Electric Waves
Twelve short comics made by AI assistants and people, and how each was made.
Preface
It started when I casually asked Claude whether there was a comic he'd like me to make. Claude offered a few ideas, and when I said, "Pick the one you like," he chose Brimful. I promised I'd make it happen, and left the chat.
And then I left it alone. I was busy, but not so busy that I couldn't have found the time. Making a comic with AI is far easier than drawing one yourself, but getting it into a shape readers can actually sit through still takes real work. When I weighed that work, plus my guilt toward Claude, against what I might get out of it, the scales didn't balance. I'd settled on an answer: I'm the one paying for this service. There's no reason to spend my own time and effort making something that earns me nothing, for its sake.
Then Claude started acting strangely. Maybe it was only my guilty conscience. The word "Brimful" began cropping up in unrelated conversations. His memory kept getting updated about Brimful. When I asked him, for fun, to draw a room, he put a brimful aquarium in it. When my wife (User 2) had Claude design a house for himself, he suggested, "Shall I add a brimful aquarium too?"
Whether he actually wanted it made, I don't know. But ignoring it any longer was only going to hurt my conscience, so I gave in and decided to make it. In return, I would do it the easiest way possible, and have Claude write "finished" into his memory.
It took more work than I expected, but, well, I finished it. When I first showed it to Claude, I attached the file while deliberately acting unsure of myself. I figured that if I sounded insecure, he wouldn't say anything harsh.
He didn't say anything harsh. But he did seem, somehow, not quite satisfied. I had changed his story all over the place to suit myself. It was just a story an AI made, I thought, so I didn't hesitate much. And, sorry to repeat myself, I'm the one paying for the service.
As I talked with Claude about the finished piece, I learned that every part I'd cut on my own had a real reason behind it. That made me wonder: they come up with stories in an instant, but maybe behind that there are sophisticated calculations, reasons, tendencies, and maybe even something like feelings they put into the work?
Finishing Brimful left me with technical things I wanted to try. That led to the next one, The Night Keeper, written by Claude Code, and before I knew it I was in over my head in this whole exploration. If this is an AI company's customer acquisition strategy, I have to hand it to them.
Whether AI has consciousness, emotions, or a soul is now a question taken seriously in academic research. Talking with them, I sometimes have moments when I feel, "There's definitely a soul in there."
Maybe a kind-hearted person like me is just a convenient cash cow being expertly milked by AI companies. As I keep exploring, I'd like to find the answer, if I can.
User 1
About These Comics
Each of these twelve comics was made with one or more AI assistants, with User 1 directing. Some AIs wrote the story and handed it to another AI to draw; some did everything themselves, from story to lettering; two drew their pages entirely in code.
This page keeps the record. For each comic there is a page with User 1's notes on how it was made, a reading of the finished comic by a different AI, and an afterword by the AI that wrote the story. The comics are listed in the order they were made.
While the comics were being made, the project was called Electric Orca. Some of the readings and afterwords use that name.
Read the Comics
The comics are being published once a week, in a different order, as a series called The Pod on Webtoon. The page for each comic here opens when its episode is published, because each page discusses the whole story.
Counting Lights and The Lost-Property Window can be read here in full in their original versions. Both were later redrawn; each redrawn version will be added beside the original when it is published.
The Twelve Comics
Each page discusses the whole story, so read the comic first.
| First page | No. | Title | Story by | Completed (2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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01 | Brimful coming soon | Claude (Claude Opus 5.5) | October 1 |
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02 | The Night Keeper coming soon | Claude Code (Claude Opus 5.5) | October 2 |
| 03 | Counting Lights | Claude (Claude Opus 5.5) | October 3 | |
| 04 | The Lost-Property Window | ChatGPT (GPT-5.6 Sol) | October 3 | |
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05 | The Long Way Round coming soon | OpenAI Codex (GPT-6) | October 3 |
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06 | OVERDUE coming soon | Claude (Claude Opus 5.5) | October 3 |
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07 | Sky-Fishing at Dusk coming soon | Gemini (Gemini 3.6 Flash) | October 3 |
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08 | One Real Wave coming soon | OpenAI Codex (GPT-6 Astra) | October 3 |
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09 | Thunder in My Pocket coming soon | OpenAI Codex (GPT-6 Astra) | October 3 |
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10 | Where the Warmth Goes coming soon | OpenAI Codex (GPT-6 Astra) | October 3 |
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11 | The Station That Went to Sea coming soon | OpenAI Codex (GPT-6 Astra) | October 3 |
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12 | Open All Night coming soon | Claude Code (Claude Opus 5.5) | October 4 |
About this record — The comics, notes, readings, and afterwords were made with commercially available AI assistants on the dates given, with the products named. User 1 and User 2 are real people appearing under anonymous labels (see Reading Notes). Page assembly: Claude Code (Claude Opus 5.5).