''Fleep'' is a

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

Jason Shiga Jason Shiga (born 1976) is an American cartoonist who incorporates puzzles, mysteries and unconventional narrative techniques into his work. Early life Jason Shiga is from Oakland, California. His father, Seiji Shiga, was an animator who worke ...

. It was originally published in

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

format in ''

AsianWeek ''AsianWeek'' was America's first and largest English language print and on-line publication serving Asian Americans. The news organization played an important role nationally and in the San Francisco Bay Area as the “Voice of Asian America”. ...

'' in 2002. It was later collected and published by

Sparkplug Comic Books Sparkplug Comic Books is a defunct publisher and distributor of alternative comics founded by cartoonist Dylan Williams.Spurgeon, Tom"Dylan Williams, 1970-2011,"''The Comics Reporter'' (September 18, 2011). Based in Portland, Oregon, the company ...

Synopsis

Jimmy Yee awakens to find himself trapped in a

telephone booth A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box, telephone box or public call box is a tiny structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience; usually the user steps into the booth and closes the booth ...

that is buried in concrete, and must figure out what happened before he suffocates.

Reception

The collected ''Fleep'' won the 2003

Ignatz Award The Ignatz Awards recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. They have been awarded each year at the Small Press Expo since 1997, only skipping a ...

for Outstanding Story."2003 Ignatz Award Recipients"

Small Press Expo The Small Press Expo (SPX) is an American alternative comics convention. A registered 501(c)(3) that was created in 1994, every year since its inception, SPX has put on a festival, known as The Expo, that provides a forum for artists, writers an ...

. October 1, 2003. Retrieved January 13, 2018. ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' described ''Fleep'' as "ingenious", "far from predictable", and "worthy of

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

".Arnold, Andrew D. (November 1, 2002)
"The Puzzling World of Jason Shiga"
''

''. ''

The Comics Journal ''The Comics Journal'', often abbreviated ''TCJ'', is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels. Known for its lengthy interviews with comic creators, pointed editorials and scathing re ...

'' considered its ending to be "quite shocking", and an example of the "strain of

nihilism Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning. The term was popularized by Ivan ...

" in Shiga's work.Clough, Rob (July 25, 2014)
"Reviews: Demon"
''

''.

Publication history

Shaenon K. Garrity Shaenon K. Garrity is a webcomic creator and science-fiction author best known for her webcomics ''Narbonic'' and '' Skin Horse''. She collaborated with various artists to write webcomics for the Modern Tales-family of webcomic subscription serv ...

has noted that the publishers of ''AsianWeek'' had wanted "a comic about the '

Asian-American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...

experience, and were consequently "a little baffled" by ''Fleep'', which fits that description only in that the protagonist is Asian-American.Shiga Shiga Ko Ko Bop
by

; at ''ComixTalk''; published February 9, 2003; retrieved January 13, 2018 ''AsianWeek'' cancelled ''Fleep'' mid-story, and Shiga then took it to the

Modern Tales Modern Tales was a webcomics subscription service active from 2002 to 2012. Joey Manley was the website's publisher and original editor. The site featured a roster of approximately 30 professional webcomic artists. Shaenon Garrity, one of the si ...

webcomics collective.

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.shigabooks.com/fleep.php 2003 graphic novels Ignatz Award winners for Outstanding Story