Webcomics Long Runners

""There are people who are good at stuff and then there are the people who just stick around long enough.""

- Cat

Long Runners as applied to web comics. Since only a few web comics have a lifetime measurable in decades (due in part to the relative recency of the World Wide Web itself) and therefore qualify conventionally as Long Runners, this category will cover any web comic that has exceeded 1,000 strips. However, starting date, date of the most recent update, and periodicity are mentioned to give an idea of how the quantity compares to the temporal aspect too.

Can lead to an Archive Panic.

''The first link on each line should be an internal link, even if we don't have a page for the comic yet, or you'll break the indexing system. If a page is added for a work, please remove the external link.''

It's over 8,000

 * Kevin and Kell Started in 1995, making it one of the oldest web comics in existence. It passed 8000 on December 14, 2018. As of May 2019, Kevin and Kell has never missed a daily update, making it the longest-running daily web comic still being published (as far as anyone knows; the site has been asking since mid-2018 for evidence of any older still-running daily web comics).
 * Sluggy Freelance - daily with occasional brief reversions to MWF since August 25, 1997, followed by a "whenever Pete wants" schedule after a switch to per-episode patronage funding strategy after the 20th anniversary site makeover in 2017. Because all strips are transcribed by fans at http://sluggy.info/transcribe, an up-to-date count of strips is maintained there (as of this edit, 8462).

EVERYTHING BELOW THIS LINE NEEDS TO BE UPDATED (except for Irregular Webcomic and xkcd)

It's over 6,000

 * MS Paint Adventures had its first update on June 3, 2007, and its 6000th page was posted November 13, 2011. There are 6831 comic pages on the site as of May 20, 2012, not including the 40 fan-requested comics, the 42 Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff comics, Ryan Quest, The Vigil Prince, or Dave and Terezi's comic/picture exchanges. The comic is much, much, much younger than the other comics listed in this section (the site started in 2007, and didn't become regular until March 2008), due to how insanely prolific Andrew Hussie is; since the beginning of Problem Sleuth, the comic has averaged nearly 5 pages per day.
 * Problem Sleuth itself has about 1621 pages (started March 10, 2008, 1000th page on October 22, 2008, finished March 10, 2009.)
 * Homestuck reached 5000 pages on the 1st of June, 2012 (started April 13, 2009; ongoing). Word of Hussie has stated that it will have seven acts and Act 5 alone was over 2000 pages, which means that it may well have enough pages to be over 6000 alone by its completion.
 * It should be noted, however, that a page of MSPA may not be comparable to a four-panel comic strip, or for that matter to another page of MSPA. Most are single panels with a short looping GIF animation (often only a second or two long), but some have somewhat longer animations or multiple panels, and Homestuck includes many interactive Flash games or pseudo-games and several-minute-long cinematic animations set to original music—which also count as one page. Some of the games can even entertain readers for several hours. And when there's dialogue in Homestuck rather than just narration, the dialogue (in the form of a chat log) is almost always longer than text in a traditional panel comic, and is regularly several pages in length; as of the second-year anniversary, it weighed in at around 300,000 words long.
 * On February 11, 2011, the site as a whole passed Kevin and Kell to become the largest web comic on record, and it shows no signs of stopping. As mentioned above, on November 13, 2011, it surpassed 6000 strips.

It's over 4,000
""As of today, June 12th, 2010, Schlock Mercenary has been on the web at some location or another for ten years. Every day, even. It is older than half of my children. It is older than my car. Depending on how you count, it’s the longest I’ve ever held the same job. I’ve spent almost a quarter of my life on this. I’ve spent more than half my married life on this. I’ve drawn 3653 strips, for a total of around 15,000 panels. There are another 20 strips you still haven’t seen (plus a kajillion or so I still haven’t drawn.) I’ve used enough kneaded eraser that the “waste lump” of stuff that is too dirty to erase with is twice the size of my fist, and I’ve thrown away at least twice that much. I’ve gone through about 10,000 sheets of legal sized paper. I’ve gone through about 500 pens. Each of those set me back around $2.50. In all that time I’ve only used five different mechanical pencils. I still have the first one, the second one, and the fifth one.""
 * User Friendly - daily since November 17, 1997, and has never missed a day; reached 4000 on 2008 Oct 29. (A few times in 2009, there have been sets of rerun strips for a few months at a time.)
 * Jerkcity began Aug 17, 1998; reached 4000 on October 19, 2009.
 * Factoring in Genoworks Saga, No Angel, Campus Safari, Sink or Swim, Gralen Cragg Hall, Puppet Strings as part of The Cyantian Chronicles, and including Alien Dice, Pure, Abby's Agency, Shivae! (Kaiden & Coel, Vas and Cler storylines), Sivine Blades, Black Rose and more, Tiffany Ross deserves credit for creating MULTIPLE universes and creating several long runners.
 * Superosity began 1999 Mar 1; reached 4,000 in March 2010.
 * The four comics that make up the Walkyverse may or may not count, depending on whether you count them all as one work. They all occur in the same universe, have connected storylines, and have been written and drawn by the same author since September 1997.
 * Dumbing of Age is in an Alternate Universe.
 * Schlock Mercenary began Jun 12, 2000 and has never missed a day. Reached 4000 strips on May 25, 2011.
 * To put this into perspective, here's the creator's message when it hit the ten year mark (June 12, 2010).


 * The only time an update was even late was one time when the comic's webhost's server exploded. Literally.
 * Sinfest began Jan 17, 2000; reached 4000 on Aug 19, 2011.
 * Not quite as good as Schlock Mercenary at frequency of updates, but with an average of something like 350 strips a year, it's got to be in second place.
 * Irregular Webcomic began Dec 31, 2002; last missed a day on Mar 29, 2004; and hit 4000 on May 24, 2019. When the 2,000 mark was hit on July 18, 2008, the newspost explained how long you would have to make the comic for 3, 5, and 7 strips a week, and then listed the other webcomics that have gone on that long. The strip hit 3000 strips on April 14, 2011. It went to "Annotations" - essentially essays - after 3198 strips on October 29th 2011 - but came back a few years later.

It's over 3,000

 * Alex first appeared on the internet in June 1999, but has been a newspaper comic since 1987. Hit 3000 web strips in June 2007.
 * Bruno by Christopher Baldwin: began Jan 1, 1996; mostly daily; ended February 14, 2007.
 * Daily Grind began Feb 28, 2005 and reached pg. 3000 on Dec 03, 2010.
 * Funny Farm began Jan 26, 1999; daily for most of its run; reached 3000 on Jun 21, 2007.
 * General Protection Fault began Nov 02, 1998; reached 2000 on Sep 11, 2004; should have reached 3000 on or about Sep 28, 2009 if it kept going at three per week.
 * After checking the OhNoRobot site, which says it's archiving 3002 comics (as of 17 October 2009), it appeared to have reached that here on the 12th of October.
 * The Mansion of E began July 16, 2003, reached 3000 on December 17, 2011.
 * Namir Deiter hit 3000 on April 14, 2011 - the same artist has also done over 2000 comics of You Say it First, over 500 of Unlike Minerva and Spare Parts, and a few other side-projects.
 * Lunar Hill reached 3000 comics (and ended) on August 8, 2010. If you count the spinoff Luka comics, the full total is 3150.
 * Station V 3 began May 6, 2003, reached 3000 on Aug 12, 2011.
 * Phil Likes Tacos began May 22, 2001, reached 3000 on September 28, 2010.

It's over 2,000

 * And Shine Heaven Now began in 2003 and concluded the main strip in 2011. When the (already-drawn) spinoff finishes running in mid-2012, the final count (including guest strips) will be 2,902. So close to leveling up, and yet so far.
 * Achewood began on October 10, 2001 as has 2,532 strips as of August 10, 2009.
 * Arthur, King of Time and Space began 5/21/2004 and reached 2000 (counting 5 guest strips) in 2000 days on 10 Nov 2009.
 * Bob and George began Apr 01 2000; reached 2000 on Oct 08, 2005; ended with #2658 on Jul 28, 2007.
 * Bruno the Bandit
 * CRFH
 * Cyanide & Happiness began Jan 26, 2005; This strip from Jan 19, 2008 is strip 1000, despite being labeled 1149. It reached 2000 on March 30, 2010.
 * The Devils Panties
 * Diesel Sweeties
 * Dinosaur Comics began Feb 01, 2003; reached 1000 on May 22, 2007 and hit 2000 on July 12, 2011.
 * Doctor Fun - 2603 comics. It ended in 2006. It began in 1993!
 * Dominic Deegan began May 21, 2002; reached 1000 on Apr 04, 2006 and 2000 on Apr 14, 2009. Celebrated its 2500th comic on May 19, 2011.
 * Dragon Tails ran daily for 2000 comics, before the creator ended it on the 2000th comic. A few years later the creator started making comics again, though far less regularly.
 * El Goonish Shive began Jan 21, 2002; reached 1000 on Aug 17, 2005 and 2000 on May 28, 2011 (including filler, guest and side comics).
 * Fans began in 2000, ran until 2005, then was revived in 2008 and is currently ongoing. The number of strips as of February 26, 2010 is 2027.
 * Freefall began Mar 30, 1998; reached 2000 on Feb 24, 2011.
 * Goats began 1997 Apr 01; reached 2000 on 2006 Nov 27.
 * Least I Could Do began on Feb 10, 2000 reached 2000 on July 31, 2009.
 * Legostar Galactica, the first webcomic to use LEGO elements, began Aug 25, 2002 and reached 2000 on April 24, 2010.
 * Melonpool
 * Narbonic - daily from July 2001 to New Years' Eve 2006.
 * Ozy and Millie began Apr 29, 1998 and ended in December 2008.
 * Pv P
 * Questionable Content began on August 1, 2003, passed 1000 in 2007, and reached 2000 on August 26, 2011.
 * Real Life Comics began Nov 15, 1999; reached 2000 on Jan 03, 2008.
 * Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal began Sep 05, 2002; reached 2000 on Sep 14, 2010.
 * Sheldon
 * Something*Positive
 * SSDD began Sep 25, 1998, usually manages three or four strips a week
 * Super Spoon
 * Unshelved
 * The Tao of Geek has been updating daily since June 2002.
 * TRU-Life Adventures - Started March 12, 2001. 2,109 strips—and 10 years!--as of March 12, 2011.
 * Triangle and Robert ended with 2513 strips uploaded from 1999 to 2007.
 * Two Evil Scientists, as of February 2011, it's only 4 strips away from reaching 2,000.
 * Wapsi Square began in 2001 and reached 2000 in mid 2010.
 * xkcd "officially" hit 1000 on January 6, 2012, but since there's no comic #404 due to an in-joke, the January 9, 2012 comic was its 1000th strip. There were 2303 strips as of May 11, 2020.
 * Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic began May 29, 2006; reached 2000 on November 18, 2011.
 * You Say It First - 2000 as of January 18, 2011...not counting about 500 comics of Unlike Minerva, to which it is a sequel.

It's over 1,000

 * 8-Bit Theater began March 2, 2001; reached 1000 strips on June 3, 2008; ended (with 1224 strips) on March 20, 2010; a fully illustrated epilogue was posted on June 1, 2010.
 * Adventurers!! has somewhere around this; it reached #999 and then stopped counting; it went on for another two years after that.
 * Akaelae, part of the The Cyantian Chronicles has over 1100 as of May 2009.
 * Apple Geeks started in 2003 and added a B Side Comic called Applegeeks Lite, updating faithfully three times a week, in April 2006. Due to the main comic's Schedule Slip, the 1000th comic between the two was AG Lite 476, on 24 Jun 2009.
 * Avatar Battle Royale has over 1700 comics in the archives (which are over 6 months out of date), and uncounted filler comics.
 * Blip
 * The Book of Biff began 2 Jan 2006 as a three times a week comic, and went to a Monday-Friday schedule beginning on the first of 2007. It reached its 1000th comic on 12 Apr 2010.
 * Bunny began Aug 22, 2004; reached 1000 on Sep 20, 2007.
 * Cat and Girl began June 14, 1999, reached 1,000 on January 31, 2011.
 * Chopping Block began April 25, 2000, and has updated on every schedule from "five times a week" to "once a month" over the years. It finally reached 1,000 strips on March 4, 2009.
 * Comments on a Postcard, started December 8, 2008 and has never missed a day. Reached 1000 on October 2, 2010.
 * Ctrl+Alt+Del began Oct 23, 2002; reached 1000 on Jul 16, 2007.
 * Count Your Sheep
 * CVRPG: As of Feb, 2011, sits at over 1400. The 1000th strip party took up 16 updates.
 * Dan and Mabs Furry Adventures (1,100+ comics including a simultaneous prequel arc)
 * Doc Rat: Created in the 1990s, organized as a webcomic June 26, 2006. As of March 30th, 2012 has 1505 strips.
 * The Dreamland Chronicles began January 5, 2006 and reached 1000 pages on November 17, 2009.
 * Drowtales 
 * Emergency Exit - 1002 comics as of 13 October 2008 (although a couple were guest comics).
 * Errant Story started on 4 November 2002, and a quick tally puts it at around 1150 pages as of 11 February 2011, including some fillers and chapter pages (48 archive pages at 24 pages each).
 * Evil Inc.. began in 2005 and is about to hit 1600.
 * Faux Pas began its online presence on January 2, 2001, reached comic #1000 on October 20, 2008, and is still in production.
 * Get Medieval (finished)
 * Girl Genius has around 1214 pages as of October 22, 2010 (around, because volumes are catagorized independently from one another, with many side stories and fillers in between, making it difficult to get an accurate count.).
 * Girls with Slingshots is 1215 strips long as of August 12, 2011, not including guest strips.
 * Gunnerkrigg Court just hit its 1000th comic on February 15, 2012.
 * Jack is over 1650 strips long as of January, 2012.
 * Juathuur is over 1100, if you count both the original and the sequel.
 * The KA Mics reached 1000 July 17, 2009.
 * Lakewood reached 1000 with this strip:.
 * Megatokyo began Aug 14, 2000; reached 1000 (including filler) on May 17, 2008.
 * The Middle Ground has three. AkumaTh's Comics, Double-U Tea F and Mixed Bag Comics all have at least 1000 strips.
 * Misfile began Mar 21, 2004; celebrated 1000 strips (not including filler and chapter title pages) on the 18th of July 2008. If Chris continues on schedule, the 2000th strip should be reached in mid-June 2012.
 * Nukees - Although it updates sporadically enough that it's unlikely to have reached 2000, it's one of the few webcomics actually to qualify as a traditional Long Runner, having been updating 1-3 times a week since 1997.
 * 1/0 began Aug 27, 2000; ended May 26, 2003 with exactly 1000 strips, if the three April Fools strips are excluded from the total.
 * Out There has updated six days a week without fail since it started on June 12, 2006, and reached 1000 on August 20, 2009.
 * Paonia Pawns began on January 29, 2005 and reach the 1000 mark on October 7, 2009.
 * Penny and Aggie has been updating three times a week since 2004 and has approximately 1125 pages as of December 31, 2010 (allowing for the occasional numbering skip in the PHP database).
 * Penny Arcade began Nov 18, 1998; reached 1000 on Aug 17, 2005.
 * Ph D Started November of 1997, hit 1,000 on April 7, 2008. Most comics started in the 90's are higher on this list, but one suspects that the writer procrastinates once in a while. Also started as a print comic in a school newspaper and only became a webcomic after some time had passed.
 * Planet Zebeth, a Metroid based Sprite Comic, started on March 16, 2002 and had its 1000th strip on May 30, 2008.
 * Pokémon-X, on January 12, 2011 (although it's listed as December 30, 2009 due to Schedule Slip)
 * Precocious hit a thousand on December 12, 2011.
 * Public Humiliation reached it November 9, 2009.
 * Red String began May 1, 2003 and has 1,353 pages as of December 7, 2011. This count does not include the sketch/filler art.
 * Rhapsodies passed 1500 on June 16, 2011.
 * Sacred Pie has 1180 pages as of August 10, 2008.
 * Sam and Fuzzy began May 27, 2002; reached 1000 on October 10, 2008.
 * Scary Go Round began Jul 4, 2002; reached 1000 on August 10, 2006; ended with 1785 on September 11, 2009.
 * The webcomic hosting site Smack Jeeves currently has 1 comic that has broken the 7000 page mark, 1 that has broken the 3000 page mark, 4 with over 2000, and 24 more that have broken the 1000 page mark. Some of them are already on this list.
 * Square Root of Minus Garfield on 13 February 2012.
 * Stick Man Stick Man took a que from 1/0 and ended with exactly 1000 comics.
 * Just passed 1700, Ubersoft has been around since 1996! And the art is still basically the same...
 * Vexxarr hit 1000 on Monday, June 6, 2011.
 * The Whiteboard passed 1,000 strips on the October 31, 2008, not including guests or filler.
 * Wigu Adventures has well over 1,000 strips so far.

And finally...

It's over 3,652,000,000,000,000

 * Mezzacotta - A daily comic that's approximately 730 times older than the Universe; as of October 11, 2008 there are a total of 3,652,425,000,732,961 strips. Good luck on that Archive Binge.
 * That Archive Binge isn't bad at all! Assuming the relatively slow speed of one second to load a page and read it, it would take you less than 116 million years to read every comic! If you could load a page and read it within one Planck time, you could do it in less than a second!