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.

''When adding to this list, please start the entry with a link to the comic's Work page here, even if that page doesn't exist yet. Only if that link is a redlink should an external link to the comic be added, and it should not replace the redlink.''

A word about third-party counts: The OhNoRobot site said it was archiving 3002 comics of General Protection Fault as of 17 October 2009, and 3333 comics of that series as of August 3, 2021. That comic tends to update three times a week, not three times a year. Use third-party numbers as a rough guide, not as gospel.

Current Web Comics

 * Kevin and Kell - Started in 1995, making it one of the oldest web comics in existence. As of August 2021, 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). As of August 3, 2021, there were 9,467 strips.

Current 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 September 3, 2021, there were 8,778 strips.

Completed Web Comics
""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.""
 * Schlock Mercenary began June 12, 2000, ended July 24, 2020, and never missed a day: 7,348 strips total. The only time an update was even late was one time when the comic's webhost's server exploded. Literally.
 * To put this into perspective, here's the creator's message when it hit the ten year mark (June 12, 2010).

Current Web Comics

 * Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal began September 5, 2002; reached 2000 on September 14, 2010; reached 6000 on July 21, 2021; and has 6013 strips as of August 3, 2021.

Counts and status need to be verified as of August 2, 2021:
MOD: Follow the example set by the mezzacotta strips and break this up into its component strips as well, giving each one a separate entry.
 * 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. Mind you, "the site as a whole" has more than one web comic and K&K is only one of Bill Holbrook's comics, so this isn't an equivalent comparison. As mentioned above, on November 13, 2011, it surpassed 6000 strips.

Current Web Comics

 * Square Root of Minus Garfield had 4,477 strips as of August 21, 2021.
 * Irregular Webcomic began Dec 31, 2002; last missed a day on March 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. Entries 3198 through 3380 are "annotations", essentially once-weekly essays (with a very few "filler" sketches) on whatever caught David Morgan-Mar's fancy at the time. There are 4,572 instalments - 182 annotations and 4,390 comic strips - as of August 3, 2021.

Counts and status need to be verified as of August 2, 2021:

 * User Friendly - daily since November 17, 1997, and has never missed a day, but has been in reruns for over a decade; 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, and The Other Wiki tells us that the strip went to reruns-only in 2010.)
 * 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.
 * Sinfest began Jan 17, 2000; reached 4000 on Aug 19, 2011.
 * Not quite as good as Schlock Mercenary or Kevin and Kell at frequency of updates, but with an average of something like 350 strips a year, it's got to be in second place.

Current Web Comics

 * Dinosaur Comics began February 01, 2003; reached 1000 on May 22, 2007 and hit 2000 on July 12, 2011. 3778 comics as of September 3, 2021.
 * Freefall began March 30, 1998; reached 2000 on February 24, 2011; has 3641 strips as of September 3, 2021.

Completed Web Comics

 * Lunar Hill reached 3000 comics (and ended) on August 8, 2010. If you count the spinoff Luka comics, the full total is 3,150.

Counts and status need to be verified as of August 2, 2021:

 * 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 January 1, 1996; mostly daily; ended August 3, 2019. The 2,840 strips from June 7, 2010 to August 3, 2019 are still available on the live web; you'll have to visit the Wayback Machine for the earlier strips.
 * Daily Grind began Feb 28, 2005 and reached pg. 3000 on Dec 03, 2010.
 * Funny Farm (live web link) 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.
 * 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.
 * Station V3 began May 6, 2003, reached 3000 on Aug 12, 2011.
 * Phil Likes Tacos began May 22, 2001, reached 3000 on September 28, 2010.

Current Web Comics

 * 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 2,510 strips as of September 5, 2021.
 * Darths & Droids started on September 14, 2007; reached 2000 strips on May 25, 2021; and had 2,044 strips as of September 5, 2021.

Completed Web Comics

 * Bob and George began April 01, 2000; reached 2000 on October 8, 2005; and ended with #2,658 on July 28, 2007.
 * Doctor Fun (Wayback Machine link) - 2,603 comics. It ended in 2006. It began in 1993!
 * Triangle and Robert ended with 2,513 strips uploaded from 1999 to 2007.
 * Ozy and Millie ran (intermittently) from April 28, 1998 to December 23, 2008, for a total of 2,231 strips.
 * Piled Higher and Deeper Ran from October 27, 1997 to December 24, 2018, for a total of 2,040 strips. Most comics started in The Nineties are higher on this list, but one suspects that the writer procrastinated once in a while. Also started as a print comic in a school newspaper and only became a web comic after some time had passed.

Counts and status need to be verified as of August 2, 2021:

 * 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.
 * Arthur, King of Time and Space began 5/21/2004 and reached 2000 (counting 5 guest strips) in 2000 days on 10 Nov 2009.
 * 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
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * PvP
 * 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.
 * Sheldon
 * Something*Positive
 * SSDD began Sep 25, 1998, usually manages three or four strips a week
 * Super Spoon
 * Unshelved
 * The Tao of Geek (Wayback Machine link) 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.

Current Web Comics

 * Grrl Power reached 1000 strips on November 25, 2021.

Completed Web Comics

 * Ubersoft (Wayback Machine link) started in 1996 and ended in 2011, with 1,956 strips to its credit. And the art was still basically the same at the beginning and the end.
 * The Book of Biff began January 2, 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 April 12, 2010. The last strip, #1902, was posted in December 2014.
 * Scary Go Round began July 4, 2002; reached 1000 on August 10, 2006; ended with 1,785 on September 11, 2009.
 * Achewood began on October 10, 2001 and completed on December 25, 2016, with a total of 1,762 strips listed in the archive.
 * 8-Bit Theater began March 2, 2001; reached 1000 strips on June 3, 2008; ended with 1,224 strips on March 20, 2010; a fully illustrated epilogue was posted on June 1, 2010.
 * Blip had 1,029 strips before the comic went defunct in 2011.
 * 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.
 * StickManStickMan (Wayback Machine link) ran from February 2002 to October 2004. It took a cue from 1/0 and ended with exactly 1000 comics.

Counts and status need to be verified as of August 2, 2021:

 * 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.
 * Bunny (Wayback Machine link) 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 (Wayback Machine link)
 * CVRPG: As of Feb, 2011, sits at over 1400. The 1000th strip party took up 16 updates.
 * Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures (1,100+ comics including a simultaneous prequel arc)
 * Doc Rat: Created in the 1990s, organized as a web comic 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 had 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.). The site does not have an "archive" page as of August 2, 2021; the strips will have to be counted by hand, going through the strips one-by-one.
 * 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 (Wayback Machine link reached 1000 with this strip.
 * Megatokyo began Aug 14, 2000; reached 1000 (including filler) on May 17, 2008.
 * The Middle Ground (Wayback Machine link) 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. Still running as of August 2021, but the site's "archive" page is incomplete so the strips will have to be counted by hand, going through the strips one-by-one.
 * Nukees - Although it updates sporadically enough that it's unlikely to have reached 2000, it's one of the few web comics actually to qualify as a traditional Long Runner, having been updating 1-3 times a week since 1997.
 * 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.
 * 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 (Wayback Machine link) 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.
 * 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.
 * The now-defunct web comic hosting site Smack Jeeves had at least one comic that has broken the 7000 page mark, one that broke the 3000 page mark, four with over 2000, and 24 more that broke the 1000 page mark. Some of them are already on this list.

And finally...

It's over 3.652×1015

 * 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!