3010 All You Have Is Your Reputation.

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I’m too tired to dance around this any more so I’m just gonna tell you all in plain language. The whole family knows, so I’m not breaking anything to anyone, well, other than you. Not that they read my blog in the first place, but whatever. My mother has cancer. She’s been in the hospital for a month, but she’s back home now. The prognosis is good so far but the various tests have not been fully run. So we know basically what I’ve just told you. She had an uncommon symptom that caused it to get caught when it normally wouldn’t have, so we are generally counting that as a blessing. Anyway, from this point till the foreseeable future I am her robot butler. I’m just going to keep posting regular comics. I’m not going to guarantee that they will arrive at exactly midnight every time, just so I have a little wiggle room. With the big screen I’m a lot freer with my drawing so I can make decent work more efficiently than when grandma died, or I was looking after grandpa. If I get overwhelmed at any point I’ll let you know in advance as much as I can and run whatever I can make to keep the content flowing.

As far as mom goes I’m only going to ask this of you: if you pray to any god, or gods, spare a prayer for my mother if you think of us. If you believe in nothing I guess you can send vibes, or donate to medical research, or whatever it is atheists do when stuff like this happens. I accept help from all corners. If you have enjoyed my work you should know that she built the first version of the website. The framework she made still exists in the bones of the current version. Any comment you see in the archive from the Magic Web Fairy is her. She hasn’t been involved in that stuff for many years but none of this would have happened if she didn’t believe that I could do it. I’ve always taken making this comic seriously so as not to insult her many contributions not only to the comic, but also my crazy schemes in a general sense. If you want to address her directly she does still read the comic and looks at the blog and comments.

I know that’s a lot for a webcomic about silly people living their silly lives, on a random Wednesday, in 2026, but it is what it is. I know we aren’t special. Millions of families all over the world are going through similar things right now too, but this is my place so you get my story. Grandma had a benign brain tumor. She had a golf ball sized tumor removed from her lung. She lived a further 20 years only to die of fall damage. In the two decades since last we’ve gone through something like this the landscape for cancer treatment has changed remarkably. I’m not going to pretend I understand all of it and just defer to the knowledge of people who have studied such things. My job is to help her around the house, get her pills on time, and serve her in any other way she sees fit. In this I will not be obstructed.

Anyway, I’ll be back on Friday with more humorous adventures of made up people. Thank you for taking the time to look at this strange series of things I am making. Until next time, I hope your journey is safe and easy.

64 Comments

I also caretake for my mom, in a very similar situation. Prayed for y’all just now, and will continue to do so.

Hope everything will be okay. I never remember to make an actual account but have commented a few times and have been here fairly early on in the comics. We do read the blogs (or I do anyways) and wish you guys the best and thank your mom for the support she gave to you and the comics.

Best wishes for a full and complete recovery to Mrs. Magic Web Fairy! Thank you for all you’ve done to make BF happen.

We’re all pulling for you!

My Grandma is a very Christian woman, so I’ll ask her to send a prayer in my stead as I feel my faith has become too weak to reach the Father’s ears, but regardless of that you and yours will be in my thoughts going forward, Jackie.

Sorry to hear that, Jackie. And Jackie’s mom. I just lost my mom a few months ago, so you have my sympathy, but her death was sudden–hopefully you can dodge the reaper for another few decades.

Dr Paul Marik is really pushing forward what one can do about cancer; not treatment, just things you can do yourself to inhibit tumor growth and all that jazz to make treatment more successful. Stuff to avoid eating, neutraceuticals, etc. Really interesting stuff to read, has both the technical details, and the basic breakdowns for us dummies. I dunno, probably annoying that everyone on earth gives their advice, but I just so happened to recently start reading his work, and it’s just very easy to understand, and he’s very honest about the limits of our knowledge–what’s theoretically helpful, what worked in pre-clinical tests, and so on. Easy to Google, if you care to. Either way, good luck, and I don’t think anyone who matters will care if your comics are late or updates are even skipped entirely. Most webcomics are run by slackers or have tons of filler pages anyway, so you have more than earned a few days off.

I don’t have any god or higher power I follow, but I will certainly offer a prayer to whoever may listen.
I’ve read this comic for, well. 15 years now I suppose. It’s been a regular comfort in my life, and… while this may sound a little much to some, it isn’t an exagerration to say it’s part of why I even survived high school.
So… I want to simply thank you both, for being the people you are, for doing what you do, and give my best wishes.

Thank you for sharing. I am not a believer, nor a particularly long-time reader, but I hope you still find some comfort in the fact that I’m wishing for a smooth recovery.

Aw, I didn’t know your mom built the webpage for your comic that’s… both really wholesome and really cool. I’m agnostic, so have my vibes, *and* my unspecific pleas for divine mercy. As you noted, cancers are more treatable than ever these days, not that there are any guarantees to be had or that anyone would choose even a 90% chance of survival over simply not having your body try to kill you in the first place.

I’ve always thought and sometimes said you push yourself too hard worrying about exact deadline timings, but giving yourself slack on that only makes more sense when you need to put care of another first. Take care of yourself, too.

Well… at least they caught it early, and if your grandma was that tough, optimism seems reasonable.
Willing good health her way, and my cats & dogs lend their shoulders to the gesture.
Thanks for keeping us posted. I doubt anyone will mind waiting a little more for new pages of our favorite comic.

If youre willing, Im finally including an email address.
Let me know your mom’s first name and her mom’s first name.
Jewish prayers for healing invoke the mother’s name rather than the usual patranymic.

Long time reader, once member of the discord before I got kicked out for not being active enough, here. Jackie, I’ll be praying for both you and your Mom. Your works have been a constant inspiration to stay creative, and I cannot express how much I appreciate the genuineness of your work. Keep it up, and rest easy, both of you. You are seen and loved.

Sending agnostic / humanist hugs from Scotland – My Mum is a breast cancer survivor of just under 20 years now, but I remember the hell she went through to get through it.

Hey man, my Mom had cancer once too. But she beat it! And she’s still kicking almost 20 years later. Your Mom can do it to, I’m sure!

You are a good son. I’ve been reading your comic and your commentary since it was still black and white, and I’ve seen you go through taking care of both your grandparents, your neice, and your mother, and in spite of how often you try to portray yourself as purely cantankerous I can’t help but admire how honorable you are and how much you love your family.

On another note, I’m enjoying where the comic has been, Alex has long been one of my favorite characters and despite all odds you made Reggie another.

Good luck to your mother and thank her for putting together this site I’ve gotten so much joy from over the years!

Early detection is indeed a blessing. It’s the only thing that saved my life. Well, that and my pure cussed stubbornness, I suppose. I give it an equal share of credit.

Do not panic, do not jump at any ‘cure’, and don’t give up. Talk to the doctors, listen to them, take their advice.

I don’t know you, you don’t know me, and that doesn’t matter right now. You’ve got my support, your mother is in my prayers. I can’t do anything materially, sadly, but I can still offer you what morale support a random stranger on the internet can provide, for what it is worth.

I’ve enjoyed your comic for years, which has brought joy to my life. It’s the least I can do.

Once recovered/recovering, if ever (hopefully not) she has to end up going on chemo, find a food that will sustain that she can live without afterwards as having that can sometimes trigger a learned reaction aversion. If is just a ‘have these pills’ type, Great! Watch for mood and sudden temperature swings.

As for a prayer? Sure. Have one that puts all harm away to shouting distance.

Said out loud:
A black step on the road
The Holy Spirit unsorrwful
In mind and memory
May the Holy Spirit walk with me

Seen it work Fast too many times to discredit, mileage may vary of course, but a good one for certain.

Fuck Cancer.

We literally lost my father-in-law suddenly from complications from cancer last night. You have my thoughts and yelling at the universe in equal measure.

Wow. I’m really sorry to hear that.
I’m sorry to hear that, Kit.
I hope that: you, and your family, and your friends, will be OK.

You know we love you ’round these parts. If you need to alter the schedule to something like 1 strip a week so you can focus on your mom, I would understand, and I bet everyone else will understand as well.

If you need time or breaks, you’ve given us plenty.

Your comic has been one of my favorites for years, and enough that the crew has made npc cameos in a campaign or two of mine.

Your “silly webcomic” is a serotonin booster that I dearly appreciate. You do good work.

Been there, Jackie. Lost my own mom to breast cancer. She made it about four years after the diagnosis, and the last six months were rough on both her and me, as her primary caregiver. It may seem cruel to say, but do not, DO NOT, underestimate the toll that kind of 24/7-365 coverage can put YOU under. Yeah, I know, the other party “has cancer”. I know. I have lived through this. You cannot understand how hard it is on yourself — physically, mentally, spiritually — to care for another human being so futilely, fully understanding that nearly everything you do is simply easing your loved one off this mortal coil with as much comfort and dignity as you can afford them until you have had to do it yourself. This is why caregiving is an industry. It is HARD. So remember to take care of yourself, too, Jackie. Take care of yourself so you can take care of her. I sincerely hope it was caught early enough and hasn’t spread into places it can’t be fought, and that your mother can make a clean, relatively-pain-free recovery… but for me and my mother, it was a death sentence. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

As for a prayer… everyone nowadays is going to think it comes from Zelda, but the origins stretch back to the 1940s. Lord grant you the courage to change what can be changed, the strength to accept what cannot, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Don’t usually comment, but I’m pulling for you Jackie. I hope things get better for her and for you.

Hey Jackie,
I hope i speak for many of us when I say this.
1) Give you mother our love, we’ll hold a place for her in our thoughts.
2) If drawing and keeping to a schedule HELPS you with some normality, go for it, but don’t you dare run yourself into the group trying to keep up with one when you have things to be doing.
3) Make sure you take care of yourself, You cant help anyone else if you are sinking yourself. You look after your mother best when you also look after yourself.
4) If you so much as think you are ‘failing us’ by not getting a strip up for a while (week, month, however long), one of us is gonna buy a ticket, come see you, smack you in the mouth, then give you a hug and help you get whatever you need to do that day done.
5) You are not alone, so many messages here already show that, you have a network, use it!
6) If you go quiet in terms of strips, please don’t go quiet in terms of a blog here or there. Musings, a rant about the unfairness of it all, just an update, whatever you got. We care, we need to know you are there, maybe our silly antics, puns and words in the comments can help you if just for a moment or two, f**king well let us do that for you!

As a fairly good damn ass fanfic author I know once said: “Nunquam Soli, Sumnus Legio”
Never alone, together we are legion.

Fuck Cancer, on the receiving table, with a baseball bat, with nails in it!

Man, I am really sorry to hear the news about your mother. I am sending you love and supportive thoughts, and hope that she is able to win her battle.

Cancer is a hell of a thing. Hit my family multiple times over the years.

Positive vibes your way.

To what’s happening in the comic, you have me shivering with antici-…

To what’s happening IRL with Jackie, you have my deepest sympathies. May your mother have the strength needed to defeat this cancer. Cancer is an asshole that needs to be kicked in its own asshole, and don’t forget in all you’re doing for her to do something for yourself, even if it’s just something simple as going into a closet and popping some bubble wrap. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, you will get through this.

Sending thoughts and prayers. Cancer’s rough, always rough. Taking care of her should be your priority, she’s your mom, and we’ll be right here when you get back.

Catching it early, is obviously a good thing. Look after your mom, sir. Bill M made a good point of not forgetting about yourself in the process of her care, so I will echo it as well. I am not much a person of faith myself these past decades, but I wont dissuade anyone for looking for answers and peace that way, so if prayers help, then prayer it is.

Lots of love to your mom and you; I had a whole novel written and then my dang fingers reset the page but maybe that’s good, a crazy long comment is too much. Just know we’re pulling for you too Jackie as much as your mom that you keep up the strength and courage as much as she beats this diagnosis. Thank you for saying you’ll let us know if it gets too much, PLEASE let us know, though I have some faith in both of you. You’re a very incredible and strong person Jackie, and she must be strong and incredible too to have made such a son.

I’m normally not the praying kind (sceptical agnostic), but you and your mum have my prayers Jackie. I wish you and your family all the strength, health and luck in the world.

Cancer is a bitch, was lucky enough to catch it early with my mom, less lucky with uncle and half my grandparents. Is there a way I can do a one time donation? You were one of the few creators who helped raise awareness of my sister’s gofundme after her accident awhile ago, I’d like to help you now. Though actual donation would be closer to end of month as middle of month is rife with bills.

Dear magic web fairy,

Your boy is a good man and I know you are proud of him like I and I’m sure most of us on here are too. I want to thank you for believing in him and giving all of us the opportunity to witness this grand spectacle he provides for us here. I want you to know that I will be praying for you and asking everyone I know to pray as well. I have recently lost a good friend to cancer but he would vouch for my statement that I have also borne witness to other people who have been prayed for that were healed from cancer. And while I don’t claim to know why sometimes one gets the healing and others don’t and even in my own body why I was healed of some injuries and not others I do believe it is still better to try to believe than to miss the chance by staying silent. I also believe that by being a part of Jackie’s life you are also a part of all of our lives and for that part that you played and are still playing I am grateful to you for it. I have been here in the shadows for many years and I was the first one to find the empty comments page on the very first page of the website in the version that I’m pretty sure you had a hand in on August 18, of 2010 when I was still using the handle D. J. Quickstone. To some your son’s work may not seem as profound as it has been to me but I want you and everyone else here to know it has deeply effected and affected me personally and you deserve to know that with the knowledge that you played a part in it that I also extend the same sentiment to you. Please go easy on your “robot butler” as I remember using that exact same term back when I was 8 years old I firmly believe he loves you very much and I also love you very much for loaning him to us out here.

Jackie,
You are a good friend, good son, and honestly like myself you are too good for your own good. I applaud you for taking care of mom and I warn you to monitor yourself because none of us nor mom wants you to fold under all that stress which know is easy to do having been in those same shoes for a time with multiple other relatives and I know it hits just that much harder just because it’s mom. Don’t worry about the schedule and don’t worry about us I know there is a tight indeterminate size core of us out here that would still come back and support you even if you didn’t post a single page for more than a year. I know I have personally been lurking very quietly out here in the eather but just know I’m still here and I still believe in you.

By the way Alex’s expression in panel 3 is absolutely priceless…and I love where this is going…lol

Hi Jackie, and Hi to Jackie’s Mom.

(Firstly, my apologies to anyone who is not into religions, or into prayer requests. I mean no offense, by my comment. Please pardon my writing this comment.)

HI Jackie, I have contacted a church community, and also- [a community of nuns, in New Jersey.]

To paraphrase the prayer requests that I made to these two groups, I asked them, in my prayer requests:

[Please pray for: the total removal of this disease from Jackie’s Mom, and for prayers for Jackie, and for prayers for: Jackie’s Mom, and for those two people’s family and friends.]

I wanted to leave a comment to tell you, and your Mom, that these people are praying for you, and that they are thinking of you, and they are wishing you the best.

I hope that things will go well for you and your Mom.

Best Wishes,
Have a good day,

TRA

Hi Jackie and Jackie’s Mom,

Both groups that I have contacted, [a church community], and [the community of Catholic nuns], have contacted me, and they have said:

they will pray for: Jackie’s Mom, Jackie, for [Jackie’s and his Mom’s] family members, and for [Jackie’s + his Mom’s] friends.

[Darn. I’m talking to you and your Mom, Jackie. I feel kind of self concious. Is it OK that I might not be using proper grammar?
I don’t know grammar from grandpa.] :D

Hope that you both are having a good day.

Cheers,

TRA

Candle lit, good vibes streaming your way.

Jackie, we care about you, and about your family. We’re here, and we’re grateful you’re here online for us.

Jackie’s mom: Lots of people have your back in lots of different ways. We out here in Jackie’s corner of the netverse care about you, too.

And I am gobsmacked at the facial expressions and body language in this arc. Masterfully done, sir!

I’ve been in a similar situation with my wife, who was SO supportive of me, and added SO much to my life. She beat cancer once, through faith, good doctors and sheer force of will. The second was detected too late and took her after just shy of 28 years together. My grief was visceral, and there was no preparing for it. My own faith and the love of neighbors, friends and family helped me through it.

Hopefully you still have more years left to enjoy your mother’s physical presence with you. Take advantage of that, in the sure knowledge that she will be with you in your heart forever.

For the comic, broken record as I love the development of these two; for the post continued thoughts and prayers your way.

May your mother have the strength of Eir and Thor behind her as she moves along her journey. And may she have nothing but warm, bright days ahead.

(*Eir is the Norse Goddess of healing and health when dealing with medical healing; not to be confused with Thor, who is prayed to for protection and strength in the general sense*)

It sucks. Its beatable. Family is so important. The technology has advanced a lot. Probably quite a lot since my own bout, but the industry is profit driven. Prayers have so often had results they can’t match, and she will have both. A Midwestern Doctor has articles on Lew Rockwell ( a political site), but also has his own Substack, I believe (however that works.) He has innumerable articles on additional and alternative therapies for all kinds of things (wish I’d known about before my troubles) Maybe you could find something helpful there. Don’t sweat update schedules, we understand.Will pray for the both of you. Wish you had a Between Failures to read to take your mind off of things.

Gosh! There IS something about a girl who can drop words like “reticence” into pillow talk.
…
…I may need to start looking for love myself at a library.

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