#I should probably do a top ten list of nib comix at some point.

[powpowhammer]

I've mostly been reblogging Nibposting only with tags, but as @thenib draws to an on-its-own-terms-as-much-as-possible-given-the-circumstances close, I wanted to say how much I've enjoyed and learned from everyone participating in it over these past years. I was a founding Kickstarter, Inkwell subscriber, turbo ultra with extra cheese member et cetera, and got a number of my friends to sign up after seeing the magazine and so on. I've treasured every moment of it.

In my opinion, sequential art--the ten-dollar word for good old comix--is the best way to learn about something. And to think about something. And there's a strong case to be made that it's the best way to tell a certain kind of story, too. There are struggles and joys I never would've considered without the watchful eye and deft pens of Nib cartoonists, who I have just realized could have been called Niblings this whole time. Seeing the artists and writers enter and graduate from the political cartooning stable (Matt, I have your books. Looking forward to your future work!) as well as evolve as people like Pokemon reaching their stronger stages (Mattie L graduating into a certified hottie!) made me realize that it's been a movement and I've been here the whole time. I think it would take too long and be even more boring if I just kept naming names, but please trust me when I say that if you contributed to The Nib, I became your fan (or preened smugly as an already-fan). Every single person made me think and laugh.

The Nib ain't just millennial comic upstarts, neither. It really made me feel like it was a link in the chain when long-suffering old hands like Tom Tomorrow (if you see this, Tom, between me and my father we own all your collections!) and Ward Sutton (new Sutton Impact collection when?!) joined the crew. You even got Keef Knight, the one comic artist I'd trust to be able to moonwalk on command! And of course there's the star-studded webcomicker roster of contributors that makes you point and go "Hey, I know that guy!". And a special shoutout to Rob Rogers, who I watched the PPG dump like a foolish knave in a cautionary fable killing their golden goose. (Rob, my relatives STILL love getting those greeting cards you did that they stock in every jiggle. I hope you get royalties for those. And I love your book!) When I saw that he had strips up on The Nib I did a little dance. The Nib provided a brief country for old (not just old!) men (not just men!).

There's a pretty cogent piece of (cynical, perhaps accurate) criticism that political cartooning on the left is an inherently doomed effort, like talk radio. (We are always pouring one out for Air America.) That a medium that by its nature cannot communicate deep nuance and benefits from superficial appeal will be doomed when trying to advocate for a deeply nuanced tent in a world with deeply nuanced problems. Much easier to draw a dinosaur labeled TAXES (or DEBT) and call it a day, like the somehow-collecting-a-paycheck hacks in your racist uncle's favorite rag. But for a long time (longer than Air America, ha!) The Nib made it work, and by howdy. They got the nuance in there! The Internet (and its infinite canvas, thank you Scott McCloud for burrowing into my brain like an antlion) allowed for long-form comicking that pried open issues to their guts and took us to new places. And told even funnier jokes.

I think a whole new cohort of people around the world have become aware of the power of cartooning to send a message, to advocate, to educate, and of course to entertain even when nothing seems particularly funny. There were times when I needed the relatable-millennial-problems comics even more than the reminders-that-the-world-is-bonkers-not-me comics. And The Nib was happy to supply plenty of both. I will be following EVERYONE'S careers with... great interest.

I guess I'll let legendary @daygloayhole Ben Passmore's last panel for the site sign us off.

The Nib closes today, September 1, 2023. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

(Thank you for everything.)

Here it is‚ the last comic for The Nib. Thanks for reading all these years!