Commentary from March 15, 2017
This was the last strip of 2016. Given the global mood it didn’t really warrant one of those positive feel happy strips but more of a grumble. Not every year can be a good year, and sometimes we have to slog it out through the miserable ones. But the good news is we did make it another year, and I’m glad to be doing these comics, and I’m especially glad that people are still reading them.
This one was a tricky one to do because I didn’t want to be particularly hopeful with this one. Usually with these kinds of comics it’s appropriate to show some kind of optimism for the new year but I couldn’t do it. Instead, I chose a guarded optimism, a “well, at least we made it” message 2rather than “maybe next year will be better.” Because I’m, writing this in March, it’s easy to look back and see, yeah, any optimism would have been unfounded and naive.
I had to go back to #270 and make sure that they are wearing the same thing in the drawing at the bottom, including the Gryffindor scarf (although they aren’t sharing it this time). Sometimes I forget about continuity and I drew Robin wearing a different scarf by mistake.
This one was a tricky one to do because I didn’t want to be particularly hopeful with this one. Usually with these kinds of comics it’s appropriate to show some kind of optimism for the new year but I couldn’t do it. Instead, I chose a guarded optimism, a “well, at least we made it” message 2rather than “maybe next year will be better.” Because I’m, writing this in March, it’s easy to look back and see, yeah, any optimism would have been unfounded and naive.
I had to go back to #270 and make sure that they are wearing the same thing in the drawing at the bottom, including the Gryffindor scarf (although they aren’t sharing it this time). Sometimes I forget about continuity and I drew Robin wearing a different scarf by mistake.
*cheers* 😀
What a rare positive note to end the year.
Loving it. Keep it up.
When I think about one year giving way to the next, I find that the “next year” I really have in mind is whatever point in time that healing and a tangibly good life finally outpace the incessant damage being done by my mental illness.
Amen!
Yay Good Riddance 2016 and don’t come back again! Glad to see this comic is going strong. Love the characters and true-to-life stories. It gives me hope. Also, why I’m still on Facebook LOL.
Yay! Great panel to end the terrible 2016 with. This comix gives me hope. Thank you!
I will say one good thing about 2016, it is the year that I finally found an effective treatment. I actually enjoyed Christmas for the first time since I can remember and I am looking forward to continuing to improve throughout the new year.
I hope everyone else here can find the help they need and get some peace in this new year. Thank you, Clay for using your amazing talent and creativity to give us a voice and remind us that we are not alone.
I wish everyone here a truly happy new year. May 2017 be the start of a better life for all.
Why do people keep saying that a made up unit of time, like a year, was shit? 2016 is not an isolated thing. New Years does not bring any change that couldn’t have been made any other day of the year. Nothing can be wiped clean, it’s just another day.
A year is not a made up unit of time, but the time the Earth takes to make a complete revolution around the sun. While one can argue that choosing the day to begin is arbitrary, it has been chosen, and a lot of things are now dependent on that day, and is now a part of tradition as well as other things like budgets. If people want to believe 2017 will change things, I say why not, we can always use a little optimism regardless of how arbitrary it seems to others.
depression comix thanks for talking the time to reply. Disagree on a few things, but yes, a little optimism is necessary lately.
I see exactly what you mean. This whole “New Years Day” thing is a total social construct. This isn’t a criticism of the comic strip, I just think it was a good observation. 🙂
Whitney Fitzgerald
So many people have had a bad 2016. 🙁 We lost a lot of famous people, especially eg singers. And a lot of people are upset by Brexit and Trump. And Isis and all that is horrible. But from dark earth green roots shall grow.
I LOVE THIS COUPLE!!!!!!!! I JUST LOVE THEM BOTH!!!!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
yeah i know we started another year in hell but still this webcomic is always great
I think I’ve stopped reading the blog around here. I had to distance myself a little… Difficult years, then great, amazing years. Just so quarantine would take me back a few steps. It feels nice to stil have this place to be, when I just feel pathetic for feeling sad again.
You aren’t pathetic and it’s okay to feel sad in times like these.