Quick Update: I am in the process of moving. Moving is EXHAUSTING. I will be back this week, though. Tired as hell but NEW WORK SPACE! WOO!

Hello everyone.

Today, I am taking a moment to pause between the Andromeda X story arcs to celebrate the 7-year anniversary of d20Monkey.

I struggled with how to start this post. There are a lot of drafts in the trashcan right now, but I think I have it down now as I sit here and think about where I am and where I have come from. In the early days of d20Monkey, I had simple goals: Produce content 3-days a week and make comics that make me laugh. That’s it. No books, no merch, and no ads. No worrying about page views, audience retention, revenue, or what my “next big thing” would be. I just sat down at the computer and started working. If it made me laugh, I made a comic and I posted it.

In those days, I would come home from my day job (It’s been a few years so I’ll say it, I hated that damn job) and work into the early hours of the morning to post new strips every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I posted my comics on Twitter and Facebook. I emailed them to friends. I posted them on bulletin boards at conventions. I told everyone I knew that I was working on a comic. I wanted the world to know that I was doing something that made me happy and hoped that it might make them happy as well.

I wanted people to laugh. I still do.

The hours were worth it. Every week, 3-days a week, I sat at my desk making content I loved. I talked about games. I poked fun at industry professionals from a place of respect and (hopefully) good-natured humor (though Monte Cook and Mike Mearls still never return my calls). I wanted to bring eyes onto the games and community I loved so much. I wanted d20Monkey to be something I could look back on and be proud of. I wanted the archive to be a time capsule for my art, a living timeline that reminded me of the hard work I put in and the lesson that artists evolve over time. I used to joke about hating my old work, but truthfully, I don’t hate it. I never hated it. I love it because I know I poured myself into it and I put it out there for everyone to see.

Through a destroyed knee, cross-country moves, quitting my job to chase a dream, questioning everything and getting older I have made this comic. I made friends through this comic. I lost friends through this comic. I was married, hurt, and divorced during the years I have made this comic. I found someone who loves me and supports me through this comic, even if she had no idea who I was when we met at a Gen Con after party (Hi, Lisa. I love you.). I have realized that I am broken and I have worked to heal old wounds while working on this comic. I kept my head down and I worked on this comic. I made lists of goals I wanted to achieve and I pushed to reach them. I practiced. I pushed myself. I tried new things. I got older. I got smarter. I realized what is true about making comics and what is the perceived idea of making comics. I made new comics. I made games. I made friends proud of me. I learned the hardest lessons you can learn about people. I told personal stories. I honed my craft. I kept trying. I keep trying.

I will always keep trying.

I started d20Monkey in 2010 and let me tell you, seven years is a long time. I know that it might not seem like a high number value, what with the single digit and all that, but the total sum of month, weeks, days, and hours add up to a representation of time that I stopped calculating a long time ago. That is to say that d20Monkey, and all of the projects that spawned from it, are labors of love. This comic, the characters, and the stories I tell bring me joy and whether you have been here for one day or all seven years, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for reading. Thank you for supporting me. Thank you for telling your friends about my work. Thank you to the kind folks who email me, comment, laugh with me, cry with me, and who always have my back when the trolls descend on me on days where it seems like they know I am sad. Thank you for being here.

Thank you for everything.

I hope I am writing another post like this when d20Monkey is 10-years old. This comic means everything to me. Sam, Brett, and everyone in this series is either me or based on people I love and I love to tell their stories. I hope I can tell them forever. I hope you will be here to read them.

Thank you.

Brian

HOVER-TEXT: A cockstravaganza! Only 93-years until a BicenPEEnial. Cock Joke!