SDCC 2023: instantmiso Talks Breaking In, ‘Eaternal Nocturnal’ And Her Future

As people lean towards reading their comics digitally, we’ve seen a rise of web comics. One publisher leading the way is WEBTOON. They have an extensive collection of exclusive originals, and through their platform, aspiring creators can post their works.

Writer and artist instantmiso is one of WEBTOON’s most popular talents. She has developed three series for the publisher, and her latest, Eaternal Nocturnal, recently began a second season. At this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, we had the pleasure to speak with instantmiso about her journey into comics and what the future holds for Eaternal Nocturnal and her as a creator.

Gary Catig: You’re both a writer and an artist. Which creators and which series served as inspirations for you growing up?

instantmiso: Definitely Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon was my very first comic at the age of four, which inspired me to start drawing my own homemade comics. Ever since then, I’ve been drawing comics for fun up until WEBTOON found me and I started doing it for a living.

GC: WEBTOON is a newer means for people to break into comics, and maybe some people consider unconventional. Can you describe your journey because you just mentioned how WEBTOON discovered you? Just how you were able to break into the comic scene.

instantmiso: I was actually an undergrad student during the time. I was studying computer science so nothing related to art whatsoever or the comic industry. I was just uploading my comics on the Canvas side of WEBTOON. They actually reached out to me themselves and offered me the job. I’ve been doing it ever since. It’s been about eight years now.

GC: One of your current series is Eaternal Nocturnal. It just recently came back for a new season. Can you describe for people who might not be familiar with it what it’s about and where you want to take the series this new season?

instantmiso: Eaternal Nocturnal is about an insomniac girl who meets a dream eater, who is essentially a Sandman type of mythical character. He helps her sleep at night. There’s some romance involved. Some drama and fantasy. For the second season, I’m hoping to answer a lot of questions like how did the main character become a dream eater? Some background stories. Other plots going on with the other main character being a ghost singer. How does she get out of it? Hopefully we can bring that to a nice close for this season.

GC: WEBTOON and webcomics in general is a format I’m not as familiar with. With regards to storytelling through conventional means, you can control pacing via the number panels you use and the format of the panels and build up suspense with the page turns. How do you going about writing webcomics to develop that effect in your stories.

instantmiso: Whereas you can turn the page for a traditional comic book, you can make the most of a long vertical canvas by stretching out the suspense. You can keep scrolling anticipating what is to come next. You can control the mood. You can control lots of visual things. More than you would expect. Instead of giving away everything all at once compared to a traditional comic, you can stretch it out and build suspense.

GC: When you say stretch it out, do you mean the actual panel?

instantmiso: Yeah, the panel scrolls down and it’s like you’re diving deeper into the story. Like you’re interacting.

GC: I know for WEBTOON, there was a partnership with McDonald’s where you told your story during Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) heritage month. I find it cool that you talked about your grandmother and her influence. Do ever see yourself later down the line creating stories related to your Filipino culture?

instantmiso: I think it would be really nice. My current main character right now has hinted Filipino origins because obviously she can sing. She’s discouraged not to pursue her passions. Her mom is like, ” You should pursue nursing.” It’s definitely something I want to explore. I had someone who attended the panel approach me and ask, “Are you Filipino?” She was tearing up, “Thank you for representing. It’s just beautiful. It’s awesome. Thank you for the work you do.” That really struck my heart.

GC: What are you plans for the future?

instantmiso: Right now I’m just focusing on Eaternal Nocturnal. I am talking to WEBTOON if we can do anything more with my old series or my current series. I know a lot of people have been asking about print published versions of the comics so I’ll have to see what we can do with that. But I do want to keep making comics, even after Eaternal Nocturnal.

GC: As a final question, do you foresee yourself strictly doing web comics or would you be interested in doing the conventional floppy and graphic novel formats?

instantmiso: I’m really comfortable in digital comics right now. It’s just been working for me and it’s just so accessible to so many people. I think I’ll stick around, but definitely sticking around in the comic industry is my goal.

You can read Eaternal Nocturnal right now on WEBTOON.