Surprise! The series is over. I wonder if you had figured this out yet. As I was developing this story, I thought it would be obvious by the end, but really, I guess I could keep right on going if I wanted to.

I don't!

Sorry. I decided to bring CFS to an end... I think in October. Making comics is fun, and I've become very attached to these characters, but reality was setting in. Trying to write, draw, color & letter 3 space strips a week and draw & letter 7 daily comics a week AND work a full time job is just... too much. It doesn't leave time for much else. It doesn't even leave much time to make sure the comics were all good. Every time I had to draw a comic I didn't think was funny, or a comic I didn't think I drew very well had to go out, because I had a deadline to meet one way or the other, I felt pretty bad. So I decided it was time to get off the schedule. But I felt like it should have an ending and not just stop, and the longer I tinkered with it, the more expansive that ending got, and here we are, months later. And I didn't tell you! My friends & family are as surprised reading this as everyone I don't know. I thought about playing up the impending end of the strip for fun, but as some one who's dead tired of comic book companies telling me how everything will end 6 months before the comics come out, telling me who dies, and when they come back, and who wins... I thought I'd do my meager part to provide a genuine surprise.

Believe it or not, I never really meant for the comic to be about Mike. It was going to be an ensemble, and I guess it was, sometimes. But Mike being the point of view character sort of made him take over. I made him up on the spot writing the 3rd strip in 2006 because some one going to space for a contest seemed funny. That bit, as I've discussed elsewhere, was inspired by a contest on a soda bottle I bought in 2005. "Win a trip to space!" Whoever won is still waiting, I guess. Talking about that contest, my friends & I talked about Burt Rutan (The guy who designed SpaceshipOne) showing off his designs for a recreational space station, and I said I would quit my job and become a janitor on the space station as long as I got to go to space. Since Mike's story began with that experience, I decided it might as well end with it.

Summer & Anthony's relationship exists entirely because my soon-to-be sister-in-law and fellow space enthusiast Annie (Of Moon of the Day), asked for a romance plot after reading this strip. I just meant for that to be a funny little moment for Summer, but hey, why not? I think that turned out pretty well. Helped Summer grow up a little... but just a little. Anthony's early fascination with Cecelia is, frankly, one of a couple of plot threads I simply forgot about over the years. I didn't do much with Tin's dual-specialization, either.

So now what? Glad you asked, theoretical person! I'll be honest with you guys, I finished the last strip about a week and a half ago, and I don't know what to do with myself anymore. Making comics literally took up all my time, and suddenly, it's not there. It's hard to adjust. I'll probably start drawing a lot more often for my Tumblr. Maybe I'll pick up the guitar that's been languishing in the corner of my bedroom since I stopped having time to play it. Then I'm going to draw a short story that's very different from this just to see if I can. I'm going to retain a space setting for it to justify my URL, and I'll start running it here when it's done. When will that be? I have no idea, man. Not soon! If you want to be there when it happens, I hope you'll subscribe to the RSS feed, like the Facebook page, follow me on Twitter, or even find me on Google+ if you're into that kind of thing. When I have comics to show, I will let you know!

In the meantime, I am open for freelance work. If you need a logo or illustration or something, hit me up at the contact link to your left, why don'tcha? My schedule is pretty open all of a sudden...

Thanks for reading, everybody! Thanks especially to everyone who did guest comics for me. My brother Daniel, Annie, Pat, Gregory, Michael, Aal, Chris, Lance, you guys are all awesome. Thanks to everyone who helped me get the word about about the strip, especially The Sarcastic Voyage podcast and its loyal Twitter legions. I hope you all had fun. I'll be back... someday!