Lo! That smiling sky, and this Unsounded sea!
May 12, 2025 8:53 AM Subscribe

After 15 years, 18 chapters, and 2,000 pages, long running graphic novel Unsounded Book 1 is complete, receiving a 20 page update, fittingly released on Mother's Day. An epilogue setting up book 2 is expected in the coming months.

Unsounded is a graphic novel started in 2010, written and illustrated by Ashley Cope. Featuring a magic system inspired by computer programming, Unsounded follows characters trying to do good in a world gone wrong. Taking it's title from Melville, sharp eyed readers will spot multiple Moby-Dick references in the work.

The Unsounded tumblr page, where the author answers questions.

The wikipedia article

Previously

Landing page for any future updates

-------------------------------------------Spoilers Below-----------------------------------------------

There has been some link rot in chapter 14 caused by that traitorous dog ROGER FOI-HELLICK *spits*. Fixed link for the broken in comic wiki link in chapter 14

Ashley Cope's own tongue in cheek pitch for Unsounded: "You know how you hate token romances in a story? This one has NO meaningful romantic relationships, drawing almost all of its interpersonal drama from familial interactions: father and child, brother and brother, cousin and cousin. But its primary driver? The on-again/off-again best friendship between a twelve year old girl and the undead bigot she mind controls! I promise it's really wholesome!"

posted by ockmockbock (13 comments total) 11 users marked this as a favorite

Be aware that the Wikipedia article contains spoilers for the story.
posted by Slothrup at 10:01 AM on May 12

Looks great! Love finding stuff right when it hits a big milestone... Has anyone read it? Thoughts?
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 11:04 AM on May 12

Ohmigosh, that's marvelous! I've been a fan for at least a decade and I consider it the gold standard, along with Kill Six Billion Demons.
posted by foxtongue at 11:20 AM on May 12 [2 favorites]

Oh my gosh, I totally read some of this ages ago but stopped at some point (maybe around when Google Reader died, sigh). I forgot it existed until now! Maybe I'll go catch up on it from the beginning...
posted by rivenwanderer at 11:44 AM on May 12 [1 favorite]

I've been a fan of Unsounded for many years now. To me, Unsounded is head and shoulder's above almost every webcomic, in art and writing. Every character has a very strong voice that shines through in the writing. Duane with the poetic phrasing, Ruckmearkha whose dialogue has a subtle wrongness about it. The art started good, and has somehow become even better over the years. It managed three updates a week consistently, outside of hiatuses, this is a ridiculously consistent update schedule when you look at any other webcomic, all while maintaining art and writing quality. Unsounded feels like the drama and pathos of Greek tragedy in an anime style.
posted by ockmockbock at 2:12 PM on May 12

The dialogue is exceptional! I have just spent the last 20 minutes looking for a particular line, but I don't know how far back it was, and I have given up. Instead, here's a bit where a character apologizes for having for his failings as a father:

"A mother is a world. You fall into her like a star. A father watches from afar, trying to find a way onto that shore. We're clumsy, selfish, panicked paddlers. We gurgle and drown, or are mesmerized by own reflection in the water. Too often, we quit the struggle, and never reach dry land at all. When the current relents, it's not so we can undo what was done, or at last do all that we never bloody did. We never can. There is no bottom to the depth of absence. Our only hope is that someday you look back and see the waves we made."

It's among the best.
posted by neuromodulator at 4:24 PM on May 12

After reading that pitch, I still don't know WTF this is about, but I'm gonna read it anyway.

Why?

Because your mom.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 10:08 AM on May 13

I read the first chapter. I'm with the undead, ditch that girl ASAP
posted by Ber at 3:34 PM on May 13

This is fantastic: I'd never heard of this and am now hooked. Thanks for posting it.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 4:05 PM on May 13

It's an absolute delight to me that new people are finding it! That's wonderful.
posted by neuromodulator at 10:59 PM on May 13

neuromodulator, here
posted by Clowder of bats at 11:32 PM on May 13 [1 favorite]

Oh, thanks, but I was looking for something else and that was my alternative as a representation of the quality of the writing. The bit I was looking for was something I *think* Duane said about how we spend time like coin, careless with it when we believe we have excess. But after 20 minutes of searching I started to question my recollection entirely.
posted by neuromodulator at 10:49 AM on May 14

Like rivenwanderer, I read some of the start of this years back and then had it fall off my radar when I failed to transfer a browser bookmarks folder over during a computer rebuild. I've now spent the last few days catching up on the rest of the story and I am just so, so grateful for this post because...wow.
posted by JaredSeth at 4:49 AM on May 16

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Lo! That smiling sky, and this Unsounded sea! May 12, 2025 8:53 AM Subscribe

Lo! That smiling sky, and this Unsounded sea!
May 12, 2025 8:53 AM Subscribe