You probably didn’t think it was going to happen did you? The updates are getting farther and farther apart, I know.

I feel like the last couple of weeks have been moving so quickly. Illness, public speaking, lots of distractions. But I’ve already penciled the comic after this one. I keep trying to make up ground.

As you can see, we’ve skipped ahead three months into the final arc of the comic. In a way, I’m relieved that I can go back to drawing “talking heads” against their usual backdrops, wearing their usual costumes without having to add layers and layers of smoke, fire and lighting effects.

In another way, I’m profoundly sad – and I think you know why.

I probably have about 5 or 6 comics left in me. That doesn’t sound like much. But as things have been going, that probably puts me on pace to wrap things up by the end of the year.

I know I said I’d end the comic on August 6. That didn’t happen. But wrapping things up in December feels okay to me, too. I tend to put a lot of personal emphasis on the end of the year and the sea change emotionally it seems to conjure in me. So the sense that I’m closing a chapter in the Book of My Life will likely feel more profound.

So anyway, that’s all I have for now. More comics on the horizons. A few more jokes to tell. Oh, and before it’s all over, you’ll find out where Charlie and Jimmy end up.

Thanks again for your patience. Happy Halloween!