When I decided to create a graphic novel using AI, it was nothing more than a creative experiment. I had no idea that I was going to be able to create something that I could show people, much less tell a cohesive story that people might enjoy reading.
After I signed up for Discord and began creating a few images in MidJourney, I quickly realized that it was incredibly powerful. It didn’t quite do realism yet, but it was already a master of abstract art and illustration. I tried a few comic book panels at first – mostly characters and concept art for strange alien worlds in various styles. Soon, the excitement was keeping me up at night and I began trying to figure out a way to tell a story.
The first thing you have to understand about my process of creating a graphic novel is that it was mostly improvisational, much like Jazz. You don’t exactly start with a rigidly firm script and expect to mirror it exactly with MidJourney. You throw ideas at it, and revise what comes back repeatedly until you get something you can use. Sometimes you don’t get anything close to what you wanted, and sometimes you get something better.
You have a conversation with MidJourney in a sense, and allow your story to evolve.
After a few days, I made one crude page of a graphic novel. It was an idea for a prequel story of sorts for the comic book I had made many years ago called Stargazer. I posted the page on a Facebook forum, not expecting much, and was overwhelmed by the positive feedback. People loved it, and wanted to see more. Well, as a writer, that is as good as it gets.
I continued creating and posting pages here and there, until I had a short first draft done.
I uploaded the short graphic novel to Amazon on August 28th, with no other intention than to send the link to a few friends and say, ’Hey look, I wrote a comic book, and it’s on Amazon.’ It was the start of Labor Day weekend and most people were out enjoying the last fleeting days of summer – not reading comics on Kindle. I did not expect anyone to find it on their own, nor did I do any promotion at all. No Facebook posts, no tweets. Nada.
Before I went to bed that night, I checked the listing, just to be sure it was live. After that, I scrolled down to the details, expecting to see that it was ranked #256,001 or something abysmally lower. Much to my surprise, the book was already somewhere in the low 200’s, and that was enough to make me feel pretty good. Pretty, pretty, pretty good.
But then things started to get a little crazy. Later that night, the book hit #10 in the Sci-fi category for free Kindle books and I had to let people know on Facebook. It is an unbelievable joy to be able to brag about something like this. Most artists and writers know that you spend most of your time creating your work in a vacuum of doubt and uncertainty. You hope people will like it, but you want confirmation. You need it.
I have been a writer for a while, but I have never gotten this excited.
The following morning, something incredible happened. A fluke, maybe, but no less incredible. A friend of mine, also a writer, commented on my post with a screenshot and said. ‘BRO, YOU’RE NUMBER ONE!’.
It was unbelievable. I had reached the top of the Sci-Fi Graphic novel section on Kindle. It was the free book section, but that was fine by me. Later that day, Stargazer would also reach the top of the Superhero Graphic Novel list. Not only was I in the same company as books and franchises I adored, from Doctor Who to Spiderman and Stranger Things, but I was at the top of the list.
I cannot describe the euphoria of that small moment. It was short-lived, and it was not going to make me a New York Times Best Seller or buy my mom a new house. But it was epic for me, and for once I could call myself an author and not feel silly.
That was priceless and very thrilling. And a first for me as an author. Apparently, I had become an ’overnight success’, quite literally. I also apparently now have the distinction of having written the first AI-Illustrated Graphic Novel to reach Number One on Amazon, though I am certain there will be many more to come.
There are so many talented people who each day are discovering the near limitless creative potential which MidJourney and other AI programs offer. I do not know what the future of art is right now. All I can say for certain right now is that I have had a moment of absolute and unfettered clarity about what my future holds. I will be exploring the potential of AI to tell the stories I want to tell for a long time to come.
Read Stargazer Episode Zero for Free Now
Stargazer – Episode Zero: Ring of Fire is also available on Amazon Kindle now for just $1.99.