Debuting in 1995 it must surely be the longest-running comics series with self-published origins, and now Gary Spencer Millidge’s Strangehaven is coming to an end with an Epilogue final chapter. More recently serialised by Soaring Penguin in their Meanwhile… anthology, the Strangehaven finale will be supported by backers on Patreon. Find out more in the press release below.
Strangehaven: Epilogue Announced: Millidge Launches Patreon
Gary Spencer Millidge has announced that he is currently working on Strangehaven: Epilogue, a fifty-page final chapter to his long-running independent comic book series, Strangehaven. And to help buy the time to complete it, he is launching a Patreon.
Millidge started self-publishing Strangehaven in 1995 as an ongoing comic book series. He published three collected editions, Arcadia, Brotherhood and Conspiracies, with the fourth volume, Destiny serialised in Soaring Penguin’s Meanwhile…anthology. The last chapter of Destiny was published in Meanwhile…#12 in 2023.
On his website, Millidge writes, “As always intended, Strangehaven: Epilogue will be the final chapter of Strangehaven. And because I’m a masochistic fool, it’ll be over fifty pages long; essentially be a fifty-page victory lap. A Strangehaven: Encore, if you will.”
“If you started following Strangehaven at some point during the last (almost!) thirty years or so, you *will* want to read this. As for where and when it will appear…stay tuned. It’s most likely that it will be included as a bonus in the forthcoming collection. I’ll make a further announcement of my future plans for Strangehaven once the epilogue is complete – which might not be as far away as you might imagine, as I’m already deep into it.”
Millidge’s new Patreon will offer access to posts that will include progress reports on the epilogue, work-in-progress, insights into his life as an independent creator, and more.
Readers can show their support and help Millidge complete the epilogue finished by visiting his Patreon page, which is live now
“must surely be the longest-running comics series with self-published origins”
If Strangehaven is the bar, then long gaps in publication can’t exclude consideration, so 2023’s “The Second Fake Death Of Eddie Campbell” might keep his autobio output in the running for UK competition if branding changes are allowed – one can count from Alec minicomics c. 1981 or The Days Of The Ace Rock ‘n’ Roll Club c. 1978.
In the US, Ninja High School has been self-published for most of its approaching-200-issue run since 1987. And while they’re only at 160-or-so discrete issues, there’s only been one year without a new Love & Rockets comic since their 1981 self-published debut.
However, the confounded Canadian Dave Sim wins on both longevity and title consistency, with something like 84 issues of the Cerebus sequel series – a 12-year layoff between the 300-issue original and the first print edition of the cut-and-paste new one, but still chugging along eight years in, to about as many readers.