LINK

Come on Onstad, you're breaking my balls here man.

Actually, more like OntSAD, am I right?

Edit: Fixed Strip Link!

http://achewood.com/index.php?date=09062013

Philippe's still 5 anyway.

I think the guy at a party analogy is the best way to make sense of things; Onstad was the guy who was maybe a bit uncomfortable being there but when you engaged with him he was really interesting and funny, but for a while he's just been nodding, sending texts and pretending he's still in the conversation but should have just excused himself properly and now you'll always think he's an ass.

I saw the olympic torch a couple of weeks ago, but it wasn't carried by Philippe.

I read, or maybe heard, a recent interview with him after the 'end' of the hiatus where he said he had received his first piece of hate mail in regards to the new strips and that had been a significant milestone for him. I can't believe there was a time when he used to speak to readers. I also can't imagine a time when there were at least three strips in a week.

Not to lower this to the level of 'HEAT' magazine, or whatever its American equivalent, I didn't realise he had broken up with his wife; that would certainly put a dint in a fellow's work flow and general demeanour.

I think what frustrates me about it, not having seen a period of 'decline' due to starting late, is how he just doesn't make use of what you know he can make use of and what you dearly wish he would. I think that naming a homeless man Night-Shed is just a totally subtle demonstration of genius and I assume most fans get annoyed because of how much they just want to read anything he writes. The current strips account for such a relatively long stretch of time that you can't help but worry about his voice atrophying and getting lost, it happened to plenty of other people.

I have no idea what his Circumstances or brain problems were/are but if I was a psychiatrist I might suggest he try and relax by drawing some pictures of an otter in amusing situations; I'd pay up to $75 just for a picture of an unworried Philippe sitting under a tree these days.

Thank you for the welcome jay-ell. I have never used a forum before so please forgive me if I'm a boor.

As littlefallsmets says the business model must have thrown things into disarray, I wish I'd been able to buy a t-shirt though. I donate (pay for a service) when I like a new strip and I pay for the things in the honour store but surely there are people who appreciate him enough that regular strips would pay off? He built up such a vocabulary of different ways to write that it makes me think he must be really incredibly sick of the whole thing not to make use of them. I subscribed when the option came up again and my account wasn't activated so I emailed and asked about it and said exactly how much I appreciated Achewood's existence but I had to send, I think, four more emails before it actually got activated. The last one I sent just said that I just wanted to pay him for a product but I couldn't do it if I didn't get the product and made me sad that that was the email that seemed to fix the problem. Maybe he's trapped in a negative loop of perfectionism/lack of self worth.

I was reading about how Yeats always knew he was going to lose it as he got older and he would have the whole of Wordsworth read to him so he could meditate on that poet's long decline, perhaps the fear of losing it is as fatal as being blind to ones' flaws. A main reason I want him to make new strips is because otherwise I'm just going to be reading these ones every day for the next fifty years and I fear I won't stop checking as long as either Onstad or I have life.

Hello, I am newly registered and have been trying to find a topic relevant to this and I apologise if it is something that has been tread over and over, though I would appreciate being pointed in that direction.

I only discovered Achewood the day before 'Our Predictions for 2011' was posted and I spent weeks solidly reading through every strip; it became possibly my favourite thing in any medium though I was upset how late I was to the party and I checked every day for a new strip. I was overjoyed when 'Ray in Rehab' came up and I wept with laughter at the Roast Beef-isms. But I have finally found myself questioning whether he has, well, 'lost it' so to speak.

I have no enmity towards Onstad, as people often seemed to display in assetbar, and am under no illusions that he owes me anything or should exist to please me. He created a wonderful thing that still exists and few enough people even know about it. I wouldn't be angry if Altimiter Tim became a new main character in a daily strip (just deeply disappointed), but reading back over old strips as I do most days I can't see a damn reason why he should have lost it. I think it was great because although obviously it was hilarious, it was a sparse and effective thing that sometimes became totally transcendent and magical. It strikes me that it could do that because it never forgot it was a comic strip. I know Onstad worried about repeating himself but I'd pay money to read 'The Philippe Times' every week or Vlad's talk show and it might not break new ground but it would add to a body of work that is valuable and doesn't need to prove itself. Now it seems that he just wants to try and make the transcendent, esoteric part and forgot about the comic strip and the only possible result is that both will fail. I can't second guess him, I don't know what he's planning but in the last couple of days when I load the page and see Altimiter Tim's face it makes me think a thing I've been trying to ignore since the hiatus started; that it's over.

I thought the Nate Small novella was really fantastic and I dearly wish I could buy proper books of it and I'd never question Onstad's great talent, but I don't know why he doesn't seem to use it. I would be grateful to know what other's opinion is.