So Long, Farewell …
The news brings us sad tidings, of the passing of two well-beloved webcomics.
After five years, Justin Pierce finds that he’s no longer in love with Kilroy and Tina, and will be wrapping the strip at the end of the current story arc. From his blog:
I really love the characters, the premise, the overall storyline… but I also haven’t been making progress at the scale I wanted to, and to be quite frank, after years of barely denting the epic story, I’m burned out. I don’t want to be doing this thing when I’m in my thirties, and with the current format and pacing, I can’t foresee any other outcome. I’ve been dealing with this on-and-off for about a year now, tried tweaking with new storylines, techniques, and more, but it’s just not eliminating the fact that this thing is taking me forever.
So the plan as it stands is this: I will finish Chapter 15 because it’s the right thing to do. That’s about nine or ten comics out, which closes the chapter around the beginning of February. Then I’ll step back from Killroy and Tina, and do… something. I’m not sure what. I haven’t really had an open Tuesday night in half a decade. Guess I’ll figure something out.
I’ve been reading this one since the beginning, and I’m going to miss it something fierce, but at least I still have The Non-Adventures of Wonderella to keep me warm at night.
Meanwhile, from the other side of the Atlantic, Ali Graham’s HOUSD finishes up its run tomorrow, which correspondent Michael Kinyon notes, marks a daily run since 28 March 2003, with a total of 61 missed days before 10 Dec 2004, and none since. It’s a marathon accomplishment, which Graham notes:
I’m not too sure what the past four years of my life would have consisted of without the comic. It gave me structure and most importantly a tangible and highly gratifying outlet.
Although HOUSD is essentially me, there are so many people who have helped and supported me through the years, without which I don’t think it could have existed. I’ve made and lost contact with countless people, but every person who has ever emailed me, or chatted at a convention genuinely made my day, all 1284 of them.
Thus ends Chapter 1 of my online comic saga. I hope you’ll stick around, plenty more chapters to be written and read.
HOUSD was always on my list of comics to “read through the archives when I’ve got time, get caught up, make it a regular thing …”, which I guess will be a one-shot deal now. 1284 comics is one hell of a marathon, and we at Fleen salute Graham on the accomplishment; since he notes that there’s bigger and better projects coming up, I guess I’ll just have to get in on the ground floor of those.
Yeah, who wants to be doing the same old webcomic in their thirties?
…
Dammit.
By Christopher B. Wright on 11.30.06 6:58 pm
For those, like Gary, who want to get in on the ground floor of the new Ali Graham project, today he has formally introduced Afterstrife. All that’s there now is the cover page; the comic goodness starts Monday. One may presume it will be part of the Boxcar collective, just as HOUSD was.
By Michael Kinyon on 12.01.06 7:26 am
Oops! Ali says that should be AfterStrife, not Afterstrife.
Write it down, there will be a quiz later.
By Michael Kinyon on 12.02.06 11:54 am
I’m glad I didn’t turn 30 while drawing the same old webcomic.
(I’d better turn 40 while doing it, though.)
By Howard Tayler on 12.02.06 11:49 pm
I didn’t even start doing webcomics till I was 35!
By Michael Payne on 12.03.06 12:29 pm
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