Joey Comeau (born September 26, 1980) is a Canadian writer. He wrote the text of thewebcomicA Softer World, and authored the novelsLockpick Pornography andOverqualified.
In 2003, Comeau co-created the webcomicA Softer World with Emily Horne. His first novel,Lockpick Pornography, was serialized on theA Softer World site prior to publication in book form byLoose Teeth Press.
Excerpts from his novelOverqualified were included in the 2010Best American Nonrequired Reading. The first 20 chapters of his novelOne Bloody Thing After Another were serialized on theNational Post's book blog[1] and the book was nominated for the 2010Shirley Jackson Award.[2]One Bloody Thing After Another was also nominated for the 2011ReLit Awards.[3]The Globe and Mail review ofOne Bloody Thing After Another was generally critical, concluding that the novel did not succeed as either horror or comedy,[4] while the reviewer in theToronto Star wrote "As a fast-paced, fragmented tale of terror for an accelerated culture, it's bloody good."[5]
In 2012 a sequel toLockpick Pornography titledWe All Got It Coming was released for free on the Internet[6] before being published together with the original inThe Complete Lockpick Pornography.
A review of Comeau's 2017 novelMalagash inThe Globe and Mail called it "a surprisingly quiet, moody affair", but observed that "some characters and plot lines could be more deeply developed",[7]
In 2013, Comeau and collaborator Emily Horne ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to publish the fourth print volume ofA Softer World, titledLet's Do Something Wrong.[8] The campaign raised over $78,000, on a goal of $25,000. The project was described as being "A book about dead moms, queers, sexy extremism and sad feelings. In photo comic form with words on the photos, like, over top of them!".[8]
