Jay Stephens on The Land of Nod

A weirdo, stream-of-consciousness comic book about hard times, created by a recovering drug-addled punk, with all the disaffected Gen X sarcasm you would expect from an irreverent 1990s underground Zine. If there's a meaning, it's that there is no meaning. Or maybe the message is... don't take anything too seriously, or you'll grow up to be an asshole? In any case, after 34 years, somehow this stuff still seems funny! Look at wittle Jay's first cartooning!

I turned 21 in the spring of 1992 when I began writing and drawing SIN (featuring The Land Of Nod). Too soon after the black and white alternative comics crash of '87, and right at the cusp of the bigger comic book speculator bust. It was a stupid time to be putting out a bi-monthly indie comic. Risky business. And the business of comics in the early 1990s was, on the whole, overly serious. The mainstream superhero stuff had gotten ludicrously dark and histrionic; obsessed with shaking the 'comics are for kids' stigma. Art Spiegelman's Maus won a Pulitzer Prize in '92, kicking off a competition among small press creators over who would be next to be embraced by the literati. And in the midst of this artsy-fartsy 'for mature readers' reach for relevance, I decided to drop out of Art School and make gloriously dumb, immature comic books.

The Land of Nod pages coloured in black and red tones.

It seemed fun, and it felt like anything was possible, even though I had no formal comic book training, which you would think would be discouraging. But I was inspired by awesomely odd comics like Doug Allen's Steven, Bob Burden's Flaming Carrot, Greg Fiering's Migraine Boy, and Chester Brown's Yummy Fur, that lead me to believe that-- with even my limited skills-- I might be able to contribute. I had no idea how I was supposed to do it... There were no university-level graphic novel courses in the early 1990s. There were no graphic novels in bookstores. Scott McCloud's seminal book 'Understanding Comics' didn't exist. There was no such thing as a comics internet community. There was no public internet, yet. There was no plan.

I made these stories up as I went, writing myself into a corner, waking up the next day, and with an improv-like 'Yes, and...', fumbled my way forward. It seemed fun. And though I started out with no thought whatsoever about who might read these, I immediately began getting letters from readers around the world. Yes, actual hand-written letters... because there was no email. I made colourful little newsletters to mail back to my small group of fans. It was a very different time.

I learned to write and draw a little better in that first year. Learned to take the work of creating comics more seriously, even if the content remained decidedly unserious. You can see the growth happen in these very pages. And The Land Of Nod lead to new opportunities that I could not have possibly imagined at the time. All because my punk-ass D.I.Y. attitude made me want to create something that stood in opposition to the comics status quo... a rebellion against overly serious superheroes and self-indulgent autobio alt comics. Because my pure zero-fucks-given love of making things drove me forward despite all the obstacles. And because it seemed fun.

Jay's alter-ego Badman and The Sinister Horde in full-colour!

What's in the book?

• The entire Land of Nod Saga, Badman, and Coxwell the Badly Drawn Ghost. 
• The Sinister Horde, not in print since the 1990s Sin series.
• A bunch of extras and never published outtakes, like  the hand-painted Yellow Devil, part of the unpublished Tragedy Strikes Press sampler
• A huge 32-page gallery of rare and unpublished extras and behind the scenes material: sketches, press clippings, newsletters, photos…

All from Sin 1–5 (Tragedy Strikes Press) and Sin Comics 1–2 (Black Eye Productions). All in full colour for the first and last time ever!

Above: A spread from the 32-page scrapbook section

This limited, one-time print run will be an opportunity you won't want to miss, with these irresistible options:

• The Dial-Up Downloader: A DRM-Free digital edition of The Land of Nod Utimate Edition.

• The Slacker Backer: Get your hands on The Ultimate Edition Trade Paperback

• The Indie Darling: Receive a signed Ultimate Edition Trade Paperback, along with the set of six Sin cover postcards.

• The Total Sell-Out: Indulge in a signed Limited Edition Hardcover, along with the set of six Sin cover postcards.

Above: The Indie Darllng Pledge Level

Above: The Total Sellout Pledge Level

The books are in production and ready to go to press soon. All we need is your support to make it happen. As with previous Black Eye Books projects, we'll be working with a local printer, which means faster turnaround times. We plan on shipping late Summer 2026!

About Jay Stephens

Jay Stephens is a Canadian cartoonist and illustrator currently living in Guelph, Ontario. He is best known as the creator of Discovery Kids’s animated television series Tutenstein, Cartoon Network’s The Secret Saturdays , and the Jetcat animated shorts for Nickelodeon's anthology series, KaBlam!. Aside from his work in animation, Jay is recognized for several comic book projects, including SIN , The Land of Nod , Atomic City Tales, and Jetcat Clubhouse, and has written and drawn for licensed properties such as Alien, Star Wars, Felix the Cat, and Teen Titans. Jay is the creator of the comic strips, Oddville! , Chick & Dee (in Chickadee magazine), Xtra-curricular  and Arrowhead (in OWL magazine), and (with writer Bob Weber Jr.) the daily newspaper strip Oh, Brother!. From 2020–2023, Jay created six issues of the anthology horror series Dwellings. His most recent project is Figgy Furthermore for Gold Key Comics, and he is creating several variant covers in his cute as hell style for the revived EC Comics.

About Black Eye Books:

From 1993–1998, Black Eye Books published such notable cartoonists as Jay Stephens (The Land of Nod, Atomic City Tales), Nick Craine (Dance Me Outside), Jason Lutes (Jar of Fools, Berlin), Tom Hart (The Sands), Jeremy Eaton (World of Trouble), Matt Madden (Black Candy), James Kochalka (Quit Your Job), Ed Brubaker (Lowlife), Brian Biggs (Dear Julia), and New Zealand's Dylan Horrocks (Pickle, Hicksville). Relaunched in 2019 by publisher Michel Vrana, Black Eye Books continues its pursuit of publishing eclectic and engaging stories told in the form of words and pictures.