Ending Q&A

BEFORE YOU ASK ANYTHING, PLEASE READ EVERYTHING IN THIS POST!!

***** First, here is the Kickstarter! It's running RIGHT NOW! Please help us reach funding! - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/celesse/strays-comic-volume-3 *****
Now for the Q&A. If you haven't had a chance, please read our Closing Comments post. I know it's a little long but it explains a lot. Second, please use CTRL + F to do a quick search and see if your question has already been asked and answered. We anticipate getting a lot of repeat questions so we want to avoid re-answering them over and over. And finally, here are some questions that have already been asked or we anticipate getting, so we're answering them in advance: 1. Why is the comic ending so soon? The story has just begun! Please read the Closing Comments post for more detail, but the TL;DR answer is we've reached the original stopping point of our story and we're ready to move on to new endeavors rather than continue on endlessly. And we do have an 8 page epilogue planned to close things up a little tighter. 2. Will you ever return to Strays in the future? I want more! It's not impossible! The story definitely can continue, but we want to move on to new things for now. 3. Will the StraysOnline.com website stay up? Yes, it will. 4. Will you be making a new comic? Will you tell us if you do? Algy and I both have ideas for new comics, so yes, it's very likely. We'll announce here and on the Strays Facebook page if and when we start anything new, and you can always follow our art pages on DeviantArt (Celesse is here and Algy is here) 5. Wait, what happened with that old guy that knew Meela back in chapter 3??? Please skip down to the "Edits" section of the Closing Comments post for the answer to that. 6. What will happen with Feral's curse? How does he get cured? Will he ever read his journal? Feral's curse is permanent, there is no cure. He will never get his original memories back, but some day down the road Jyaku would likely unlock his journal for him to read. It would be more of a curiosity to him since Feral is more practical than sentimental and he has no attachment to his old life anymore, but it's hard to spell out his reaction in just a few sentences. He'd probably at least visit the old village to check it out. 7. What about Vihki? And Meela's mother? Vihki likely mourned for a while, then moved on with her life. Yuen just disappeared so there wasn't much else she could do. Meela's mother is a story point we're keeping under our hats for the moment. Okay, now that that's out of the way, please feel free to ask any other questions you have and we'll do our best to answer :)

218 thoughts on “Ending Q&A

  1. What is our lovely Piper up to? : ) And will she ever cross paths with Meela or Feral and Holland again?

    1. She’s likely thieving and flirting ;) She comes and goes, so she’ll definitely cross paths with them again at some point.

  2. Since you answered my main questions…

    Way back when, after we discovered that the person in Meela’s dreams was actually Feral, you mentioned that you might go back through the flashbacks and draw young Yuen where Meela currently is. PLEASE say this is still a possibility? Too late for a stretch goal on the kickstarter, but maybe a future “return to the story”? :D

    Another “maybe someday” was the backstory for Jira and Rollin’s romance… Another return? ;)

    Other than that… Can you answer what I’m supposed to do every Friday morning with no new page to view? Confession: this past year, if I woke up anytime after midnight on Thursdays, I’d reach for my phone and read the new page bleary-eyed… Even at one or three in the morning.

    1. We still might do that, but for now we have to focus on the Kickstarter assets and the epilogue. We’ll definitely keep it in mind, though!

      Jira and Rollin’s romance is still a possibility as well. Not sure when, but some day. Likely in prose format rather than comic.

      And I’m afraid I can’t help on this last one, but have you tried Unsounded? It’s a great fantasy comic that updates three days a week!

    2. Other excellent comics that update on Fridays (actually M/W/F, except the last one, which updates every weekday):

      Star Power
      Gunnerkrigg Court
      Girl Genius
      Stand Still, Stay Silent

      I will miss Strays, of course, but reading other excellent comics definitely softens the blow :) Best of luck to the authors in their future endeavors, I know they’ll be just as awesome!

  3. Is it possible to add another tier to the kickstarter? I would love a hardcover collector’s edition with all three volumes in one. That’s kind of what i had been anticipating. You could even make it look like Feral or Meela’s journals; that’d be cool.

    1. I’m sorry, we can’t do that. It’s out of our scope of affordability :( Maybe some day? But not right now.

      1. I resoundingly second Jae’s suggestion for a hardbound omnibus edition! I found Strays a year after the final comic, and would love a chance to add it to my collection. Please consider consolidating this wonderful work so it can sit alongside other award-winning graphic novels such as Jeff Smith’s Bone and Ursula Vernon’s Digger in the place of honor it deserves!

  4. Will any of your other comics in the hopefully-near future touch on the other species in this universe? Related or unrelated to Strays’ storyline itself, I’d love to see more about the lovely Lyrians, Cervians, Vulpians and more! <3 There's so much that you can go into, I just can't wait for more.

    1. And of course in my half-asleep state I realized how terrible I am at the whole English thing tonight, omg. xD

    2. I’m not sure that we’ll touch on the races from Meoley, as we want to try new worlds and other kinds of peoples. But we’ll see :)

    3. Hi verridith its Khy

  5. To be honest, I don’t have any questions about the comic itself, but I remember a page from not too long ago that had black silhouettes of Feral and Meela set on a red background with their demon traits also highlighted red. I still DEARLY want to see that as a wallpaper and hoped it would come up as a vote incentive or something. Now, probably not that way, but would it still be made available somehow?

    1. Ah yes, I completely forgot about that! It’s now the TWC vote incentive ;3

      http://topwebcomics.com/vote/7164/default.aspx

      1. That wallpaper would make a gorgeous T-shirt. I’m imagining it as screen printed on a red tee that has black batik/tiedye lines

      2. Yaaaaay!! Thank you so much!!

  6. Will there be any Jyaku merchandise? His deadpan is fabulous.

    1. Probably not, but we’ll keep it in mind XD

      1. appreciate the consideration :)

  7. TnT I wish I could help out on Kickstarter, but I don’t have any way to. Is there any other way to support you guys? Are you selling printed copies on another website? I really love this comic and want to see it move up in the multi-universal cross-dimensional tumblr-and-fandom-infested-(not that I’m complaining) world of webcomics…

    1. We sell the first two volumes in the store here – https://www.straysonline.com/store

      Volume 3 will be added there too if it’s funded and printed :3

      1. Yay! Thank you so much! I look forward to getting a copy soon!

  8. Noooo you’re breaking my heart. I really hope you go back to it. I’ve been following you on TapTastic and I love it. So I can buy the volumes? Do you ship to Australia?

    1. Yes, Kickstarter allows for international pledges!

  9. How do the tears of our feels and sadness taste?

    LOL :P

  10. Fck, I have to activate my new credit card to pledge X_X Previous one seems to be already expired… >>

  11. I love this comic and live the brother/ sister dynamic between Feral and Meela. My questions are: with her half-demon nature will Meela ever be able to join a clan? Or can she and Feral start a clan for all the clan-less misfits, or are they just doomed to be a pair of lone wolves? Also, if Meela ever has pups will they be quarter demon? And does the demon blood just kind of filter out down the line if they keep mating with non-demons? Or is it more of a dominant/ recessive trait where it will either always show up or eventually get masked?

    1. Meela can never join a “proper” clan, but she already has one with Feral and Holland. So I guess yes, they’re doomed to be lone wolves, but at least they have each other.

      Meela is technically a quarter demon herself. Her mother was full lupian and her father was half lupian-half demon. I suppose it could eventually be filtered out, but it’s a pretty dominant trait and would take many generations for it to be wheedled down to nothing.

      1. Oh, you see I was always under the impression that Meela’s dad was a full blown demon. I figured that when he has a more violent transformation (like Meela did when she encounter Korin) that he looked like that dragon-like monster from Yuen’s memories. While a transformation when he was more in control he’d look like an extra big, extra spiky wolf.

        So if Meela’s dad is actually half demon… how did that happen? Can those big dragons take a more humanoid form and fall in love with or seduce a normal lupian?

  12. Thank you for the amazing comic!
    My only question is… Have you ever listened to this song?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kucGEjGLeY
    I think it really works well with the comic, :3

    1. Someone else who has seen Wolves Rain :D
      But I agree, the song fits nicely~

    2. KaelinaLuvsLomaris

      I’ve been working on a music video with that song for this comic….

  13. OHH
    THE LAST TIER
    THE LAST
    TEIR
    YOU TWO LUCKY DUCKS THAT NABBED THAT
    LUCKY LUCKY LUCKY LITTLE DUCKS xD

    Anyway, my curious question is, will you still promote the comic and keep an eye on Strays’ fandom now that it has ended or is it absolutely completely in the past and moved on from for now? o3o

    (And calling on a comment above I also really loved the tribal twined wolf spirits on the pages where Jyaku was explaining everything and I would use that wallpaper so fast if it were made even if it is a bit of a spoiler in itself xD Jk, I just remembered wishing for that at the time seeing the comment above, but it would be nice ^3^)

    1. I’m honestly surprised they sold! I didn’t think anybody would be interested ^^;;

      We will still keep an eye on the Strays site and the fandom (what’s left of it, we seem to have pissed some people off with closing it lol?) We get emails about new comments and we’ll check on the Facebook page as well.

      I’ll see what I can do about making the tribal wolves a wallpaper. Not all images work very well (especially if they’re cut off by panel edges) but we’ll see.

  14. So sense you guys are keeping secrets you may or may not do a short comic for strays in the future? Thats good :)

    1. Yes, there’s some things we may still do :) Can’t make promises, but we want to keep our options open.

  15. Just pledged :) I really hope that you’re going to reach the goal, this comic has been the highlight of every Friday since I found it a couple of years ago, and I’d absolutely love to see an epilogue :D

    1. Thank you so much, it’s very appreciated :)

  16. Thank you for writing an amazing web comic its been a good run and I’m sad to see it end but we can count our blessings that we ever got to read it in the first place.

  17. Hey, first I want to congratulate you girls for bringing the comic to an end. It was a great story which I’ve been reading with bated breath.
    But I have a question about the matter that is still unclear to me. Remember the package back on the page 201? It appeared again on the page 219, where Holland gives it away to Jyaku. What was it exactly? Did this package contain the files Holland was asking about or was it something else?

    1. Thank you so much!

      Oh, I’m sorry we weren’t clear on that – it was indeed the files Holland needed and what the whole mission at the mansion was about.

  18. Hi guys! Can’t wait to get that last book, it’s been a great ride, and I’ll be looking out for any future projects you two come up with!

    As to questions…

    Just how many siblings does Holland have? What’s his relationship like with his family?

    Who gave the mark to Mal? Did he meet an actual demon of some sort, or was it an evil wizard, or did he kill someone with the mark to get it or what?

    What makes someone a ‘demon lupian’? Is that different than just a demon? Was Meela’s father not really the same species at all, or are there demonic variants of most races?

    Looks like my last two about Meela’s mother and Feral’s memories got covered. : )

    1. Holland has three older brothers and one younger sister. His relationship with his family is kind of rocky. His parents are strict and don’t like him running off all the time, but he’s a free spirit and would prefer not to be stuck in a boring palace. As the youngest brother he gets put on all the menial tasks and that’s just no fun. It’s much more interesting to run around with Feral.

      I actually wanted to have Meela’s father give Mal his mark, but I came to my senses and realized that was a little too much tying in. So it was likely a dark mage or possibly even a demon masquerading as a normal traveler.

      Demon lupians are actually half breeds: half demon and half lupian. To make one, a lupian would have to mate with a demon capable of assuming a humanoid form and breeding. So Meela’s father was really only half demon, making her quarter demon.

  19. Celesse, I just wanted to say that Strays is my favorite webcomic EVER, just because of the fact that IT DOES have flaws, but still shines through them, because the environment, the art, the story, and the characters are JUST SO freaking awesome, and SO unique and fantastical…
    I even like this over Gaia! :D Keep making awesome things!

    1. Thank you so much :) We know it’s not the best story out there, but we learned a lot and I’m glad that people can enjoy it for what it is <3

  20. I said it once and I’ll say it again, Thank you so much for your work. I wish to you the best.

  21. Will you be making word bubble stickers in the shop for those of us who already have the first two books, but want to see them up to date just like the comic is? I’ve seen a couple people ask… just wondering.
    Thanks for the great story!!!

    1. We’re still debating on that. We made changes to the art as well, so I’m not sure if just making dialogue stickers will work. We’re leaning towards printing the edited pages to be slipped in place over the old ones instead.

  22. IIRC, you mentioned that different races can’t breed, with the exception of demons. Can half demons only breed with people who are one of their parent’s kind? How many generations before the traits of either are lost? Or is it a one drop kind of thing?

    1. Half demons can breed with anyone, but the conception rate is extremely low unless it’s with the same race as their non-demon half. For example, if Meela wanted to have pups when she grows up her best chance is to mate with a lupian.

      I’m not sure how many generations it would take to breed out, but it would definitely take a long time. And the descendants would likely always have stronger skills in the dark side of the magic spectrum.

      1. If it takes a long time to breed out, and allows, even at a low conception rate, more potential mating prospects, and gives higher magical aptitude, wouldn’t the part demons become extremely common? It just seems to have so much favoring it, natural selection wise. Is the stigma attached to demons enough to counteract that, or is there another reason you don’t see part demons everywhere?

  23. Holland has seemed to always have a bad relationship with his family, i was wondering if it was ever explained why? (sorry if i just missed that and it’s a stupid question) Also does he ever resolve the issues with his family or at least come to some sort of understanding? P.S. I absolutely love this comic, I’ve looked forward to every Friday for a few years now and look forward to the epilogue.

    1. Holland’s family drama was always kind of a background thing, so we never explicitly wrote it out anywhere. He mentions he’s the youngest of four brothers, so he obviously has no shot at the throne and thus isn’t spending his time learning how to take over. He frequently runs off/escapes, so it can be inferred that he doesn’t enjoy palace life and would prefer to be running around outside, but his strict parents disapprove.

      I doubt they’ll ever come to an understanding about his free spirit, but since he’s last in line for the throne they don’t try too hard to keep him under their thumb. I guess a begrudging acceptance of his behavior is the best he can hope for.

  24. Sigh, I love this comic, but.. well, any epilogue that I would read, now that the story is finished might feel forced… :( Besides, you can imagine what is going to happen to Feral and Meela. :) Everything is gonna be fine.

    1. I feel like the epilogue fits nicely in place, and we’re excited for it, so it shouldn’t come off as forced :)

  25. I only discovered this webcomic a few months ago and I’m sad to see it end. Thank you both for writing it. Reading it has definitely been an inspiration to me to stay motivated in creating my own works.

    As for my questions:
    1) What is the likelihood that Holland will get his own spinoff series? (jk, lol)

    2) If you could spend one day with the characters in your story (either in our world or in their world), what would you do?

    1. Thank you for enjoying it even though you just found it! We appreciate it

      1. Not impossible, but also not likely ;)

      2. Myself? I’d like to visit the royal palace, and definitely hit up a marketplace or two to see what kinds of things they might sell there.

    2. Visit the Royal Palace of the King (which is not Holland’s family) and watch a celebration of magic show at night~

  26. Awwww, thank you both for this comic, I’m jazzed to hear that there will be an epilogue. My questions regarding all this, I guess, is why did you decide to end it here? Did you have the whole story written out before hand? And if someone approached you about making this a movie, would you accept?

    1. We definitely didn’t have an entire script written out beforehand, which is one of the story’s issues. We started the comic pretty randomly and with no clear direction, and after working on it for so long we’ve decided that we’re ready to move on.

      This is the original stopping point. Not necessarily “the end,” I suppose, but as far as I had it planned out in the loose outline I created for it. I figured I could either end it at that point or write more when we reached it if I still wanted to continue, but we want to try other things now, so we’re wrapping things up as best we can and bidding it adieu.

      I seriously doubt anybody would want to make this a movie, it’s always been pretty niche ;3 But we would probably accept, yes. Why not? Haha!

  27. Will we ever find out the full scope of Meela’s dream ability? The full range of her powers?

    1. Jyaku talked about the potential of Meela’s dream catcher ability, but basically (with training) she could learn to watch people’s dreams, access their memories while they sleep or even manipulate their dreams. It would take a very long time to master, though.

  28. Also, any potential side stories about Holland’s family and their deal? In my head cannon I imagined them all being half Angels, explaining why their hatred for demons and half demons. Holland being interested in demons and half demons because he likes to rebel and take more after the other half, not being interested in his family matters.

    1. Sorry, they’re not angels or anything ;) They’re just boring, snooty birdfolk. Trust me, Holland is the most interesting one of the bunch.

  29. I hope you don’t mind I figure out my expenses before I pledge. (I plan to do one of the higher ones ;) ) Anywho, I love the expansive world y’all have created, I often enjoy just sitting and thinking about what else goes on in Meoley. I do have one question that recently came to me. What exactly do/did the demons do to cause such a reputation? Are they generally evil (with the exceptions of half-demons), or are they simply chaotic?

    1. Meoley is a huge world we originally created through Roleplay.
      Demons are generally evil and cause nothing but trouble. If they take humanoid forms, that will cause even more trouble especially if they torment other races. If any offspring come of this, they either give in to their demon side or try to make the best of their lives if they can hide their features (like Rollin did).

      1. As promised, the pledge is made! :D

  30. I’ve always wondered about Mal’s progression from reckless pup to someone who would kill his best friend (Yuen would’ve died if Jyaku hadn’t saved him).

    For several years my theory has been that his lust for magic/power goes back to the scratch he received in the demon attack (pgs 41-43, 118). Did that scratch “infect” him with a desire to go closer and closer to the “dark side”, or was it is own recklessness that drew him to the traveler and his “gift” (pgs 267-268)?

    Now that the story is finished I don’t think this was the case, but up until the last chapter I REALLY believed that the lizard demon (43) had something to do with Mal’s madness/darkness. I’ve wanted to ask for two or three years now, so… Are any of these speculations close? :)

    1. His stupidity and recklessness of wanting to be stronger. After receiving the “gift” it was just an added desire that drove him to the dark side of being stronger no matter the consequences.

      1. That makes sense. Thanks!

  31. Both art and story were great, and let me say I wouldn’t say that about too many webcomics, especially coloured ones. I’ll keep this bookmarked in hopes you guys come back and continue the story. I look forward to your next work and hope its longer and just as awesome (Maybe set up some kind of notification emails?). Everything said and done, going on this ride with everyone has been a pleasure.

  32. sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

  33. To be honest, I’ve been reading this comic for so many years, im a bit heart broken. I remember always coming home from school or work and knowing “oh boy, a new page is up! what new mystery and goofyness has happened today?”.
    I will miss this comic and the characters I’ve come to love. I imagine, that over the upcoming years to pass, I’ll re-read them over and over, just so I can see their story unfold again. Very well done. And like meela said about her brother, no one can replace Strays. But hopefully, in the future, it’ll come close with another comic from ya’ll :)

  34. 2 things
    1. Will your closing comments be included in the final volume?
    2. When we pledge you have some of the different pledges offer PDFs of all three volumes, could you add the changes you made to Meela and Feral’s first mission together as well as the way you original had it laid out?

    1. No, I hadn’t planned to put the closing comments in the printed book. Seems kinda hokey ^^;

      The PDFs will have the edited version of Chapter 3, but I suppose if you want the original we can provide that too.

  35. Possible thing to edit for the printed version — page 267, panel 2: Vihki’s arm disappears, then reappears from a different angle. :)
    https://www.straysonline.com/2013/04/page-267/

    1. Sorry, not sure what you mean. In panel two her right arm is on the opposite side of Yuen, so it’s hidden.

      1. It’s her left arm, actually :) Follow from her shoulder (with the clan mark) down, going under Yuen’s arm to her elbow, then back up to… nothing. Her left hand comes up from a different angle, near his shoulder.

        1. Her arm is whole, though she does have a bracelet that breaks up the flow of it. I think you might be seeing it oddly at the low res :3

          Here – http://sta.sh/0kcn63cuw00

        2. Haha! Yes, the bracelet was throwing me off. Thanks! That’s bugged me for a few years now. :D

  36. Say, will the metal version of Holland’s Swan necklace from the kickstarter ever come to the store here at Strays?

    1. Yes, any leftovers we have will be put in the shop here on the site.

  37. Hi! I just wanted to say that I truly loved Strays, and seeing it reaching its conclusion is somewhat bittersweet.
    I also had a few questions:
    Meela said that her father died the day he gave the lucky charm bracelet to Tanor, but during the flashback of that fateful night, Tanor isn’t wearing it. Why? And if it was just a forgetting, why did Rollin give it to Tanor specifically, instead of Conner?
    Also, I know you don’t want to reveal Meela’s mother fate right now, but if one day you realise you really don’t want to use, are you considering to write a summary here?
    And what’s the relationship between Holland and his siblings? Is it as strained as it is with his parents? Is he doting on his sister like he does for Meela?
    Thank you for your awesome work, and sorry if I made any mistakes while typing this comment, not being a native speaker, and all…

    1. Thank you! :)

      Tannor didn’t wear the bracelet as religiously as Meela did, at least not until they were out on their own. It was likely with his stuff somewhere, but he made sure to fetch it when he went back for supplies (as he states on this page – https://www.straysonline.com/2012/01/page-202/) Rollin gave it to Tannor because he was the older of the twins.

      If we don’t end up using Meela’s mother for anything we’ll be sure to post a summary or something. But keep in mind not all things can be explained ;3

      As for Holland’s relationship with his siblings, he’s often teased and frowned upon by his older brothers. They don’t understand his compulsion to be out running around in the woods. He gets along pretty well with his sister though, and tries to dote on her but she’s rather mature for a child and won’t have it. She also chides him for his behavior on occasion as well.

  38. Aw, I’ve been here since around V1-Ch3, and it’s sad that it had to end. Thanks so much for your hard work and time, you two did a wonderful job. Now I have to find a new webcomic to anticipate.

    And here’s my question:
    If you look back at one of the first pages of Strays, the art is quite different from what it is now.
    What have you two learned and how did you grow in terms of the visual aspects (design, drawing, color) and the writing aspects ( storytelling, plot, dialogue, characters) throughout the creation of the comic?

    1. Thank you for your kind words!

      I can definitely say I have learned a lot from doing this comic. My skill in backgrounds improved immensely and I learned how to knuckle down and work on something even if I didn’t really feel like it in order to stay on schedule. I learned better ways to frame panels other than head shots, and hopefully improved with how I lay things out. I learned it’s okay to reference things. I learned how to be more efficient with how I draw and color.

      I also learned that you should probably have more story structure before you start something like this ^^; I struggled a lot in some places because of lack of planning. But I knew of no better way to learn how to do this than to dive in and try it, and I don’t regret it. I made mistakes along the way but it was worth it for how much I learned and I hope an enjoyable ride for the readers.

  39. If you ever decide to do a sequel or anything, would you please announce it in the form of a new page here on the Strays site? I personally used Comic Rocket to keep me up to date (which is a lot easier than managing bookmarks, especially if you have a zillion of them), and it’d be an easy way to find out. “Hey, that thing I know shouldn’t be updating anymore has a new page. I wonder what that page says?”

    Anyway, I can’t say I’ve been following nearly as long as some of these guys….but once I get suckered into a story, I just gotta follow up and find out more. And maybe eventually reread it from the start. (Maybe more than once.) I look forward to the day you have an archive for the story of these strays that takes me over a day to finish…on a reread. (It’s a pretty damn well written and also pretty well drawn too. Even if it’s quite some time before they’re revisited, I hope they are. In the mean time, please point us to your next stuff! Would love a peek at that too!)

    1. Sure, we can try to do that :3

      Thank you for enjoying the comic! I hope you also like anything else we try in the future <3

  40. What was the cause that Korin hunted Meela in the first place? And where was his clan, the one he stole from Ferals father (or rather Yuens father), when he killed Meelas brother?

    1. THATS exactly what ive wondering too ! thanks very much :)

    2. We didn’t really get a chance to explain this, but after Korin took over the clan he ran it into the ground. He ended up on his own and became a mercenary as well, though with significantly less scruples than Feral so he had no trouble hunting down kids.

  41. Truly amazing comic! 8’D I loved it until the very end! I love the little bit of art improvement throughout the pages, just like Meela was growing up, you guys were growing to be more awesome at drawing >v< I just wish my friends would read it so we can talk about it together OTL

  42. Guys, first of, let me just say what a BLAST it’s been all those years! I’ve been around here since those pages where Feral meets his freelance manager, Kosher, I think around Chapter 3? And it just amazes me how long ago that was, yet it still feels like I started reading for only just a few months… Thank you both for this amazing piece of work, I personally think it’s perfect!

    As for my questions:
    In the early stages of the comic, Meela mentions that her brother, Tannor, died not too long ago. Since we know that Meela was 12 at that point and that in her flashbacks of her and Tanor, fleeting from those assasins, we see that she’s much younger. So it’s safe to assume that Tanor didn’t die back then. So how did he die? On that note, how did Conner die? Also, we never real knew much about him. I actually thought that Meela had only one brother, until you guys brought Conner into the picture! How come? Was Meela’s relationship with him so bad that she only cared for one of her brothers?

    Sorry for the long post, guys :)

    1. I’m so glad that you enjoyed it! It’s been really nice to hear that from people :)

      Conner died at the same time as their father. You can see a young boy silhouette in the red flashback dream in Chapter 1, as well as the second body laying in the background of the full-body shot. Meela was pretty young when this all happened so her focus narrowed down to Tannor, who was the only one left.

      Tannor actually died on the day they were going to the market to buy Meela some sort of weapon (a flashback she remembers on this page). Their location had been discovered and Korin was sent to take care of them, but he only managed to get Tannor, who created enough of a distraction for Meela to get away. The story begins very shortly after his death.

  43. As a 5yr fan, at first i wasn’t happy with the ending but i read many comments with questions that i had to and they’ve been answered. though of course i still have many more(mostly regarding backgroud/side story stuff) that i know now weren’t too important but it was mainly basic storyline to understand what going. IVE always wondered why comic was kinda all over th e place and got many changes too, thank you for explaining and i stiill love it. i will really miss it ;^; can’t wait for the epilogue. oh man bitter sweet/moving on endings hurt.. Questions 1 will you ever reprint them if you had the chance ? 2 will we ever get the chance to read ferals journal( i wouldve liked to know what was going on) 3 what would the epilogue explain or answer? 4 any side story/spin off/sequel/etc to be done in the future?

    1. I’m glad that the Q&A has answered most of your questions!

      I don’t know if we’ll reprint the books in the future, we still have a lot leftover from our last order and I’m pretty sure they’ll last a while yet.

      Feral’s journal is full of boring life stuff. You got to see the most interesting points from Meela’s dreams, so we don’t really plan to write out his entire journal.

      For the epilogue, you’ll have to wait and see. And we don’t have any side stories or spin offs planned, but it’s not impossible!

      1. thank you very much for responsding! well i can’t wait for epilogue then. best of luck
        on kickstarter :’)

  44. Will The Epilogue be put up on here after the kickstarter and stuff is done?

  45. Been reading your comic since about 2010, and it has been my regular Friday fare without fail. I just want to say – Thank you for putting up your work for us to read and enjoy for free. You have a lot of talent for world-building, story writing and obviously, art. I hope you learnt what you hoped you would through creating this comic and I hope your future endeavours are even better! Thanks again, and all the best!

  46. Awesome comic you two! I have enjoyed being able to tune in to Strays the last few years. It’s made a nice addition to my Fridays. I’m sad to see it end but I’m excited to see what you do next.
    Which leads to my question, will you tell us anything now about what you want to work on next? Can we get a spoiler or and intro into your next work? =D

    1. Thank you very much!

      We don’t have much to share of our new projects at the moment. Me, I’ve got a few teasers on my Tumblr here – http://celesse.tumblr.com/tagged/tahlia

      Stacey has two story ideas in mind. One she’s had for a very long time and involves two of her characters, Algier and Cerris – http://algy.deviantart.com/art/You-Are-My-Strength-251091532 You can find more pictures of them in her gallery. The other story is fairly new and I don’t think she’s shared any development content publicly yet.

  47. HEP meh! :O Is there any way you can take a Paypal payment? Kickstarter isn’t letting me pledge. I’ve determined pretty solidly it’s not on my end (tried a different browser and computer, etc.) and have issued a support ticket, but am worried it wont get resolved in time to get the tier I want, since it’s a limited one.

    1. Have you been able to resolve the issue? :O Kickstarter usually responds pretty quickly.

  48. One thing I always was wondering and wanted as far as to add to your store is maybe a plush of Meela and Feral? I just love plushies. or what else would be nice is i see you have a 3ds case of gamercat but I’d honestly love a strays one. Anyway this is the first time I ever commented on this comic but I started reading it about 2 years ago and I thank you for this amazing story. I look forward to more of your work.

    1. I’m sorry, plushies are extremely expensive to produce and there just isn’t enough demand to make that kind of investment :( We’ll be lucky just to print the books! But thank you for wanting them, it makes us feel tickled!

  49. I posted this question on Tapastic under my account Blazing Star, but it doesn’t look like you’re replying to questions there.

    Your art style has changed a lot since the beginning of Strays. Are there any plans to re-draw the earlier chapters?

    1. Looking back at older pages may hurt since the style has changed a lot, but that’s the process of growing.

    2. I’m sorry, Tapastic’s comment/reply system isn’t really the best :(

      But we don’t plan to go back and redraw the pages. It would take a long time to redraw the first few chapters and by the time we finished with that our style will have evolved even further. If we redid the pages every time our style changed we would never stop redrawing them.

      It’s better to just leave the pages as is and move on. In the very least it marks our growth, as Algy mentioned!

      1. And honestly, I think the style hasn’t changed much at all.

  50. What an experience. I know I’m late to the party, but I’ve been following this story off and on since I was in elementary school and my sister showed it to me. Thanks for all the work, time, and dedication. I can see this is truly your passion, and I can’t wait to see what you do in the future. Also love the bushy tails, but they remind me more of a squwerrl than a wolf or fox

    1. Thank you for your kind words! And I suppose the tails were pretty bushy sometimes, but a wolf’s tail is rather bushy to begin with. And they were fun to draw that way!

  51. You’re bad evil mean people D:

    Why is it ending T_T

    Besides that you’re mean.

    1. It’s time to move on. Sorry if that’s mean!

  52. Why are you only including the Epilogue if you’re funded 208% of the original goal?

    The whole reason I was so excited to back your kickstarter was for the epilogue but it seems even if the goal is met we won’t get it?

    1. Well, the $12k is the minimum we need just to fund the printing and shipping of the books, so that means we’ll get pretty much no money out of it. And let’s not forget all the fees and taxes we’ll owe on the income.

      Making the epilogue a stretch goal gives us some profit, and it also gives everybody something to strive for. Kickstarters are more fun if there’s extra things to try and reach. But, truth be told, I doubt we’ll be able to resist doing the epilogue even if we don’t reach the stretch goal ;3

  53. Can you do a short comic of Piper’s everyday life?

    1. Well, you pretty much got a glimpse of Piper’s everyday life in the comic (drinking, flirting and stealing), but we’ll keep it in mind!

  54. No questions but today is a very empty Friday! I’ve followed your comic for years (never commented though I’m so bad about that) and I absolutely love it. Sad to see it come to an end! You both did an amazing job and thank you so much for all the work and sharing it with us :) I hope you do another comic! I will definitely follow that one too.

    1. Aww, thank you! I hope we can get a new story started up soon to help ease the sting ;)

  55. Did Piper really exchange sexual favors for Feral to glance over her wanted status?? xD

    1. Let’s just say that Piper used her feminine charm to convince him that it wasn’t worth turning her in for the petty reasons they put a bounty on her head ;) Besides, he had higher priority jobs to attend to!

  56. Am I the first italian supporter? ;-)

    1. Not sure, Kickstarter doesn’t make it easy to check based on exact location ^^;

  57. Just wanted to thank you guys for creating this webcomic. It always made my Friday! :D

  58. Hey! My sisters and i all love strays, and our only question is are you guys planning to make a single volume with all three parts in it?

    1. Thank you! And sorry, we’re not planning to do a consolidated print of the volumes. We’re lucky just to get them printed individually, so we won’t be trying for an extra print run.

  59. wait wait wait. I was out a few days and now I’m totally lost. What’s happening? Are you going to stop or not? Omg please not

    1. Stop the comic? Yes it is coming to and end. They will do an epilogue if they get enough support on Kickstarter though. ;)

    2. Sorry, not sure how we caused this confusion, but the comic will not be continuing. The Kickstarter is to fund the printing of the last five chapters.

      1. Sorry by the late. But so, the Kickstarter it’s just for this last five chapters and for the volume three right? That’s really sad ;( But well, it was a really great adventure, I love it. I met this comic in 2013 I guess and I feel in love just in the first chapter <3 It was a really great work Celesse, congratulations. It's really sad to think it's over… But at the same time it's really great :3 I'll miss Meela, Feral and Holand, they was such a great time…

      2. Just one more question if you still answering. Can I still donate on Kickstarter? Cause I can’t find where I go to do it :/

  60. Will you be posting a epilogue? If so, when do you plan on it? Thank you for making such an amazing comic. (Sorry if someone already asked. I am on my home so I can’t search my question)

    1. They said they will post it to the site a while after the backers get thier copies of the epilogue. (If funded).

    2. Bramblefire is correct, we’re hoping to reach the epilogue stretch goal with the Kickstarter and afterwards it will be posted online at some undetermined point in time.

  61. KEJBGKLSDJBGKLJBGKLJZSBG, WHAT. This can’t END HERE!!!!!! I mean!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why didn’t you say the comic was coming to an end so I could prepare myself?? I came here expecting half a comic to go on ;________;

    1. We actually mentioned this was the final chapter back in March, in the description of the last page of Chapter 14 – https://www.straysonline.com/2015/03/page-359/

      1. Oh, I must have skipped that description, so sad ;_; It’s been a great comic, I’m really looking forward to the epilogue!

  62. Man I have been reading this since.. I dunno? It started? Never commented and I wasn’t the most faithful follower. (I would skip out for a year or a few months at a time and just binge read it) and I’ll admit I’m hella sad it’s ending. But what a nice spot to end. Def gonna fund you guys. Im not sure where I’ll be in a few months so that might make things interesting though..

  63. are you going to be posting the epilogue online or is it exclusive to the book?

    1. The epilogue will be posted online some time after the Kickstarter has been fulfilled.

  64. This may be a little random, but if Meela is wanted. as mentioned somewhere during the comic (I can’t remember the exact page Dx Right when they were heading to the market), how did no other bounty hunters ever find her? She was in a market and at the ball at one point. Is it because the were looking for a brother and sister or had it just been so long that her wanted posters were too outdated to be of use?

    1. Meela only had a target on her that consisted of “the child of this demon” so they had no images or any descriptions of her and her brother. They didn’t even know the pups existed because Feral was surprised to find them there when he went to take care of their father.

      After they escaped it was noted that two demon pups were on the loose, but there was no real way to try to locate them other than hunters searching the area.

  65. Awesome comic!! I only wish that you could have been pros like the DC and other comic companies! I do think this story line has a lot of potential to go on in several directions of each main characters. Anyway, the bottom-line is that I simply wanted to thank you for sharing your comics with us!! Again, i really enjoy it very much. I just finished reading it in several hours today. Wish you all the best!

  66. Sad to see it end, but since there might be a continuation later…. I’ll have to keep a stiff upper lip and see what new and exciting comic you come up with for me to sink into!
    Work hard guys! you’re fans can’t wait ^_^b

  67. Strays has been one of my very first webcomics and even though I’m sad it’s ending, I’ll gladly read the volumes again and again. I might even end up trying to write and draw my own mini-story based on Meoley! Actually… creating an OC would be totally awesome, even if I have no idea where to start.

    It’s been an incredible journey with lots of twists and roller coasters, but I’ve loved it from the start to the very end. Thank you so much for this beautiful comic and I’m looking forward to your future projects!

    Do I have a question? Um… well as an info, are there all kinds of animal people? Like, we’ve seen felines, foxes, wolves swans and deers, but are there fishes, reptilians and insects as well? And do all of them have a humanoid form and an “animal” form? Oh boy more questions are popping up, but I’ll keep myself to only those two.

    Lots of love, I really hope we’ll get that epilogue. Will it be in the printed version of Volume 3 if it’s funded?

    1. Regarding the animal people, there are many different races but they’re not equal to ALL of the species in the world. I’m hesitant to trap us by stating which species are and aren’t included in the list, so I’ll just say that it’s not limited to wolves, foxes, deer, felines and birds.

      I can say that reptiles, insects and fish are a no, though. We pretty much stick to mammals.

  68. I don’t think you guys charged enough for those cameos. They were gone so fast, you could have asked $500 or $1000 each and given the fund a good boost.

    Now I’m worried we won’t reach the epilogue :(

    1. I honestly didn’t think anybody would want them, since it’s only like… one page ^^; Oh well, live and learn.

  69. I’m repeating storm’s question, for I can’t afford the book and by no means can get one. Will the epilogue be posted on here or inside the books?

    1. The epilogue will be posted here on the site some time after the Kickstarter has been fulfilled.

  70. If funding comes in just short of the epilogue I’m gonna be really pissed.

  71. I always wanted to see Meela as an adult woman :OO

  72. In 5 days to get 5k dollars more – seems like impossible :((

    1. It’s not impossible! Have faith!

  73. Doesn’t look like you’ve been replying to anyone for awhile but I have to ask. Since it’s obvious we won’t hit the stretch goal for the epilogue, what’s going to happen with that?

    1. Sorry, things have been a little hectic and I’m trying to catch up. It’s not “obvious” just yet, there’s usually an influx of backers on the last day. So it’s not impossible. Let’s see what happens before we start panicking.

    2. Couldn’t be happier that I was wrong! =D YAY EPILOGUE!!!

  74. I just looked and 25050!! The stretch goal for the Epilogue has been reached!!!!

  75. What happened with everyone’s favorite foxy lady, Piper?

  76. I was a derp, and forgot to donate until it was too late… :(
    At this point, I’m hoping there will be leftover swan necklaces…
    (Or maybe someone would sell their’s…?)
    I guess I’ll just have to wait and see…

  77. Vihki? What ever happened to her?

  78. I don’t think this gas been asked before, but where did you get the original idea for this comic?

  79. *this has

    Sorry.

  80. I know we didn’t reach the omake goal, but is there any chance you guys will do it anyway? We were only about $1,200 off.

  81. I know you have already said you might revisit these characters in future, but have you thought of telling other stories within this word, focusing on other characters?

    1. Oops, that should be world, not word.

  82. I haven’t read this comic or posted a comment for a while, but I have to say, man do I enjoy reading this comic! It’s a great comic! One of my favorite fanfiction is at http://www.fanfiction.net, BrolyKai’s fanfics of dragonball Z or DBZ are awesome! She made one assassins creed ^u^ I read ALL of them, I love BrolyKai’s fanfics! Enough about the fanfic, STRAYSONLINE IS AWESOMMEE!!!! I Love meela’s wolf form (demon form) its awesome! I luv it!! 0-0 I’m totally fangirling right now…. NOOOOOOOO!!! WHY MUST IT BE MEEEEEE!!!! *falls on knees yelling NOOOO* well that was dramatic…. Anywho, great comic, a amazing inspiration for my comic, I enjoy drawing wolves so I made a comic, why am I talking about me!? WHY IS THIS A HABIT! Cya on another comment or… Something…

  83. Did I say she? I meant BrolyKai, no one knows if BrolyKai is a girl or boy, putting she is just another blad habit I have

  84. -Bad-Geez I can’t type today >~<

  85. You should make all of the comic volumes into one big book. It will
    Be easier to print and to buy.

    1. I agree, although I understand it will be expensive. Still, I’d rather have it as one large Graphic Novel.

  86. I still come every Friday checking for a new page before forgetting that it ended. I guess some habits will never change.

  87. You and me both…

  88. Thank you Algy and Celesse for creating such a wonderful comic with a beautiful artwork and a bunch of interesting characters that you cant help to either love or hate or have a love/hate feel about.
    I have been following Strays since there only was one chapter and a tiny bit of the second chapter out. That is quite some years ago by now. Still I have enjoyed following it, it have been a bit of a light to me sometimes to get back home to find a new update. Even though it is sad that it ends now, I personally find it being a good and open ending, so people can use their fantasy themselves about what happens next, as well as it does so that the comic and its story dont end up getting super messy or too long and plain. I have fallen over some comics over the years where the creators have been ignoring the ‘lets stop while the game is good’ point.
    Do you have any other comic projects in the making? Or planned?
    I’m sorry that I couldnt donate anything for your kickstarter, it happend around where I had to spend money on schoolbooks and whatnot, so had to save every dime I could. Thats how real life can be I guess.
    Anyway..
    Thank you for the wonderful story, time and the years. I really hope for the best for you guys in the future, though I will most likely keep an eye on this site as well as the facebook page, for possible updates. ;)

  89. i absolutely adore this comic!! I have been following this comic for quite sometime, and i must admit, i am concerned!
    To continue reading this comic, will individual books be sold? if so where can i buy these works of art?
    Is the story being posted anywhere else for its continuum?
    I must knowwwwwww!!!!
    Thanks!
    P.S. where can i find the eight page epilogue? It’s not popping up for me anywhere!

    1. The comic is over. The kickstarter was to publish the 3rd volume and allow people to buy a printed version of the full comic if they wanted to. The epilogue will be given to the kickstarter backers and then sometime much later uploaded here (that’s the last I heard the artists say on it anyhow). So you’ve got a good long wait for the epilogue! Kickerstarter rewards are supposed to be delivered around March 2016 and there’s no word for how long afterwards they’ll wait before uploading it here.

  90. Wow! I found this today, and just finished it. What a fun read this was, so thank you for creating it. I hope to read more of your stories in the future, now that this has ended.

  91. WOW! I can’t believe it took me this long to find this! I really loved the whole story. It makes me wish i had money so i could support you to make even more great works.

    1. Your work just realy inspired me
      (And i spelled my name wrong that first time ^^;)

  92. Why is the patreon page still active?

    1. I actually wasn’t aware there were still pledges on it! I assumed everybody cancelled theirs by now. We can’t actually close the account for various reasons, but I’ll remove the sidebar link and remind patrons they can stop their pledges.

      1. Even if you can’t close the account, it’s really easy to delete pledges/patrons. Considering the number of emails Patreon/Paypal sends you about payments alone, I’m curious how it could fly by you or Algy that the page was still bringing in money 3 months after the comic has ended…

        1. Stacey monitors the Strays email and didn’t mention the Patreon ones, so I haven’t been keeping tabs on it. But aside from that, it’s not like we’re forcing people to keep pledging. We’ve made at least two posts on there telling people they can cancel their pledges and it feels rude/ungrateful to cancel them ourselves.

          Several people have said they wanted to keep supporting us via the Strays Patreon until we establish support methods for other projects, so it would be pretty uncool of us to throw that money back in their faces like that.

        2. If people have said they wanted to continue pledging that’s understandable then.

  93. For some reason I feel like the ending chapters were forced. :( not a good feeling

  94. So I have to ask this. After reading some comments and replies it sounds like there could be some form of continuation in the future. I Might not have read this comic from the beginning but I actually really liked reading it. Its one of those few comics that don’t make the girls stupidly proportioned and make the guys perverts. The question is will this series ever have a continuation. Even if its not planned now, would you ever consider continuing it? or will this be another “Original life” incident and have a amazing world fall into limbo.

  95. so weird – i remember reading this in 2011/2012 and have just found it again out of nowhere, and it’s as lovely as i remember it to be. not sure how i feel about the ending; it’s fitting and it’s well done, but part of me hoped there would be more – more length, more content, more something? so i hope there’s a sequel, because this story is original and has nice art and engaging characters, and it was always one of my favorites, and even though this is a sweet ending and i like it i’d love to read a continuation.

  96. Aww it ended, I loved, and still do, strays, it’s amazing to me :D

  97. Okay, I just found this comic via my friend and I absolutely love it. I already created an OC for it.

    I have a many questions but the most pressing one is that:

    Is the originally basis of the animal-type races from a elf/demon coupling?

  98. Just wondering if you guys ever attend comic cons. I just went to my first in Portland Oregon and they had a few web comic artists there, but none that I new well or followed. Would LOVE to see you guys at a comic con or something similar near Portland Oregon. I can’t travel much further than that due to money and I already live 6 hours from Portland.

  99. Will the story continue, or is that it? It’s one of the best I’ve in a while, and I’m so into it. Hoping there’s a lot more to come!

  100. SON OF A FUCK

    I was reading something and it reminded me of this webcomic and I forgetted you ended it D:

  101. I know I’m a little late to the party but is the epilogue just for the backers or will you post it here once it’s done?

  102. will the story continue?? Please say it will!!! this just cant be the end… :'(

  103. Any news??? Ive been eagerly awaiting the next installation of the story and nothing yet :( I hope it hasnt been ended early!! D:

  104. So I understand shipping and printing and stuff delayed physical copies of the book but when are we getting our PDF copies? Any reason why those are nearly 3 months past delivery date?

    1. That was mostly due to us not finishing the content for the books themselves on time. Then we also had trouble with Indesign not formatting properly. But I’m actually about to send them tonight, so please keep an eye out for the notice!

      1. That’s great! I can’t wait!

  105. Wow, I find a great webcomic and it’s already ended.

    PLEASE PLEASE PLEEEAAASSEE MAKE A SEQUEL! PLEEEEAAASSSEEEEEE!

  106. DAMN…someone or samething just died inside me….. I started this awesome quest and finished it in one day, I was not able to move away from it..and…it…just…ended…due to wast universe inside my mind this story now lives with me. but because it is unfinished from my point of wiev i can’t erase it (like i did with few comix that were not interesting) nor i am able to finish it and close it for good and now it will haunt me at least for year or two….so wish you creative life and let the muse be with you.

  107. So are you going to post a page or something with links to your new projects? Because I’m at least interested.

  108. I want to buy the first two volumes, but didn’t you add or change certain pages from earlier in the comic? My brain is mush and I don’t really remember. And if you did change it, were those pages in the first two volumes? Were they fixed or is what is in the store the original?
    Thanks! I love this comic and I’m so sad it’s over. It’s so perfect!!

  109. I really enjoyed the comic a lot, I read it all within a day and just loved it! But I can not believe it is over like this… I wish you’d start a second season or something :c
    Also, it would be awesome if all three volumes were available to buy as softcover! I wouldn’t hesitate a second buying them c:

    1. I just found the shop. Blind me.
      I WILL SO BUY THOSE BOOKS!
      …you do ship to germany, right?

      1. Yes, we ship world-wide. Volume 3 will be available in the shop soon.

  110. Do you have any more info on the other races of Meoley

  111. There should be a volume 3

    I wanna see Meela all grown up *jumps excitedly* I got my eyes on this website

  112. Can you give us a translation for the “mystery language”?

    1. A link to a picture for it maybe?

  113. This webcomic has always been an inspiration since I was in middle school and I’m in college now. 10/10.

  114. Will there be more to volume 3? And will there be a volume 4?

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