2015 Year In Review

After four years of doing this, I’m giving myself a vacation. In lieu of a regular update this week, we’ll instead be looking back at the year’s highs and lows. See you again on January 4, 2016!

It seems that with each of these end-of-the-year recaps I discover that the last 12 months have been weirder and more wonderful than I could have ever imagined. While no single comic I drew in 2015 soared to quite the heights of my most popular comics last year, my body of work as a whole got a HUGE amount of exposure from a very unexpected turn of events.



Last year one of my comics was taken by a notorious plagairist and reposted with my attribution cropped out. It was very upsetting at the time and seeing someone else profit from stealing my work - and that of countless others - was very depressing. Months passed however, and I put it behind me, thinking the ordeal was over. It sucked, but there was nothing to do but move on.

And then Patton Oswalt, Kumail Nanjiani, Michael Ian Black, Paul Scheer, Norm MacDonald, Chelsea Peretti, and Doug Stanhope, among others piled on, calling Josh out for stealing jokes from real comedians and comedy writers and generally being a garbage human being. The story was picked up by major media outlets and I ended up giving interviews to Rolling Stone and The Huffington Post, resulting in a huge influx of traffic to this website. It was, in a word, surreal.

Also this was the year my computer died and I spent the next two months drawing the comic in ballpoint pen in a 5.5 x 8.5” notebook and scanning the pages at Kinko’s to get them online. That was sort of a nightmare, but thanks to some VERY kind donations, I was able to get a secondhand computer and get my life back in order. (Thanks Mom, Glen & Jeremy!)

Finally, this was the first year since 2012 that I didn’t exhibit at the Alternative Press Expo. The convention was handed over to new management, moved cities, and generally seemed to suffer for it. It’s disappointing that a con I loved so much crashed and burned so hard. Maybe next year they can turn things around. Either way, I want 2016 to be the year I attend more conventions. Is there a good, independent-artist-friendly show near you? Let me know!

I’m so excited for the coming year and hope that it will somehow be even better and weirder than this year was. Thank you to everyone who likes and shares my comics, and supports me on Patreon. You are the very best.

Aram J. French



Most Popular Comics of 2015

10 The Freedom

9 The Upper Limit of a Bad Mood

8 Slow Walkers

7 Because Penguins

6 Welcome to Success

5 Vacation

4 Be Yourself

3 HO HO NO

2 Flies

1 A Committed Relationship