Metafiction in the Form of Incidental Comics

There are many ways to celebrate the world of literature. More often than not, only literature knows how to celebrate literature. Only other books or drama would call reference to other works. It's almost like the devil's circle, except in a good way. Such is the case with Incidental Comics by Grant Snider. He actually started out in September 2007 but it was very different from the comics we can see today, that kind started out in 2010. I happened to stumble into it in 2013 through his Facebook page and, since then on, I always feel like his comics ring true to everything that an author or anyone in creative fields feel from time to time, whether we're comfortable with talking about them or not.

In September 2014, Snider himself revealed to Eyezine on how he transforms everyday moments into an epiphany. "I try to capture small moments in my sketchbook in rough, loose scribbles. Later, if the moment suggests a larger narrative, I’ll try to build it into a full-page comic. It’s increasingly hard to identify which scribbles should be given the attention and time that a finished comic page requires," he admitted. His whimsical way of putting all his dilemmas or conflicts together in one page is relieving - at least for me, if not for anyone else. It's always so nice to know that someone else is going through what you're going through and it turns out to be quite a normal occurrence.

For over 4 years now Snider has continued to upload a comic page every week, portraying his ideas and thoughts in the form of a lyric. Sometimes he even talks about ideas themselves, which is a paradox in itself. Personally, I feel that his works are as close as it gets to an illustrative literature. It seems to speak as one ought to expect from a dramatic work but with the visual aid of a graphic novel. The metafiction quality is one that is hard to shrug off. Grant Snider now resides in Wichita, Kansas with his family, practicing orthodontia and webcomic-artistry.

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