The Suicidals is a limited comic series detailing a moment in the lives of two total strangers, John and Emily, neither of which are convinced they really want to be a part of this world.  

A chance meeting delays their premature exit, and presents an alternate path in life as of yet unexplored…a path with unexpected consequences. 

My name is Michael Barton and I am the author/artist/creator behind this series.   If you followed the first kickstarter for issue #1, you know this project has been in my head for about 20 years, in various forms from screenplays to graphic novel adaptations.

Finally realizing it has been an amazing and cathartic experience for me.  Finally being able to see my characters somewhere other than in my own head is wild, and I am very happy with how the project is progressing. 

TIMELINE

The first issue is just the first half of the fist chapter of the story. I am self funding/crowd funding the entire first chapter, which will consist of issues #1 and #2. The first issue has already been released as a limited edition (ASHCAN) through kickstarter, and is available now. Issue 2, which will see a similar limited release, will hopefully be complete in December 2025. Once the first two issues are complete, the project will be seeking a publisher/distributer for wider release, which will likely see an updated reissue of the issues #1, and #2, while further issues are completed. Thank you to all who have already backed this project in its early stages, hoping to get issue #2 out as soon as I can

THE REASON

So, why am I writing this story with such a seemingly dark title?  That’s a difficult question to answer, mostly because any short answer I try to give always seems disingenuous; it never reflects more than a fraction of the whole picture.

The story is complex, and covers a range of issues including mental health, identity and its place (or lack thereof) in modern society, mere survival versus the meaning for such, and the solipsistic nature of one's own existence.  At its heart is also the power of human connection, and the need for it in a world where it seems harder and harder to find.  While much of the story comes from observations and experiences in my own life, most events in the story are not a literal or at all a biographical representation.  Much of the story is told through allegory and metaphor, through the lens of mental illness in a society that has little place for those on its fringes.

Part of the reason lies in friends I have lost to mental illness in various forms over the years.  These experiences have heavily impacted the story, but I could not tell you that this is the reason for its existence per se.  I'd like to tell you there is a sort of meaningful irony to the title. What that is precisely would require me to devulge too much of the story.

The easiest reason for my creating now is rather simple.  I am writing this story now because I have to.  It has been with me for over 20 years and I am afraid one day I’ll die and take these characters (and their secrets) with me to the grave. 

Every day I find myself thinking something like: “if I’m hit by a car” or “struck by a meteor” or “eaten by a dinosaur” today,  it will be like they never existed. 

Whatever fate awaits them in this story, good or ill, I cannot condemn them to such a fate as that.