“Rest assured that Chronil­log­i­cal has a future. … The strip has cer­tainly had ample time to die by now, if it were des­tined to die!” [Source]

I did not know it at the time, but that turned out to be a lie. Oops!

After three years, maybe 150 comics or so, blah blah blah, everyone’s heard this story before. In short, we lost interest, and now we are giving up (perhaps more accurately, we gave up a while ago, and are now owning up to it). We certainly didn’t set out to disappoint anybody, but it’s probably best to stop and move on instead of plodding ahead with something that just doesn’t have the same meaning it used to (for us, anyway). Right? That’s what I tell myself.*

So, as a send-off, let’s remember the good times as I link to some of my favorite comics that we’ve done:

The Most Important Moment in History (1 of 2)
Good Work Indeed
Brown Brown Brown
The Winter strips with Mr. Skeleton are all pretty good: [1] [2] [3]
And finally, Civil Discourse Man

So, to the long-haulers, thank you for reading! To those who just stopped by for a laugh or two, thank you for reading as well. To those who dared to share yet another webcomic with a friend, thank you twice. Thank you all. And be excellent to each other.

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* Greg and I have gotten accustomed to this comic-making thing, though, and we are playing around with some new ideas behind the scenes—ideas that are SO FRIGHTENINGLY PRELIMINARY, it would be foolish of us to go around making grand announcements about them right now. If and when they come to fruition, we’ll figure out a way to tell you. Announcements will appear here, I’m sure, and probably on Twitter, and maybe Facebook, and maybe Tumblr too.

So long, folks. More words over here. And the archives are there!

And after while, the artist (or writer) (or artist/writer combo) (or just the artist despite a combo, but I am getting ahead of myself) might walk into view from behind the content blackout, clear his throat, and offer excuses that are mostly unsatisfying.

So … hello again!

Yes, for the third time in a year, hello hello. Today, I speak to you on my own behalf, and not on Greg’s, because this is all my fault. (Mine. All of it!) Honestly, I’m not really sure what to say—it’s pretty clear that my interest in Chronillogical has waned a lot lately, and I need to figure out why. Right now, it feels as though there are a lot of reasons, nebulous and ill-defined, most of which fall under the umbrella of “my arting skills are pretty poor and drawing this strip is a pain, which makes me not want to do it!”

What’s frustrating is that, when the strip started, this was a problem that I could at least push aside long enough to finish something. For about a year and a half, we kept Chronillogical on a pretty regular schedule. But after a while, the strip didn’t feel right, and so I suggested making changes to it. Updates suffered. Then they suffered again. And now again. And I think it’s safe to say now that I don’t know what I’m doing and I’m not industrious enough to fake it! Not yet. With work and luck, that day will come. (On Eileen.)

Rest assured that Chronillogical has a future. (GET IT okay never mind this is not the time for that.) (Not the TIME okay seriously I will stop.) The strip has certainly had ample time to die by now, if it were destined to die! But I need to do some serious work before we’ll know what Chronillogical’s future should look like. Maybe when that day comes, I’ll be able to commit to a regular schedule, like the grownups do. Until then, subscribe to the feed and we’ll let you know what’s up, when it happens.

For right now? It would be irresponsible for me to make promises like “new comics next week!” so I’m not going to say that. Greg and I have some ideas to wrap up this arc, so we’ll probably move ahead with that before getting all experimental up in here. I don’t know exactly when they’ll show up on the site.

If I’ve left out any details you’re curious about, please sound off in the comments!

The joke is that this comic could not possibly have taken three months to make. It seemed a lot funnier when I was drawing it!

For some more words on Chronillogical’s return, read this blog post, won’t you?

So our hope was to have the latest strip done by Christmas Eve (today!), and that did not happen. Clearly! And it’s not our wish to leave folks without anything at all on this, the day before tomorrow, so I decided instead to briefly resurrect a hallowed Chronillogical tradition.

(I wonder if TUBACHRISTMAS organizers would consider incorporating any contemporary film scores into their caroling repertoire this year.)

All right, I’ve got presents to wrap, superstars. So you all have a Hoppin’ TUBACHRISTMAS, a Boppin’ BASSCLARINETHANUKKAH (belated), and a Zippy BANJOSATURNALIA!

This next comic has had a couple of false starts, and after a night that yielded zero usable material, I said to myself, “Screw it. Screw this noise. I am going to draw Lucca Ashtear.” And, lacking a gavel, I pounded my fist upon the desk. The heavens thundered in assent. It was rad.

I will admit that I have played some Chrono Trigger these past few weeks on the DS—hence the picture. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Chrono Trigger is a game that both Greg and I have played¹ and enjoyed and remember fondly. It’s easily one of the best RPGs I’ve met, which is a meaningless statement considering 1) how many other people say that and 2) how few RPGs I have in fact played. That doesn’t diminish its influence on our work, though.

In fact, when Greg and I find ourselves in a tough spot (with regards to story or characters or perhaps both at the same time), invariably we will ask ourselves “Why doesn’t this feel more like Chrono Trigger?”² And for good reason! It’s a fun story with fun dialogue and fun characters³—do you sense the subtle pattern here?!

Funness is, after all, the essential element that we strive for. Sometimes we succeed more than other times, and I know that, for the long-term, we are headed in the right direction. All I have to do now is finish the next dang strip so that I can prove it to you.

tl;dr ct 4 lyfe

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¹ Perhaps not so long ago as you’d expect—I didn’t touch it until my freshman year of college (!) and I don’t think Greg completed a full playthrough until he was well into high school.

³ Lucca strikes me as one of the story’s less engaging characters, actually, but she has a fun look. (Fun!!) You know who has a flippin’ weird look? The protagonist. What is up with that hair, somebody please tell me what is up with it. (Aaand here I am, bewildered at the hairstyles in a JRPG. I am 65.)

Just in time for the busiest webcomic update day of the week (Sunday)! Looks like Milo’s been experimenting (somewhat extensively) with an old friend. (Old-ish. Couple months.) My dear wall-smashing robot, whether employed as a vendor, courier, or intimidator, we will never tire of your primary function: smashing walls.

Next strip is about twice as long as usual, so expect a longer-than-usual delay. In the meantime, why not watch The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Cut on the YouTube there?

The Thief and the Cobbler is a film renowned for its long and ultimately depressing development history (one that ends with sweeping changes forced upon film’s original cut for the sake of time, money, and marketability—hence the need for a fan’s re-cut), and for its wonderful animation. Just watch Zigzag the Grand Vizier make his entrance. Look at that strut. I am hard-pressed to recall the last time I was so entranced by someone walking. Also, who voices Zigzag? Oh that’s right: Vincent Dang Price. I think you are ready to agree that Zigzag is the best character.

P.S., it is a real song.

On top of that, the strip that follows this one will be about twice as long as the ones we’ve been posting lately. As a result, it will also be delayed a bit—so that’s some extra good news for everyone!

I feel I’ve fulfilled the Webcomics Artist archetype quite well today, I really do. Delays! Excuses! Apologies! These, my friends, are the fundamental elements that combine to spell “Professionalism”.

(Anyway. See you in a few days!)

And so, after a bit of an absence, we see how Cassandra is feeling these days: not so great! Easy to see why, I’d say, not that such an observation comforts anybody, so why bring it up, I don’t know it’s just the first thing that came to mind thank you very much and how are we all doing this evening yes I’ll just have the fish please.

I think perhaps that the ruins at Troy as depicted in this comic are entirely too tidy and could use a lot more rubble scattered about. C’est la vie! Or, as the French say: mangez un œuf, mon petit chapeau, tandis que je chante la chanson des tempêtes. Croissant.

Or is it?!