With apologies to William Shakespeare, but no particular regrets.
“If this ending has offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
We at least were gather’d here
As these visions did appear.
Tho’ this final, poignant scene
Pulls us waking from our dream
Gentles, do not reprehend:
Find your smile at journey’s end.
So if by sadness you are stuck
Consider now our honest luck:
Spent we this time in verse and song,
Surely we’ll return, ere long!
Else this verse a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
As Skin Horse comes to joyous ends.”
Hey Moe, I am running with your suggestion to write a story. At the moment it is progressing by fits and starts but I have laid out the main plot beats in point form, assembled the cast and developed some dialogue.
It has a title “Atocpan”. Nahuatl for fertile earth.
It is still a VERY thin story but it is bulking out slowly as I fill in the plot beats.
I am a bit worried that it is not interesting enough as it is not an action story but hopefully as each plot beat fills out it will generate more ideas, that has already happened a couple of times.
Short synopsis: It is about a murder investigation undertaken by a P.I. in Manhattan during January 1929.
It’s a LONG way from completion but thank you for the idea and the project.
Cool! As for action, conflict in general can work. So does that one guy’s rule of always having a mook burst through the door with a gun whenever er you’re stuck at a spot. I’ve used that myself .
The one which is running through my mind right now:
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
Parting truly is such sweet sorrow. Somewhere along the line, checking for the daily Skin-Horse just became a part of my life. It’s going to feel weird not doing that now. But I love the ending – the work goes on, as it must always goes on, because it doesn’t end.
Also, I loved being a dragon, and I’m so glad that I get to come to the party.
tune: “Happiness,” from You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Clark Gesner, 1967
Happiness is hanging with Skin Horse
With Gavotte, of course, Unity, too
Happiness is Sweetheart and Tip and
Moustachio with Hitty so true
Happiness is Ms Tigerlily
Bubbles and Artie, Marcie and Chris
Happiness is Jonah and Nera
Ginny and Nick enjoying a kiss
Happiness is greeting old friends after time has past
And happiness is coming home at last
Happiness is Shaenon and Jeffrey
Pancha and ev’ry strip
Yes, happiness is taking us into your magic world
We’ve loved the trip
Heh. I was in the decidedly unauthorized high school version of that play (they had to have many, many, MANY more characters: I was Woodstock). Coolness.
Notice the parallel — the last panel of the previous strip was “Ready to get to work?”; the last line of the filename story is “Time to get to work.”
Nice coordinating, Shaenon.
Also noticed:
Will you stay with us? And how hard will you hang on?”
Tip answered without hesitation: afterwards, for many years afterwards, he would wonder why. “As hard as I can,” he said.
“And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make.” Thanks Shaenon and Jeff for putting so much love into Skin Horse all these years! What a ride!
Stay tuned for “Life with Sergio”, a laugh a day romantic comedy about a transgenic gerbil man and his genius physicist partner. Join them as they navigate the ups and downs of domestic bliss in the Berkeley hills, with occaisional visits from their wacky neighbors Seth and Caliban.
Seriously though, I’m sad to see this go, thank you for the years of joy.
Thank you Shaenon and Jeff for the many years of daily fun and humor. I’ve been a daily reader since just a few weeks after Skin Horse started – took me a little bit after Narbonic ended to realize you had started a new one. A little melancholy to see this one end, too, but I look forward to seeing what you do next!
Oh, and I so rarely comment that I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned – I’ve always loved that you chose to license this comic as CC-BY-NC-SA. Our copyright system is incredibly broken right now, and as a proponent of open source free software, the public domain, and open licensing, it warms my heart to see someone contributing to that. So, again, thank you!
Could still happen. Trinity’s in the background of that middle panel, along with Ruby, Remy, and K.T., behind the Giant Enlightened Rat and in front of Sweetdaddy Jupiter Velvet (whom I’m especially tickled to see in that panel).
Good. I wasn’t sure that was the Giant Enlightened Rat, but I’m glad to know somebody else thinks so.
That leaves the two puppies as the only characters in the shot I don’t know. If they were with Sweetheart’s pack at some point, would’a thought they’d’a grown up by now.
This has been a great strip – thanks so much to Shaenon, Jeff, and Pancha! I realized recently that I’ve been reading Shaenon’s work for nearly 20 years, ever since the launch of serializer.net in the fall of 2002, where I read Trunktown (which eventually led me to L’il Mell, and then to Narbonic). Can’t wait to see what’s next.
I’ve been on this train for a long time, and it’s been one hell of a ride. Thank you so much for letting us join you on it. I can’t wait to see what you do next… after a much-deserved break, of course. 😉
I was gonna do it, but maybe someone else has the time to go and compile it. They’ve been hiding messages/stories in the URLs for several years now. And with how the comic is coming to the end, someone should go and compile all the words to reconstruct the stories and messages.
Best wishes to you Shaenon and Jeff in your future endeavors. I will miss these familiar faces and their stories. Skin Horse has been a whole new experience for me as a cameo character which I greatly enjoyed. Zombie Dan lives on in an undead sort of way. Will Jeff’s commentary review of the strip continue?
Last time I felt like this was at the end of Narbonic, If I’d known how good Skin Horse was going to be I might have been more cheerful. I’m hoping we have something new to look forward to.
We also all individually have a reread of the whole thing, including Narbonic, to look forward to! (Seriously, is anyone not planning to? Nobody can remember all the callbacks to things that appeared ten years ago unless they reread. Well, I can’t so it must be true of everyone.)
But that’s just an excuse really. I’m really going to reread it all because it is pure wonderful, a beam of light in a dark world.
Spirit guide, non-human pride,
Animatronics who chain-smoke?
Zombie notary, Shadow Rotary,
Succotash Neptune Polk?
Cray Computer, tranq-dart shooter,
Mud wrestling in the trees,
Do you remember these?
Angsty snakes, fierce cookie bakes,
Werewolf DNA?
Turtle voters, copter rotors,
Dragons Roger, Kay.
Fusion pie, homicidal AI,
And much bureaucratese.
Do you remember these?
Brain operating, problem dating,
Appliances on strike?
Canadian war dogs, scared of hop frogs,
Ranking on The Mike?
Spring-powered funk, rampaging drunk,
Ice ships that sail the seas,
Do you remember these?
Second Gate, Panoptica Kate,
The giggle-powered cats?
Las Vegas night, Doc Englebright,
And gentrifying rats?
Bad Island fails, and puffed-up tails,
Confining angry bees,
Do you remember these,
Of course you do,
Ah, do you, do you remember these?
—from “Do You Remember These?” written by Don Reid, Harold Reid, and Larry Lee, sung by the Statler Brothers.
Good one Robert!
Thank you for all of your creative contributions to this comments column.
Anyone who’s tried their hand at filking knows how hard it is to take an original (of which you seem to have an eclectic and esoteric collection) and smoothly set lyrics to it that reflect the current theme of the strip… and get them to rhyme goddammit!
Also want to shout out to Eddurd, one the the original Skinhorse filksters, whose filks were always full of fun! You both were an inspiration for me to occasionally try (and mostly fail) to come up with a passable filk song…. so it’s all your fault!
I want to shout out to Edduard, and Manifesta, and anybody else who’s contributed a song parody over the years. “If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” —Sir Isaac Newton.
Thenk you, Robert. And Manifesta too. Personal life has been fraught a bit as of late, but I still follow faithfully. Thanks Jeff and Shaenon for a wonderful trip!
I am so grateful for the community which has formed in this forum! I’ve “met” so many wonderful folks here over the years, all drawn to the light shining from The Authors world building. Thank you everyone for sharing your wit, wisdom and talent!
“Live long and prosper.” (especially fitting because Skin Horse is the very embodiment of the Vulcan philosophy of IDIC)
Thank you for taking this story to the end. I remember when you almost walked away from it. I will miss these characters and the joy they bring to me just by existing.
I look forward to whatever both of you create after your well deserved sabbaticals.
Oh my GODS I will miss this… Thank y’all for all of it, every single strip; I’ve read this from the very beginning, it’s been a constant for me when other so-called life events and people were not, and seeing it go will be hard. Thank you for werewolves and security guards, for fake boobage and alternate timelines, for new little arms and zombie gators… Thank you for sharing this portion of your lives and creativity with us, and best of luck to you in whatever you do next. **GIGANTO HUGS**
Thank you both for a wonderful ride, through a world and story of levels within levels. Clever and subtle are rare commodities these days, and you’ve given us a generous supply of both!
I’m sorry that the strip has ended, but glad that it ended so well. A friend hooked me on Narbonic and I followed that by reading this strip, which has been an enjoyable part of life for all these years. Sniffle…
It’s not just the strip itself, it’s the community of readers, who then go to such creative lengths to express themselves and their responses. That’s what really shows the kind of chosen family that surrounds Skin Horse.
The last regular strip has been posted. Konstantin was the last who riposted. For Skin-Horse lore scripture, one last group-hug picture, while most of the gang will get toasted.
Thank you to all yinz in the comments over the years, who’ve been (for the most part) kind and welcoming and creative people and who’ve made sure that the usual “Don’t read the comments!” rule of internet fora is the exact wrong rule to apply here.
But most of all, thank you to Shaenon and Jeff and Pancha for giving us such a marvellously-drawn, -written, and -colored strip, with a wonderful story and characters. (And thank you for humoring me enough to draw me with a chicken!) Like a lot of folks here, I’ll miss having a new Skin Horse strip as part of my day. Keep us in the loop about your next endeavors, hey?
Right on Andy!
After reading Shaenon and Jeff’s latest, part of my pleasure was to peruse the comments, which were with very rare exception civil, intelligent, fun, and, as you say, kind and welcoming. That ethos of inclusivity reflected the spirit of the comic itself and of it’s two creators.
Also, I take my hat off to the two of you, Shaenon and Jeff, for your fortitude and creative stamina in putting out this wonderful comic on a DAILY basis. Truly boggling!
Also…I’m glad it didn’t end the way I thought it might. I thought maybe something would happen to Jonah Yu, and he’d wind up back in the theater watching videos about shoe care. (I’m not giving that up, I’m just glad it didn’t happen here. Save it for his old age.)
Thank you, Shannon and Jeff! Life won’t be the same. Until I start reading it over again, right after Narbonic and L’il Mel. And now the fanfic begins……
Also also…if Dr. Lee went into labor right here, who in that crowd could help? I don’t think any of them are OB / GYNs. Maybe K. T. the pantologist and / or Remy the voodoo mortician, maybe they could help. Tip’s not an M. D., just a psychologist.
I don’t comment much, but I’ve been reading since Narbonic. Thanks for another fun and entertaining story. I wish you well in future projects, and I look forward to them. Now go take some time off for a bit, eh?
Thank you to Shaenon and to Jeff, thank you to all the songwriters, and thank you to all of you commentariat who made the Skin Horse comments such a joyful place to spend some time over the years.
Thanks for all the years of comics! Also, don’t forget to go to zoop for the last books (see link at top of page) – we’re around 3k away from a stretch goal with more prose stories!
Thanks again for all the years. This silly little comic has made me think about a lot of topics I don’t think I normally would have, like how to measure personhood and how to better understand and respect those who are different.
Old friends showed up at the last strip?
Is this the end of Skin-Horse?
Thank you!
With apologies to William Shakespeare, but no particular regrets.
“If this ending has offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
We at least were gather’d here
As these visions did appear.
Tho’ this final, poignant scene
Pulls us waking from our dream
Gentles, do not reprehend:
Find your smile at journey’s end.
So if by sadness you are stuck
Consider now our honest luck:
Spent we this time in verse and song,
Surely we’ll return, ere long!
Else this verse a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
As Skin Horse comes to joyous ends.”
Hey Moe, I am running with your suggestion to write a story. At the moment it is progressing by fits and starts but I have laid out the main plot beats in point form, assembled the cast and developed some dialogue.
It has a title “Atocpan”. Nahuatl for fertile earth.
It is still a VERY thin story but it is bulking out slowly as I fill in the plot beats.
I am a bit worried that it is not interesting enough as it is not an action story but hopefully as each plot beat fills out it will generate more ideas, that has already happened a couple of times.
Short synopsis: It is about a murder investigation undertaken by a P.I. in Manhattan during January 1929.
It’s a LONG way from completion but thank you for the idea and the project.
Cool! As for action, conflict in general can work. So does that one guy’s rule of always having a mook burst through the door with a gun whenever er you’re stuck at a spot. I’ve used that myself .
Have fun!
The one which is running through my mind right now:
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
I knew I wouldn’t be the only one refreshing at 12:01 AM…
Beautiful. Going to process some feels now.
The last regular strip… it’s a beautiful, if slightly melancholy moment.
Sarge and Jeff, thank you for this run!
There will be irregular strips?
Pleeeeease!
Well, I don’t know if there are any supplemental stories planned for Volumes Eleven and Twelve…
lmaoooooo
I feel ya, Konstantin.
This has been a wonderful comic! Thank you for making it all these years!
Beautiful ending! Thanks so much for the comic over the years!
Wait? Sweetheart had a kid?
…. and are the cobras all angsty 20 somethings now?
I’m sure Unity is also a parent of that puppy. Somehow.
Given that Unity is the stuff in the blood and not the body, there are lots of ways for her to be the other parent.
Yeah, Unity is more biotech than biology – which, in a world filled with mad scientists, means anything can happem
I see two puppies. Well, one and a half. The gray one is partially blocked by Nick and Gin’s oldest.
There also were other dogs…
I like to think that Petey and Petey’s friend are the puppies of Sweetheart and Unity.
Then I try not to think of how it happened.
clearly Unity built them out of spare dog parts.
Even Baron Mistycorn looks surprisingly gruntled. And puppies!
I have had a wonderful time. Thank you very much.
I’m not crying, you’re crying!
Parting truly is such sweet sorrow. Somewhere along the line, checking for the daily Skin-Horse just became a part of my life. It’s going to feel weird not doing that now. But I love the ending – the work goes on, as it must always goes on, because it doesn’t end.
I’m not crying! Your mom is crying!
Take a bow, y’all. This was perfect. Thank you for bringing us along for the ride.
A fitting finale, with warmth, affection and vibrant life!
We Really Love You, Skin Horse. One and all…
Thank you very much.
Happy endings all around! That’s a world I would want to live in, and I’m really glad I at least got to visit.
Heck of a nice ending, this.
Thank you for…this. All of this.
Lovely! Thank you.
Also, I loved being a dragon, and I’m so glad that I get to come to the party.
tune: “Happiness,” from You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Clark Gesner, 1967
Happiness is hanging with Skin Horse
With Gavotte, of course, Unity, too
Happiness is Sweetheart and Tip and
Moustachio with Hitty so true
Happiness is Ms Tigerlily
Bubbles and Artie, Marcie and Chris
Happiness is Jonah and Nera
Ginny and Nick enjoying a kiss
Happiness is greeting old friends after time has past
And happiness is coming home at last
Happiness is Shaenon and Jeffrey
Pancha and ev’ry strip
Yes, happiness is taking us into your magic world
We’ve loved the trip
Heh. I was in the decidedly unauthorized high school version of that play (they had to have many, many, MANY more characters: I was Woodstock). Coolness.
Okay, we need a big version of that middle panel…
Appropriately framed, and on at least one of our walls each. Maybe a stretch goal for the print edition?
Notice the parallel — the last panel of the previous strip was “Ready to get to work?”; the last line of the filename story is “Time to get to work.”
Nice coordinating, Shaenon.
Also noticed:
Heh.
Goddammit, I missed a chance to use “penultimate”.
She’s been known to work very hard on that sort of thing, so I’m sure she’ll be happy to know somebody noticed.
It was a little tricky to get the story to end at the same time as the strip.
“And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make.” Thanks Shaenon and Jeff for putting so much love into Skin Horse all these years! What a ride!
Now it’s time to say goodbye to aall our company
S-K-I-N-H-O-R-S-E
Time read from the start again!
Stay tuned for “Life with Sergio”, a laugh a day romantic comedy about a transgenic gerbil man and his genius physicist partner. Join them as they navigate the ups and downs of domestic bliss in the Berkeley hills, with occaisional visits from their wacky neighbors Seth and Caliban.
Seriously though, I’m sad to see this go, thank you for the years of joy.
“Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.” – Coretta Scott King.
A propos.
Wow. Damn.
I can’t believe I’ve been here all this time.
I can’t decide if it’s surprising or entirely expected that Tip is a baby magnet.
Just confirms my impression that all the children were girls.
Finally, someone to appreciate his therapy puppets…
<3 <3 <3
<3 <3 <3
<3 <3 <3
Ah I remember being there when Narbonic ended. And here we are now. Thanks Shaennon, and hope to keep hearing from you in the future.
Thanks for everything. I’ve been reading since day one and haven’t ever regretted it.
I’m sad to see it end, but glad we got to see it completed. And you can’t have one without the other.
Thankyou, Jeff and Shaenon, for inviting us along.
Thank you Shaenon and Jeff for the many years of daily fun and humor. I’ve been a daily reader since just a few weeks after Skin Horse started – took me a little bit after Narbonic ended to realize you had started a new one. A little melancholy to see this one end, too, but I look forward to seeing what you do next!
Oh, and I so rarely comment that I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned – I’ve always loved that you chose to license this comic as CC-BY-NC-SA. Our copyright system is incredibly broken right now, and as a proponent of open source free software, the public domain, and open licensing, it warms my heart to see someone contributing to that. So, again, thank you!
Such a fun ride, from beginning to end. Thank you for all your hard work.
Thanks, Shaenon and Jeff. I’ve loved every second.
Yes, but what about Unity’s promise to go-kart-race with her sister Trinity?
Could still happen. Trinity’s in the background of that middle panel, along with Ruby, Remy, and K.T., behind the Giant Enlightened Rat and in front of Sweetdaddy Jupiter Velvet (whom I’m especially tickled to see in that panel).
Good. I wasn’t sure that was the Giant Enlightened Rat, but I’m glad to know somebody else thinks so.
That leaves the two puppies as the only characters in the shot I don’t know. If they were with Sweetheart’s pack at some point, would’a thought they’d’a grown up by now.
Remember that song that ended the Carol Burnett show? Yeah, that…
Thank you Shaenon and Jeff.
As Shaenon tugs her ear.
What a long, strange trip it’s been…
Thank you both.
This has been a great strip – thanks so much to Shaenon, Jeff, and Pancha! I realized recently that I’ve been reading Shaenon’s work for nearly 20 years, ever since the launch of serializer.net in the fall of 2002, where I read Trunktown (which eventually led me to L’il Mell, and then to Narbonic). Can’t wait to see what’s next.
Also: is this the first time we’ve seen Konstantin in color?
First time in color, no, that’d be this strip: https://skin-horse.com/comic/the-same-thing/
But it is Konstantin’s first time in color where he’s not partially hidden behind a word balloon.
THANK YOU, Tawdry! Not even The Authors caught that! (see the Cast page)
I’ve been on this train for a long time, and it’s been one hell of a ride. Thank you so much for letting us join you on it. I can’t wait to see what you do next… after a much-deserved break, of course. 😉
Like Konstantin, I will miss a lot.
Thank you.
I was gonna do it, but maybe someone else has the time to go and compile it. They’ve been hiding messages/stories in the URLs for several years now. And with how the comic is coming to the end, someone should go and compile all the words to reconstruct the stories and messages.
http://www.ci-n.com/~jcampbel/skinhorse.txt has been updating for years.
[Great work, Shaenon and Jeffrey.]
In addition to the link Danny in Canada provided, there are two other collections of the filename story.
This is the best one, and is currently complete:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pMzpYzdJnsJsSzgAqSWjD1ATnLtHqFvsmjyoRo_YbIE/edit
Thank you~
I’m not sure I can post more than one link without going to moderation/spambucket, so I’m putting this in a separate comment:
This is the 3rd filename story collection, and as I type this, it is incomplete
https://www.dropbox.com/s/s9e62nuzq4gkooz/Skin%20Horse%20filename%20story.txt?dl=0
(the last line is “[2022-05-31]”, so I guess that’s when it was last updated.
Yes, the date at the end was the latest update. It was there as much for my own benefit (to know when I left off) as anyone else’s.
It is now complete as well. And as such, the date at the end is now gone.
Best wishes to you Shaenon and Jeff in your future endeavors. I will miss these familiar faces and their stories. Skin Horse has been a whole new experience for me as a cameo character which I greatly enjoyed. Zombie Dan lives on in an undead sort of way. Will Jeff’s commentary review of the strip continue?
Narbonic and Skin Horse got me through some really hard times. Thank you Shaenon, Jeff, and Pancha.
Reading Skin Horse has truly been a joy. Thank you for giving me something to look forward to each day
What a long, strange trip,
Thank you both.
Last time I felt like this was at the end of Narbonic, If I’d known how good Skin Horse was going to be I might have been more cheerful. I’m hoping we have something new to look forward to.
We also all individually have a reread of the whole thing, including Narbonic, to look forward to! (Seriously, is anyone not planning to? Nobody can remember all the callbacks to things that appeared ten years ago unless they reread. Well, I can’t so it must be true of everyone.)
But that’s just an excuse really. I’m really going to reread it all because it is pure wonderful, a beam of light in a dark world.
Only computers can exactly remember stuff that is ten years old, and they can’t (as yet) understand it!
Thank you! I loved them all, and all of it.
Thank you Shaenon and Jeff! I’ve read from the beginning and loved it all.
Shaennon and Jeff, I salute you. Your epic ode to madness and wonder shall not be forgotten.
Thank you both (and Pancha!) for a wonderful divertissement.
And thanks to all the commenters who pointed out things I missed, and explained things I didn’t get.
This.^
My heart overflows it JOY!
Thanks for sharing this story with us.
(Also I would love a poster of that centre panel)
Spirit guide, non-human pride,
Animatronics who chain-smoke?
Zombie notary, Shadow Rotary,
Succotash Neptune Polk?
Cray Computer, tranq-dart shooter,
Mud wrestling in the trees,
Do you remember these?
Angsty snakes, fierce cookie bakes,
Werewolf DNA?
Turtle voters, copter rotors,
Dragons Roger, Kay.
Fusion pie, homicidal AI,
And much bureaucratese.
Do you remember these?
Brain operating, problem dating,
Appliances on strike?
Canadian war dogs, scared of hop frogs,
Ranking on The Mike?
Spring-powered funk, rampaging drunk,
Ice ships that sail the seas,
Do you remember these?
Second Gate, Panoptica Kate,
The giggle-powered cats?
Las Vegas night, Doc Englebright,
And gentrifying rats?
Bad Island fails, and puffed-up tails,
Confining angry bees,
Do you remember these,
Of course you do,
Ah, do you, do you remember these?
—from “Do You Remember These?” written by Don Reid, Harold Reid, and Larry Lee, sung by the Statler Brothers.
Good one Robert!
Thank you for all of your creative contributions to this comments column.
Anyone who’s tried their hand at filking knows how hard it is to take an original (of which you seem to have an eclectic and esoteric collection) and smoothly set lyrics to it that reflect the current theme of the strip… and get them to rhyme goddammit!
Also want to shout out to Eddurd, one the the original Skinhorse filksters, whose filks were always full of fun! You both were an inspiration for me to occasionally try (and mostly fail) to come up with a passable filk song…. so it’s all your fault!
I want to shout out to Edduard, and Manifesta, and anybody else who’s contributed a song parody over the years. “If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” —Sir Isaac Newton.
You’ve brightened all our days. Thank you so much.
Thenk you, Robert. And Manifesta too. Personal life has been fraught a bit as of late, but I still follow faithfully. Thanks Jeff and Shaenon for a wonderful trip!
Well, I apologize for adding an “a” to your screen name.
I am so grateful for the community which has formed in this forum! I’ve “met” so many wonderful folks here over the years, all drawn to the light shining from The Authors world building. Thank you everyone for sharing your wit, wisdom and talent!
“Live long and prosper.” (especially fitting because Skin Horse is the very embodiment of the Vulcan philosophy of IDIC)
+1
Excellent work, as always.
Nice.
Thank you for taking this story to the end. I remember when you almost walked away from it. I will miss these characters and the joy they bring to me just by existing.
I look forward to whatever both of you create after your well deserved sabbaticals.
Oh yeah, my heart broke a little bit that day.
Thank you for all of the years of joy.
Oh my GODS I will miss this… Thank y’all for all of it, every single strip; I’ve read this from the very beginning, it’s been a constant for me when other so-called life events and people were not, and seeing it go will be hard. Thank you for werewolves and security guards, for fake boobage and alternate timelines, for new little arms and zombie gators… Thank you for sharing this portion of your lives and creativity with us, and best of luck to you in whatever you do next. **GIGANTO HUGS**
Thank you both for a wonderful ride, through a world and story of levels within levels. Clever and subtle are rare commodities these days, and you’ve given us a generous supply of both!
Narbonic – 1 kid
Skin Horse – So many kids.
Well, Skin Horse has more characters.
Is that Bubbles in the blue dress?
That looks like her to me, standing in front of Tigerlily (who has on a slightly darker blue outfit).
I can’t believe we reached the end. Thanks for all of it!
Thank you so much for a great ride.
I’m sorry that the strip has ended, but glad that it ended so well. A friend hooked me on Narbonic and I followed that by reading this strip, which has been an enjoyable part of life for all these years. Sniffle…
It’s not just the strip itself, it’s the community of readers, who then go to such creative lengths to express themselves and their responses. That’s what really shows the kind of chosen family that surrounds Skin Horse.
The last regular strip has been posted. Konstantin was the last who riposted. For Skin-Horse lore scripture, one last group-hug picture, while most of the gang will get toasted.
Appropriately for the last strip, this was one of your better ones!
…Annnnd there we go.
I can honestly say this has been unlike anything else I’ve seen or read. Thanks for it!
Thank you to all yinz in the comments over the years, who’ve been (for the most part) kind and welcoming and creative people and who’ve made sure that the usual “Don’t read the comments!” rule of internet fora is the exact wrong rule to apply here.
But most of all, thank you to Shaenon and Jeff and Pancha for giving us such a marvellously-drawn, -written, and -colored strip, with a wonderful story and characters. (And thank you for humoring me enough to draw me with a chicken!) Like a lot of folks here, I’ll miss having a new Skin Horse strip as part of my day. Keep us in the loop about your next endeavors, hey?
Right on Andy!
After reading Shaenon and Jeff’s latest, part of my pleasure was to peruse the comments, which were with very rare exception civil, intelligent, fun, and, as you say, kind and welcoming. That ethos of inclusivity reflected the spirit of the comic itself and of it’s two creators.
Also, I take my hat off to the two of you, Shaenon and Jeff, for your fortitude and creative stamina in putting out this wonderful comic on a DAILY basis. Truly boggling!
I think a very long nap is in order.
This has been so great.
Loved this comic and will miss it bunches. Thanks for allowing us to visit your world.
Also…I’m glad it didn’t end the way I thought it might. I thought maybe something would happen to Jonah Yu, and he’d wind up back in the theater watching videos about shoe care. (I’m not giving that up, I’m just glad it didn’t happen here. Save it for his old age.)
Will miss you guys. It’s been a great run! Now to read it all again …
Joy!
Whatta ride!; thank you! I have already sent my doppelganger back to save my place in line near the beginning.
Thank you, Shannon and Jeff! Life won’t be the same. Until I start reading it over again, right after Narbonic and L’il Mel. And now the fanfic begins……
Also also…if Dr. Lee went into labor right here, who in that crowd could help? I don’t think any of them are OB / GYNs. Maybe K. T. the pantologist and / or Remy the voodoo mortician, maybe they could help. Tip’s not an M. D., just a psychologist.
Thank you, Shaenon and Jeff.
This was, and is, a good comic. Thank you.
This was a delightful, satisfying end to one of the best webcomics ever. Thank you so much!
I don’t comment much, but I’ve been reading since Narbonic. Thanks for another fun and entertaining story. I wish you well in future projects, and I look forward to them. Now go take some time off for a bit, eh?
To quote Tip, “That’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever been moved to tears by.”
Thank you so much Shaenon, Jeff, and Pancha!
A long, wild ride. I’ll miss it. Thank you for all these years of weirdness!
(Puts on “Aloha Oe”)
Just a beautiful note to leave on. Like a last look back. And there’s our lion, our tick tock, our tin man, our toto…
And our Tip.
Thanks for everything. Rest triumphant.
I’m out of words, except thank you.
Thank you to Shaenon and to Jeff, thank you to all the songwriters, and thank you to all of you commentariat who made the Skin Horse comments such a joyful place to spend some time over the years.
See you around. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzYNpIZqtTo
Well, this won’t be the last thank you from a fan, but it is heartfelt. Thank you.
Thank you all. What a long strange trip it’s been!
And since (amazingly) no one else has said it yet, I will… That center panel HAS to become a wallpaper!
Be seeing you….Number 6
Should I cry now? Thank you Shaenon for Skin Horse and for Narbonic. I hope you see fit to keep drawing stories.
Sweetheart/Unity puppy with the round dark eye spot.
THANK YOU BOTH SO VERY MUCH.
And Hitty looks so happy too 🙂
/em sniffles
Dusty in here
Thanks for all the years of comics! Also, don’t forget to go to zoop for the last books (see link at top of page) – we’re around 3k away from a stretch goal with more prose stories!
Thanks again for all the years. This silly little comic has made me think about a lot of topics I don’t think I normally would have, like how to measure personhood and how to better understand and respect those who are different.
Thanks to all, and ‘Meows’ as appropriate.
Thank you!
Thanks for sharing.