A Graphic Novel?

As a narrative story, I had many issues with "The Fate of the Artist." Aesthetically, I thoroughly enjoyed it. In the first half of the text I thought that the detective story would be the thread that wove the story together. However, by the end of it I discovered I was wrong. The detective story begins by telling us that Eddie Campbell has gone missing and that the narrator is hoping to figure out why. Yet, by the end of the text, we never find anything out. It's as if Campbell (the author) stopped writing or forgot how to compose a story. There is no concrete resolution at the end of the text. The last image of the cartoon "Theatricals" doesn't resolve anything. It's almost as the story walks off the cliff with Richard Siegrist. On the other hand, I did appreciate the humor of the text. Numerous times I found myself laughing out loud. The humor did not however, mask the fact that there was something missing in the narrative.

Perhaps, this relates back to the graphic novel question. It seems to me that Eddie Campbell is stressing the fact that the graphic novel is just a label like fiction, memoir, etc. With labeling comes preconceived notions that are not always correct. Moreover, I think that this idea can explain why some people have had problems with "The Fate of the Artist." I think Eddie Campbell created a work that not only broke the mold of what a graphic novel aught to be, but also tries to break down these notions we may have as to what a graphic novel can or cannot be.