Slow Clap

During Comikaze, 80% of the people that stopped by our table were designers or had some design/artistic background. As a work of visual art, Parabolis is consistently met with immediate approval. And we hoped as much. After all, we didn’t just print out the manuscript and glue it to a spine.

We spent months mulling over every detail of its arrangement–what size it should be, whether or not there’s enough negative space to give the eyes rest, how a glossy vs matte finish might affect the reading experience, how the paper feels, the texture, the thickness, the font, serif or sans serif, Garamond or Georgia. Then there was color-correction, trapping issues, and a long list of typesetting hurdles Curt had to navigate in one hand while producing his best illustrations in the other.

Biased as I may be, I believe Parabolis can stand on the merits of its design alone. That was never in question. But does the narrative content warrant such meticulous thought and craftsmanship in its presentation? To our delight, the trickling feedback we’re getting so far has been encouraging. There’s a short list of growing fans assuring us its not just lipstick on a pig.

I’m not sharing this as a passive aggressive marketing pitch. Or maybe I am. But also because this is part of the creative process–a discovery we’re making. I can only imagine that the joy you experience dancing alone in your room to your favorite song is different from hearing the raucous applause following a moving stage performance (I wouldn’t know either way since I only dance when I’m drunk).

Likewise, Parabolis is on stage. I’m just hoping this is the beginning of one of those terrible slow clap scenes.