Sword Maths
Added 2025-07-28 01:04:21 +0000 UTCIt's been a while since I crunched the numbers, so I thought you might enjoy a Swords-eye View of the series and the journey it's been on.
I think it's easy to lose sight of some things when you're standing in the middle of them. I maybe didn't fully appreciate the magnitude of how the Patreon has almost doubled slowly over the last 18 months! Thank you!!
People get worried sometimes that the series is a bit slow or that I've disappeared for a bit too long, but there's usually a reason. March and April 2021 were all triple-length episodes building up to the Season 3 finale, so it's fair to say March this year was the slowest on record - but I did explicitly announce a hiatus to ship cards.
October 2019 is the only time I successfully did an Inktober/Swordtember and actually finished it. But I'm a silly boy, so I'll probably try again this year!
And So, The Current Roadmap:
Swordtember in September - we can make a prompt list together, let's make it weird
Finish the Patron Swor'nament in October and squeeze in a Halloween episode after
Try to reach Swords #1000 by Christmas, but failing that, the 8th Anniversary in March is a nice time to do something big with Kargob and panDEMONium too.
It would have been nice to race gracelandwest to 1000 episodes (952/1000), but I'm still a bit too far behind (936/1000) without some sort of unhinged comic marathon to close the gap. I probably have healthier things to do.
It's about time to finish Quest Sprout's Main Quest too... but I'll need to decide if I can commit to that in August or it should wait until November. It's definitely happening before Episode 1000, even if I have to make Episode 999 a 10-parter.
Comments
I should really gather up the years of drafts and scribbly notes and share them all - there are some real bangers in there I'm just too lazy to actually draw.
Matthew Wills
2025-07-28 01:25:14 +0000 UTCVery hard to quantify what would be the healthiest. If the job market was clearer and there was a straight path for me to get back into full-time work, I would put the comic aside for a while to do that. Swords money should be getting used to grow Swords. On the other hand, while it's unclear how long I will be out of mainstream work, any time I'm not spending on Swords is failing to capitalize on the time I have available. Just being in a limbo between the two which I didn't plan for is probably the kind of daily stress my Doctor would be telling me to avoid, if I felt like I could afford to go. But I'm not complaining - I'm leaning into comics right now, because that's the thing I have the most control over.
Matthew Wills
2025-07-28 01:23:52 +0000 UTCI'm not worried when you disappear. I just assume you're visiting the Wordsmith for new sword puns. (I continue to be deeply impressed that you're still coming up with new ones after this many comics)
Kevin
2025-07-28 01:22:52 +0000 UTCMy only real request is to do whatever is healthiest for you!
Jason Brabander
2025-07-28 01:15:58 +0000 UTC
