NEW VOTING INCENTIVE!!! CHRISTMAS FEAR!!!
The full December voting incentive is finally available for viewing! Check it out! (And remember: fans who donate $5 or more a month get a say in what voting incentives run! If you want to join their controlling ranks, HEAD ON OVER TO PATREON and join the select club!)
VOTE FOR PUCK BECAUSE I’M DESPERATE!!!
As for this comic…
We near the end of this story arc. Thankfully. And if you’re still reading, still following the comic, I thank you, because a lot of readers seem to have stopped. Either that or the somewhat more serious topics in this story arc have consistently chased away new readers. Whatever the dynamic that’s at work, I’m sadly in a situation where I’m at my lowest ranking in ten years on TWC, and my pageview stats have been spiraling downward every month since I started this arc.
I don’t think I’m doing bad work (or at least no worse than my usual work), but I totally understand why this story arc isn’t resonating as much with many people. And the lesson’s been learned. I won’t repeat this error, and all the upcoming story arcs are far more lighthearted.
On another front, that Mr. T minifig was put into production for the defunct ‘Lego Dimensions’ line and is still on store shelves. (I was very, very sad to find out that the figure apparently was not intended to represent Mr. T, but rather the game made it clear that the figure represented B.A. Baracus from the (flawed) 2010 movie. I personally suspect they just said ‘It’s not Mr. T’ for legal reasons, because the figure TOTALLY looks like Mr. T.)
How did Robin know ?
Faerie Powers at last ?
And how could she afford him ?
Well, you guessed it earlier, so great minds think alike?
VOTING INCENTIVE ALERT !!
Everyone’s fave characters – including SIGMUND !!
And so much SEX and EVIL.
Or is it EVIL and SEX ?
Miranda will neva be the same NOW !!
Hey, I try to deliver. Something.
Does SEX and EVIL combined = SEVILLE ?
This is a great strip, very sweet to see Puck being supportive. And the gift, while more fitting than she realises, also shows that she understands Colin, his likes and desires.
While this chapter is more serious than others, it has not deterred me, and I have been following with interest. There are many works out there, comical or otherwise, that will either reflect, or directly tell stories and aspects from the author’s life. When done well, they enrich the story, and the readers learn about something they may not have know otherwise.
Puck manages to cover longer story arcs, while still giving weekly amusement in short, easy to handle strips, with an interesting and dynamic cast of characters.
I look foward to see what comes next.
Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.
@Thisguy
No. You make perfect sense,
But I do pray EG is healthy from here on in.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, man. Like I mentioned, it seems (to me) that established readers are fine with this, but I think it’s the more casual readers (or new readers) that are turned off. Who knows? Anyway, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year back. May the new year bring … something different. Preferably good different.
Well, Puck knows her Colin very well, as I see.
She does. They know each other well. It happens when you live together for over a decade.
I gave my bf an old, leather-bound copy of “Religio Medici” for his birthday. My friends were like, “What?” But it sits on his nightstand here at home and he reads it when he can’t sleep.
@Susan
LATIN TOMES ?
Arroo ! Arroo !! Arroo !!! Arroo !!!!
Buzz – Spark – Fizzle – silence
Well, that’s it.
The NERD ALARM just burnt itself out. And with replacement Klystron Frequency Modulators being in such short supply….
We’re going to be stranded here for awhile.
Um, Salem, Religio Medici’s title is in Latin, but it is written in (mostly) English, and Sir Thomas Browne, who wrote it, provides translations, usually, for his Latin tags.
@Susan
That gift was very thoughtful of you.
TRACEEE tells me Satan adores his Latin Edition of the Necronomicon (translated by Olaus Wormius in 1228 AD).
It was a Walpurgis Gift from her a couple of years ago.
He picks it up once in a while and laughs himself silly !
Am I missing something? Who is Robin?
I think it is a joke that Puck is his Robin to him as Batman. Or I am missing something too.
robin goodfellow is pucks official name….basically, she´s the fairy from shakespeare´s ‘a midsummernights dream’ hence the pointy ears 😉 but the comic widely ignores that she´s technically several centuries old already, or that william wrote her as a guy
To be fair, Puck is 631 years old. But only the past 30 or so has been spent having a life.
Robin is Puck. Her full, legal name is ‘Robin Goodfellow’. ‘Puck’ is just a nickname.
Don’t blame me. Blame Shakespeare.
Damn you, Shakespeare!!
Luckily we don’t have any Jonsonians commenting, or they would have pooed off about how Ben Jonson or the Earl of Oxford really wrote Shakespeare. Which I think is silly, myself.
Ben Jonson writes nothing like Shakespeare. I speak as a Ben Jonson fan. And a Shakespeare fan. Nothing really alike.
MSND, Act II, scene 1: “FAIRY
Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite
Called Robin Goodfellow. Are not you he
That frights the maidens of the villagery,
Skim milk, and sometimes labor in the quern
And bootless make the breathless housewife churn,
And sometime make the drink to bear no barm,
Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
Those that “Hobgoblin” call you, and “sweet Puck,”
You do their work, and they shall have good luck.
Are not you he?”
Thou speakst aright. I am that merry wanderer of the night. And I could keep it going from memory. I teach that play at least once a year.
I had no idea Puck bootless churned the maidens.
We all have a past. She loves Colin, that’s enough. He’s an English teacher, right? so he knows.
so is this offical confirmation puck is not the fairy from shakespear and isnt really old ? cool
Who said that? I didn’t.
Awe man. I do not know why your ratings are so low. It was a decent arch par with your others. I admit I read but do not vote for your comic even when you have an incentive I love.
Maybe it is just because it dealt with cancer of the +es+icles. I know some men can be touchy about a topic like that. Like it shocks them so much they get in a nope rocket to the moon.
If it had been about skin cancer on his arm being removed it would not had such a reaction on the readers.
That is just my two cents.
‘Pokes button to be nice.’
You might be onto something about the type of disease, and location of said disease. In honesty, though, I think it’s more the ‘big C’ which is the most frightening. Everyone is very afraid of it, and rightly so. I guess it tends to take the fun out of the reading experience.
A bobblehead would have been much more significant, Robin. Who am I kidding? Legos and Colin go together like spinach and gammon
What’s gammon? And I’m not a big fan of those Pop vinyl things. They’re okay, but I find their incredible popularity to be a little disturbing. Their creepy circle eyes stare out, soulless, from the shelf.
It’s from the nursery rhyme “A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go” (“With a rowley, powley, gammon and spinach / Heigh ho! says Anthony Rowley”). I thought an English teacher would get it 🙁
“Gammon” also means “nonsense,” as in the British phrase, “None of your gammon,” but is basically the word for the name given to the meat from the hind legs of a pig that has been cured in the same way as bacon.
@Susan
I could have sworn Gammon was a Snorf.
You ‘memba him ? He was the Snorf with ZITZ.
Oh well…..
I know none of this.
Colin’s expression in panel 3 made me laugh so hard I think I might have woken my girlfriend from her sleep (she worked night last night, so yeah. Was probably not the best of things I could have done).
As for the lego, I had a vague feeling that Puck was going to get something Mr. T related after seeing Mr. T appear in the past few uploads. Glad to see I was right then.
Too bad that you’re constantly losing readers – this is my favorite non-game related webcomic I follow (also my favorite in general that I follow. So there’s that, too).
Should hopefully go upwards again soon. Hopefully.
Well, I’m glad something in this one provided a laugh. I really wasn’t confident with this one. It’s not a ‘funny hah hah’ strip, but they can’t all be. And I’m glad I hold up even against those game-related webcomics.
Dude, this comic is quintessential Puck! This is a perfect wrap up to this arc. I do, but don’t understand the decline. Puck, to me, hasn’t always been slapstick and 100% ha, ha’s but to me that is the beauty of this strip. It always has been a fantastic mix of the real and surreal. Again, to me that is the way it was always meant to be. Please know that the hard work that goes into this work of love, is greatly appreciated.
Well, thanks. Again, I don’t feel TOO bad because I do feel like I’m relatively on point, and longtime readers who know the comic best seem to be approving. So that means it’s worthwhile, I think. It’s more the element that I sometimes fail at: the consideration of new readers. I forget who said it (probably a bunch of people), but whenever you’re doing a serial form of entertainment, you always have to think that this strip/comic/episode might be someone’s first. How might they respond to that? Would they want to know more? I think the recent story arc’s been a little too scary. But it won’t last forever.
@EG
Oddly enough, at least half a dozen Top Web Comics that were bracketing PUCK for most of this past year have also lost status.
Usually losing significantly more than PUCK.
One that was never terribly popular, but entertained, was Amphibian.Com – it’s dead now.
And a great fave – Horror comic Broodhollow – has not updated a single new strip in all of 2017.
Sometimes it seems to me all the Top Rated Comics consist of predictable Romance-Adventures between Cat/Human Hybrids.
I’d not be a bit surprised if more Web Comic Fans are Female than Male.
Well, the landscape has certainly shifted. Very, VERY few comics in the top 50 are comedy-based. Most seem to be … that type you just described. Maybe I need to jump ship and start my own cat people romance.
@EG
You can always test the waters with DREAM SEQUENCES WITH CATS !
Actually, at least half your characters are likely chimeras anyways.
Tweak the Ears, add Whiskers – You’re there !
@EG
Just don’t revert to the PIRATES again.
They are so 2003.
I did the pirates thing BEFORE Johnny Depp did it. I was cutting edge. Then pirates came back. Then they went away again.
No more pirates. I’ve had enough.
I would think the “romance” part and “hybrid” oart would be more important than the “cat” part. In other words, you need romance subplot for Daphne or Phoebe, or better both just to be sure.
Oddly enough, those may be coming up soon.
@hkmaly
Oh, you could not be more wrong.
Depicting human females as CATS keeps half of Industrial Japan employed.
@EG
Consider longtime Puckster Buggles.
I’ve been worried about her, as she has not checked in lately.
I’m certain she is fine (knock on wood), but she just may be one of those who didn’t find this last arc matched their interests.
It’s possible, SalemCat. It’s also possible that like me, she’s been following, but hasn’t been commenting much because of RL interfering with her leisure time.
Life is funny that way, ya know?
BTW: Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and/or Joyous generic celebration to one and all!!!!!
It happens. I look back sometimes with fondness at the devoted readership I had in, say, 2009 on DeviantArt. None of whom I’m still in contact with. Kind of sad, but most readers or followers aren’t long term.
@EG
Don’t sweat it.
You have mebe two dozen Web Comics in front of PUCK; and prolly a THOUSAND behind you !
I think she just doesn’t like me. 🙁
@Susan
No !
We do not make comics for them, we make comics for us. That said, if you’re looking for some new avenues to bolster readership, I’d be happy to share some some I’ve found to be very effective lately.
If you have any magic tricks to bolster readership, I’d love to hear ’em. My old tricks have stopped working.
Let’s connect in the new year. Email me at patric at freaksnsqueeks.com
While voting on TWC today Phoebe was the proof character.
@Marduk
Luckee !
I neva get anyone I recognize.
I’ve never had that. I submitted that pic many, many years ago. I’ve never actually seen it come up.
@Marduk
I’ll bet half the PROOF PICS are of Characters from Comics that barely survived 2015.
I wouldn’t be surprised, a lot of them have relatively low quality art and are from comics I’ve never seen on the list. You have to be pretty low on the TWC list for me to have never even heard of your comic.
For what it’s worth, I’ve enjoyed the storyline. It’s not an easy subject to talk about, but I don’t know many who haven’t been touched by it on some level.
Yeah. True enough. Almost everyone has a story about something like this with someone they know.
Sorry your numbers are down, EG. I have been faithfully reading and rereading each day and voting, too (even though that pic of Tracee makes me queasy). At least she is not as bad as fruitcake.
I deal with cancer every day of my professional life and it is not a cheerful subject. Unless you are an oncologist, who can laugh at the weirdest things. I once was walking down the hall after making rounds and met Dr.X, the most prominent oncologist/hematologist at our hospital, coming toward me and just laughing away. I stopped and asked him why, and he said, “I just got fired by a patient. Can you imagine how hard up you must be when you fire your cancer doctor?” He walked off just gggling to himself. I just had to shakemy head.
I do appreciate that about oncologists. I enjoy their semi-sociopathic sense of humor. And I also appreciate your steadfast support and comments. Though you don’t have to vote if the pics of Tracee are too traumatizing. To be honest, they kind of scare me too.
If I can take the kind of surgeries (which I will not further itemize) that have odors that seep through your gloves and we have to use an Amco Rub-Away Bar after the case to get the smell off our hands, I can take Tracee. I’ll vote every day if I am not run off my feet.
@Susan
That’s it … IT !!
I’ll be twitching and plaintively meowing all night now – from NIGHT TERRORS.
The saddest part is, as horrific as they’ll be to me, they prolly don’t approach halfway to your reality.
Susan Allan Poe Schroeder
Nah, you get used to it. Healthcare, by and large, is fun. As my bf likes to say, “I don’t worry about dead people, just live ones.” If I had to choose between bad smells and sore feet to lose, I would go with sore feet every time.
“If you ain’t got no peaches, honey, please don’t shake my tree…”
Who’s got no peaches?
Well, Colin is now short one peach…
Still plenty of peach left.
@EG
Wasn’t the PROBLEM that it GREW to the size of a PEACH ?
Stick with Cheery Tomatoes.
(yes, cheery)
Only cases of T-carcinoma I have ever seen were about the size of a walnut. Now if you are asking about hydroceles or inguinal hernias, peaches may come into it at an early stage, but hernias especially can get into the zucchini class
Well, well, well. 🙂
They really are soulmates. ^_^
I wouldn’t go that far. They really are mutual tolerators. Of the highest order.
Hey, you have to consider the souls in question. 😉
I really like reading Puck.
I read every week, even if I don’t always comment. I don’t like to comment (i.e., rant) about Mr. C., but this arc has been a lot easier to take than the cheerful public-service human-interest stuff.
Hope the views recover. I like the strip and enjoy the comments, too.
Well, thanks for sticking by. I get the not commenting thing, because honestly when I’m reading comics, I rarely feel that I have anything worthwhile to share.
@EG
Wasn’t the PROBLEM that it GREW to the size of a PEACH ?
Stick with Cheery Tomatoes.
(yes, cheery)
@EG
I NEVA have anything worthwhile to share.
I don’t let that slow me down, tho.
OMG OMG OMG OMG
EG, you need HOT Magical CAT CHICKS with Vampire ROBOTS !!!!
This is GENIUS – just GENIUS.
Purrrrrrr……….
Hah !
How many of you know that TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURLES began as a prank, where the originators deliberately created the absolute STUPIDEST Heroes they could imagine ?
I still love the poster for Forbidden Planet. Also I like movie. Classic Leslie Neilson.
Heh, “Airplane,” “The Naked Gun”. “Stop calling me Shirley!” 🙂
Haven’t posted in awhile but wanted to let you know I read weekly and enjoy. People just want to see more chicks cuz they naughty lol …..
Ok I’m in love with phoebe.
Yeah, the lack of female characters is a problem. That won’t continue, I promise.
This arc is calling to be separately published as a Fred Hutchinson hand out, perhaps.
I’ll think about it.
Everyone tells their story in their own way.
You’re a cartoonist (?and an English teacher?) so perhaps you tell your story in a lighthearted cartoon about an English teacher.
https://www.fredhutch.org/en/about/share-your-story.html
I usually just lurk and vote, but seeing your comment I feel the need to say my two cents: I think this arc scared a lot of readers, both old and new since it’s not only “serious” but it’s cancer!Seriousness over 9000! But I loved it seeing the gang talk about something serious while remaining the lovable idiots they are 😉
Too bad your readership dropped during this story arc, but it was an important one to be able to laugh about. Cancer is serious in all cases, scary in all cases, but finding humor in something is what makes us human. We have to in order to not be overwhelmed by the weight of the world.
Agreed. And thanks for sticking by in the craziness.
Of course the greater mystery is why there’s a weird nerd store right across the street from the hospital.
More will be explained on the weird nerd store soon. It adjoins the bubble tea store. And we’ll be visiting it shortly.
Hey, it helped me get through my mom’s situation, and reminded me of an aspect of my health that I don’t normally think about. So, yeah, of course I’m going to stick around! 🙂
There was a hobby shop selling plastic model kits and action figures across the street from the hospital where I worked as a Nurse’s Aid to put myself through college
Whoa! Art imitates life! In reality, though, there’s no nerd store across from the cancer hospital in my city. I’m using some creative license.
Of course there is! After all, Nerds get sick too! What better way to cheer up your favorite nerd than with transformers?
Hmph. My bf calls me (among other things) “Nerd-Girl.” If I am ever in the hospital again, which God forbid, if he bring me a Transformer he had better start running. I would want flowers, food baskets from Harry and David, and books from my Amazon Want List. Perhaps some jewelry, too. Just plain gold in keeping with my Look of Elegant Simplicity. Nothing like Princess Michael’s jewelery, please. That brooch of hers was in horrible taste.
If you’re ever in the hospital, Susan, we’ll all pitch in and get you a my little pony plushie!!!!
You strike me as a “Buttercup”….
(quickly gets behind something that will block the thrown objects)
I’m sorry to hear your losing readers. I like more realistic subjects in comic’s or video games (Or whatever/etc). But that’s just me.
Merry Christmas ElectricGecko!
xXx
Merry Christmas to you! And thanks for the vote of confidence.
@EG
A Merry Yule to all !
I can say that, right ?
The Liberals are not denying that the shortest (and thus worst) day of the year has past ?
Not yet, anyhow.
I, Janet, and Baldie have been binge-watching CHRISTMAS CAROL versions.
The one headed by George C scott is clearly the BEST !!
I am certain 2018 is going to be one fine year !
God Bless Us, Every One.
Merry Christmas, all.
Merry Christmas Gecko. Lately I have been somewhat lazy about voting, often only remembering to do so when the comic updates. That’s why for Christmas this year I’ve been making sure I vote for Puck every single day in December. No wi-fi? No problem, I’ll just vote with my phone. Hopefully by the end of this month we can overthrow Wilde Life and get Puck up to #23.
Well, hey, voting at all is great. Thanks for reading and supporting and being wonderful. And a merry to you!
O M G
My Christmas Stocking opened to reveal a CD with MY FAVORITE SONG !
I’m just going to put it on REPEAT forever.
Thanks Santa !
I see why you like it.
Just like Tracee to be unable to spell her own name right.
Merry Christmas to all Puck-o-philes everywhere.
Remember to view and VOTE every day! Merry Christmas, EG.
When creating the character, I sat down and thought, “What’s the stupidest, most annoying spelling of this name I can come up with?” And voila.
Merry Christmas to you too, friend.
Calling all Mr. T fans: that’s him with Nancy Reagan (one of my heroes): https://imgur.com/a/y1f0T
Who says Twitter is always nasty-tempered? 🙂
That’s awesome.
It kind of sucks that a reader drops a comic because of some writer following the story thread through the platen, as King would say, to let the characters be true to themselves. Hell, one of the first rules to be an author is to write what you know. So you’re just being doubly honest. To both the characters and the characters in your audience.
If a person can’t contemplate the world in all honesty, then it seems that the jester may as well as throw away the thorny crown. Because he’s just going to lead a stubborn horse to die of thirst at an artesian well.
Well, yeah. But I don’t fool myself into thinking that storytelling is the primary draw with a comic like this. People come to be entertained, mostly by the humor and the characters, so when story overshadows that or messes with the tone slightly, I totally do understand people who aren’t happy with that. I don’t blame them at all. I appreciate readers who DO appreciate story and character authenticity, though.
Wouldn’t their being entertained be because of the two truths as laid out previously? They all went to your university, and you’re writing what you know. You restructured the college years and still needed post college reality. What more could be life than, “Le mort corpse?” If not now, then when.
Well, true. But some people (most people) find the goofy fictional storytelling that I hang upon the slice-of-life base to be the more entertaining stuff. They like the crazy day at the amusement park more than this. And I’m kind of with them sometimes, but I’d wanted to add a little bit of a counterpoint to the goofy. Because there’s been A LOT of goofy lately.
I still think it fits. Human man running around with a bunch of fae and such. Things can’t be perfect 24/7 you know.
Geck, your witty dialogue always stays really sharp. Writing humor is certainly not easy.
I have to admit that it doesn’t necessarily come naturally. I end up often writing the dialogue out once, then going back with an eye to spice things up and make them a little livelier. In a comic like this, physical jokes are few and far between, so I think the dialogue needs to do the heavy lifting.
So wait, when did Puck’s name become Robin?
Over four hundred years ago. Puck’s ‘real’ name is Robin Goodfellow. It was one of the main monikers that Puck went by in Shakespeare. Only Colin calls her Robin in the comic, though.
Honestly, this arc was funnier to me than the other ones. I’m sorry your viewership sunk during it, but dark humour is amazing and I laughed out loud a lot during this arc. Real situations may make people uncomfortable, but I think any good humour should make people uncomfortable. It’s how we deal with the harder side of life.
(I skipped over the freckles arc and this one to get to the latest one to catch up quicker, but now I’m going back through. In case you’re wondering why I’m suddenly commenting on older ones.)
Well, glad that this arc was actually funny for you. I think it’s the type of material that goes down better for some people but not others. I thought, though, in my own humble opinion, that this arc was kind of a good one for character growth. We get to actually see these characters face real problems and not some goofy make-believe misadventures.