Goodbye, Wasted Talent

Angela Melick’s Wasted Talent, which I reviewed many a years ago (and gave 4 stars!) is coming to an end after 12 years. I mey Jam last year at ECCC, and I was kinda surprised that she remembered my review.  In any case, I always saw in her a kindred spirit as we were both engineers who work in the Pacific Northwest. (Some of my favorite recent ones are where she cycles around Stanley Park.  I felt I knew that place before my first visit to Vancouver.)

The comic ends on December 5 of this year.  Good luck on whatever the future holds for ya, Jam!

 Popular Webcomic Wasted Talent Announces Ending, Final Two Books 

VANCOUVER, CANADA. Nov. 7th, 2016 — Wasted Talent creator Angela ‘Jam’ Melick announced today that she would be concluding her groundbreaking autobiographical comic series. She will also be releasing two final collected volumes in conjunction with the comic’s last online installment.

Over the last twelve years, Melick has shared the intimate and often hilarious details of her career as an high-tech engineer using the decidedly low-tech medium of watercolor cartoons. Melick’s work has been featured in Reader’s Digest, the National Post, and the Toronto Star. 

While Wasted Talent gives readers an unprecedented view into Melick’s adventures in a male-dominated STEM field, it also shares stories from her personal life. Her quirky marriage to a mountain-bike-crazy programmer shares space with the natural beauty (and human diversity) of British Columbia. 

Professionally Awesome, the fourth volume in the series, follows Angela as she tackles a new career risk. “Growing up, I’d always been told that the key to success was the corporate track,” Melick explains, “but it was obvious to me that what worked for my parents wouldn’t work for me.” Angela ditches the safe job to become employee #3 at a tech startup, and chaos ensues. 

The final collection, Redesigned, focuses on her current job at ‘NorthWind Engineering’ — the young team of engineers out to solve the world’s toughest problems. “Picture a graphic novel version of HBO’s ‘Silicon Valley’,” Melick explains, “…except it’s all true!”

Melick will release the final Wasted Talent update on December 5th, 2016. A crowdfunding campaign to fund the printing of the final two collections has launched today on Kickstarter and will conclude at the same time: bit.ly/WTalent 

 The ending of the comic is bittersweet for Melick. “I’m really excited that I’m able to conclude this comic by releasing the final two collections,” she says, “The project has defined such a large part of my life, it’s important for me to end it on a high note.”