Hello! Another year of Blow The Cartridge is in the books! It’s been a fun 52 weeks of retrogaming goodness, and I hope you had fun reading my comics!

Personally I’m pretty happy with how Blow The Cartridge is going. I like how the art has improved over the past year, and it’s always fun to look back at early comics and wonder what I was thinking. (Stick figure comics! Seriously?!)

Also we had a very successful Kickstarter campaign for the upcoming Blow The Cartridge #6 which I am hard at work on at the moment and can’t wait for it to be done! …Seriously I can’t wait for it to be done. I need it gone from my to-do list in a major way. Only two comics to draw and it’s out the door! Unfortunately they are both five page comics so hmm.

As has become a little tradition on this site, I have gone through the traffic stats and found the 10 most popular comics on Blow The Cartridge in 2016. Some are new, some are old, but they’re all ranking high on the traffic list so I must have done something right.

#10: Batman: The Caped Crusader

Note to self: I should really stop making comics that aren’t about Batman and just make comics that are about Batman instead. This one did pretty well, and it was recent, and it gave me an excuse to watch the Tim Burton Batman movie and yiiiiiiikes that really was not a good movie and (leans in closer, lowers his voice) I kinda think Tim Burton movies aren’t that great now that I think about it.

#9: Mayhem In Monsterland

This one keeps popping up on lists since it’s the first comic in the archive. In last year’s top 10 list I thought about making it so another, maybe more mainstream, game was first in the archives but a) bugger that, Commodore 64 games are fantastic and b) it turns out that’s actually really hard to do in the CMS I am using! So come back next year for another link to my Mayhem In Monsterland comic!

#8: Game And Watch

I like it when comics in the top 10 list are comics I am proud of. This was a fun look back at the time Game And Watch games took over my life. I am still a big fan of Greenhouse, Donkey Kong and Oil Panic, and the DS Game And Watch Collection cartridge which houses those three games is one of my perennial faves.

#7: Tekken 3

A joke about Gon and a Jurrasic Park reference in the one comic? SELF HIGH-FIVING RIGHT NOW.

#6: Fantasia

What was I saying here? Sleep deprivation and making comics, kids, is not a good combo.

#5: Tekken

I quite like this one! Comics that only make sense if you’ve played the game a lot are always good, I reckon.

#4: Wonderboy 3: The Dragon’s Trap

Why do so many of the comics I make on this site end up with me being chased by an angry mob? I think I have made many bad life choices.

#3: Scooby Doo

Anyone complaining this isn’t about the game is quite welcome to play the game and get back to me about what exactly I should have done with it because I have eggs in the fridge that are less generic. Still, I’m happy with how the comic turned out and it gave me a chance to draw Velma so that’s a win.

#2: Animal Crossing

I’m really happy with how this one found an audience. Instead of trying to find an original take on the game I just kind of leaned into how every joke about Animal Crossing has already been done, which can be a pretty cheap cop out if not done right. Thanks for liking this one, internet!

#1: Atari Breakout

Agh! This comic again! It’s always the top result in my daily traffic results so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s one of the top Google results for the game, so that’s nice! Hello all new readers who like Breakout 🙂

NEXT: The 10 Least Popular Comics of 2016!