Fleep


Fleep is a graphic novel by Jason Shiga. It was originally published in comic strip format in AsianWeek, in 2002. It was later collected and published by Sparkplug Comic Books.

Synopsis

Jimmy Yee awakens to find himself trapped in a telephone booth that is buried in concrete, and must figure out what happened before he suffocates.

Reception

The collected Fleep won the 2003 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Story.
TIME has described Fleep as "ingenious", "far from predictable", and "worthy of Arthur Conan Doyle". The Comics Journal considered its ending to be "quite shocking", and an example of the "strain of nihilism" in Shiga's work.

Publication history

has noted that the publishers of AsianWeek had wanted "a comic about the 'Asian-American experience'", and were consequently "a little baffled" by Fleep, which fits that description only in that the protagonist is Asian-American. AsianWeek cancelled Fleep mid-story, and Shiga then took it to the Modern Tales webcomics collective.