Why REJECTED is a bad comic that nobody needs to read, but I love it anyways!

REJECTED is comprised of fragments from 4 different rejected comic book proposals circa 2003-04. In hindsight, they were all pretty crummy comics and deserved to be rejected. I had also made the mistake of basing characters on myself and my girlfriend at the time, so when I got dumped shortly thereafter the premise of the comix quickly became null and void.

So I’m 23 years old, moving into my brother’s basement, with a box full of reject comix pages, and no prospects of any kind. What do I do? I didn’t want all that work to go completely to waste, so I cut up all my rejected comic proposals into a single absurd story, and slapped on an embarrassingly ridiculous ending.

I then submitted my meta-reject comic to the Delaware Division of the Arts for some residency grant program they have, knowing I’d never get it, but just wanting to keep it pushing. The response I got back was amazing! Not only did I not get the award, but the rejection letter contained a lengthy, almost angry, denouncement of my work. Most rejection letters are very brief, “we regret to inform you… thanks and best wishes,” but this was something else entirely! The person who was tasked with judging my work didn’t just want to reject it, they wanted to destroy it. My favorite line, amidst all the name calling, and one that I enjoyed so much that I included it in future editions of the book, complained that it “never approaches the qualities of fiction found in even its most experimental forms.”  Admittedly this is certainly how delusions function, but I began to think maybe I was actually on to something after all…

So yes, against the better judgement of experts and professionals all over the country, this comic exists. It’s not particularly great, though perhaps worth a gander, in a rubber necking type of way, and however awkward it is in parts, I’m very proud there’s something instead of nothing.

(Also, following the lead of my fav early 2000’s comic writers, Chynna Clugston, Jim Mahfood, and Dan Robinson, the comic features soundtrack queues.)

So here’s the REJECTED MIXTAPE

P.S. The original edition of this comic, the one that was ripped to shreds by the Delaware Division of the Arts, was assembled at 1 AM in the Kinkos that used to be on 202 in Wilmington, DE, with the help of a nice lady called Samantha. She wandered into the store wearing a hospital gown and bracelet, presumably having had a rough evening. She asked what I was doing and if I needed any help. Samantha was under the impression that maybe she was helping a famous artist with what would be a hit book. I would have dissuaded her of this notion, but I suspected, in that moment, she needed to be a part of something much bigger and better than I could actually offer, so I let her think what she thought. She collated the pages as they were coming off the printer, it really was quite helpful! She asked for a signed copy of the comic as a parting gift, as if this exchange was in any way worth her while, but I hope the misunderstanding brought her some comfort and/or joy :)))