Seriously. It’s a terrifying reality for me to acknowledge, but the truth of the matter is that the comic was first published in the McMaster University student newspaper a full quarter century ago. It feels like it was yesterday. But it also feels like it was a million years ago. If that makes any sense.
Now, to be fair, it hasn’t been a solid twenty-five years of continuous Puck comics. There was a brief ten-year hiatus in there after I left university. So it’s been twenty-five calendar years and fifteen active years. Still, though, that’s a lot of years.
Will it still be going twenty-five years hence? I dunno. I mean, it’s an active question as to whether I’ll still be going twenty-five years hence. And honestly, the concept of working on a relatively obscure comic of middling quality with a very small readership for a full half-century is … kinda sad. But also seems kinda reassuring?
There’s been some highs, and there’s been some lows. Mostly it’s been a whole lot of mids. Lots has happened since I started this comic. I got married, had kids, developed pains in a number of joints, struggled to maintain my sanity in a crazy world — all that good stuff. As for the comic, it has changed. What once was black and white is now color. What once was really terrible art is now … slightly less terrible art? What has remained constant, though, is the freckles. And the chutzpah.
But for those people who read the comic, those veritable dozens of people, I’d like to say thank you for taking the time out of your day to check out my dumb creations. If it weren’t for you guys commenting and encouraging and supporting me (emotionally through your words and even financially through Patreon), I would have given up a long, long time ago.
25 years of Puck. It’s not an accomplishment I’m proud of, but it’s an accomplishment I’ve achieved. That’s my life in a nutshell.
It’s an accomplishment that you should be proud of. Congratulations!
Thanks. Not sure I’m proud, exactly. Maybe a little baffled as to how it’s kept going this long.
Congratulations! Please know that, for those “dozens” of readers, we all really appreciate the time you put into the comic. I know, I truly enjoy it and look forward to each new installment.
Well, thanks for being a dedicated member of the dozens. I do appreciate.
Way to make us feel loved…
I am magnanimous.
I am grateful that you’ve kept at it and will continue to read it as long as you feel like producing it.
Well, as long as people read it, I’ll probably keep making it. So it’s a working cycle!
Congratulations, dude.
Thanks man.
Happy birthday !
And thanks a lot for your amazing comics.
Yeah, I was honestly not sure whether this counted as the comic’s ‘birthday’ or ‘anniversary’.
Gec, you’re in good company. Everybody, myself included, has had those projects that come and go throughout our lives. The fact that you’ve been able to pick it up and run with it is a genuine accomplishment.
Sometimes a project just sticks, I guess. This one stuck. Kind of weird, because it is definitely the worst overall concept out of anything I’ve ever done. But hey, it stuck, so that’s something.
It’s a better project then the one that stuck with me.
What project stuck with you?
Welp, I guess I will have to come back out of the woodworks again just to say “congratulations”.
The woodwork is warm and reassuring. Good place to hide.
Can you be any MORE one-the-one-hand,-but-on-the-other? 🙂
Story of all our lives, man. I’ve enjoyed it. Quite a bit. If I can get my card to stop seeing Patreon as a fraud alert, I’ll start contributing again.
Great Lakes ForEVERRRRRRRRR!
I guess Patreon moved their financial offices to Ireland, and that got a bunch of financial institutions angry.
And yeah, we’re the real GLA.
Represent!
Congratulation! Looking forward to next 25 years.
Too many years, man. Too many years.
I put Patreon on my Apple Card just because it doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees. This month’s charge has gone through, so no worries here.
I put mine through PayPal and I haven’t had problems, but I know it’s been an issue for a lot of people. Stupid that they didn’t even warn anyone.
Wow, have I really been reading Puck for over 10 years? It seems shorter somehow.
I feel like it’s been longer. It feels like you have always been here.
First, congratulations! I’ve been on board since early in the New Era, and I for one am very glad that you’ve not only stuck to it, but continue to serve up consistent good fun after all this time
Second:
“And honestly, the concept of working on a relatively obscure comic of middling quality with a very small readership for a full half-century is … kinda sad.”
Speaking as someone who has been reading comics online for at least a couple decades and has been working on my own stuff for about ten years, Puck is anything but middling quality.
You’ve developed this into a top-notch strip of uniformly high quality that’s managed to hold my interest when literally every other better-known comic in a similar vein and format eventually lost my interest. Your work deserves recognition and it’s absolutely something to be proud of. Don’t let anybody eanywhere tell you otherwise.
It’s even more impressive that you’ve managed to keep this thing reading smoothly for so long—just about everybody, famous profesisonals included, eventually screws things up when they keep at the same characters for a decade, let alone two. Your managing to keep the heart of what makes this story fun to read alive for this long is a dang *miracle*.
As for small readership, that’s a tragedy, and since I refuse to believe the world’s taste isn’t good enough to appreciate your work, I can only blame how hard it is to get a readership as an indie on the web these days. It certainly isn’t because of the quality!
Thanks man. It means a lot to me to hear you say all that.
I have tried very hard to be consistent with characters and humor and all that. It’s been a real challenge because the protracted nature of the upload schedule means that a single story arc can take two years to complete. It’s a thing I really need to actively work on, because a lack of consistent storytelling would make everything fall apart. I believe this “comic stuck in slow motion” thing is what’s kept the comic working well. If I’d been doing a daily Puck comic for 25 years, it would have either gone stale long ago or I’d have run out of ideas and started getting weird with it.
The small readership is really my fault. I chose to make a story-based comic with a weekly upload schedule. That’s like selling cereal by the individual corn flake; it’s a dumb business model. Also, the nature of the comic just means it isn’t for everyone. It’s a slice-of-life, which turns some people off, with fantasy elements, which turn some other people off, and a slightly retro ‘cheesecakey’ visual style, which turns A LOT of people off. So my readership is whittled down to the few people left.
There are times I wish I could abandon the project and start something new – something fresh and way more marketable. But a bird in the hand is never something to overlook, and I feel like there are people out there who care about the comic. I don’t want to let them down.
Oh, knock it off and say Thank you. We all love Puck, both the character and the comic. Keep the good work up and keep that red pen on hand for grading papers.
Freckles and chutzpah are important. Sadly I only have the freckles.
Chutzpah is a state of mind. It can be manufactured.
Thanks for all that time of solid entertainment!
You, sir, are very welcome.
Puck yeah!!! I try to vote for it every day!:)
You are the real deal. And I shan’t forget it.
I’ve loved every year of this series and pray for another 25 years.
I thank you for your devotion.
Sears-Roebuck died, but Simpsons-Sears-Zellers still have 30 stores in Canada…
I refuse to believe it. It’s like Bigfoot. I need to see it in the wild.