Juan Santapau's The Secret Knots

“11 Signs You Are Not Getting Enough Sleep” Webcomic Explains What’s Happening to You

This article is over 6 years old and may contain outdated information

Recommended Videos

Have you begun to see these signs?

Artist Juan Santapau has wowed the internet with his beautifully surreal webcomic The Secret Knots since 2006. Santapau describes Secret Knots on his Patreon as “short comics about odd and fictional people, myths and places.”

This is a concise summary of a gorgeously profound body of work that io9 described as “exploring the ordinary things that could bring us to madness or enlightenment, that connect us to other people, and the extraordinary things that seem almost possible.” My favorite comics creator, Warren Ellis, called Secret Knots “gently, sublimely mental. Quite, quite mad. Wonderful.”

On June 4th, Santapau gifted us with a new Secret Knots comic that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about—so I asked him if we could feature it on The Mary Sue. Here are “11 signs you are not getting enough sleep”: does this explain what’s been keeping you up at night?

I love everything about this comic—it’s like a glorious journey that just turns trippier and trippier as it progresses, yet as we move into the unknown, somehow the story still feels intimate and recognizable: “The warmth of the woven cloth your grandmother gave you when you turned 13 and she said, ‘It’s time.” I also adore the cyclical nature that traps the reader in this transformative loop; at the last panel, we’re back at the beginning, our memories failing.

Check out Juan Santapau on Patreon, at The Secret Knots (The Secrets Knots can be found in Spanish here), and Gumroad. You can also follow him on Instagram and Tumblr. You won’t be sorry.

(images via Juan Santapau)

Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!

The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—


The Mary Sue is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy
Author
Image of Kaila Hale-Stern
Kaila Hale-Stern
Kaila Hale-Stern (she/her) is a content director, editor, and writer who has been working in digital media for more than fifteen years. She started at TMS in 2016. She loves to write about TV—especially science fiction, fantasy, and mystery shows—and movies, with an emphasis on Marvel. Talk to her about fandom, queer representation, and Captain Kirk. Kaila has written for io9, Gizmodo, New York Magazine, The Awl, Wired, Cosmopolitan, and once published a Harlequin novel you'll never find.