Graphic novel Gigs confronts AI's grip on creative work
A new graphic novel by Leeds-based creators Mark Mosedale and Si Smith explores a world where AI has eliminated most jobs and humans compete for gig work. Top Shelf publishes Gigs on 16 June at $24.99. The book took seven years to complete and has become unexpectedly prescient about AI's threat to employment.
The story began in 2019 when illustrator Si Smith asked writer Mark Mosedale to collaborate on a comic project. What started as an interesting sci-fi concept has transformed into something that feels urgently current.
"When we started, the idea of artificial intelligence hollowing out the job market felt like an interesting sci-fi avenue to explore," Si said. "But now that the book is here, it feels like that world is unstoppably imminent."
The world of Gigs
In the novel's setting, AI controls job allocation through an app. Everyone receives basic income, but creative work becomes the only way to earn extra. The characters - a street artist forced to paint over his murals, a writer stuck cleaning toilets on a space station, an elderly punk resisting conformity in a care home - all push back against this system through their creativity.
"I think anyone creative will see themselves in the book," Mark said. "We've tried to thread moments of hope through the narrative as well."
The craft behind the pages
Si drew all 276 pages by hand on a Wacom Bamboo tablet in Photoshop. Each page took about three days to complete. He worked at 600 dpi, 150 percent of print size, layering details that readers won't fully see in the final book but that create texture and depth.
Graffiti in the panels, for example, exists in at least four separate layers of varying transparency. The English weather thickens the atmosphere. Characters navigate a world physically and psychologically claustrophobic.
"Mark and I wanted the world to feel solid and dense and lived-in," Si said. "It's the texture - the greebling - that hopefully makes the world feel real."
What hand-drawn work offers
The graphic novel demonstrates what current generative AI cannot produce: layered, intentional artwork built on sustained creative decision-making. Each page reflects hours of deliberate choices about composition, light, and detail.
Mark and Si are already working on a follow-up and pitching another graphic novel aimed at young adults, featuring football and magic. Their work offers AI for Creatives a concrete example of what human creativity produces when given time and craft.
Gigs can be ordered from Top Shelf and OK Comics.
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