Folks, I’ll cut right to the chase.
I now have two projects I’m working on outside of my syndicated strip that will hopefully become fruitful. Unfortunately, this means I’ll have to put Gill on hold indefinitely. I was hoping that I could pull it off without cutting Gill, but the last few weeks have proven that can’t happen … not without neglecting my real children all summer. Hopefully, I’ll be able to come back to the strip in September, or when these projects are finished, but I can’t make any promises.
I appreciate all the comments, support and kind words over the last 8 months, as well as the people who have purchased books. The store will remain open and orders will continue to be filled if anyone is interested, by the way.
Thanks to everyone for reading.
-Norm-
One more order probably wouldn’t mean much to you, but I tried to order via PayPal and it keeps screwing me up on the shipping address to Japan. Since my account draws on a U.S. bank, it doesn’t want to let me enter a Japanese shipping address. If you can e-mail me with a method of paying you by snailmail rather than via PayPal, I’d love to buy a copy.
“the 30 or so people who purchased books”
Number 24 here. I guess most people want everything free these days. My partner’s family dog was put to sleep this morning, so a sad day just got sadder. I will continue to big up Gill to the high heavens. If there’s still plenty of books by November, a lot of people may get the same Christmas present from me.
Bummer Norm, I really think Gill is something special, and I’ve really enjoyed it. I understand the pressures of time of course, so good luck with all your projects. I really hope you can get back to the strip at some point. The book was really nice BTW, I really enjoyed reading all the strips again.
I, for one, will still be here when you have time to come back to Gill! Good luck with the other two projects!
Noooooooooo!
Actually, I totally understand but am REALLY going to miss this strip. It deserves a place in alt papers like the Reader. Too bad they aren’t running comics anymore
crap =(
Good luck. I’ll be around.
This is the first comic to remind me of Calvin and Hobbes since Watterson stopped publishing. I will definitely miss it, it brightened my mornings.
Best of luck and hope it all works out for you. It’s been a pleasure reading Gill. it’s truly a great comic and hope you find time to bring him back one day!
So can you tell us about the new projects, then? *Sigh.* This is such a shame, Gill was one of my favorite strips. Please come back in September!
My RSS feeder will let me know when you come back. Till then, good luck. This is one of 3 comics that I read that are on hiatus till the fall.
If I can get some extra cash will try to order book, but am working 3 jobs to just keep up at this point.
I’m bummed but understand – good luck with your other projects and enjoy your time with your kids. I’ll be waiting (somewhat) patiently for Gill to return. It’s been one of the best comics out there.
‘Tis sad…but Fall isn’t that far off. I’ve enjoyed Gill so much, shared strips with my family, and did purchase your book…which will shared with family as well. Good luck with all your projects. Looking forward to more Gill in the future! Thank You!!!
Sad times. I feel honored to have been following this strip from the beginning. I completely understand though. I hope that you’ll be able to return to Gill someday.
Aw, bummer! I love Gil… but summer with real kids…yeah, that’s worth it!
oh NOOO
But my rss reader will stay tuned too. Already miss Gill.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sadness. Sure, I understand, but that doesn’t mean I’m not sad!!
Damn, that’s bad news. Gill was one of the best comic strips and I have endorsed it numerous times on my websites or forums.
I just ordered a copy as long as that’s still possible.
However I was seriously surprised when I saw the number of “1000” signed books. I just hope you haven’t ordered that many books yourself. With an Alexa rank of 393,060 (sorry, I have no other method to measure your traffic) you can’t expect to sell many books. Heck, even Sandra and Woo has an Alexa rank of 189,047, and my readership is a far cry compared to massive hits like Questionable Content or Sinfest. With such a small readership it’s probably the best to use Lulu and let them do all the work with shipping books.
I am also surprised that there has never been any advertising on the site. I guess you could have made $100 a month or so.
To start with 5 strips a week on top of your normal strip Retail was also not a great idea. You could have drawn that many strips, but with publishing only 3 of them per week so that you would have a LARGE buffer by now.
It is sad, and I hope you can come back to Gill when you are able to.
Gill is a strip that deserves a very wide audience due to the very realistic and utterly sweet characterisation. Hope you can get the audience you deserve when you come back.
And I hope you get all your work done and have loads of fun with your kids
Novil broke the news back on his site and I was heartbroken when I read it.Some of what he said here and back on his site has some truth,which is sad to say,but it doesn’t have to be that way.With some luck you will come back to this and I will be happy to continue throwing my support behind it.Also if there was a way for me to pay to get a copy of the book I would,so just like the japanese reader way back at the top,if you don’t mind snail mail I’ll get one.
Also,methinks this would be a grand opportunity that when you do come back to Gill you start advertising the hell out of it.Higher readership would do it wonders and relieve some melancholy of it not more gandering attention like you want.
That’s too bad, but we understand, Norm. Good luck and have a great time with the kids. I’ll be keeping Gill in my bookmarks, and check back from time to time.
I was book # 44 and received my book over a week ago. Love it!! I’m going to miss checking Gill everyday (although I probably still will).
Really sad news, but I’ll be looking for Gill’s triumphant return after the best summer ever! Let’s all hope anyway, it’s a fantastic strip.
Family comes first. We’ll be here when you get back. Just keep fighting the good fight.
Very sad. I loved Gill too. If you ever publish Gill in a store I would definatly pick up a copy. Hope your projects go great.
Oh well. NEXT!
Sorry to hear the news. I hope everything works out with your other projects!
Looks like Gill went to the beach without us. Oh well.
Thanks for the laughs, and have a great summer!
If there’s one thing I understand, it’s being too busy to do everything you want to do. Hakuna matata.
I’ll really miss Gill and I hope to see him again eventually. He reminded me of myself when I was his age- “big boned” and had divorced parents. The strip usually hit the mark on my experiences.
Sorry to hear, Norm, but glad you have other projects that may prove more financially fruitful. “Gill” is definitely a diamond of the comics world, but ya gotta do what you gotta do to get the cash flowing.
OK, so take care.
But – DO come back with Gill.
This is a nice comic to take a hiatus on. I like the idea of Gill being so happy for the rest of the summer.
Such sad news, but after reading the news I finally ordered the book.
I hope you and the kids have a wonderful summer, and Gill comes back from the beach in fall. I hope the other projects turn out well.
I definitely have the worst luck– I just linked in from your wonderful guest comic at Ask Rachel and love this strip! Unfortunate that you’re going on hiatus with it but I wish you the best of luck with your other projects. If you come back to it, I’ll be waiting to read!
Oh my. Gill is definitely one of my favorite comic strips and it’s sad to see it delayed. Gill is adorable and I just want to hug the chubby kid. I really hope for his comeback.
YAY!! Gill made a guest cameo in Retail today!! \o/
Gill was in today’s Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee comic. Hope to see Gill back here in the fall!
I keep popping back in every now and then in the vague hope Gill has come back. Alas, I will keep hope alive! It was nice to see his cameo in 7-26 Retail, though!
Dawg do you have any unpublished strips for those of us Jonesing for more?
So Norm, any news? Will Gill be coming back soon? Please say yes!