Epilogue
Shaenon: And that’s the end. Thank you so much to everyone who’s followed us through this comic. And if you’re here for the first time, go ahead and read it, and thank you in advance.
Channing: Thank you, all of you, for everything. For all the song parodies, the terrible puns, the analysis, for just being out there and reading and engaging at whatever level you felt like engaging. You meant the world to us over these many years.
And thank you, Pancha and Shaenon, for letting this fan live the dream.
“In case I don’t see you again, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!”
All my love to all three of you. 14 and a half years is one hell of a run.
Thank you too! I’m gonna miss this comic!
My thanks for everything.
May you all have fair winds and following seas, as you journey onwards
Thank all three of you, Shanon, Pancha, and of course Mr. Channing, for this masterwork.
I met a lot of good friends through this webcomic. I learned a lot about storytelling through it. You have touched my life in wonderful ways, and I just wanted to let you know how grateful I am. As someone who has been a constant supporter of your work….
Thank you.
Excellent comic, it’ll be missed! Open roads and kind fires!
Thanks for making the comic, and best of luck to all of you in the future!
Good things become a part of you.
And color everything you do.
Just wanted to thank you for the years of edutainment and personal growth you’ve given to all of us. I was going to try to write a good filk, but I’m not a genius like SOME people, so all I could think of was:
We’ll eat again,
Don’t know who, don’t know when,
But I know we’ll meat again some sunny day.
Keep shambling through,
Just like you, always do.
And the Skin Horse drives the dark clouds far away.
To the tune of “We’ll Meet Again” as sung by Vera Lynn
Thank you so much Shaenon and Jeffrey for everything. <3
Have a nice break! We’ll miss you! And if you do another comic someday we’ll read that too.
Hugs!
Man, now what? Between Narbonic, the Narbonic rerun with commentary, and Skin Horse I’ve been reading Shaenon’s work every day for 22 years. Gonna be weird not doing it Monday.
Yes, that’s more or less how I feel now. Not mourning yet 😀
I might go and read Narbonic *again*.
Or probably reread Skin Horse. I must admit, most of the story went over my head. Maybe Narbonic was, uhm, simpler to understand?
Anyway: thanks to Shaenon and band, and thanks to everyone on the comment section. It’s been two hells of a ride.
That’s how I feel as well. Her comics literally got me through high school, college, and multiple deployments. Has literally been a daily staple for a over a third of my life.
[TUNE: “American Pie”, Don McLean]
A few short years ago,
We found out about a branch of government …
The Skin Horse Project was their name,
And it’s their mission, so they claim,
To help non-humans who are sapient …
A swarm of bees who stays in charge,
A shrink in drag whose gun is large,
A talking dog named Sweetheart,
A zombie made of meat parts,
Receptionist who’s made of steel …
They may seem odd, but here’s the deal:
When someone’s love you truly feel,
That’s when … you know … you’re real.
[REFRAIN]
Hey, hon, Project Skin Horse is done,
Old Narbonic was iconic, it was second to none!
Our Jeff and Shaenon gave us all sorts of fun,
Well, I’d say they had a pretty good run …
Hey, they had a pretty good run …
They met an artistic lion
And the Jersey killbots, who are tryin’
To serve and not DESTROY!
And a bunch of basement dwellers, these
Are ruled by crystal entities
Who warned us that loud noises will annoy!
Let’s read a goblin romance page
And then go on a weak rampage,
And next, we’ll have some fun
Out in Area 51!
Where a lady doctor schlorped a brain
And put it in an ae-ro-plane!
But that young guy did not complain
Because … it felt … so real!
He was saying [REFRAIN]
Then to Alaska they would go
Where, way up in the ice and snow
A bunch of werewolves ran amuck!
And Sweetheart met her former pack
Who said they would not take her back,
But helped her stop the werewolves, oh what luck!
Tip over-wound Moustachio;
The fusion pie he tried to blow!
The Union of Machines
Said, “Don’t you treat us mean!”
Then Tigerlily joined the fray,
And poor old Tip was blown away!
He found, to his surprise that day,
That what … he felt … was real!
He was saying [REFRAIN]
A wrestling match in mud was seen,
Then they went down to New Orleans
And met a swamp who was polite …
The tiger named H.T. then said
“Those nasty humans want us dead,
And all non-humans must prepare to fight!”
In Idaho, our Unity
Became a Public Notary …
And a kid named Jonah then
Had to die a time or ten!
Then to St. Charlie they did go
And met the A.I. named GODOT
Who told them “What you think you know
Is not … completely … real!”
And was saying [REFRAIN]
The Little House in Illinois
The Whimsy Corp tried to destroy,
But Princess Nick then saved the day!
And Doc Collodi simply said,
“Do not trust Skin Horse!” (Now he’s dead.)
And then we saw things in a whole new way!
Then files were lost, and tasks undone,
The team kicked out of Annex One!
Jonah and Nera too
Got a cryptid interview!
So Tigerlily’s breaking out
And Imogene is flaking out,
And Sweetheart at her desk did shout
“I’m back … in charge … for real!”
She was saying [REFRAIN]
Chris won a big irradiator,
And Ira, turns out, was a traitor
(As we would later find …)
And Nick was beta-testing Whimsy
And helped the girly part of him see
That she was a purely A.I. mind!
Then normal humans, suddenly,
Were blinded to reality!
Non-humans had no rights,
So they started several fights!
The swarm, Pavane, was heard to shout,
“Let’s go Lovetron! Let’s bug out!”
But Tigerlily’s funk came out
And that’s … when s**t … got real!
She was saying [REFRAIN]
[slow tempo]
Five years have gone, the world has turned,
And Annex One has now returned!
They’re streaming live, so all is seen …
And Chopper Nick and Ginny Lee,
They had a kid, or two, or three,
And lurking in the dark is Mister Green …
Gavotte does not condemn Pavane,
But hopes that they’ll rejoin again.
A dog and her undead thing
Appear to have some offspring!
And Tip and Dr. Jones unite;
Their child is funky, cute, and bright!
Konstantin sees this crazy sight …
“I missed … a lot … for real!”
And we’re all saying,
Hey, hon, Project Skin Horse is done,
Old Narbonic was iconic, it was second to none!
Our Jeff and Shaenon gave us all sorts of fun,
Wells and Garrity, you’re still number one!
**waves lighter over head**
Seriously, this needs to be recorded.
Seconded!
Excellent. I tried to do something similar to “We Didn’t Start the Fire” but my brain broke around “My House is Me”, so I appreciate how much work goes into this stuff.
I very much understand you – I’ve been trying all week to write a ‘Skin Horse Rhapsody’, but just can’t find anything to use for the ‘ Let me/him go (Bismillah, No)’-part
“Bishonen, yes!
We let you wear a dress …”
NICE. I took a stab at that, but couldn’t get it to gel. Good job.
Truly amazing!
Well done!
A truly impressive finale, eddurd. That was beautiful.
This is great! You must have been working on this for a while.
Of course, it’s brilliant, it’s Ed. Thank you for the many years of wonderful filks, and for just being a good guy.
Eddurd, you’ve raised the bar AGAIN! 😉
Thank you for sharing your talents as well all these years. I was always glad to see your posts!
Brilliant! Thank you, Eddurd, for this final Skin Horse filk!
Thanks to you both for such a wonderful comic! I’ve rarely commented, but have consistently enjoyed it for more years than I care to count. Good luck with whatever you choose to do next!
Thanks, you two.
Ahhh… “Amy’s Eyes”. I remember that book! And I will always remember “Skin Horse”.
I haven’t commented much, but I’ve been following y’all for years. Thank you so much for building this amazing story, and I can’t wait to see what you come up with next.
But first, have a vacation and a few dozen naps.
Same here. (*snif*) 22 years, wow.
Thanks for everything, it’s been a great ride. I await volumes 11 and 12 to complete my collection and I look forward to (yet another) re-read when that happens.
Thank you so much! I have been looking forward to your updates for over ten years now and I will sorely miss the joy of loading up the site and seeing there is a new page! I wish you guys the best in your future endeavors, and if you start a new webcomic be sure to let us know and we will be there in a heartbeat!
It’s been a delightful, silly, and heartfelt journey there and back again! Thanks for your world of stories.
Thank you so much for the comic. Every morning for 14.5 years. It’s the end of an era.
(I think the last time I wrote a filk in the comments page was during Narbonic. Let’s remedy that, shall we?)
Thanks for the memory
Of rampages at night, all those Cypress fights,
How cool it was to see more hues
Than only black and white
How lovely it was!
Thanks for the memory
Of Walske throwing shade, at intellects too staid
And zombies having dinner, wishing they had marinade
How lovely it was!
We now bid adieu to Skin Horse
Which has at long last run its full course
We all move on now with no remorse
Hey, check out Tip’s final dress
It’s Ozma’s, yes?
Either way,
It’s pretty
Thanks for the memory
Of creatures quite bizarre, bees from a distant star
And an aircraft piloted by a brain inside a jar
Thank you, so much!
Thanks for the memory
Of my first cameo, the lengths to which you’d go
To kill me in a way that I enjoyed more than you could know
Oh, how lovely it was!
Thanks for the memory
Of all we got to see
That filled us with glee
Like that ferret you named Nigel, with his antigravity
Say, by the way
Whatever became of Nigel?
You’re saying goodbye on a high note
A right proper ending goodbye note
Adieu
And those of us who read what you wrote
Will hold it dear, your work right here
But that’s enough to-do
And I can’t wait to view
All of your projects still ahead
Which we can look forward to
And as the curtain closes
Our best to you, and you, and you
Thank you!
Thank you so very much!
And in case it needs to be said, that was to the tune of Thanks For the Memory, as sung by Bob Hope.
This one, too. Anyone know a good band?
This was totally worth waiting for. Huzzah!
Thank you so much! And I just read your filk of Happiness, and it was lovely!
Truly “Prodigal”! 😉
This is what I wanted to write, but lacked the talent.
“We thank you, so much.”
Thank you!
Thank you, just thank you so very much.
That goes to the creators in particular, but also to all of the regular posters in the comments section who have added to my enjoyment of Skin Horse over the years.
Thank you! I’ll be missing this litte story in my daily routine. All the best to you!
Well, I enjoyed that. Thanks, Shaenon, Jeff and Pancha for these five thousand and some strips.
Also, thanks to John Campbell and others for compiling the filename story. (I hope we’ll see that illustrated at some point?)
You’re welcome! I was out of town all weekend, so I only just got the last bit added.
I started compiling the filename stories way back in Narbonic, just because I wanted to read them myself, and shared them on my web server to save other people the work.
My thanks also to John for his work. I only began compiling my own copy because John’s copy had stopped getting updated several years ago, and I wanted to keep it going. Then he got caught up, and I just couldn’t stop myself.
i’ve been a diligent reader every day for many years, though i rarely comment. Thank you for making this story.
Thank you for this comic, it’s been absolutely amazing from start to finish.
Thank you,
For everything!
What a long strange trip it’s been. I’m glad I was here for it.
So long, and thanks for all the laughs.
Thanks for the wonderful comic and I’ll be looking forward to whatever comes next.
And thank you for the strip.
Thank you all! It’s been a wild ride.
Good luck in all your future endeavours.
Thank you so much for Skin Horse. Thank you for being the first webcomic I read every day ever since the Narbonic Director’s Commentary finished, and retired from that slot. Thank you for inspiring me to try my hand at webcomicing (even though I couldn’t stick it out, I am glad I tried). Thank you for recalibrating my weirdness meter. Just… thank you.
Congratulations and thank you for a job well done!!
Thank you! I’ve been a huge fan of the Narbonicverse for many years.
Words can never say enough, but thank you for sharing your vision with us, no matter how twisted it – and we – may have been.
Amazing. Thankyou so much, and I really hope you do something more together and we get to see it.
See you, space cowboys~
Thank you for a long and entertaining comic, and for surprising me by having one of my favourite characters be a… water cooler?
Service. Joy!
Awesome. Thanks so much!
Thank you for this wonderful rollercoaster.
“Good night, good night until we meet again
Adios, au revoir, auf wiedersehen ’til then
And though it’s always sweet sorrow to part
You know you’ll always remain in my heart
Good night, sleep tight and pleasant dreams to you
Here’s a wish and a prayer that every dream comes true
And now ’til we meet again
Adios, au revoir, auf wiedersehen
Good Night!”
—written by George Cates, performed by Sasquatch Jefferson and His Band of Renown, from “Live at the Aragon.”
As this played in my head, I couldn’t help choking up a little. It’s so appropriate!
I’m just reading through the comments sequentially and keep tearing up…
Thank you again! And enjoy your well-earned vacation!
Sobbing to see this go, but only because I’m going to miss it. As a reader, I love beautifully crafted stories, and one of the requirements of a truly fine story is that it must end (something too many storytellers don’t accept).
THANK YOU for the amazing story. Enjoy your vacation! And whatever you do next, LET US ALL KNOW so we can join the ride!
What Beth said!
A sunset for us but a sunrise for you both. Enjoy your future.
I used to write haikus for Stand Still Stay Silent. I see I seem to have written one subconsciously for Skin Horse. Serendipity!
It’s been a fun ride, but I hope you start another comic!! I
Maybe make an email list or something if you do? Either way, thank you for the ride!! It’s been WONDERFUL.
And of course there’s a typo on the final page. Thanks fat fingers :/ thanks again for this!!
Might as well go out with a bang!
LOL!
Thank you. It’s been wonderful.
So long, and thanks for all the silverfish.
Nice!
Very nice, indeed!
Thirded!
Fourthed!
I’ll take the fifth!
Don’t comment much, but I’ve been reading since the beginning and loving it- thanks so much for sticking it out to the end; it was really worth it. And congratulations!
Does anyone have a link to the file name story? I have a need.
Narbonic lead to me finding good good friends. One year my kiddo got me a collection for mother’s day. (and made a drawing of me as a mad scientist which promptly went on the fridge). Skin Horse has been a wild, rollicking ride. Amazing art and storytelling, and the comments full of filks and puns! I don’t have enough shiny words for how great it was. I will miss you all. Thank you!
There are links in yesterday’s comments. Commenters Danny in Canada and Owlmirror left links to a couple of versions. 🙂
Thanks!
Thank y’all for a wonderful time! I’ll miss reading it day by day, but I’ll treasure this comic always! Thank you!
Thanks you for the wonderful experience, I’m looking forward to whatever you both do next. After a long, deserved break.
Thank you!
I did not participate in the comments before but I’ve read this story through two or three times (all the way through this week in fact to enjoy seeing the end more). I’m sorry it is over. You guys are great. I have enjoyed your other projects but this was a favorite. Thank you so much for all you have done. I love this particular universe and the characters (and the Narbonic characters) and will miss them.
I’m going to miss reading this every day! Thanks for all of your work and dedication!
Skin Horse was such a rare and wonderful happening.
You all should be very proud of yourselves.
Thank you Eddurd and Prodigal for your parting songs.
Here’s one more, courtesy of Queen Liliuokalani:
Aloha ʻoe, aloha ʻoe
E ke onaona noho i ka lipo
One fond embrace,
A hoʻi aʻe au
Until we meet again
Thank you so very much for sharing this part of yourselves with us; we’re better for it.
Thank you so much! I love Skin Horse so much. I’ve so enjoyed reading it, and seeing the world and the characters deepen, and everyone’s art develop! It’s really meant a lot to me over it’s run, and I’m so glad it came to a beautiful close!
Thank you! Now to get my last two books so I can reread all of them to my heart’s content.
I sure wish I could think of something clever and inventive to say. I got into it a little late, I was a Narbonic lover but just didn’t get “hooked” by the first story. But my older brother Steve loved it and dragged me back in.
Steve couldn’t stick around until the end, unfortunately, but he often left his comments and observations. I like to think he’d have loved this ending…I know I did.
Thank you for giving him a smile when he had precious little to smile about.
Very best of luck on your next endeavors. With two such remarkably talented folks, whatever you take on will be fabulous!
But no pressure.
Sam (and in spirit, Steve) Wallis
Much love to you, and to his memory.
As the Cobras have been so fond of saying, “Hugs!”
We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when
Yes, we’ll meet again, some sunny day.
Everlasting thanks for bringing us these characters and adventures for such a long time! I think I might go back a reread it all.
Thank you both so much for this comic. It always cheered me up even on down days. I look forward to your next work. (After a suitable vacation.)
Thank you for this webcomic, and whatever comes next, we will be there for it
Thanks for the years of thought provoking entertainment. I;m very much looking forward to whatever you do next, even if that’s rest and recuperation below the horizon.
I could easily see the second panel as a Wimmelbilder.
Wait, what second panel?
My comment should have been posted on the previous day’s strip.
Excellent! I used to have this on an 8-track. I have no clear recollection why.
I stumbled across the movie “The Harmonists,” seeing a scene with the group in front of a big Natzi flag, and thinking, “I’m not going to like this.” Then they cut loose with what was the most moving version of “Auf Wedersehen” I had ever heard—this version. I promptly ordered half a dozen CDs of their music.
“German: It Can Be Used For Good.”
I can’t filk; I can only
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsM_VmN6ytk
Keep smiling through!
Aaaaaaa congratulations! I’ll be sad to see it go but I’m also very excited to sit down and read the whole thing start to finish.
Thanks, it’ been wonderful.
Two of my favourite comics are by Shaenon. (Jeff can only claim one…) Can’t wait to get the last couple of books so I can re-read it all in print. Thanks for Skin Horse. Good luck on whatever comes next.
Wow! Over fourteen years of top quality art, writing, and colour! Of course I need to order the complete set as physical copies now. Perhaps a bit of a retrospective is in the cards?
How to sum it up? The writing is endlessly clever; there are plenty of quotable lines. “People keep moving my silliness benchmark” comes to mind, and pretty nicely sums up what made the comic so much fun. I think there are some Discworld-like notes in the way that colourful and vividly imagined characters drive a lot of the comedy (now this sounds like a fancy wine review…). The art style plays a major role in bringing the world to life. I think I mentioned before that I’m always amazed by what Shaenon can do to create distinctive, expressive characters with only a few lines–and add another layer of visual humour to the strip. The use of colour, too, makes the world of the strip that much more vivid. Besides that, Skin Horse is a heartwarming picture of very odd people building a better world together, and as a very odd person myself…
I’m not an expert on comic strips by any means, but from my totally subjective point of view? Nothing better running today.
Oops, I meant to start a new comment thread. Oh well, I concur with Graham’s assessment.
Thanks. I’ve enjoyed the story.
So long and thanks for all the fish. Best of luck wherever you go from here.
Skin Horse will always have a place in my heart.
There once was a comic named “Skin-Horse.” It was loaded with humor and discourse. The champs, undisputed, but now it’s concluded How will we survive without this source?
Thank you Shaenon & Jeff, and thank you so much to this community. I’ve been following since Narbonic, and it’s been wonderful.
I’ve been reading this for a good long while, after devouring Narbonic (which I did again recently after buying the physical versions). Thank you all so much for this comic. It’s been great.
Wow. This has been an incredible ride. Thank you so much for all of the laughs, tears, and love this comic and it’s INCREDIBLE comments section has given me!
I guess it’s time to read it again from the top!
I can’t help but wonder though, what are your plans going forward? Will there be a new comic or is this the last we’ll hear from you?
Of course, one great mystery does remain.
What does the “K” in “Shaenon K. Garrity” stand for?
My first guess is “Kelly” – hence Mell’s last name. Sure, I could be wrong, but I like the way it sounds anyway.
My second guess would be “Kay”.
And my third guess would be that it doesn’t stand for anything – she has only a middle initial.
I believe it is Kathryn, after her mother, but I’m not sure.
Sorry, I meant Kathleen.
I’ve been following the comic since very near the beginning (around Nick’s introduction, I think) and Read Narbonic before that. I’m sad to see it end, but I hope there’ll be something else from either of you in the future.
Gosh, here it is. I don’t what to say… I guess because I already said everything I was feeling last Sunday.
So long, and thanks for all the fish!
Well, it’s been a heck of ride!
Thanks for having us along with you (^-^)
(the applause emoji of my ovation apparently don’t appear)
brava, bravo, brava !
<3
That's all I have to say.
And so we reach the end, for all things in time pass.
I don’t recall how long I’ve been reading this strip. Quite possibly from the very beginning, for I _know_ I was reading Narbonic before it, I think while that was still in progress. I started this one early on, though, pretty much certainly — it’s been long enough that the details have quite faded.
And then, even if, most of the time, it was only a few minutes at most a day I spent with this comic, that was pretty much _every_ day, for those many years.
It’s been a long trip — but it’s been a good one. Thank you so much for the good work you do and have done, and congratulations indeed for getting to this point. 🙂
(Seriously, anyone who looks down on comics as an art form? This is far from the only strip proving them wrong, as I’m sure you know, but: Good art, almost every day, for years. A story, continuous _through_ those years. Told with enough text to get it across, but not too much, in a delicate balance with the information communicated through the art. _And_, this isn’t a pure graphic novel sort of thing, with full page after full page focused just on telling the story and looking good doing it; in format it’s more a newspaper comic, with humor in pretty much every individual strip. Really, don’t just take that as the way things are, _think_ about it: to make this comic, all of the above — the art, the story and continuity, the balancing of text and imagery — had to be done, _and further balanced with the great majority of strips having their own punch lines_. And it was pulled off _consistently very well_, for _over a decade_. If I was wearing a hat, I’d take it off.)
“Let us not say ‘au revoir’, but instead ‘a bientôt’!”
Thank for the ride, guys! Huge hugs to all of the folks who made this possible, and to all of the people commenting.
Thanks. It’s been fun.
Hah, I wanted to say this the day of, but I lost track of time. I guess it’s not tomorrow until I go to bed.
I’ve been reading this comic for almost half my life- enough time to create and forget several different usernames. I still remember the first strip I saw- 1/26/2013, on the Gocomics mirror. It made me curious enough to keep reading, and I was hooked.
As much as the comic itself has impacted me- I agree with the sentiments many others have already expressed- it was also my key to a wider world. This strip was my introduction to plot-based webcomics and online-only comics. Webcomics have made me who I am today, whether by showing me new perspectives, or by connecting me to new friends.
Thank you.
Thanks so much for all the entertainment these past years!
I kinda can’t believe it’s over. I’ve been following this for years now and it kinda felt like it would always be there.
These characters have gone in directions I never would have expected but in ways that always made sense. (Mostly. Still not entirely sure on the bees)
Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you
I just wanted to say again how much I’ve enjoyed the past …. fourteen and a half years? Has it really been that long? Anyway, I came back to say it’s been great. And also because after fourteen and a half years, I check Skin Horse at around this time every day, and it’s going to be a while before I remember not to.
Thanks for everything.
Thank you for a wild ride the last 15 odd years since I found this comic. Thank you.
Came here today, wanting more, hoping against hope that there would be some. 🙁
Thank you for a wonderful story, both of you.
I’ll probably still come by every so often. Expect to hear from me (good things, I promise!)
Thanks so much for seeing it all through to the end. It’s been a blast, and I shall miss the daily new episodes so much.
thank you for making this comic which has followed me through half my life, ending on my birthday.
Any chance of a short story collection, like the Narbonic Reactorside Reader? I’d like to have them together in one place. Ideally, with a few words about when they happen in relation to the larger story.
This has been one of my favorite comics, it’s been a wild and amazing ride. Thank you for it.
Thanks for everything. Including taking a mental health break but not giving in to entitled jerks last year. That will remain the best part for me. *sniff*
Don’t you know I stay awake and
Leave the lights on
Hoping “Skin-Horse” would download
While I was waiting and awake.
Fourteen years flew by and still
The light’s on.
It’s a hard good-bye to say,
And this is all I’ll undertake.
It’s the last song I’ll make fun of for you.
It’s the last time I can show you
Just how much I’ve come to care.
This is the last song I’ll ever goof for you.
I’ll be turning out the light
And then I’ll turn in there.
But I love you,
Oh, yes, I do,
Believe I do.
All the times I spent wond’rin’
Thinking what you’d do.
Deep down I knew this time would come,
When I’d start to worry why.
Not that time has come,
I won’t know what you’ll do.
So I’ll parody this song,
But it’s the last one that I will try.
It’s the last song I’ll make fun of for you.
It’s the last time I can show you
Just how much I’ve come to care.
This is the last song I’ll ever goof for you.
I’ll be turning out the light
And then I’ll turn in there.
But I love you,
Oh, yes, I do,
Believe I do.
It’s the last song I’ll make fun of for you.
It’s the last song I’ll make fun of for you…
—from “Last Song,” written by Lary Evoy, sung by Edward Bear.
I have very rarely commented, but have read everyday, thank you. I’m now off to start again with the beginning of Narbonics,
I have no words of wisdom to share, but will only say thank you. <3
I don’t reply or comment very often but I want to say Thank You for creating this strip, and keeping it up even when you didn’t feel like it, and for the entertainment and feelings through the years.
This has been a ride, and I am so happy I was along for it!
Parting is such sweet sorrow. Thank you
I’ll miss you all.
Sad to see you go; thanks for all the joy!
Thank you for all these years.
Thank you for this incredible ride we’ve all been allowed to follow you on. Thank you for all the stories and laughs and groans and smirks. It’s been a privilege. I’ve loved every minute of it.
Well, poop. In the best possible sense. ^_^
It’s been an amazing, truly wondrous ride. Thank you to everyone who’s made Skin Horse a reality, even if not our own.
Time, I fancy, for a re-read.. I’m not even quite certain when I joined the story, so, why not the very beginning this time around?
Thanks for fourteen plus years of great fun. Gonna miss this one.
Thank you so much for many, many years of enjoyment! you both are amazing!
Thank you so much for all these years of such an excellent comic. So very original, so dam funny!
It’s very heartwarming to see many, many notes of thanks from people who may in fact be commenting for their first time.
Maybe they were just shy. Maybe they didn’t feel they were crazy enough to fit in with the rest of us regular commentators. Who knows. Who cares. They’re all part of our crazy family all the same!
Thanks for such a fantastic comic! Glad I got to enjoy it.
Thankyou, thankyou for the madness.
Thank you, all three of you, so much. 🙂
This has been great and I’m glad you get a rest.
It’s been wonderful. I’ve been reading since Narbonic. I hope there’s some way I can get notified when/if another project starts so I can read that from day one. I hope everything goes well for you until we meet again!
Thank you Shaenon, I’ve been reading since I asked you what you were working on after Narbonic at the Portland ComicCon in like 2010; since then I met my partner, got married, had a kid, moved to a different city. I haven’t been reading new webcomics recently (I find them hard to keep up with or follow since my reading time is sporadic) and the only other one I’ve been reading (Vattu by Evan Dahm) is also nearing its end. Do you have a newsletter to subscribe to for when you have a new project going? It’ll probably be a while before I make it to a comic con again.
Someone asked about that a few days ago. There’s a link to shaenon-dot-com and their Patreon at the top of the page. If you become a Patron or follow her twitter, you’ll get updates as they happen. Sorry, I don’t know her twitter, because I don’t twit.
Y’know, I just got an e-mail from Zoop saying, among other things, that “Skin-Horse” Volumes Eleven and Twelve are “now available.” I think they jumped the gun a little…according to the link here, well, anybody interested, there’s still time to sign up for it.
Thank you all so, so much! I’ve been reading since almost the beginning and today’s Skin Horse has been part of my morning ritual for years now! What will we all do?
I can’t believe it’s over. This is one of my favorite webcomics, ever. I can’t wait to see what all of the creators do next- after a well-deserved rest.
Thank you for all this. I read Narbonic years ago, and just checked in earlier this month and got caught up just in time. I hope you all get some rest, and hopefully it won’t be a decade or so before I remember to let you floor me. Congrats and thank you.
Thank you for the lovely comic! I’ll miss it enormously, the same way I missed Narbonic when it ended. You are both skilled and talented storytellers and I hope the rest time after this project is what need and want it to be! ❤️
Couple days late here, but as a daily, longtime reader just wanted to say thanks for the entertainment! Looking forward to seeing what you guys do next!
Someday I will probably stop checking this every night. But tonight is not that night.
Yep. Right there with ya.
It’s like going back and opening the refrigerator to see if something new has magically appeared inside… even though deep down, you know it hasn’t. I’m sure there’s a technical name for that behaviour, but I don’t know what it is.
If it works, it’s Manifestation. Achieved only by Adepts, Savants and a lucky few lacking that ingrained certainty it won’t. 😉
Seconded and thirded
Would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here……….for some strange reason, I feel I should
be riding up and down on a horse………but they’ll never take our Skinhorse!
…as you say.
(a reply to John Campbell)
Thanks for a fun and gripping comic, with lots of wonderful characters and concepts.
Congratulations!
Cannot believe it’s gone…thank y’all so much for all these stories, all these years! I’ve put in an order for the last two books; own the previous ten! Y’all have been a beacon of joy for the past while, as it’s gotten so dark.
It hasn’t sunk in yet. I keep checking the site on a daily basis! Thank you for making my life consistently better for so very long, and I look forward to whatever you might wish to share with the world next.
I feel very fortunate because I can start reading “Narbonic” now!
Not to mention the filename story – what a clever idea! Many thanks to those who put in the time and effort to compile it!
Make sure you turn off the director’s commentary and comments, as they are spoilerific. Narbonic has a few weird bits — I mean weird by the standards of the rest of it — but persist and they will become clear (well, clearer) on your second read-through.
Could you link to the filename story?
Danny in Canada provided this link yesterday. http://www.ci-n.com/~jcampbel/skinhorse.txt
I know I said it on the previous strip, but I just wanted to say it again: Thank you to Shaenon, Jeff, and Pancha for all of your hard work on this comic. I really enjoyed it and will miss the daily updates. Hope to see something from you all some time in the future!
What they all said. I’ve been reading Skin Horse every day since it started, I think, and I haven’t remembered not to visit it in the days since it ended yet. It was wonderful, and I wanted to say thank you for it. Cheers!
Yeah, haven’t had the heart to remove Skin Horse from the folder of webcomics I check daily yet myself, so I keep repeatedly pulling it up…
Thank you so much for this excellent comic. I’ve always looked forward to catching up with this one.
I think my favourite story was when UNITY went to Idaho to become a notary public. Dr. Lee’s attempts to force sanity on the ridiculousness around her just made everything even more ridiculous.
Thank you for an amazing comic!
Yay! Second stretch goal (a bonus story) reached on Zoop! With 3 days left!
Keep spreading the word
We’re funding today
You too can be a part of it
Skin Horse, Skin Horse!
Our sapiens blues
Were all swept away
An avalanche of comic bits!
Skin Horse, Skin Horse!
We woke up every morning
Looking up to Sweetheart
For organization at
The top of the chart!
We all learned so much
And went on a spree
Of Cosmognothic bliss
It worked for me!
If I can meet you there
We’ll find so much to share
It’s all for you
Skin Horse, Skin Horse!
– after “New York, New York” by John Kander and Fred Ebb
It’s been a long journey, and I’ve spent a week trying to figure out what to say now that it’s over, and all I can come up with is:
Thank you.
I look forward to whatever your next project is eagerly
Aw, nuts, it’s over. It was amazing!
I keep coming back here, clawing in futility at the screen.
You leave a large hole, you two.
“Clawing in futility at the screen.” – I want a T-shirt emblazoned with that!
Same. I’m hoping there’s a commentary track like Narbonic.
Hi there! We are slowly spooling through my analysis of the scripts and our production notes over on the Patreon blog. The blog is behind the $5 tier, but joining at that point will unlock the content of about six years of weekly posts all at once, and there’s no lingering commitment beyond that.
I’m one of your Patreon subscribers, but I didn’t know about your analyses until Shaenon mentioned it in the comments. I went to my Patreon account to try to access it, then I was sent over to a WordPress page that wants a password, but won’t take my WordPress password. Any idea what I’m doing wrong?
Hi, Manifesta. The way the structure works is:
Every week, Patreon subscribers at the $5 level and up see an unlocked post on the Patreon showing the URL for that week’s entry along with the password for that specific post. You’ll need the password shown in the Patreon weekly post, not your own WordPress password. Hopefully I’ve understood the problem correctly and this makes sense!
It is totally logical to keep checking back here, at least once a week, for a while. Why?
1) Many of Shaenon’s friends and fans are fellow artists
2) Those artists at some point have made or will make fan art of Skin Horse
3) Those artists will share that art with Shaenon
4) Shaenon will feel compelled to post that fan art somewhere
5) The most likely place to post the fan art will be here.
See? Cold, clear, compelling logic.
Or, like me, embracing the insanity is reason enough 😉
I realized that I gave my word of thanks over at UComics but not here. Thank you for Such a wonderful ride. I started with Skin Horse and was immediately enchanted with all the Oz references (Even today, I sometimes call Unity “Scraps”). After that, I found Narbonic. Now I own them all in print form and await the day I can get volumes 11 and 12 in book form.
Skin Horse is one of two offbeat comics that sucked me in and would not let me go even when I didn’t quite understand what was going on all the time. (The other was “Scary Go Round” which morphed into “Bad Machinery” and has also ended). My wife does not understand any of it, but I think Skin Horse is beautiful in every way.
I do hope, one day after you’ve had time to rest and refresh, we’ll be able to enjoy a new adventure of the same madness and joy.
cdward: if it’s any help, Scary Go Round and Bad Machinery were followed by Steeple in 2020, and that collection of stories is still ongoing.
Link to the first page: https://steeple.church/comic/2020-02-17/
So long, and thanks for all the… BrAiNs!! .. in glass jars.
Just… thank you. For everything. For all of this. For all the things.
Don’t know where else to say this.
C.E.R.N. is going full power on the 5th.
Chevron 5 is locked.
Unless a bird drops another bagel into it… 😉
SIGH! You WILL be missed!!!
First Narbonic and Skin Horse…. the passage of time is relentless… Thanks for the good times.
I just now finished a month of binge-reading the entirety of Skin Horse.
Forgive my language, but holy [shins]! What a [porking] time I had! More fun than a barrel of monkey-shaped killbots riding trained attack bicycles with Emperor Norton!
I actually took my first ride on the ol’ Skin Horse over 14 years ago, reading daily for the first decade or so. But life got in the way, and this old dude fell off the Horse a few years back. [Shinola] happens, I guess..
Congratulations, Shaenon and Channing (and Pancha, too!), on a job well done! You [mongoose-finders] even had me tearing up at the end there.
Best of luck on your future endeavours, you [cheese-straightening tomato benders]!
Just finished rereading the story, and man, I really really love your work. You did an absolutely amazing job building a really cool universe with great characters and an amazing concept.
My favorite character is definitely Nick, as he is the most grounded and practical character. Sweetheart is probably my least favorite as I never really got the impression that she made things better. She often didn’t make things worse, but never really better. Cutest character is the cobras.
Bubbles getting the drone was down right the best idea you had, as it came completely out of left field, made perfect sense, and resulted in so many great strips. Ira being Mr. Green was a close second though, because damn, that reveal. His flirting with Dr. Lee was just kinda pathetic though. Or at least, it got pathetic.
Again, you guys did a great job, I love the story, your style of art hits this perfect blend of lighthearted, but just serious enough to tackle serious stuff, and all told you guys are probably the best cartoonists on the web. I look forward to whatever you come up with next!
This comic has brought me great enjoyment over the years. Congratulations on completing such a monumental project, enjoy your rest, I look forward to your next projects, and here’s to many more re-reads!
“They turned out the lights, and shut the door, and that’s all there is. There isn’t any more.”
– Ludwig Bemelmen, the “Madeline” series