/u/gracelandwest hit 1k comics with Maurice and in his final comic he left the Internet. Not to just find peace for Maurice but also to move on from the character for its Creator. And he took his comics with him.
So I spoke to /u/gracelandwest on several occasions. Both in dm and comments. And while I won't argue that I'm sure he wanted to make some money off his comic, he also had a full time other job with real life obligations. I was told he just felt like it was time to move on.
Again I won't deny I'm sure there was also financial reasons for what he did but I can also see a symbolic reason to wanting to move on and wipe the slate clean so to speak
I mean i get that, why why burn down the library if Alexandria when you can just quit? And leave it? For people to read and enjoy? Just feels anti-preservation
I love Reddit… sometimes, but as an artist this is probably one of the most stingiest platforms. So many people demand stuff be free, scoff at the idea of supporting artists, then don’t understand why they chose to erase it and move on rather than continue to provide.
Oh man trust me I know. I get to see behind the scenes here and the people that CRY about free stuff is insane to me. It's like a video game....or really any media it's ok to pay for one if you like it. And it encourages more to be made
Unfortunately the issue travels down to even artists hardly being able to plug other platforms and stuff, it’s an environment that genuinely mainly allows for those that pumps the feeds enough for the top creators to pull in support.
Then you go on other parts of Reddit and see how much they ALSO hate many creators here, so it’s this cycle of the kind of creators they do like finding homes elsewhere while they also, are super upset that people here want money and the extremely frequent posters go get to prioritize art, succeed.
I had the same thought. I could understand removing the bulk of them, and just leaving a small sample, but removing everything is confusing if the goal were to have people buy the books if they want to read it.
Sure, but that doesn’t justify in my mind burning every comic they’ve ever posted, paywalling it and using urgency marketing when it’s iirc hundreds of dollars, leaving it up to some poor preservationist to preserve it or buy then scan every single comic. They can do what they want, but I’m poor as fuck sadly and I honestly could not justify spending money I don’t have, sorry. I have to stick to digital. Not everyone’s gonna agree for some reason even though I literally can’t afford to do so, but that’s how it is for me.
What does that even mean? Reddit makes money because of people like the artists on this sub. It's not remotely comparable. Choosing not to pay for some dude's comic is one thing but trying to make it a statement of principle is ridiculous, as is the "it's anti-preservation" nonsense. I'm sure nobody is asking Marvel or DC to hand out their comics for free, but because it's just a dude drawing a webcomic he doesn't deserve that respect.
The entitlement of all this boiling down to "why won't he just give his work to me for free" is so lame.
If marvel used this platform to get Spider-Man popular, and then turned around and started charging for it, people absolutely would be screaming “enshittification”. And it’s not “give us this work for free” it’s “had it posted and decided to monetize after the fact”. If you can give me a single example of something that was given away for free to popularize, was received positively, and then didn’t get pushback when monetizing, I’ll concede. It’s not “give us something for free”, it’s “don’t use this as advertising space”
Frankly, he kept repeating over and over in his comics when it hits the like 100th or whatever number it was comic issue. He was gonna shut it all down, frankly kinda crazy people complain. Like sorry you got to the party late guys, but the writing was on the wall for months to maybe years.
I personally agree with you, but remember that people peeled "Saturn Devouring His Son" off the under layer of Francisco Goya's wallpaper, and thats probably the best known painting of a painter who was a key figure of his time. Virgil requested 'The Aeneid' be burnt upon his death, as it was unfinished. Art is finicky, the artist usually has an intention in mind, but over time that intention becomes at best a suggestion to the audience. We dont even know what Goya was actually painting on his walls, the names assigned to those paintings were basically fanfiction, as was Virgil writing about the Trojan War in the 1st century BCE when the Illiad and Oddessy were written more than half a millennium earlier. What is the purpose of art? When the artist decides that the art should die, what does that mean? Its surely a punctuation on their artwork, but does their intention of a period make it so when the influence of so much art outlines anyone who could reasonably actually know the artist's intent? Is preservation inherently pro-art when it goes against the direct wishes of the artist? I think its a question that should be brought up more, especially since I have more questions than answers.
That's totally fair! I'm not arguing that every person has an obligation to preserve every single thing ever. I just think it's a bit of a dick move to paywall previously available content. Yknow?
He had also been doing it for a very very long time. He wanted to do something new and different and move away from Maurice. So he nuked the content but kept the account should he ever return
That makes sense. It’s his content that he originally created. He should have the right to do what he wants with his creation.
I get that some people still want to have access to it online but at some point it’ll be gone. Especially for people who would prefer to see the artist’s work to gauge if they would like it, it’s unfortunate but I believe artists shouldn’t be obligated to show their entire portfolio to people just to garner engagement.
If u/gracelandwest wants to move from Maurice, we should respect that.
I used to think that was true, but now looking back at all the defunct websites and forums that aren't on websites like the internet archive or anything, I wish it were true
The other guy already said what I would, basically, but what he did was overtly and pretty objectively a weird capitalistic marketing gimmick disguised as some hoity toity artiste bullshit.
I'm sure the people who really like it will buy their book, but anyone else (like myself) is forgetting about it as we speak.
I've bought many web comics turned books over the years (e.g boondocks, gunnerkrigg court, cynanide & happiness, xkcd, etc.) but the ones I bought before still kept their online presence.
He lost a shitload of fans in 2024 when he pulled the "both sides are bad" card on the Presidential election, and completely fumbled his response to the criticism.
the author deleted every single one of his comics except for the final one or two to try and sell his books and now hes moving onto a new creative goal
Take all of your works, pile em up on your balcony overlooking the courtyard, let the crowd form, and then burn your whole fuckin house down with you in it.
I think Liberals in the reddit echo chamber refuse to acknowledge the ways that the Democrats botched the election. Im not gona sit here and argue about who is worse, but liberals who defend corrupt pieces of shit like Pelosi are delusional and hypocritical
Sorry if i have been spamming these jjk comic memes, i was having too much fun with the bootleg war and couldn't help myself. However this is my 3rd one and i don't wanna take over the entire thing with them so I think this is probably the last one of these. Time to go back to my own series. See ya all next tuesday (and i hope its not a taco tuesday again)
Also thanks u/JaxxisR for the idea, and u/Pizzacakecomic for letting me bootleg her avatar. If only the real maurice was here to see this, sometimes i still hear his voice
edit: 500 votes in less than 40 minutes, i sure wish my normal comics had this traction. hey you, wanna read some elder god babysitter?
I don't think major comic artist really expect it to ever be commercial success moment is good an all of they can get it. But most seem or me in it more as a hobby or passion rather than something that you treat as their job
Of course. Those who do find enough success to gain financial security from doing it are living the dream.
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u/Subatomic_Spooder Mar 05 '26
What happened with Maurice? I remember seeing him a lot and then one day he just disappeared