Webcomic Finales

Webcomics have a very special and consistent place in my life. Even since before dinosaurs roamed the Earth Google Reader, I’ve paid attention to webcomics. There have been the classics (XKCD, SMBC, OOTS) and many new additions (Kill 6 Billion Demons (Slightly NSFW), Swords, many more). Of all of them, only a few have ended. Some stopped, for whatever reason, but what I’m talking about are the comics which have finished, as in had a story and concluded it.

The motivation for this post is the finale of Darths & Droids, which just finished their massive endeavor. The gist is they take each scene from the Star Wars films, and then set their own story to it. This took the form of a tabletop campaign (actually, a few of them, and a few spin-offs), with the Star Wars characters being the in-game characters of various out-of-game players. Often, there’d be a few in-game characters per out-of-game player, and so jumping in to the middle is likely very confusing. Also, a lot has happened over the 19 year run!

The first comic I can think of that finished while I was reading it is 8-Bit Theater. I remember an odd feeling of sorrow, like a good friend was moving away. I knew they weren’t gone, just that our time together was likely at an end. That was a comic I think a few IRL friends actually also read, and so we would sometimes chat about it, and that gave it more impact. That was in 2010 (Aside: holy shit that was 2010?!).

The end of Darths & Droids feels a bit similar. Like the ending of a good book, it’s sad that it’s over, but also it was a great experience, and an ending was inevitable! That’s how everything goes! It made me ponder what other webcomics have finished that I used to read. These are the ones I can remember:

• The Adventures of Dr. McNinja might be the second oldest I can remember. Another webcomic my IRL friends and I would talk about. The original site is offline, but the Library of Congress, Internet Archive, and a fan site have the archives. Dr. McNinja taught me that ninjas can never catch me if I am on fire.

• The Adventures of God is the (second) most recent example I have. It’s a fun little romp.

• Zen Pencils doesn’t quite fit the criteria of having a “finale”, but I do remember it ending, and feeling that same feeling.

And actually, that’s all I can think of right now. There are definitely a few others that haven’t updated in a while. Or, at least not that I’m aware of. Axe Cop and Bearmageddon come to mind. And I’m certain I’m forgetting a few.

In any case, a congratulations to Darths & Droids for making it to the end of their campaign. I think a re-read may be in order!