Nicholas Gurewitch announces Perry Bible Fellowship retirement

[Ihmhi]

The Perry Bible Fellowship enters semi-retirement
By David Cassel

Nicholas Gurewitch has just announced that he's retiring his Perry Bible Fellowship comic strip.

Sort of.

"It's really not as big a deal as it might seem," Nicholas said today. "I'll simply be producing comics at a pace I'm more comfortable with." Monday newspapers publishing his strip received the surprising announcement from the cartoonist. "I'm making this decision for a variety of reasons," Nicholas told them in an email, "but mainly because I want to do other things besides be a cartoonist."

The comic strip will still continue, Nicholas said today. "There are actually a number of papers and magazines still interested in publishing at undetermined intervals." And he had a suggestion for any newspapers that are announcing his reduced publishing schedule or his departure from their pages. "I would encourage you to mention the existence of the Perry Bible Fellowship book that is on sale!"

"I feel I owe it to myself and the Perry Bible Fellowship not to turn a joyful diversion into a long career," Nicholas explained today. For now 25-year-old Nicholas plans to live off proceeds from his recent collection, and prints of the strip.

"His book did really, really well through Amazon," said Dark Horse's Krystin Overstreet, and the book actually pre-sold more than 27,000 copies before its official release date in November.

But Nicholas says he's looking forward to "dedicating my thoughts to new books, scripts, movies, or whatever else comes my way. "


Fox News meets The Perry Bible Fellowship

Nicholas's announcement comes at the height of his success, and immediately after what may be the most surreal interview ever recorded.

Earlier this month Fox News interviewed him about the first collection of his comic strips. And at one point, Fox's intense host asked "Would it harm a child to actually read it?"

"Visiting Fox News in New York felt like journeying into Mordor," Gurewitch confided later. "Pretty exciting. And a lot more pleasant, probably."

The interviewer was Greg Gutfeld, whose past columns on Fox's site include "Waterboarding: It's a Good Thing" and "Who deserves to be tasered."

Nicholas has done many interviews over the years, but the strangest moment on Fox News came when Greg, a former Stuff magazine editor, announced that he and Nicholas would demonstrate how funny the cartoons were — by acting out one of the strips.

"I recommended that he do that," Gurewitch admits. "He was originally planning to show the four frames of the comic. But I thought it would lead to an even more uncomfortable silence than the one we provided."

The strip Fox's host had chosen to re-enact was called "No Survivors."

Fox News: "Deborah, I found no survivors. Especially not over there…."
Nicholas: "No, Frank, not now."

"Any time you are presenting information that is best seen in a book on TV, it's not going to go over well," Nicholas acknowledged. But the re-enactment lead to yet-another strange exchange.

NG: That's where you laugh.
Fox News …Every time I look at that it makes me laugh! Now see, that I think is upbeat. It's about love. It's not about death.
NG: Well… It's about failed love.
Fox News: And death.
NG: The death of the love.
Fox News Co-host: I feel like you couldn't have gotten that more wrong.
[Nicholas pats Greg's shoulder consolingly.]

"I thought that was interesting," Gurewitch says, "because Greg was close when he said it was about love and that guy was close when he said it's about death. I'm pretty sure the correct interpretation of that strip is definitely somewhere in between."

Over the years Nicholas has drawn many strange scenes for his comic strip. (The inside cover of his newest collection includes a picture of a chocolate bunny detonating dynamite.) But braving the bizarre is ultimately what's made him a success — especially with his fans online.

Now the cartoonist has finally reached a crossroads. "At this point we're selling off what remains of the second printing," Nicholas says. But what lies in the future? "I think we're looking at something larger for the next book. Dark Horse Publishing said they were down for doing a 256-pager, which is great by me. Maybe something to the effect of the Perry Bible Fellowship
Almanac."

Nicholas is starting a new phase of his life, and says he's already feeling great about the decision. "After three years of non-stop drawing, I want to relax certain muscles in my arm. Relax certain parts of my brain. Or maybe just relax. Make sure things don't get too serious. I want to paint something that's pretty. I'd like to make a film or two. Finish my feature film script. Exercise more.

"My friend and I saw 20 deer today while jogging. I need to see more deer."

Link: http://www.blorgable.com/2008/02/19/...mi-retirement/

Stupid deer.

All jokes aside, the Perry Bible Fellowship is an excellent comic. If you have not read it, read it now. You will not regret it.

[YomMamasHouse]

Man, what a shame; I love those cartoons. At least they aren't completely retired, just less frequent.

[RiEmuKUpl@]

The guy's a genius. I wish him all the best in whatever he opts to do!

[Suite307]

Atleast if he's writing comedies it won't be as retarded as Meet The Spartans.

[Circuitous]

So was this announced last year or something? 'Cuz I've seen a new comic every month or two at best already. Dunno how he could slow the pace down much more.

[Ihmhi]

Originally Posted by Circuitous

So was this announced last year or something? 'Cuz I've seen a new comic every month or two at best already. Dunno how he could slow the pace down much more.

No, it was announced like last week.

I think the slowing down of comics was sort of just leading up to this. He's basically "semi-retiring" it, meaning he'll probably post at the current or slower rate.

Probably the only webcomic artist to ever take artistic integrity over maintaining a schedule, and kudos to him for that.

[Circuitous]

Hell, I don't mind that he's slowing down the posts. That's fine.

This whole thing is just sort of "Oh, really? You don't say."

And, uh,

Originally Posted by Ihmhi

Probably the only webcomic artist to ever take artistic integrity over maintaining a schedule, and kudos to him for that.

Not by a long shot.