Oldest and/or longest running webcomic?

strawman · Nov 10, 2011

Obviously comics appeared on the internet nearly the instant the internet came into being, however few comic artists grasped it early, and held onto it as a primary medium for producing their art.

One of the earliest is Kevin and Kell. The artist produces a few other strips for newspapers, but starting publishing this comic daily in 1995 and hasn't missed a day since: http://www.kevinandkell.com/archive/

Sluggy freelance started in 1997. Wikipedia lists several others that appeared prior to '95 and after - but so far I don't see any that have actually continued uninterrupted since then.

Curious if anyone is aware of others that have a similar consistency and age?

Charlie Don't Surf · Nov 10, 2011

I'm pretty sure PVP has been chuggin' along for over 10 years at this point. It's the oldest one of which I can think.

Allen who is Quiet · Nov 10, 2011

Kevin and Kell is probably the oldest that is both popular and active.

MS Paint Adventures, while significantly younger, has more pages posted.

Gusto · Nov 10, 2011

How old are User Friendly and Sluggy Freelance? I'm pretty sure those outdate PVP, which started May 8th 1998.

PatrThom · Nov 10, 2011

Nukees might be another one. I know they have a good-sized archive.
(on iPod, can't embed links, you find it)

--Patrick

Allen who is Quiet · Nov 10, 2011

Gusto said:
How old are User Friendly and Sluggy Freelance? I'm pretty sure those outdate PVP, which started May 8th 1998.

1997

Adam · Nov 10, 2011

Sluggy is OOOOLD. And still professionally produced day after day with very little break. And his art is very obviously hand-drawn, not Illustrator-fed.

Hailey Knight · Nov 10, 2011

David Willis has been doing a continuity since September 1997. Roomies became It's Walky became Shortpacked. All one continuity (disregarding parallel timelines) and starting right after the other, even depending on storylines. It's pretty much just a name change every few years.

TNM · Nov 10, 2011

Oh wow I remember User Friendly. I believe I still have my older membership card from waaaaaaay back.

Adam · Nov 10, 2011

TNM said:
Oh wow I remember User Friendly. I believe I still have my older membership card from waaaaaaay back.

I actually met the guys that UF was based off of. Shame the comic itself become progressively unfunnier as the real guys were pretty clever.

TNM · Nov 10, 2011

Oh nice. I would have love to have met those guys. They got me through many a crap day when I worked tech support.

And...

Good times.

PatrThom · Nov 11, 2011

That second one is one of my favorite comics to show people. It's such a test of geek/!geek.

--Patrick

Null · Nov 12, 2011

Schlock Mercenary isn't quite as old as some of the others - it started June 12, 2000, but it has NEVER missed an update, including the time one of their servers exploded in 2008. Including during the 4 years where Howard Tayler worked as middle management for Novell doing 60+ hour work weeks. And he has several (four or five, I'm not sure) kids. And the art evolution is quite staggering. And the comic is a heavy-continuity, hard science-fiction military comedy. 7 days a week. Full color. No filler strips, either, like "Dead Piro Days" or "T-shirt Tom week" or LOLBat.

Null · Nov 12, 2011

One thing about User Friendly is the absolute lack of art evolution. How long apart do you think these two strips are?

strawman · Nov 12, 2011

Null said:
How long apart do you think these two strips are?

Based on the copyright notice, I'd say two years, give or take.

:awesome:

Null · Nov 12, 2011

stienman said:
Based on the copyright notice, I'd say two years, give or take.

You'd think that, and you'd be wrong. The first is from 1998. The latter is from this week.

figmentPez · Nov 13, 2011

Null said:
You'd think that, and you'd be wrong. The first is from 1998. The latter is from this week.

User Friendly has been in re-runs for quite a while now. There is no strip from this week, or even the last couple years.*

EDIT:*Okay, there have been new strips more recently than I thought, but there haven't been many for quite a while.

Null · Nov 13, 2011

figmentPez said:
User Friendly has been in re-runs for quite a while now. There is no strip from this week, or even the last couple years.*

EDIT:*Okay, there have been new strips more recently than I thought, but there haven't been many for quite a while.

Oh, that's a bit better then. Wouldn't hurt him to post that somewhere, though.

figmentPez · Nov 13, 2011

Null said:
Oh, that's a bit better then. Wouldn't hurt him to post that somewhere, though.

There used to be a little "This 'toon is a repeat" tag on the strips, but there isn't anymore. Not sure why.

Oh, and it's not really that much better. His art really didn't progress much beyond serviceable. Existing character designs didn't change much, if at all. Even if you look at the most recent strips in, I think May of 2009.

PatrThom · Nov 13, 2011

He did post it. He put in a big, heartfelt blog about how his life was taking a dramatic turn and that he would put out the occasional new comic but much would be reruns. It was a while ago.

--Patrick

Null · Nov 13, 2011

PatrThom said:
He did post it. He put in a big, heartfelt blog about how his life was taking a dramatic turn and that he would put out the occasional new comic but much would be reruns. It was a while ago.

--Patrick

Yes, but if you didn't see the announcement, how would you know?