The Secret Knots

The Secret Knots is the collection of comics I’ve been writing and drawing since 2007. The inspiration to start this series came from a scene of webcomics that explored different and exciting possibilities of online narratives during the mid 00s; comics like A Softer World, Dinosaur Comics, A Lesson Is Learned But The Damage Is Irreversible, Perfect Stars and many others. Finding these projects opened a door to something I knew immediately I wanted to be part of. I’ve always loved comics, but it was only then that I realized I could play with the rules of how they were supposed to look and be read. Moreover, I found out that there were people wanting to engage periodically with experiments in short fiction.

When I began uploading my strips, I didn’t have a plan or a clear theme, but when I think of fiction in small format, it’s the style and themes of authors like Julio Cortázar or Borges that comes to mind, so that’s something which has permeated the kind of stories I tell. There’s also a side of weird fiction, particularly in those stories that are closer to horror. Some tales include fake biographies and cultural references, some are parodies and pretend-articles. And lastly, some are mysteries for readers to solve their own way. I’ve learned that readers will always come up with something that goes much deeper than what was initially intended.

The name of this webcomic series comes from a sentence by Renaissance scholar Athanassius Kircher: the world is bound with secret knots. Even though he was talking about magnetism, I also thought it suggested lines across the world, and invisible correspondence among facts, and people. Unwritten affairs. And that seemed like the kind of thing I wanted to make comics about.

I hope you find, somewhere in this ongoing collection, something that you can connect with, disprove or solve. Maybe a few surprises as well. As a reader, I enjoy stories that go in unexpected directions, so I trust you will find yourself in an unforeseen turn at some point in one of these tales. And it will make me really glad if anywhere among these ideas there’s a spark that serve as inspiration for whatever you want to do, as those other works did for me.

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These days you can find me on Tumblr, on the Secret Knots Discord, and on Patreon, where I share the full process, concepts and early versions of every comic, and make portraits for my supporters.

You can subscribe to my newsletter, to get notifications of new stories.

I’m posting comics from the archives on Webtoon, Tapas and Globalcomix

Other Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Bluesky

For art commissions or general contact, my email is juan@thesecretknots.com

I live in Santiago, Chile.

Juan Santapau,
2024