1513 Breastament.

by

That’s right. They’re still talking about Carol’s amazing tits. Deal with it. They’re gonna keep talking about them until I think they’re FUCKING DONE, and not a moment sooner. I’m going somewhere with this and it has to be set up, so deal with it so you can be amazed when I call back to this in another decade.

Speaking of decades, the comic turns 10 on Sunday. Coincidentally, I turn 40 on that day. Feel free to shower me with praise and gifts. I wanted to have a special present ready for you guys, but I hired other artists to help, and didn’t give them enough time, so I’m going to present the gifts as they are completed. Honestly I should have started prepping for this last year, but I spent a huge chunk of last year being sick as fuck. Ha ha ha, so I couldn’t prepare properly for this huge milestone. Really there’s no more perfect anniversary for this comic than one that’s all fucked up.
I don’t know when, or if, the second volume of the book will ever be ready. Everything’s a total cock up, but I guess that’s how things are.

I’m still living in the times between,
and maybe that’s all I’ll ever do.
But being between failures ain’t so bad
as long as I’m living between them with you.

There are a lot of people who helped me get where I am.
My parents, obviously. Friends who lived the inspiring years with me, but there are also people who’ve been around when it was just me, alone in an empty room, trying to decide if I should just give up. If you’ve ever loved a word I wrote, or a line I drew these are some people you should thank.
Carl Sjostrand @cjsjostrand
Amber Stone @amber_stone
Natasha DeGracia @tempest_Lavalle
Chris Paulsen @chrispco
Fes @FesWorks
Wendy Wood @wendy_bunny
Logan @hi_im_reading
Richard @elephande
Andrew Fraser @botulismbunny
John Wigger @zombieroomie
@hpkomic
Mike @TheNewMeat
@groundchux
KB @0lympicdames
W00T @woot_art
Andy Wilgus
There were other people too, who came along at the right moment, then disappeared back into the internet. Creators who started with me in the Drunk Duck days who are lost to me now. Nice people on Smackjeeves that got too busy with life to keep in touch. Readers who moved on. So many usernames I recall but never see anymore. I don’t forget what you did for me. I remember your kindness when I was overtaken by hate. An encouraging word at the right moment can change a person’s life. I’ve tried to pay back as much as I could over the years.

There are also some people I would thank that inspired me by making this look so much easier than it really is, who have no fucking idea who I am:
David Willis (Shortpacked!)
Kris Straub (Starslip Crisis)
Scott Kurtz (PVP)
Dave Kellet (Sheldon)
Brad Guigar (Evil Inc)
Jeph Jaques (Questionable Content)
Ian K Jones-Quartey (RPG World)

Starslip Crisis is the only webcomic I have every volume of in print. I read PVP for years. When I started out I had How To Make Webcomics to refer to when I wasn’t sure what to do. I read Shortpacked! to the end and read Dumbing Of Age every update now. I Started Reading QC late one night after a shitty day at work and read the whole archive in three days. (It was a lot smaller back then.) I still wish RPG World had a real ending.

Last year might well have been the last year for Between Failures if not for the readers. I was able to keep ahead of my medical bills because of you. (with a lot of help from @TrooperTK8912) I don’t have a lot but if Between Failures had been taken away I’m not sure what I would have done. I’ve poured so much of myself into it it feels like a part of my very being.

Before that Hiveworks rescued me from a site that was too broken to function, and a host that locked the site if more than a thousand people looked at the page. I wasn’t capable of trusting other people when Jojo asked me to join. I’d just been offered a terrible deal from another group and was really wary. In retrospect, I should have joined Hiveworks proper, but by the time I realized that I felt like it was already too late. It taught me that in business you need to pick trustworthy partners. It’s almost impossible to do anything very complicated by yourself. Hiveworks has always offered me any help I needed without asking for anything in return other than making the comic and having their link bar. They took a burden from me that was making my life miserable. Without them Between Failures might not have made it this long. It certainly wouldn’t have survived the hospital stays.

I don’t know how long Between Failures will keep going. I did write an ending, and there is an outline in case I die before I finish, but I really want to tell the whole story myself. It may take another ten years, or even more, I don’t plan things out as carefully as that. I really hope we all get to the end together. If we don’t then please know I loved spending the time between with you.

46 Comments

:3 10 years? Holy hot damn. This has been a fun ride and one of the only comics I have stuck with after all these years. I remember going back to Smackjeeves and Comicgenesis, incessantly refreshing pages to see what fresh wit would show up in the comments section. I don’t remember our old conversations (except about Battlebeasts) but I remember memories of fondness, if that makes any sense. So, here’s to another 10 years. :) Oh, the button came back!!! All I had to do was go away for 5 minutes…. -_-

Thank you very much, Jackie, from one of the many many lurkers / regular readers. I hope you can continue to your heart’s content, whenever that may be. Enjoyta!

Thank you for making this comic and continuing to make it. I look forward to continuing to read it for however long that may be.

Congratulations on the 10 years.

I remember finding this comic back in college on a break in work. Ended up getting hooked because of the parallels that your characters took to people where I worked. Your characters are some of the best with depth and breth. Keep up the awesome characters, story and art.

You have been through a lot from what we have read in the blogs you do. You are one of the most open artists I follow and it just adds to the experience. Hopefully things improve with your condition so life’s not so bad.

Thank you for everything!

Congratulations on ten years and happy birthday. I really, truly, sincerely hope life improves for you and that you stick around for more. I read different comics for different reasons, and I’ve only been reading this one for like a year, but this is the one that resonates with me. They have the same thoughts I have. These are my people.
And I’m glad it demonstrates that life can be a series of events instead of just one long failure in progress. I can’t tell you how much I needed to see that.
Thanks for showing the between times.

Well done on the 10 years of the comic and the 40 years of you. Can’t wait to see how things go from here.

Congrats on the 10 years bud. I hit the big 4-0 a few months back myself. So far life seems about the same on the other side. You milage may vary.

thanks for everything you do. Keep on creating and here’s to 10 more years in between!

Thanks for for your work Jackie. This webcomic got me though some dark times. I guess even failure can be a good thing as weird as that sounds. Can’t wait for what the next ten years holds.

Happy 40th birthday and 10th anniversary, dude. :-) I’m celebrating my comic’s 10th anniversary as well, and I know how difficult it is to keep such as massive undertaking as a webcomic going for that long, especially when you’re updating multiple times a week. You’ve got a great thing going, here. :-)

By the way, I’ve met Brad Guigar at Wizard World in Philly on multiple occasions. Real nice guy – he actually recognizes me when he sees me, despite the few times we’ve met. I’m happy to drop your name the next time I’m able to go to a convention, if’n you want.

I’m also waiting for a real ending to RPG world. Maybe when Ian’s done working on Bravest Warriors, something might come of it…

Anyway, have a good one! Take care of yourself! :-)

I don’t think I ever posted here before, even though I’ve been reading (and enjoying) the comic as well as the blog for several years now. In any case, I just wanted to wish you a good one. I do hope we will finish your story “together” – you as the artist and us, the readers!

Take care!

Wow, I remember when gifts were being planned to be sent to you for your birthday last year, I can’t believe a year went by so fast. also its weird, I still think of myself as a newer reader but now that I think of it, this means I’ve actually been following between failures for 4 years o_O well almost anyway. Congratulations! keep up the great work, you deserve the best ^_^

You, sir, are not allowed to go ANYWHERE until you finish this glorious comic. There are those of us who love it too much to just let it go. The WHOLE story, sir!

I am sure there are more people than just myself who feels this way. I can see bits of myself in your characters as well. It would be a shame for this to die. I wish I could be more helpful to you than just words on a screen and an occasional donation.

Happy b-day and happy anniversary both. And many, many more to come.

Congrats on 10 years, Jackie! I wish I could have been around longer, but I’ve really enjoyed the ride. I can’t wait to be around for the next 10!

Happy Birthday Jackie, and congratulations on the 10-year milestone too.

Your comic is unique in its approach, and I’ve always appreciated that. Well, that, or I’m biased because I started here, but I REFUSE to let anyone tell me I have rose-tinted nostalgia glasses!

I, honestly, want to thank all these other readers who helped you during the hospital troubles. I was excessively poor during the time when Jackie went into the hospital, and I was worried that my favorite webcomic was done for. Then you guys did what I couldn’t; you pulled him out of it and got it so he could write again.
And on that note, thank you Jackie for sticking with it despite all the adverse conditions. You are an inspiration to what a true artist is, and your working ethic is one that I can really strive to emulate.

I plan to be here to watch how this story plays out, because I genuinely want to keep seeing these characters be themselves.

Ahh…so many feels. Happy Birthdaversery, Jackie. I hope its the best it can be for you.

Wow, all the feels. I almost snorted at the comic page, and then had to wipe away a couple tears of mixed origins through your post. I want to thank every last one of the people in your list (I’d name them each, but I have a feeling I’m already going to have a text wall). Also, a huge thanks to Hiveworks and Patreon, because I know you needed a good host and being a Patron has always made me feel like I can finally give back to you in some small way for all the things this comic has gotten me through. And to my fellow readers and Patrons, because I feel like a part of a family here, and there are some pretty awesome people in our group that have been able to do more than me to support you and the comic.
I started reading almost 7 years ago, but was fairly quiet at first. My girlfriend got me started on what she described as an amazing comic. I feel that was the understatement of the century. This comic brought us closer together, and has made me laugh on more than one occasion when I thought nothing would. And it’s made me feel like part of a family of readers.
Then, reading the blog posts, I feel like I got to know at least a part of you, which is fairly unique. I say that because you are the only artist I’ve ever known to be so open with your fans. It’s like you’re one of us instead of the guy on the pedestal. And this is one of the most universally supportive fan bases I’ve had the pleasure to be part of. I’ve seen many people stop to give a kind word to other readers as well as talking about the comic in general.
This is all possible because of you, Jackie. I look forward to another decade or more, if you’ll have us. And when the time comes for the comic to come to a close, I hope we’re all there to enjoy it together, and to mourn together the ending of something that has touched all of our lives in such a fantastic way. And I hope that the day that we will mourn your passing is much farther off. Because in my book, you’re up there with all of the actors and writers that have ever been part of anything special in my life. And I’d bet that I’m not the only one who feels that way.
So, happy birthday, Jackie. And happy birthday BF. May you both have many more.

Whaddya mean, “deal with it”? Talking about tits is one of my favorite pastimes!

Anywho…..

The unbelievably prolific writer, Isaac Asimov, was known to say that he envied suffering writers their superior writing style/ability. He didn’t envy their suffering, just their writing. So, Jackie, if Dr. Asimov was still alive, he’d envy you. That’s some pretty good company.

Keep ’em flying.

10 years. This comic has been around for nearly half my life. And it’s still one of my favourites.

Stand tall and be proud Jackie, for you have done something that so few others do. You’ve made something good, and the better part of my week is dropping by to see where things go next. So damn right you’re sticking around to see this through to the end.

And congrats on living one more day. I don’t even know the half of what you’ve gone through and may still go through, but I do firmly believe that things will get better for you if you keep moving forward. Hell has an entrance, which means it also has an exit, even if you have to break it down.

I’ll see you next time.

Happy birthday, Jackie! It looks like I beat you to 40 by a few days, but I won’t hold your youth against a fellow Bicentennial Baby. Besides, I heard that “life begins at 40”, and I’m hoping that they’re right. ;)

I don’t comment often, but I read every MWF whenever possible, and I always catch up eventually if I do happen to miss an update. You have a knack for writing very believable characters who feel like real people that you can relate to on a personal level, particularly because most of us can identify with the flaws of at least one character. For my own part, I feel sort of like a hodgepodge of Thomas, Reggie, Jo, Ed, and Mike. My friends and family probably would attribute most of the positive characteristics to me openly, but like a number of folks, I regrettably focus on the flaws more often than not, which is one reason I am where I am at 40, instead of where I should be.

Anyhow, rambling aside, thank you very much for pursuing the passion that is your art and storytelling in the form of Between Failures. It takes tremendous courage and dedication to run 10 years, and I hope that both of us will be there when it reaches it’s natural conclusion. You make a positive difference in our lives, and I’m glad that us readers can collectively return a little of that favor to you. :)

Crave,
You can’t die before the comic reaches a true and proper end…
When we learn that Thomas is an old man standing over the grave of his beloved,
Sharing memories of all the people who passed through his life;
It would explain why the comic started out black-and-white, though…
[wink]

Thank You, though, Crave,
It has been one hell of a ride so far…
Lets see it make it to the end of time, ay?

Poor Carol, yet another victim of The Curse of the Boooooobs…

Thanks for giving us this awesome strip for a decade! Happy birthday, too; same day as my brother.

Congratulations on both birthdays!
Only thing I can gift you is the knowledge that you have at least 1 fan in and from Argentina. Which has no special value whatsoever, but hey, weird geographical milestone! Really, I quite like your work. Cheers

Super late to the party, but congratz on the 10 year milestone. I’ve haven’t been reading for the whole 10 but yours is the only comic I check daily even though it only updated 3 times a week

Congrats on achieving both milestones. I have told you my opinion of your webcomic, and I stand by it. I was lucky enough to discover it fairly early in the run, and I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been able to follow along for so long, yours is one of the few I follow that I really anticipate each update. And as others have said, you aren’t allowed to die until you finish this amazing story. No pulling a Robert Jordan for you.

I just caught up to here after being offline for half a year. Late, so Happy UnBirthday, and may God direct, keep, and bless you. Also, I couldn’t resist: Teats of Wrath!
I love your characters, and while I don’t always read the posts, I DO keep your situation at heart. As to your negative thoughts about not getting things done right or fast enough or being good enough or healthy enough, you impress me on many levels, both personal and professional. I am hoping that one day I start doing what you’ve done and use my talents to create something worth sharing. ‘To have friends, you must show yourself friendly’: look at the posts from people which show that they care about YOU and YOUR creation. They show that you’re doing SOMETHING VERY VERY RIGHT. Keep creating, and keep sharing.

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