Last weekend, /tsmoreau auctioned off the Master and all Layers of the first page of his graphic novel, "Phase Space: Spiral Riders".

These Layers gave control over aspects of the page like the drawing style of the background...

...the color (and emotional vibe) of the tint...

...and even which character played the lead role and words they spoke:

Each Layer was won by a different collector (which is always fun!).

Being a comic book fan, I was excited to buy a Layer and affect the visuals, especially knowing that at any time I could redeem a print ticket NFT for a physical copy of the current state 🤯

During the auction however, /tsmoreau revealed that he'd be writing the next page of the story determined from the current state as of October 1st, 2020.

This really stuck with me.

At Async, we often talk about how #ProgrammableArt pieces are small DAO's, decentralized organizations that act autonomously to govern a piece of art within a predefined set of rules.

With this piece however, I suddenly felt a (small) sense of responsibility. This was no longer a Layer I could flip back and forth for fun, knowing that I could change it back whenever...

..until October 1st, I'd have to think carefully, being the owner of "Inset Panels"!

Having a goal has made me think more about what state to leave this Layer in than any of the others I've owned.

I tentatively plan to have the top inset remain the heart (suggesting that it was the heightened heartbeat of the main character that drew the enemies to them!) and leave the second inset hidden so the reader can more clearly see the action shot at the bottom. (No cutaway exposition to explain what a "Language Witch" or "Icon Man" is! That will have to be revealed later...)

I know that this is just the start of a single comic and that stakes are relatively low, but it's exciting to know that I, along with fellow "Phase Space #1: Spiral Riders" DAO members, will affect how future readers are introduced to this universe! (Members like Metapurse.eth and BreadBreaker22 arguably have the most responsibility)

It will be exciting to watch this story unfold and to see how future comic book artists experiment with #ProgrammableArt.