousin Sara, her husband Afsheen, and their daughter Maddy . The Gary storyline was abandoned after strip 226 and the comic transitioned to stand-alone strips. Pictures for Sad Children also was a finalist in the 2008 Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards (WCCA) as an Outstanding Newcomer.

As of 2014, Campbell has removed all comics from the comic's website.

Style of humor

The style of humor in Pictures for Sad Children was mostly dark, incorporating elements of the author's batshit insanity (to use the scientific term for it). The strip was largely story-driven, with most comics lacking a punchline—and, when a punchline was present, it was not usually a joke in the strictest sense, instead relying on absurd elements and improbable situations. Each comic also had alt-text, which served as each individual comic's title and, typically, an alternate punchline.

Characters

• Gary, the most prominent main character and protagonist. He works at an office that takes call center overflow. He has very low self-esteem and possibly a social anxiety disorder.
• Paul Cho, a ghost who was hit by a car running a red light. He formerly worked in accounting, but was made an employee intake coordinator after his death. He ended up training Gary and (somewhat) befriending him, but left the strip briefly after repossessing his twenty thousand dollar computer and destroying it. He was seen occasionally returning for brief periods before finally ending his year of haunting on earth. After residing in a hotel room serving as Hell, he found a way into Gary's deceased flatmate, Jeremy, and is currently using Jeremy's body. Sara, Afsheen, and Maddy live in his old house. He is half-Asian. Paul only appeared as a traditional ghost because he wore a sheet over his head in an attempt to look ghostly.
• Jeremy, Gary's hermitic roommate. He avoided direct contact with Gary (and, presumably, all people) at all costs, though he still talked to Gary through closed doors. He died and spent some time as Paul's roommate in hell until Paul inhabited Jeremy's corpse.
• Sara, Gary's cousin. She suffers from hallucinations and once ate a dead man's entire weight in candy, after which she regurgitated the man, now alive. She once worked at a testing facility which made her dead for a few hours, after which she would have to fill out extensive paperwork. She sometimes does not take her medicine.
• Afsheen, Sara's husband, whom she met at an allergy convention. He works two jobs, both of which he hates terribly, to help support his wife and daughter.
• Maddy, Sara and Afsheen's daughter, who is extremely sensitive to sunlight, possibly because her parents met at an allergy convention. She wears a pillowcase around whenever possible and is angered when she cannot. She acts much older than she actually is, and holds a low opinion of the Internet and the people on it, an opinion that was influenced by Paul.
• Mariana, Gary's coworker and ex-girlfriend .
• Simon, Mariana's ex-boyfriend, who is jealous of Gary and Mariana's relationship.

The author

John Campbell began publishing Pictures for Sad Children while living in Zacatecas, Mexico, but she has since moved to Chicago . She holds a close relationship with Ryan North, author of Dinosaur Comics, to the point where she has made an unnamed cameo and a guest comic, as well as a fan comic . John Campbell is also close with KC Green, author of Gunshow Comics The authors of A Softer World, Hark! A Vagrant, Gunshow Comics and Dresden Codak have also made guest comics. She had a links page which included single-panel interpretations of her favorite comics (with a link to the comic in particular) in her personal art style. She has recently created a biographical piece on Michael Keaton, created in the style of Pictures for Sad Children.

On September 30, 2009, several weeks after abandoning the main story arc of the comic, she announced that she had published her first book. The book itself is soft cover and features the first 200 comics of Pictures for Sad Children, which follows the storyline of Gary.

Kickstarter and subsequent closure

In May 2012, John Campbell 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 Campbell 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. The campaign succeeded, with $51,615 raised from a goal of $8,000.

On September 19, 2012, Campbell posted an update to the Kickstarter project claiming that he faked depression "for profit".

On February 27, 2014, Campbell 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. Attached was a video of Campbell burning one book for every email received asking about the unreceived books, totalling 127 burned copies of the book. In addition, Campbell stated that one book would be burned for every email received after the update was posted. She also noted that she would be ending the comic, and expressed discontent with money as a concept and stated in part: "I want direct funding for my living necessities. I want to establish relationships with a group of people who can pay for my baseline needs like food and rent. I am looking for people who do not feel they need to see any “return” on their “investment.”" In an interview, she noted that he shipped about "750 to 800 books, while another 150 were undeliverable and returned".

External links

• Pictures For Sad Children (Prior location of the first set of 200 comics)
• Sad Pictures For Children (Prior location of the later comics)
• Campbell's Tumblr page
• Campbell's now defunct LiveJournal page