Almost every year, I design a Christmas card my mom sends out to friends and family. Since I had half my family already designed for the webcomic, I decided to do a JEFBOT-themed card this year. A nice side effect was that I now have the rest of the family members comic-ready for future strips.

Yep, today JEFbot hit its one year anniversary!

I’ve been so busy lately the date just kind of snuck up on me a day ago. That’s when I checked the archives, just to be sure I still had a month or so until the anniversary, and there it was, the date of the first JEFbot strip, Axis Powers: August 6, 2007. Upon posting that first strip, little did I know that 364 days, 64 strips and hundreds of thousands of pageviews later, JEFbot would still be going strong and would become such a big part of my life.

I love writing and drawing this strip, I wish I could put one out every day (or at least 3 times a week) but JEFbot still has a long way to go before I can quit my day job. With any luck, by this time next year, I’ll have even more great readers, I’ll be posting more comics a week and I’ll have published my first JEFbot collection in book form. I’ll also accept being a regular in an acclaimed TV series or starring in an awesome movie, like TR2N or Akira (as Tetsuo, of course).

Not much else to report just yet. Like I said, this whole anniversary thing kind of snuck up on me so I haven’t done anything to prepare for it. I’d like to do something, though. Actually, maybe you, the readers, can help me out with some suggestions. A new shirt? An officially licenced JEFbot coffee mug? An original sketch giveaway? A videogame-themed party at a bar in Hollywood? Send me ideas or you’re getting the mug.

Seriously though, I want to get a bit mushy and say how much I’ve appreciated all the love and support of you readers. It warms the valves of my fusion-powered heart when I think about how you’ve embraced the strip and the characters in it (especially since most of them are friends or family). Also, a special thank you to everyone who has taken the time to comment on the site or send me an email. That stuff really keeps me going when a deadline’s approaching, it’s 4:30 in the morning and I’m only on the second panel. Thanks for that.

So happy anniversary! I’m ready for cake.

I’ve been making a Schuetze Family Christmas Card for the past several years now for my mom, who sends them out to friends and family. I used to Photoshop our faces onto cartoon bodies or into various Christmas scenes, but for the past couple of years, I’ve been using everybody’s JEFbot counterparts for the card. Check out this year’s below. Hope you all had a great time celebrating Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, or any other tradition you hold dear!

click to enlarge.