Long John

With two weeks left––six final pages (including this one)––we are on the final stretch of Long John. It’s a quiet finale, to be fair, but it’s ends on a moment I’ve had in mind for a long time.

Not to bring up a previously discussed topic, but there was a bit of hesitation as I ran toward the intended ending. I felt like the ending should be grandiose, because that’s what people expect from a story coming to an end after so long (thankfully, the comic will end before the 12-year anniversary). But I kept coming back to the motivations that have fueled the comic this entire time: character, tone, and place.

I’ll never forget my first trip to Mono Lake and the Mono Basin. It’s quiet, bleak, and lonely, but not hopeless or desolate. What I wanted was an ending as nobly stark as the environment that hosted the story.

Thumbnail drawing for this page. Click for larger version.