In The Reaper and the Waiting by January Sun, a reaper’s work of bringing souls to the afterlife is complicated as he navigates a relationship with an all-too-familiar soul named Waiting. Originally released as a scrolling comic on WEBTOON, The Reaper and the Waiting has been collected in a physical graphic novel by WEBTOON Unscrolled.
To celebrate the release of the graphic novel, which is available now, Comics Beat caught up with Sun over email. We asked about the aesthetic style for The Reaper and the Waiting, about Sun’s creative process for the comic and about any advice she may have for aspiring comics creators.
AVERY KAPLAN: Can you tell us about the origins of The Reaper and the Waiting?
JANUARY SUN: I’m very interested in Chinese mythologies and traditional folklore, and one common pattern I noticed among them, especially the romances, is that they often end in tragedies (Butterfly Lovers, Chang’E, Cowherd and Weaver, etc), and it guts me every time I read them. I wanted to write a simple love story set in ancient China that ends happily for once.
KAPLAN: How did you arrive at this aesthetic style for The Reaper and the Waiting?
SUN: Modern comics in general are usually defined by lined art, and I wanted to see a comic done in a lineless, painterly style instead. I had seen a few artists that I admired paint in this particular style and I was enamoured with it. At the time, I was also an environmental art designer on the Netflix show Last Kids On Earth, which required a lineless, more graphic style. Consequently, the style in The Reaper and the Waiting is an amalgamation of those experiences.
KAPLAN: Why did you want to tell this kind of story? Do you think it’s important to have queer comics in the world?
SUN: The only goals I had with this story was to write a short love story with a happy ending, set in ancient China as a shout out to my cultural heritage, and to test myself to see if I could manage to complete an original comic. I really enjoy writing stories and dreamed about becoming a comic artist some day, so this was to test if I had the ability and discipline to achieve it. And yes, of course queer comics are important. It’s crucial to have all kinds of comics and stories in the world that speak to the different experiences and cultures and dreams of being human.
KAPLAN: You mention in your afterword that completing the story was “grueling.” I’m wondering if you could tell us a little bit about the challenges you faced along the way? Do you have any advice for up-and-coming creators who face similar challenges?
SUN: Drawing a serialized comic is like running a marathon, so it was a lot of grinding and repetitive days where I felt like quitting. After a year into making this comic, I was pretty sick of these characters and this style, to be perfectly honest. I often had to take breaks and draw miscellaneous artwork in completely different styles to reset myself. But what made it all worth it was looking back at all the chapters I’d drawn and going “wow, I did all of that!”
In terms of advice, I would say, please start small and slow. If you want to write a big epic but you don’t have any experience in story writing, the worst thing you can do for yourself is biting off more than you can chew and burning out quickly, which will taint your desire to write stories for a long time. Put that big epic aside for your future self to write. Work on a small, fun, easy story first, and go from there.
KAPLAN: Were there any specific stories, works of art or any other kind of media that were inspirational to you in your work on The Reaper and the Waiting?
SUN: Around 2019, I had just finished reading all three incredible novel series by the Chinese author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, which were hugely inspirational and made me want to write my own tragic Chinese BL story. In terms of art, aside from my professional work, I was inspired by the artist Sophie Li, who drew a series of incredibly expressive character art at the time using just a few strokes of colours with no lined art in sight. There was a sort of effortlessness that really moved me, as my inexperienced art had a stiffness at the time I just couldn’t shake.
KAPLAN: Were you involved in the process of adapting The Reaper and the Waiting from WEBTOON scrolling format to book format?
SUN: The Reaper and The Waiting was first drawn in a traditional page layout before being manually converted to be posted on WEBTOON. As my very first comic, I wanted to write something short that I could try self-publishing one day, so it needed to be in a graphic novel format.
I also wasn’t familiar with the vertical scroll layout at the time because I hadn’t read any webtoons up until that point. I was basically converting the comic to different formats throughout the years I was working on it, and it was a bit painful and annoying, but completely worth it because it saved a lot of time down the road.
KAPLAN: What is it like to see your story reformatted into book form for this release? Did this experience give you any new insights?
SUN: Since the story was already drawn initially in a book format, the only insight this experience gave me is that I should continue drawing comics in a book format first. I highly recommend other prospective webcomic artists to do the same. Having options is never a bad thing.
KAPLAN: Can you tell us about any other projects of yours we should keep an eye out for?
SUN: I have three other comics which can all currently be found on WEBTOON. Fathoms of Atonement is a love story about a merman searching for the reincarnation of his dead lover, who turns out to be a human.
Bailin and Li Yun is a romantic comedy about a scientist who comes across a wild merman in the Arctic. That wild merman ends up following him home and tries to integrate into modern human society.
Lastly, A Divine Masquerade, my newest comic, is about a fallen angel disguising himself and seeking revenge against his former best friend in heaven, only to slowly fall in love with him. As you can tell, most of my stories are different variations of the comedy, romance, and fantasy genres, which are my bread and butter.
KAPLAN: Is there anything else you’d like me to include?
SUN: I’d like to include my social media, which is @ jayessart on IG, Twitter, tiktok, etc, where I post updates about my comics and other art. I also post advanced chapters and exclusive art on my patreon, @januarysun.
Lastly, I really want to thank my family and friends for their constant support and encouragement. It is truly freeing and motivating to be able to pursue my dreams with the full support of everyone I care about. It is a privilege I’m grateful for everyday. I hope to keep growing my stories and improving my art, which will be a lifetime endeavour.
The Reaper and the Waiting is available from WEBTOON Unscrolled now.
