4800!

October 17, 2018

I was going to write about this tomorrow, but, as usual, I forgot to carry the one and divide by six before realizing that today is the 4,800th appearance of online “Doc and Raider”.

But that’s not the big news.

As some of you know, this strip has been around, in one form or another, since 1987. Thirty one years of these two as they and their friends fumble around in relationships and love and sometimes just getting along. They’ve been lucky in that respect — of course, I didnt give them a whole lot of choice, but there we are. Still, thirty one years.

And at thirty one years, Doc and Raider, my little LGBTQ comic strip is now the longest running comic strip in Canadian history. Yep, it’s true. Lynn Johnston’s amazing “For Better or For Worse” ran for 28. “Juniper Junction” ran for 26. For over thirty years, Doc and Ray and all the others have watched as LGBTQ folk went from the shadows to the forefront, looking at the changes in our lives in issues like marriage equality and family rights and being transgender and dealing with infidelity and even once an alien abduction that wound up explaining why politics on this rock are so screwed.

I doubt many people will notice, but it’s not about them, is it. It’s about you guys, who bitched and complained when I didnt have at least *something* up every day. 🙂 You were there when I was ready to pack it in. You took my little characters to heart and brought them to life in ways I could have never expected. So in many respects, this milestone is yours as much as mine — as such, thank you.

Onward to 4801!!!!!

This comic was posted in Uncategorized.

7 thoughts on “4800!”

  1. Wow. Congratulations. That’s quite an accomplishment, but isn’t Johnston still writing new strips after her hard reboot of her creation?

    I have to admit, this isn’t the sort of comic strip I would normally read, but now I’m curious (don’t think I’m going to read 31 years of material, though).

    Oh, and what do you do to market your comic strip? The question is more a matter of curiosity since, assuming my fiction work actually publishes someday, I’d like to collect a variety of methods.

    Cheers.

    Reply

    • She was for a while, but now she’s sorta-kinda-maybe reworking the older ones, sometimes, with tweaks to dialogue to take out dated references and some clean up in the older artwork. Pearls Before Swine did a wonderfully gentle send-up of the strip’s unsettled status; I’ll have to dig around to see if I still have it.

      Marketng? I’m the worst at it. How do you think this thing for its claim to be the Longest Running LGBTQ Strip No One’s Ever Heard Of? LOL

      Reply

      • I’ve only been lightly researching it myself, but apparently, there are all sorts of podcasts where artists and writers are interviewed, plus guest shout outs on other blogs. Hashtagging your tweets might also help. Do you have a “Doc and Raider” facebook page?

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