Guys. Guys.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

I just had direct contact with Rick.
...
Okay so he replied to a comment I left one one of his comic pages on FA telling him that his site was broken and he just told me he was aware.
But it counts.
I may have squealed like a little girl.
A little.
A lot.
I may have replied to his reply telling him I loved him and I hoped his burnout was feeling better and that I was going to be here posting too much fanfiction.
So basically if he shows up here in the next few days after like 3 years inactive you know why.

[Morlit]

Lets just hope anyway. None of his other comics (outside of A&H Club but that one has been on hiatus for even longer than Housepets) has really interested me. It just feels like the characters are miserable all the time and the settings aren't exactly interesting either. Which is a problem when he focuses so much on World building.

I just hope the comic doesnt turn out like Exterminatus Now where the last thing we heard from Virus was that the script for the promised epilogue was "almost complete". And that was in 2016!

[NHWestoN]

Well, congrattz, Amazz. It is a thrill to get an acknowledgement from someone who is ... and Rick is ... a genius. I remember as a youngster meeting Presidential candidates in the NH primaries (Dad and Mom were active politicos) and it was always kind of a thrill, even if they were obscure (remember Stuart Symington?). It's nice to learn that Rick hasn't "forgotten his fans", either.

Sadly, I think you're onto something, Morlit. Now, I do not follow Rick's other comics, partly because I do not want the computer to eat my life, but also partly because my visits to these narratives hint strongly of the concern you raise. As a longtime fan of "the comics", I've noticed that strips that last for decades (likw Peanuts and Pogo tend to become "baroque' - that is they will bring in new characters that have oddities rather than personalities, they recycle old theme lines and punch lines to the point of exhaustion, they start subtly (and then not so subtly) becoming imitative of other genres, and more eccentric than creative. Housepets! was showing signs of these strains - Fox, for example, steadily declined from a kind of sympathetic and insecure individual trying to find love, friendship and himself into a whiney, tiresome, overwrought putz. Okay, my opinion, but you can see the trend in other characters and situations. As for A & H, the last story might have marked a good place to end the whole saga (happy ending with car key joke), and maybe Rick just got tired of doing it.

Rick may indeed be struggling with exactly how to "bring back" Housepets! when mentally and artistically he's just plain moved on.

Oh, well. it's Autumn. Time to indulge in a little melancholy anyways. And t'was kind of him to respond to your concerns personally, Amaxx.

[Morlit]

Well, congrattz, Amazz. It is a thrill to get an acknowledgement from someone who is ... and Rick is ... a genius. I remember as a youngster meeting Presidential candidates in the NH primaries (Dad and Mom were active politicos) and it was always kind of a thrill, even if they were obscure (remember Stuart Symington?). It's nice to learn that Rick hasn't "forgotten his fans", either.

Sadly, I think you're onto something, Morlit. Now, I do not follow Rick's other comics, partly because I do not want the computer to eat my life, but also partly because my visits to these narratives hint strongly of the concern you raise. As a longtime fan of "the comics", I've noticed that strips that last for decades (likw Peanuts and Pogo tend to become "baroque' - that is they will bring in new characters that have oddities rather than personalities, they recycle old theme lines and punch lines to the point of exhaustion, they start subtly (and then not so subtly) becoming imitative of other genres, and more eccentric than creative. Housepets! was showing signs of these strains - Fox, for example, steadily declined from a kind of sympathetic and insecure individual trying to find love, friendship and himself into a whiney, tiresome, overwrought putz. Okay, my opinion, but you can see the trend in other characters and situations. As for A & H, the last story might have marked a good place to end the whole saga (happy ending with car key joke), and maybe Rick just got tired of doing it.

Rick may indeed be struggling with exactly how to "bring back" Housepets! when mentally and artistically he's just plain moved on.

Oh, well. it's Autumn. Time to indulge in a little melancholy anyways. And t'was kind of him to respond to your concerns personally, Amaxx.

If im to be honest it feels like he has been writing most of his comics recently (ie, last five years or so) in a therapeutic fashion. A&H club had a lot of Christian fundamentalist bashing in it (Housepets! was somewhat guilty of something similar of in its later arcs too) after all and i do believe reading somewhere that he grew up in a very religious household. Same goes for him, well, writing in a lot of non-straight characters recently where their sexuality often is a big plot point alongside the concept of free love and how its always good.

This is just my personal observation though. Not bashing his works or anything but when he posts stuff like this alongside his "Witch Of Kurikuto" comic. You gotta wonder.

DnUj1jyUwAA8h1__u18chan.jpg (73.96 KiB) Viewed 2897 times

[HiraokaNettoMichio]

Well, congrattz, Amazz. It is a thrill to get an acknowledgement from someone who is ... and Rick is ... a genius. I remember as a youngster meeting Presidential candidates in the NH primaries (Dad and Mom were active politicos) and it was always kind of a thrill, even if they were obscure (remember Stuart Symington?). It's nice to learn that Rick hasn't "forgotten his fans", either.

Sadly, I think you're onto something, Morlit. Now, I do not follow Rick's other comics, partly because I do not want the computer to eat my life, but also partly because my visits to these narratives hint strongly of the concern you raise. As a longtime fan of "the comics", I've noticed that strips that last for decades (likw Peanuts and Pogo tend to become "baroque' - that is they will bring in new characters that have oddities rather than personalities, they recycle old theme lines and punch lines to the point of exhaustion, they start subtly (and then not so subtly) becoming imitative of other genres, and more eccentric than creative. Housepets! was showing signs of these strains - Fox, for example, steadily declined from a kind of sympathetic and insecure individual trying to find love, friendship and himself into a whiney, tiresome, overwrought putz. Okay, my opinion, but you can see the trend in other characters and situations. As for A & H, the last story might have marked a good place to end the whole saga (happy ending with car key joke), and maybe Rick just got tired of doing it.

Rick may indeed be struggling with exactly how to "bring back" Housepets! when mentally and artistically he's just plain moved on.

Oh, well. it's Autumn. Time to indulge in a little melancholy anyways. And t'was kind of him to respond to your concerns personally, Amaxx.

If im to be honest it feels like he has been writing most of his comics recently (ie, last five years or so) in a therapeutic fashion. A&H club had a lot of Christian fundamentalist bashing in it (Housepets! was somewhat guilty of something similar of in its later arcs too) after all and i do believe reading somewhere that he grew up in a very religious household. Same goes for him, well, writing in a lot of non-straight characters recently where their sexuality often is a big plot point alongside the concept of free love and how its always good.

This is just my personal observation though. Not bashing his works or anything but when he posts stuff like this alongside his "Witch Of Kurikuto" comic. You gotta wonder.

Well, even though I'm a LDS Church member I still found Housepets to be neat in spite of Rick's baggage concerning a household that may as well be in Jonestown.

And somehow God is okay with me writing fanworks, supporting Housepets and all because I don't delve into the loaded material when writing, let alone any and all personal gripes I have (which by the way is one of my personal No-Nos when writing.)

But the fact that God himself supports this series (mainly because of the accuracy on how evil the infernals can be) makes Rick's criticisms of him rather oxymoronic. It's also why regarding the character that is supposed to be God, I dropped all formalities and referred to the character as God himself, in addition to his son being the Celestal of Humans. (Rather Blasphemous if done badly but I did what I can to show the son respect.)

[Amazee Dayzee]

I am pretty sure that he checks out the forum from time to time to check on things and to make sure everything is going smoothly and the fanbase hasn't deteriorated too bad. That is not what we need to focus on. I feel like we need to focus on waiting for him to announce he is ready to start posting the comic again and that he is fine moving forward and knows what direction he is going in for it. If he is responding it might be a hopeful sign but I can't really get my hopes up too much as I am kind of a pessimist.

Also we might have another issue here with is Weston possibly going senile and forgetting who certain forum members are. He called GingaDensetsuAleu the name he calls me when this is my first post in this topic. :/

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

I noticed that myself but I didn't wanna say anything

But no, according to Rick's profile he was last active on the forum February 2023.

[NHWestoN]

Your forbearance is duly noted and most humbly appreciated. Apologies all around.

[Amazee Dayzee]

In regards to what I said about Rick showing up on the forum to check on it from time to time I didn't mean he logs in to check it out so people know he is here. I meant he looks at it as a guest which means he is not logged in and only briefly to insure the forums aren't on the verge of collapse.

[The Blue Fox]

Rick may indeed be struggling with exactly how to "bring back" Housepets! when mentally and artistically he's just plain moved on.

Honestly, where the Housepets! comic has ended off right now might actaully be a good place to "leave the rest to fans' imaginations"...I mean, they saved the world...I don't believe there are any loose threads hanging...at least, not any of too much importance...right?

If Rick has indeed mentally and artistically moved on it may be beneficial to his sanity to just officially say "The End" already.

[NHWestoN]

Rick may indeed be struggling with exactly how to "bring back" Housepets! when mentally and artistically he's just plain moved on.

Honestly, where the Housepets! comic has ended off right now might actaully be a good place to "leave the rest to fans' imaginations"...I mean, they saved the world...I don't believe there are any loose threads hanging...at least, not any of too much importance...right?

If Rick has indeed mentally and artistically moved on it may be beneficial to his sanity to just officially say "The End" already.

Hi, BlueFox. No, I agree, as you've said, if Rick wanted to write a "The End" to Housepets!, saving the world with the implication of "... and they all lived happily, giddily, and mildly neurotically ever after" makes a grand farewell for it all. Since I don't follow his other works, I don't know where his skills and creativity now beckon him, but my vibrations is these themes now give him the energy and outlets he needs. So my conjectures ... and these thoughts are nothing more than that ... is he's struggling with how to recreate the old comic without disappointing its increasingly restless fan base. Or maybe struggling with how, after all this prolonged delay and anticipation, to say final goodbyes to Peanut and Grape and these wonderful characters he's conjured up over a decade and a half. Be well.