1405 Colorful Horses.

by

The lion’s share of this page was completed in my hospital bed. It was very challenging. I honestly don’t know now what the future holds for the comic. I will run guest pages if I get them, black and white pages if I don’t. I will do my best to have something here at the time you expect for as long as I am physically capable.

Right now my blood pressure is all over the map. I don’t feel good. Generally i’m not in pain, but I feel broken on my insides. I can feel how not right things are and its very hard to focus. As far as the actual infection goes its likely gone. Now they are dealing with the damage it caused. There’s also the psychological damage to consider. Hospitals are not built for people my size and everything has this additional level of fuckery to endure. The bed bends me funny, I cant sleep, defecate, or urinate, in a normal way. I am beginning to come apart in every way. The staff is kind but they cant help me with a lot of what’s wrong.

If you’re friendly with any other creators feel free to ask for a guest page on my behalf. I’ve exhausted my pool. I will probably set up a donation link at some point for those of you who don’t want to deal with patreon.

I’m super sorry that I can’t do a better job for you guys. Knowing you are having a good experience is important to me. When I can’t do that it bothers me a lot more than you realize. Or maybe you do realize because I try so hard never to let you down. Either way, when the comic isn’t doing well, I can’t either. I know you guys say I should rest, but I only feel right when I work. When I can work I know I’m doing what I should be doing, and everything else goes away.

I can’t thank you guys enough for coming around to read my work. Even if I cant comment actively reading what you guys say makes me feel good. I appreciate that. Someday I’ll find a way to make it up to you.

70 Comments

Hey JT. I don’t know if you remember me much, I’ve slacked on commenting and in Animal Crossing. I just wanted to post a comment to wish you well. I would tell you not to worry about us readers so much when you’re so sick, but it’s not likely to stop your concerns. Do try, though, not to stress too much, it won’t help you in getting better. Please take care.

There was that awesome swords and sorcery fiction story a while back. If its easier to type than draw/color I love to read just as much as I love to look at the pretty pictures and I certainly love what you write (I even enjoy reading your tweets after I finish the comic). I would be pretty content if you added some kind of purely text story to the update schedule during these hard times.

It may even be cathartic if you based it loosely on the emotions you are going through right now and the characters you are meeting at the hospital etc…

I hope you get well soon. Don’t stress yourself out. Heck I would say don’t say sorry about not being able to do as much. You’re in the hospital, and as my grandpa always said, “Never apologize for something that happened to you. Those things are out of your control.”

Well, obviously I’m going to tell you to feel as good as you can, but considering the implication of ‘broken on the inside’ and my own past personal experience with it, I know that that is probably not going to help a great deal, especially if you only feel good when working.

A suggestion, then, that might be helpful, especially since I know you’re a good writer:

How about writing up some background or stories that you might not think would otherwise fit in the comic? You could maybe … I don’t know, write up a story about when Thomas and Dawn were still dating, or about Reggie’s ‘rail gun’ accident. You know, stuff that might otherwise not make it in the comic. Could alternate this with comic pages? I’m sure everyone would be interested.

Been reading for a few years, and recently backed on Patreon. Sincerely appreciate and enjoy the characters you’ve created. That said, please feel better and whenever an update occurs we’ll be happy. Get well! :)

Is your blood pressure and heart rate both “way off”? Severe infections/traumas can cause a nasty thing called POTS syndrome (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome). It’s where your blood pressure dips very low and your heart races to bring it up- only there’s a disconnect between the two and the blood pressure stays very low and the heart rate sky rockets. It causes dizziness/loss of vision/fainting/etc.

I hope they figure it out soon! Keep your spirits up!

That sounds very much like what I’m going through. I think they were checking me for it because of my fainting spells.

I hope they do. It’s rare that any docs have heard of it. You can always ask. The test is putting you on a table and then Quickly in lining you upwards.

Hey man. Keep your spirits up. I know shit is rough, figuratively and literally, but we’re all here pulling for you. Do what you gotta do, not what you wanna do, and take some time to rest. I know it sucks, but the restlessness isn’t nearly as bad as what you’ll do to yourself if you keep trying to push on without slowing down.

Otherwise, feel better man. I really hope you do start to, cause that sounds awful.

I’ve got you on RSS feed, so if the comic goes away for a while and comes back, I’ll still be a loyal reader. I hope that’s true for your readers in general.

Don’t kill yourself trying to please us. Seriously. Take care of your own health, and then worry about your fan base. I’d much rather wait and then get comics from a healthy you, than to get a few last comics “on time” that you break yourself to produce.

This, so much this…

Get some rest, we will be here when you get back on track. Don’t do it for us, do it for yourself. Your body will thank you in the long run.

Feel better. As a big guy that was recently hospitalized, I can only imagine your pain. Rest up, get better, and get the hell out of there. Focus on yourself there and try to keep positive. The mind is a great healer of the body. If you don’t get too many guest strips, think about a reflective critique of some of your favorite strips. A glimpse into what you find passion in for your comic would be a great insight as to what we can look for in your strips.

It’s hard for me to read this pages knowing you’re sick. I think we all hope for you to get better and that we want to help as much as we can (those awesome chest/hairs/chest drawings deserve largely that).
I’ll add that you have to : Italy is waiting for you and this is an amazing country..

If you have to take a break for your health we will all understand. Without you being in better health, we won’t get more comics. Take all the time you need, we’ll be here waiting.

Hi, I’m a long time reader and fan of your comic! Your dedication and reliability not only to your work, but to the readers, is respectable and so appreciated. I’m truly sorry to hear you are going through a rough time right now, and I pray that you will recover quickly! Please know that your fans care about your well being, and completely support you getting better for as long as you need! We are not going anywhere :)

I know it’s not a good solution but maybe you could experiment with a single thing Abel page. It could be an interesting experiment for yourself and a little push. Of course most people experiment out of curiosity, not necessity, but color is a huge deal to this comic. Feel better man, I’m sure those guest pages will start rolling in soon.

Hey There,
I stopped commenting a long time back, because well… I got lazy. But I feel obligated to tell you how much I enjoy your work and that I sincerely hope you get better. I care about the comic, but as a human being you come first.
Take care,
Mike

Hey chief.

I hope this doesn’t keep you down long. You are the first in my daily run of comics! I will be scouring the interwebs and using what connections I may or may not have to get you some guest comics.

You’re the man, don’t you forget that. We’ll get through this together, mate.

Best wishes from Scotland, where my giant Reggie original is now on display, for a speedy and full recovery. Your work is hugely appreciated, but nobody’s work should come before their health.

I can only echo everyone else’s comments.

1.) Get better soon.
2.) Take care of yourself before anything else.
3.) We aren’t going anywhere.
4.) Thank you for your dedication and the excellent work it produces.

-CJH

You’re stuck in a hospital bed having fought off a major infection, and now you’re dealing with the physical fallout of what it left behind. They won’t let you go home, which means you need to be there so they can keep you alive.

You only feel right when you work? Getting better *is* your work. Without your health the comic suffers.

Even if you have to stop for a bit I’ll keep my Patreon going, so *focus on healing*.

No need to apologize, and don’t stress yourself out over it, that will only himder the healling proccess. We can wait for your recovery if you need us to. Get feeling better soon.

Hang in there, fella. We really won’t mind if you take a break to focus on getting better. Your health is a hell of a lot more important than a comic. Yes, we love reading it, but knowing that you’re sick and yet still struggling to finish comics makes me feel ill myself. Get better first, THEN worry about “Between Failures”. Your fans will stick around.

cheers,
Phil

As a longtime reader and fan of your work, I’d like to say that I will be checking back, and will even if your schedule is off. So don’t let that worry you, (too much.) Get better as soon as you can, and if you feel you HAVE to post something according to schedule, maybe a single panel or a paragraph of back-story would satisfy your inner workaholic. (I know it would me, and probably most of your fans.)

Get well soon,

Beagle

Get well soon – and consider this: by letting everyone know about your health issues, and that there may be delays, you have DONE YOUR JOB and it is thus perfectly excusable not to post on a strict schedule for a while. If you feel driven to work, you can do some work mentally by plotting out storylines and doing visualizations, but you’re going to be much more productive (and happier) in the long run if you focus on resting and not stressing about your normal routine.

Hey man, I’ve been forgetting to comment for the last year or so, but i have come back to say that if you need to take a break we understand, just remember that your health comes first

As I see it, getting out of Hell the Hospital is Job One. If you need to concentrate on getting better, we’ll all wait. Anyone who says otherwise is walking around on kneecaps they don’t need…

Small Family Business

Listen, dude! Let the medics do their thing and don’t worry about keeping BF updated. Concentrate on getting on your feet again and away from the smell of disenfectant. We’ll check in with you periodically and see how you’re doing. Get well soon, y’hear. :D

What everybody else said! Don’t place too much pressure on yourself, we all want you to be healthy and we can wait. Besides, if you kill yourself to get the comic out then we will have lost YOU!

Hey Jackie – a couple things.

First – Why don’t you fit the hospital bed?

Secondly – you will surly disappoint your fans if you go and die on us. If you need a month, 6 months to get your game back on, I am sure I am not going to be the only one patiently waiting. Your health is vastly more important than your schedule.

Third – I’ll offer to help color too. I can mostly stay within the lines on the IHOP menus, so I am sure I can do this, too.

I hope you get better man.

If we want to send you a get well card, where should we send it?

This comic is awesome and you should feel awesome about it. It’s the characters, the art, and the humor (oh god the humor) that has really made it stand out amongst dozens that I read regularly. I keep recommending that my wife read it too (she worked retail recently) but she keeps putting it off.

Take the time you need to get better, and don’t worry about apologizing to us for it. You’ve brought joy and laughter (so much laughter) to us readers for years. We owe you a lot more than enough time to recover your health.

Hope you feel better soon!

My sentiments will pretty much echo everyone else. While I am a big fan of your webcomic, in the long run it will do nobody any good if you wreck your health worrying about keeping your update schedule. You have an incredible track record for sticking to your timings, I think you have earned the right to let things slip a little. Concentrate on getting better and getting home, then worry about the comic. We will still be here when you are able to pick things up again.

Please just relax and get some rest. We, your loyal readers, aren’t going anywhere. Keep us posted if you can, because we do tend to worry, but other than that just lie there and take it easy.

Krave, I understand your frustration and your need to keep working. So I will share a story with you. I am a chef and about 2 years ago there was and accident in the kitchen that resulted in me almost loosing a finger. I was out for 2 days while they stitched me up, left work when it happened and was still there when I was supposed to go back on shift. I, like you, only feel better when I’m working so I went back on day 3. This was a TERRIBLE idea! I ended up tearing the tendon in my finger and getting a severe infection that spread to my blood and almost killed me. As a result of me going back to work when my boss told me to take some time and recover, I damaged myself so bad that I was hospitalized and couldn’t work for 6 months and needed 2 surgeries. Moral of the story is, if you need a little time to get better take it, or end up forced to take a long time to recover. Never push yourself when you are already damaged it could cause you to break. Please consider taking some time for your health. Get well soon, I’m rooting for you!

I think I may be going against the current here but if drawing the comic makes you feel better then don’t give it up in favor of rest. Generally I think you want to reduce stress in these situations and if you’re finding that you are getting anxious because you aren’t working on your comic then have a sit down, do some drawing, and relax. Maybe don’t publish it online, that way you can be sure that you are doing it for yourself and not out of a perceived obligation to us fans (We just want you to get better, so you can do whatevs). But its totally up to you, do what feels right.

or whom.*

Sorry, had to do it. It was just right there. Also, I am sorry that you are in such a terrible situation and that I have no way to help except by telling you how much I appreciate your comic. Keep calm and carry on

A hiatus for health reasons, if felt to be necessary, I’m fairly sure is excusable. (And anyone who thinks otherwise can kindly please shut the hell up. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen it for psychological, another author who’s dad passed. Though in his case, he ended up going back to work on comics because they helped.)

Take care of yourself first. We (somehow) survived before finding BF, we can (try to) survive a break from it.

Please get better, we can wait till you’re able to do quality work. People waited for Lackadaisy, and you’re just as deserving of such patience.

you have one of my fav comics to read right here. i always check every day cuz i forget the schedule. makes my day when i see something new

Work on what you need to, take breaks when you can. I know part of the need to work is to get your mind off everything else. Like everyone else said, don’t push yourself to hard so we can see more of you sooner.

Just do what you gotta do man. If you need to rest, rest. If you need to do a comic, do a comic, but don’t think there is any pressure from me.

Take the time you need to feel better. I will certainly stick around for the next comic, no matter the time between updates.

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