For those of you who saw this Sunday’s strip, I know you can see that I have decided to retire Stone Soup. I can’t imagine turning the strip, which is so personal to me, over to anyone else, and my syndicate is not planning on running reruns. The last Stone Soup strip will appear on July 26, when I will officially jump off the funny pages. My book collections will still be available for a while (Amazon and elsewhere) and GoComics will be running Stone Soup Classics for a long long time.
https://www.gocomics.com/stone-soup-classics/2020/06/15
Years ago, when I was still an aspiring cartoonist, I photocopied one of my strips, reducing it to the size of the other cartoons on the funny page, and pasted it there as a way to visualize my someday success. I have always felt so fortunate to be part of this amazing world, to have such a wonderful, enjoyable career. It will be as strange for me to see the funny pages without Stone Soup as it will be for you.
But... after a late start (I was 45 when is finally got syndicated) my 25 wonderful years in cartooning have brought me to a very “wise” age, and I am ready to be completely free of deadlines, obligations, and schedules. As many of you know I love to travel and if COVID ever gets beaten back I intend to do quite a bit more. I have family and friends all over the world, a wonderful group of cartoon friends in South Africa, and a bizarre love of long-haul plane flights. Look out world, here I come!
I hope I can find a way to tell you all how much I appreciate you. Your support and love of my work, my characters, and my perspective has been a huge gift. Thank you. Thank you for the privilege of entertaining you. Thank you for the love. Thank you for everything!
Stay safe. Wear a mask. Be kind.
— Jan
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