It’s been a wonderful adventure here at Bun Central since our long forgotten launch way back in April, 2010. That makes 2011 our first full calendar year of this blog-toon (or “bloon”), and in that time, I suppose I’ve grown up a little; I’ve married and raised a family, I bought that little dairy farm I always dreamed of, I lost a leg in a regrettable bar wager and of course we all lost someone in the Great Alien War.

But most importantly, our readership has doubled this year. When we began, our subscribers numbered in the Steves, and now we understand that Steve has taken to showing the blog to his mother. Hello Enid, it’s great to have you aboard.

And in celebration of our larger audience, as the calendar draws to a close, we take one last look at the Bun Toons of the past twelve months: the five most popular and the five that no one liked but me. You get the successes and the failures at Templeton’s Art Land, because I’m a Yin/Yang guy and I love all my babies, even the funny looking one we have to keep away from the forks.

According to hit counter, coming in FIFTH on the Big Bun Toon Countdown Board, it’s the knock-down drag-out cartoon beating of the year with…

If you don’t recall who Rob G****** was, then this is one of those astoundingly rare moments on the internet where I’m NOT going to send you on a hyperlink to an article about him. I’m not going to even mention his name in text, so people can’t find it in search engines. I took a vow of silence and haven’t said his full name in print for at least six months and I’m keeping it that way.

If you really, actually, honestly don’t know who he was, and why I drew him pooping in his own pants, trust me…the mystery is more fun.

Here now…one of the BOTTOM five Bun Toons of the Year!

Back in February, in an attempt to pander to the fickle audience of 2011, I introduced my hot new breakout character, the Contessa Kristine Margarite Von Shoenefeld… and in doing so, I stumbled into a well-known formula for obscurity: Make your desperation for crossover success far too clear.

If anyone had read this strip, I’d have done a sequel in a heartbeat. Or a movie deal, or a TV pilot, or a character appearance at a local mall, whatever… I’m not picky. But apparently you readers are, so this overlooked Bun Toon lay at the bottom of the hit pile all year.

See you tomorrow for a guest appearance by one of the last living legends of comics, as we continue the…