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WOW, IT’S REALLY THE END! We started posting the comic OFFICIALLY in 2002 (although I actually started drawing it in 2001), and now, a mere 18 years later, it’s finished! For anyone blanking on the significance of this last page, here’s a helpful reminder link! Just took a little time to pay that gag off. Although, I mean, technically they didn’t walk INTO a bar, so probably nothing terrible happened and it was all good!

And as promised, we recorded an NN4B Final Thoughts and FAQs podcast, which you can listen to below. It’s chock full of our thoughts on the comic, many of our cut ideas, our creative process, and our future plans, as we answer your questions!

We’ll be happy to answer any follow up questions you might have in the comments section as well. The site and the comic will remain up and archived for repeated readings. I still plan to go through and clean the blurry pages in the archive over time. I intend to throw up blog posts now and again, so feel free to check back on occasion! In the mean time, I intend to practice my art craft and increase my skill level! I’ll be posting my progress on my tumblr account. I also intend to wipe clean my old Deviant Art account, which I have not updated in literal years, and start fresh. As for Joe, well, we’ve got plenty of future plans that we talk about in the podcast!

So that’s basically a wrap, we have completed No Need for Bushido’s endgame! SPEAKING OF ENDGAME…

 

I’m actually writing this just after getting back from an emotional viewing of Avengers: Endgame. My quick take? It’s great! I mean it’s been getting near universal praise, and that’s well deserved. Unless, of course, you haven’t been watching the other Marvel films. Then it’s just a bunch of wacky nonsense!

And when I say this was an emotional viewing, that’s no exaggeration, I cried at least three times in the movie, probably more. Granted, I’ll cry at any movie with an emotionally powerful score accompanied by half competent characterization, and Endgame was way beyond competent.

The screenplay is so tightly written, similar to Infinity War, and it’s incredible how the movie never drags over its THREE HOUR RUN TIME, yet still manages to slow down for big emotional moments. The soundtrack’s definitely doing some heavy emotional lifting, as Alan Silvestri’s one of the great composers of our time. And although there were a few moments where I can vaguely recall the jokes conflicting with the drama, there’s not enough that I can recall any glaring examples. I love how layered the movie is with references to all the previous films, so the more obsessively invested in the franchise you are, the more gags and easter eggs you’ll be drowning in. It’s going to be great for subsequent viewing! I’m not sure there’s much more I can say about the movie that hasn’t been said that isn’t, like, super spoilery, so maybe some SPOILERS from here on.

Let me just say, WOW, the time travel is great in this! I love a good time travel narrative, and Endgame is top tier. Like, they establish the rules of alternate universe time lines and they really stick to it, and I never found myself super frustrated by glaring contradictions. Although Joe did point out that if the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) was only interested in protecting her own universe timeline, it doesn’t make much sense why hearing that Doctor Strange willingly gave up the Time Stone in Banner’s timeline would convince her that giving up her own stone would be okay. There’s no guarantee that Strange wasn’t just considering protecting his own universe, as she is only protecting her’s. But Joe also pointed out that she might have been on the fence and just felt like it was worth trusting future alternate Strange and Banner, which is fine, people are allowed to trust other people.

There’s also the bit at the end with old Steve on the bench. The scene implies that after he traveled to the past, he lived out the rest of his life and then just came back to the meeting area knowing they would be there to send the young version of himself away. And yet the movie established pretty clearly that the time periods they visit were part of an alternate universe timeline, and messing with the past wouldn’t affect their origin timeline. So theoretically, when Cap was sent back to return the stones, he actually wasn’t living in the past of the same timeline that Bucky, Falcon, and Hulk were currently occupying, but an alternate universe. So how did his older self get to that bench to hand off his shield to Falcon?

But it’s possible that after Steve finished living out his life with alt-universe Peggy Carter, he may have returned to the origin universe shortly before the group showed up at the time pad to send his younger self back, and waited on the bench just off screen until the group noticed him. Thus, the time travel rules established in the movie weren’t necessarily broken. Of course, he could’ve just come back when they expected him too, except he would’ve been gone sixty years instead of a couple hours. But that wouldn’t have been as emotional or dramatic, I guess! Also, like, good thing they didn’t notice him on the bench earlier, or the whole dramatic reveal would’ve been spoiled! Maybe he was hiding behind a bush until the right moment.

In terms of actual criticism of the movie, I have very little! I do think the final battle’s action sequences were a tad difficult to follow because of all the shaky cams and quick cuts. I wish every Marvel movie had fight scenes as awesome as Winter Soldier’s. I also continue to have a problem with all the cartoony physics, these characters can survive pretty much any amount of explosive trauma and blunt force damage (except when falling off cliffs onto concrete slabs). But it’s kind of a problem with most modern films that often robs action scenes of a lot of tension, so I won’t ding Endgame too hard for it, especially since swords still seem to work pretty effectively in the MCU, and I like swords, if you haven’t heard.

Also, I’m glad Thanos realized how, like, super dumb his original plan was and just went with a much better plan the second time around, but I still wish one of the supposedly brilliant Avengers characters had pointed out the obvious flaw in how wiping out half of all life in the universe  wouldn’t, like, actually solve a supposed lack of resources and end all war or whatever? Anyway, Endgame, A++.

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  • clogboy

    Endgame was good! More callbacks than in a clips episode :)
    Three in particular srike me regarding Captain America. Sam saying ‘On your left’, as a reference to Winter Soldier. The exchange between him and bucky about taking the stupid with him, as mirrored from the first Captain America, and cap and carter dancing!
    Not a big fan of Timetravel Ex Machina, but seeing what they established (and how they used it to make things come full circle) is a worthy conclusion to this awesome franchise! Tony’s rection to when Friday finished the math: priceless! Also good conclusions for Hulk’s, Thor’s, Black Widow’s and ofcourse Tony’s stories.

    Still a bit baffled on how the events influenced their timeline and any other they might have created. I mean, is Thanos never going to wipe out the universe in his original timeline? Did they just rob alternate universe’s Starlord of Gamora, and did old Steve steal a young Steve’s shield? (Dick move!) Best not to linger on it, but I’m sure the script writers thought it through.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      They definitely created a bunch of branching alternate universe timelines with their shenanigans! Dunno if you’ve watched the latest Homecoming trailer, but they use a particular ubiquitous comic book
      term in it that cements a new door of wild possibilities for the MCU.

      • clogboy

        One that’s going to involve the X-men and Deadpool (as in, they all happened in alternative timelines)? Did Days of Future Past create a new timeline? I’m not too familiar with Marvel time travel 101, but I hoped they’d leave the multiverse out of it. That’s just milking different cash cows at the same time, as they should, but in a movie franchise this will get confusing really soon. Or maybe it’s how they’re gonna get away with a lack of cross-franchise continuity after this point (I think the latter) so that every two or three superheroes will have their own specific context.

        • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

          Considering how much I LOVE Into the Spiderverse, I I think the existence of a multiverse is not indicative of poor writing quality.

          • clogboy

            I love it too, visually it was nothing short of great, and Miles Morales was great! It’s easy to see Tom Holland’s Spiderman borrowed a lot from him, and Spiderverse’s Miles from him in return. The best thing from that movie IMO is how they combined visual styles in one shot, and all of them were done great! The other timelines were interesting to see and all these perspectives add to the story, although a bit sad that half of them were for comic relief. They should have their own unhampered stories and universes, but watching them work together is incredibly well done in this instance, but it’s also something they can only do once IMO.
            Time travel (Dr. Who) and parallel universes (Rick & Morty) can work great! But when executed poorly (Legends of Tomorrow) it can be a real drag. I’m seeing time travel as the ultimate plot convenience which is still a sin in my book, but in the case of Endgame everyone had to fight to claim the most rewarding outcome for them, some didn’t succeed, and others had to sacrifice everything. It adds to the struggle rather than taking away from it. Would’ve loved to see Professor Hulk smash one more time (and not a half-assed The Room- esque effort) and it was warranted and would’ve added a lot to his character progression, but I digress.

  • clogboy

    Damn Ken for turning that place into a bar, and ending the world! :p

    • Xinef

      Does that mean that the moral of the whole comic is that alcohol will be our end?

      • clogboy

        Only when religion is involved…

    • Turul

      Anything for a jug of good sake!

    • NoiseShaper

      The moral of the tale is that alcohol ruins everything, right…? 🤔

  • Hfar

    And now, the end is near~
    And so we face the final chapter~
    My friends, we’ll say it clear~
    We’ll state our case, as they wrap her~

    We’ve read a strip that’s full~
    We’ve commented on comics prior~
    And more, much more than this~
    We did it with satire~

    Bad puns, we’ve had a few~
    But then again, too many to mention~
    We did what we had to do~
    And groaned through without exemption~

    We winged each fun comment~
    Each chaotic step along the live wire~
    And more, much more than this~
    We did it with satire~

    Yes, there were times, I’m sure we knew~
    When we bit off more than we could chew~
    But through it all, when there was doubt~
    We chewed scenery and spat it out~
    We’re the folks who made the jokes~
    And did it with satire~

    We’ve loved, we’ve laughed and cried~
    We’ve had our share, of characters enthusing~
    And now, as tears subside~
    We find it all, all so amusing~

    To think we did all that~
    And may I say, not without wit drier~
    Oh no, no, not us~
    We did it with satire~

    What is a reader, what have they got?
    If not their humor, they have naught~
    To say the things they truly feels~
    Listen for the words in laughter peals~
    The record shows this comic we chose~

    And we did it with satiiiiiiiiire~

    • GeoTheManSir

      How long have you had that prepared?

      • Hfar

        About twenty minutes before I posted it.

    • Bob

      Sinatra is always an excellent send-off. Bravo!

    • Xinef

      Those rhymes I have to admire.

      … with satire.

      What else could you desire?

      Gotta stop before I tire.

    • Sunwu

      Im glad that there is a bashido ballad for the last page.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      Always impressive, Hfar!

    • NoiseShaper

      Impressively, the comment section holds up as well as the actual story does, even now, right up to this one! 😃👍

  • Minando

    The Tao says never turn away free jugs of sake.
    And with that wisdom, NN4B sends us back into our own world…
    So…many wobbly thanks to the creators of this great webcomic!

    May you never be sober if there’s no need for it!

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      No need for sobriety??

      • Minando

        If the Tao wills it we should be happy to oblige.

    • clogboy

      No Need For Sobriety!

  • KungFuKlobber

    MINOR ENDGAME SPOILER

    I, for one, am deeply disappointed that Starlord didn’t endlessly roast Fat Thor.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      Starlord’s above body shaming.

      • clogboy

        Starlord is one sandwich away from being fat himself :p (quoting movie canon here)

  • Xinef

    *orders some Pocky from the barman*

  • Crestlinger

    And at the end of bushido, seven ate nine.

    • clogboy

      Nicely spotted :)

      • SlugFiller

        Explain?

        • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

          The final number of pages in the comic is 789.

          • Agent 52

            We all know 789 but why. Simple he needed three square meals

        • endplanets

          Last strip is #789

  • SKy

    A blind Taoist Monk, a Hindu Guru and a Christian Priest walk into a Japanese Bar.

    • Minando

      Too bad there is no ‘to be continued’…

    • Turul

      And the world ends.

      • Nos Rin aka CTCO

        That’s a horrible punchline!

      • clogboy

        “Awkwaaard” – Funnybot

    • Warcodered

      To be fair when the Priest and the Guru showed up in the story we really should of seen this coming.

  • Edze Jan de Haan

    Congratulations on finishing this huge project!
    Been a long time reader and want to say thanks for the fine entertainment.

  • Turul

    Done, and done!
    Thanks for the lovely comic that has brought me many lols, and thanks for all the other commenters too for all those extra lols!

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      You’ll always have the lols to remember us by…

  • http://www.comicsagonistes.hackenbush.org/ Ginger Mayerson

    Bravo, guys, BRAVO! Thanks for keeping NN4B in my comics for more than a decade. It was great, and now it’s over. What will I do? I’ll listen to the podcast asap.

    I’m tellin’ ya, having Endgame and the end of NN4B in the same month is tough on my leathery old heart.

    • clogboy

      Add to that the epic Battle for Winterfell in GoT. I wonder if my noggin can handle more…

      • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

        Ah, I remember when I liked game of thrones, it was roughly four seasons ago…

        • clogboy

          This is true. Over time, it got less desperate and more predictable. More fantasy than speculative fiction. But I like how even now everyone has a different angle in the story that will come out to play at some point. But you can already see that Jamie is going to choke Cersei’s lights out, Dany is gonna go too far and Jon has to stop her. This is all either speculation or something that has been set up seasons ago (so no real spoilers), but nothing has happened yet to contradict this, ergo…
          I also liked it better when the show got your hopes up and then crushes them like overripe fruit. But if that didn’t change for the better as the main characters moved into their positions, only massochists would watch it. There are still horrible twists but it became more of a fan pleaser.

          Guess there’s still some value left in reading the books… :p

          • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

            I love the books, and I’m very pleased that the show adapted books 1-3 so faithfully (since they’re the best in the series). Once the show hit book(s) 4/5, and its own path beyond that, the writing got distinctly simpler and more cliche. It didn’t turn into abject garbage or anything, but the showrunners’ more juvenile and cringe-worthy tendencies became more prominent when not supported by the tighter plotting of the books. I haven’t really watched it since season 6 where they just up and killed half a dozen characters in a nonsense explosion because they didn’t know how to resolve those plot lines in a satisfying way, hoping the shock of it would keep viewers from noticing.

            These guys are also in charge of a major Star Wars project of some sort, rumored to be something taking place during the Old Republic era. I worry a bit, but maybe if they shy away from super edgy stuff, they’ll make a decent action adventure space opera.

          • clogboy

            Starbucks gate is the most controversial stuff that happened this season. As for the Battle of Winterfell: strategically it was disappointing (watch Chadiversity’s video on that), but some of the actions were awesome. The night really was dark and full of terrors, but the pay-off is great.
            Also killed off some characters that are redundant to the plot (wish they killed off at least one major character and then flex their creative muscles around that fact), so the worst thing they’re guilty of is plot convenience. And convenience is foreshadowing, which involves people in the future rather than the now, making any pay-off less satisfying and less warranted. Sometimes they should roll the dice a little.

          • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

            I think the sarbucks thing is the most meme-able this season, but the most controversial is probably Sansa declaring that being sexually assaulted made her a stronger person. Not the greatest message!

          • clogboy

            Typically rape victims either break mentally into a depression and self damaging thoughts, or indeed do become stronger. Some get over it by refusing to let the event have power over them, and I believe the author (of the books, mind you) put it in there as an essential part of her character development. The showrunners just thought it necessary to summarize and rehash that.
            My thoughts: Sansa believed a lie and suffered the consequences, and is now progressing as a character. She might well be the most influential person in the Seven Kingdoms, and currently the two people that are more powerful are also female, and they too endured great suffering and carved out their position. I hope many people feel inspired by these characters.
            I agree it’s a volatile topic that might well backfire, but the show isn’t known for pulling punches (until recently, actually) and every shocking event contributed to the story. Truly, if they’re also going to write a Star Wars franchise, then I hope this is what they take with them, so that they can get past what many people criticize Rey’s (lack of) character progression for.

          • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

            Sansa has not been a rape victim in the books, although she has for sure been sexually harassed, and it has not made her stronger. The books do a pretty admirable job of showing how all the awful violence of the world of Westeros chips away at the characters. No one is better off after violence is inflicted upon them, and when characters do step up and make better/moral choices, it’s generally the direct result of positive interactions with other characters. The perpetuation of generational violence, and the transformation of victim to assaulter is a heavy theme in the books, and was definitely more present in the first four seasons of the show.

            There are a number of glaring gripes I have with the show at this point, many of which come after season 4. 5 gave us the infamous “Sansa’s rape is framed as Theon’s pain” moment where the camera focuses on Theon watching her sexual assault so we can understand how traumatizing it is for him. 6 gave us Loras’ torture and forced renouncement of his homosexuality, after which he, and half a dozen other characters were immediately killed in the scept explosion. season 8 has fully canonized this ‘survival of sexual assault makes you stronger’ message, which is not really true, it’s the help and support a victim gets afterwards that can make them stronger, and Sansa has definitely not gotten any help. Season 8 also just killed basically the only woman of color in the show to motivate Daenerys. Also, having Missandei basically tell daenerys to burn King’s Landing in her last moments is extremely out of character for her, considering she’s been a very kind, level headed, self sacrificing, peace advocate. There’s also a lot of glorification of the show’s ‘strong women’ when they do something violent and cruel, as if that’s the embodiment of empowered women.

            And all this stuff isn’t necessarily show-destroying. These types of subtle story telling tropes are so ubiquitous that I don’t think they bother the average viewer. But the accumulation of all these themes in the show that are not present in the books has turned me off quite a bit.

          • clogboy

            Interesting, you make some good points. I’m wondering how R. R. feels about it.
            You’re spot on with Missandei, honestly I expected her to make the jump herself to take a bargaining chip away from Cersei. Sad to see her go, but it’s warranted after her execution of Lord Tarley and his adopted son.

          • Andy Nguyen

            At the risk of opening a can of worms, how confident are you that the problematic themes and biases that show up in the show didn’t have their roots in the books? The books were written a long time ago, and it seems like a lot of viewers read the books as young adults, and so I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some rose tinted memory going on. In the show, Dany has suffered from White Savior Syndrome since Season 1, well before the show “ran out of book”. Regarding homosexuality, none of the book POV characters are queer; in fact, while Yara Greyjoy in the show is bisexual, her counterpart Asha Greyjoy in the books is straight. Similarly regarding race, basically all of the POV characters have been cast in the show as white, and visual depictions of them from before the show are also white, so even if they might not have all been explicitly depicted as white in the books, I would be very surprised if GRRM and most readers had imagined them as anything other than white, thanks to the “white as default” bias in Western art.

          • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

            I’ve re-read the books a couple of times and I find some of the most cringe worthy stuff relates to the age of the characters, especially Dany. All the kids have been aged up in the show so it’s far less of an issue. In terms of Dany being a white savior in the books, we just haven’t seen how the full series of events has played out yet. Loras isn’t on trial with Margery in the books, and no one’s been forced to renounce their homosexuality before being killed off. Even if none of the POV characters are LGBTQ, I don’t recall there being any anti-LGBTQ messaging in the books. GRRM’s fairly outspoken about being anti-war and pro-feminist, and his books share those themes.

            But as a television series that is now making its own path with the story, it has put forth a lot of underlying messages that either haven’t been fully realized in the books or just aren’t present, and it seems to be heavily relying on a lot of tired storytelling tropes to wrap up a narrative that used to be much more nuanced. And for the majority of viewers, that’s probably fine, but I can’t help but measure the show by the high bar it set in its first four seasons.

        • Seekis

          I knew of game of thrones before anybody else in maybe my whole city thanks to you guys. I remember you posted a video and I got all hyped out about it and tried to talk with other people about it and nobody knew what I was talking about… Can you remember the world when no one knew about Game of Thrones? In that time I was already a regular reader of this web comic for some years.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      It was never our intention to hurt leathery hearts of any sort!

      • purplelibraryguy

        Didn’t some villains get stabbed through their leathery hearts?

  • Kid Chaos

    It’s over? NNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! 😱

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LfGkPvfpjVY

  • http://tapastic.com/series/Sun-Incarnate Declan

    I can’t believe I got 180ish pages into this in 2012 and thought “this is boring” https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/61f2d65a94741b1ab2f0728ff652019d2efb9e78add763ae541062781610f31b.jpg

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      Haha, I mean, arguably, the beginning kinda… is……. That’s another thing I’d change about the comic! Start with a super badass sword fight action scene!

      • NoiseShaper

        I’ve made the experience more than once that it can pay off handsomely to be a little patient with a new story, as it has in this case! 🙂

  • Bob

    And now, to bookmark this site so I may always reread this comic with fond memories.

  • Ilmari

    This is the way the world ends
    This is the way the world ends
    Not with a bang but with a suitable exclamation all the same..,

    But to think that after the better part of two decades NN4B has reached its proper conclusion! That’s not something many webcomics achieve so extra kudos for managing it, through thick and thin and dreaded hiatus…

    I won’t miss the comic… but only because I can keep coming back and rereading it! And, of course, buying it if I can… I still have my first print of volume one on the shelf, and its feeling quite lonely. :-)

    Thank you again, Alex and Joe, for your wonderful work all these years.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      I’m glad you stuck around! I’ll look into print-on-demand, although there will still be a significant amount of page reformatting involved.

      • Turul

        Oh, great! My volumes aren’t lonely since there are two of them, but I’m sure they’d be happy to get some company if you can make that possible some day!

        • clogboy

          It, Zombie Hunters and Inverloch keep each other good company :)
          (although they’re carefully boxed because the study is now becoming a baby room)

          • Turul

            (congrats on the baby!)

  • TheArrowPen

    Congratulations on making it to the end! I can’t remember when I started reading, but I still have your Cho+pretzels wallpaper and the save date is 2005, so at least that long. Glad I stuck around till the end.

    And now, back to the beginning to read it again!

  • http://kiwidayn.comicgenesis.com ColdFusion

    Well done!!! maan.. What a feeling. Like when Okashina Okashi ended. It’s been soooo long.
    Top quality ending.

  • Major Tom

    Amusing timing. This ends a tale about Japan shortly after the Heisei era ended in Japan.

    I guess the Reiwa era you could say has no need for bushido?

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      You could say that.

  • http://the-void-hamlet.deviantart.com/ Void Hamlet

    For the 100th time, then! “Please redraw the first few chapters”.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      Oh, eh, um… If you want to redraw them for me, that’d be appreciated!

      • http://the-void-hamlet.deviantart.com/ Void Hamlet

        Tell you what – should I ever learn to draw professionally and get to the point where I can emulate this style, I’ll check back. 😀 Thanks for all the years of tomfoolery. What’s next?

    • Daniel Danilenko

      Guys! I love your furst chapters. They are hideous but effective memorial to your development. It’s more interesting to have them as is.
      Again they were fun enough to read despite the art and expressive enough to be fun

    • NoiseShaper

      I love the refined style of the later chapters with many individual stunning works of art, but the childhood and adolescent phases are part of many utterly brilliant long-running web comics and seeing them coming into their own is part of the reward for a little patience (or quite a bit of patience in real time, but still worth it! 😉).

      • http://the-void-hamlet.deviantart.com/ Void Hamlet

        My comment was in response to another comment which I can no longer spot. Why yes, I can certainly appreciate that (in terms of watching an artist grow, I’ve had the honor to witness a few). Just as well I love seeing older pages revisited, while preserving the original for sentimental value. :-)

        • NoiseShaper

          Yes, it could be nice, but getting initial pages redrawn is a rare treat with all the extra effort it takes!

  • Nos Rin aka CTCO

    That’s a horrible punchline.

  • Nos Rin aka CTCO

    I think I fell off this comic for a year or two when it hit it’s hiatus and one day I came back and was shocked it had resumed. It was a long hiatus. Glad to see it come to an proper end and not dieing off without closure.
    Still, another one bites the dust. I’m so old, it hurts see most of all my old comics end. like DDOfH, or Dr McNinja.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      We lost a lot of readership with the year long hiatus, it’s good you found your way back! Especially since I think the best parts of the comic are post-hiatus.

      • Nos Rin aka CTCO

        oh man it felt forever. I think I gave up hope and stopped checking for quite a while because you had a lot of pages out when I saw you were back. really glad you did come back.
        I will also never stop being amazed at how quickly your art improved too. very impressive.

  • Nos Rin aka CTCO

    the whole, time travel parallel world things, the whole |deleted spoiler| and |deleted spoiler| it just, uhg. uhg. gave me a headache.
    just, arg.
    Don’t get me wrong, it was a GOOD movie. a GREAT movie even, but, ya.
    Anyway, those two things for Cap? I got those spoiled and it only made me MORE excited, although maybe the first one might have caused me to shout in the quiet theatre had I not known it was coming. 😛 but those were precisely two thing I had to see happen, and marvel delivered them to me, so, YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • clogboy

      I know, time travel AND a clips episode, right?? Might’ve gotten frustrating and confusing very easily!
      But it wasn’t, it was great!

      • Nos Rin aka CTCO

        a clips episode?

        • clogboy

          If half an hour consists of rehashing other films, I call that a clips episode :p

          • Nos Rin aka CTCO

            ah okay, so like all the new star wars films.

          • clogboy

            You just had to take it too far… :p

          • Nos Rin aka CTCO

            Go ahead! Try to tell me I’m wrong!
            I bet you can’t!

          • clogboy

            You’re not wrong, in fact I think you’re so right it’s unfair to put Endgame on that same level 😉

          • Nos Rin aka CTCO

            Maybe, Maybe.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      I’m such a huge time travel fan, I was enamored with how Endgame pulled it off so elegantly!

      • Nos Rin aka CTCO

        that shit gave me a headache. I totally hate time travel and parallel universe story-arcs, but I can definitely see why people find them exciting.
        it can be very interesting but making it work without glaring potholes and paradoxial stuff is just, uhg.
        I found it funny, small spoiler for those who haven’t seen it, how some of the characters in endgame tried to use movie references to perceive how it would work.

    • Kid Chaos

      “Time travel; it’s a cornucopia of disturbing concepts.” 😵
      –Ron Stoppable

      • Nos Rin aka CTCO

        I would agree.

  • Sunwu

    Man… Mondays are gonna suck now. My favorite web comic is over :(

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      Now you’ll have to join the rest of the world in maligning Mondays, and I feel tremendous guilt for inflicting that upon you!

      • Sunwu

        Me and Ejiro are gonna do a time skip, kinap the emperor, make our own web comic with blackjack and Smelting factories.

        • Turul

          Sounds good, share a link when it goes up!

      • Archangel

        Just let us know what your next project is, when there is one. 😉

  • Astralfury

    I love how you’ve setup this joke sudden end to the comic for the entire time since Cho appeared and the payoff is as anti-climatic as we all hoped it would be.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      Maybe I should’ve made the last panel an image of the earth literally exploding, that might’ve increased the climatic effect! And also raised some questions…

      • http://www.comicsagonistes.hackenbush.org/ Ginger Mayerson

        Nah, subtle is good. And it leaves open the faint glimmer of the slightest possibility of picking up where you two left off. Oh, sorry, I went off the rails there. Enjoy your retirement.

        • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

          I certainly don’t want to dash out all glimmer of hope! But I definitely need a nice long break from webcomics!

          • NoiseShaper

            All those impressive drawing and storytelling muscles built up over the years might just as well get something more do to eventually…! 😎

      • Astralfury

        I presume that’s in an alternative universe where the 3 of them order the alcohol before Ken and he unleashes the Secret Forbidden Kadoosh in anger.

    • Namaphry

      I also like how similarly it worked out to how characters in a WB cartoon can run off a cliff without falling until they look down.

  • Archangel

    Magnificent from first to last. You have my undying love and respect for enriching our world. <3

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      Enriching the world, one comedic cartoon samurai comic at a time!

      • NoiseShaper

        I just got pointed here by an apropos page repost in a comment on Wilde Life yesterday and read through the whole story from start to finish. I’ve really enjoyed the whole ride, story, characters, sound effects, references and comments!

        Congratulations for seeing it all through and many thanks for sharing! 😁👍

        (And especially when read as a whole it’s an impressive progression in the art style and in the narration, too!)

      • NoiseShaper

        Still holds up on an unscheduled re-read! 😃

  • http://www.comicsagonistes.hackenbush.org/ Ginger Mayerson

    Oh, I thought of a question that wasn’t answered in your excellent podcast. Is there going to a print book of the rest of NN4B? I cherish v1 and v2, and would like to have the whole thing in print, if possible. I know it’s a huge undertaking, so I would understand if you’re not going to do it.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      I definitely want to do this, but another kickstarter would be wildly impractical, even though they did turn a profit (we still have hundreds of unsold books from the first two in our basements). I’d like to format the older pages and get everything into a print format that we could then provide to a print-on-demand company. It’d still be an involved process because a good chunk of what would be the volume 3 pages would need reformatting for print, but I may plug away at it in my free time.

  • purplelibraryguy

    Well, I guess the comic is their world, so it just ended.

  • Namaphry

    Safe! There’s no longer a possibility the comic might go on an eternal hiatus without us ever finding out how it ends! Sometimes I wonder if I should read any webcomics before they’re complete. Maybe people who share that fear can join in now!

    • http://www.comicsagonistes.hackenbush.org/ Ginger Mayerson

      Yes, I was very upset when “Teahouse” ended prematurely. Nice of the writer to finish the plots in prose, but absolutely not the same.

  • Alexis Casto

    Nooooo its over. So many unanswered questions. XD Congrats though, now you can rest, for a little bit.

  • Yasmin Mazur

    re avengers endgame – spoiler alert – one can consider a series of alternate universes – each one has captain america traveling to the next in line and settling in the past, so there would always be 2 caps in the universe (except the 1st one and the last one, unless it’s circular…)
    re Thanos’s 2nd plan – it’s even dumber than before – the 1st plan was create a global catastrophy with a chance of shaking people up and getting them to try to be better (or just give up like poor Clint). the 2nd has all the disadvantages of the 1st plan (the population doubles in a generation) without the advantage of shoking people – which means the world would be where it was 20 years ago (half the population size) – and they will still breed like before and do the same distructive things as before – because they have no idea where that road leads them…
    a better plan would be to acknowledge that people won’t stop breeding of their own accord, and just make sure they have enough resources to survive comftably in the 1st place (that glove can do anything, right?)
    The best plan would be to figure out that being God is a thankless job, and some people just can’t be happy or peacefull.
    In short – either change human nature (and alien nature for how many planets) – or don’t go into the game in the 1st place.

    Re the comic – your art style has definitely improved over the years. I hope to see more of it in the future. good luck in all your endevours, and thanks for entertaining me all this time.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      Thanks Yasmin!

      I had not considered that old cap was actually another alt universe cap who’d traveled back! I dig it. But if that’s the case, then the main timeline Peggy Carter did a pretty good job of keeping her relationpship with a returned Steve Rogers secret for multiple decades. Not saying she didn’t, though!

      And I only think Thanos’ second plan is better than his first because he basically says he’s going to make an authoritarian universe where everyone’s subservient to him, as opposed to just killing off half of everything and hoping it all works out to whatever vague ideal he wants. At least in the new plan he would supposedly have more control over what happens. But, for sure, they are both awful plans, considering the stones can supposedly do anything. That’s why I wish one of the Avengers had explained to him why they’re both awful plans with no clear goal, because it unintentionally makes everyone basically look dumb by association!

      • Yasmin Mazur

        you can’t actually convince someone like thanos that he’s wrong. discussing the pros and cons of those plans require a calm rational mind – non of the people involved has that, and thanos is too busy stuck in his childhood to listen to others.
        also – you can’t approach him with “you’re a mass murderer and your plan sucks” – you need to acknowlede his good intentions first – otherwise he would just say “children always think their parents are too strict” or something to justify his own actions.
        people don’t see themselves as villains – they think they are the heroes of their own story.
        consider what Tony did at the end of the movie, with what happened in Captain Marvel in the backgroud: spoilers for both movies:
        Captain Marvel stated that she comes from a race of Noble Warrior Heroes. that’s her ethos. that’s what she was taught. when she finds out she’s wrong, her Kree friends don’t agree with her and keep claiming they are the good guys.
        Presumably the Kree are still working with Thanos in 2014 (before the events of GotG1) and are part of the invation fleet to earth.
        Tony just snapped his fingers and got rid of all of them along with Thanos’ other children (who believe in him) and whatever sentient beings that are part of Thanos’ army.
        He didn’t try to take them prisoners of war, didn’t try to rehabilitate them, didn’t try to nutralise them – just snaped them out of existance.
        Consider the moral implications of that – it’s not exactly “killing soldiers in war” – not if you can use the stones to make them puppies or something less lethal.
        We say the good guys have won, but we are part of the good guys…
        Thanos’ plans are silly because they woulnd’t achieve their objective, not because the cost is too high for “everlasting peace”. if the end result was peace, then he would have been right and indeed die happy.
        I just don’t think killing half the population of the world is an effective way to achieve that peace.

        • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

          Well, I mean, I don’t disagree or anything, I just would’ve liked to see one of the super genius characters explain in exasperation to this big purple guy why killing half of everything doesn’t, like, make the universe better. And although making half of everyone die at the end of Infinity War was a pretty dramatic, intense ending, I think it would’ve been way cooler if he’d snapped his fingers and suddenly they’re living in an alt universe that’s enslaved under a Thanos galactic empire. The guy just wants complete control anyway!

          And I like when a plucky alliance of characters has to fight an evil galactic empire.

          • Yasmin Mazur

            hehehe…
            leave it to disny to merge their franchises, but I’m not looking forward to it.

  • IDPounder

    Kudos gentlemen, in finally bringing your labor of love to a close! If there’s one thing I know, the most difficult part of a creative project is bringing it to an end.

    If I may amplify a bit on your podcast, I too am a big fan of buddy cop schtick. In fact, the one-off you did with Ken and Fumio was comedic gold! However, Atsumori as a ‘good cop’ doesn’t really seem to fit. He’d be perfect in the ‘chief’ role however, particularly as a straight man chief.

    I’d also like to throw in my vote for a volume 3 print version. Have to complete the set, you know! Also, the thing I cherish most from the whole series is the lovely sketch you sent with the last book. If I had any skill at it, I would attempt to ink and color it.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      I still crack up every time I re-read the Killer Friday strip, I’m glad you’re a fan of it!

      I can’t make any immediate promises for a volumes 3 and 4, although 4 will be alot easier since all the pages are already correctly formatted for printing. That volume 3 is going to take some work, and I’ll have to pick out a good print-on-demand site.

  • fantastory

    So.. What are we going to read now?

    • Kid Chaos

      Wilde Life? I hear people are dying to see what happens next. 😜

  • WaytoomanyUIDs

    Can’t believe it’s been 18 years! It’s been a wonderful read and thank you for sharing it with us. Besyt of luck with your future projects.

  • Kid Chaos

    Don’t stop not dying, everyone! 😎

  • AmberOne

    Probably not the first person to notice this but it’s been years since I last commented so screw it. Technically, if this is the last page, then the nn4b world did actually end with Cho kinda walking into a bar. So meta

  • Spikesagitta

    Haha, god i love how long this joke punchline took ^^

  • LazyReader

    Woooooooh, that escalated quickly

  • Little Kingsguard

    Twenty days and several viewings later, and I only just now noticed Yori and Ina trying to get Cho away from the bar.

  • Ladon

    Oh. I’m… a month late? Ok… don’t have much to say… I’ve never been with a comic for the end. I’ve always joined in just as it ended or came after the end or joined a comic with no end in sight. I guess all I can say is thanks. Thanks for all this. It was a really fun comic, it’s clear you guys evolved as artists and storytellers although I was a latecomer who didn’t really get to see it but for after the fact. I really enjoyed the whole thing and look forward to whatever you guys make in the future if you so choose. I guess I’ll check up on the blog every now and then. This is especially weird because you were the kind of webcomic people who would reply to comments and talk to the fans and that was really neat. So it’s a comfort to know you’ll still be doing your stuff after this. Good luck with everything. May the Tao be with you (even though that’s *han solo voice* not how the Tao works!).

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      Thanks for reading, Ladon! We’ve been a little busy, but we’re still working on plans for printed volumes 3&4 of the comic, as well as possible future projects!

      • freemage

        Is there someplace you’re going to announce any ‘future projects’? I know you’ve said you need a break from webcomicking, which is our loss, but I’m curious what else you might get up to.

        • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

          We’re still mulling on our next story project. We might do a podcast in the interim, but whatever we do, we’ll post about it on the site. We’re going to redesign it in the near future to be more of a blog format, with NN4B’s archive being a follow-through link from a main blog page. That’s our plan currently!

  • Alex Neeley

    A quick question about the ending: Did Yori and Ina ever finally get married during the time skip at the end or after the end of the comic itself?

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      On the one hand, it’s teenage love, so there’s the potential that things don’t last, on the other hand, it’s a feudal society and they’re both clan heirs with similar life motivations who also like each other and are surrounded by supportive family and allies, so it’s a good bet things work out for them romantically!

      • Alex Neeley

        I’ll take that as a “yes they did”.
        Thanks for answering my question.

  • http://www1.flightrising.com/clan-profile/155294 Skyye of Ember

    Boooo I missed reading the ending in the month of lots of endings!

    Anyhoo kudos on finishing this! I really enjoyed reading it along with your stories for every post and the comments too! ^-^

  • Daniel Danilenko

    Thank you so much! Seriously, that was my favorite comic, there is no other comic with such a good mix of irony, art and story. There are many which are better in one of those things, but none is better as a whole.

    How / where could we know of your new projects?

  • Daniel Danilenko

    PS Here is my little story about how I ended reading your comic now and how it saved my days. I lost it several years ago after I caught up with its progress and had to wait.
    But ten days ago I fell ill. I couldn’t work, I couldn’t create, couldn’t read anything complex. No loud music and abrupt sounds either. And then I remembered your marvelous tale! It was easy on ‘my poor tender head’ and it was great to follow. Guys, you saved my days!

  • DarthJazzHand

    Damn it. I read through all of it in a single day. 😢

    • Hfar

      *pats on the back* There there. We can all be sad pandas together.

    • NoiseShaper

      Two days, here, but still great fun! 😁

      Bookmarked for future re-reading and recommendations!

  • tinwatchman

    Knew that’s how it was gonna end.

  • clogboy

    Luring the creators (hopefully!) out of retirement with this comment…
    I was thinking about Endgame, and how they basically did a GoT with this time skip, leaving stuff unexplained (especially Hulk’s development). It could’ve actually done with another movie inbetween, like a Hulk movie. Just a shame that Sony still holds the exclusive distribution rights to the franchise, but Marvel could’ve (shoulda woulda) used that as better leverage in the Spidey debate. Fill it out with another Iron Man movie and Secret Avengers (why didn’t they get their own trilogy after Civil War instead of, say, Ant Man) to solidify their motivations, give Romanov some more screen time as the binding element between the franchises before the jump, and you would’ve had a bonafide Blip trilogy that makes you care more about the characters involved. BUT I guess they couldn’t string along Robert Downey and Chris Evans along for another couple movies.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      Alright, I’ll put away the shuffleboards for a minute.

      I think everyone would LOVE a Hulk movie with Ruffalo, but we’re not going to get it because of some issue over the character’s standalone movie rights. I wouldn’t say no to some films that take place within the time skip, especially if they want to do some edgy, dark timeline stories. But as neat as it would be to have had a run of films to fill in a five year gap and then jump into End Game, it doesn’t seem terribly practical, since these actors keep aging at your standard rate of one birthday a year and not all of them want to just play Marvel characters the rest of their lives.

      The whole serialized nature of the MCU is pretty novel for films, but its connective story tissue still pales in comparison to what a serialized tv show can accomplish simply because TV episodes can come out at a much higher rate. Not having to wait a year or more between episodes means there’s more characterization that can be explored with individual characters and more stand alone storylines. With MCU movies, we’re just kinda stuck with a very limited amount of screen time for a very large cast of characters over a decade long, and that’s just the limits of Hollywood blockbuster effects film production.

      ALTHOUGH, with Disney+ intending to stream shows about MCU characters like Scarlet Witch and the Vision, and Loki, I think that opens up a lot of possibilities for more interesting, personal moments for at least some of the MCU cast. I think that’d also be a great space for a lot of the under-served characters, maybe a prequel Hawkeye and Black Widow series with different actors!

      • clogboy

        Don’t forget about the Falcon and the Winter Soldier franchise.
        I never watched any of the Marvel TV shows (like Carter, or Agents of SHIELD) and I don’t think I’ll tag along now. Moreover, with Iron Man and Capt. America retired I doubt I’ll come back to the MCU films, although I might make an exception for Dr. Strange and Spidey.

        I get that serialized is the way to go for storytelling and character development. But movies are surely the money makers, and there must be a reason why tv to film feels like a promotion whereas the other way around feels like a step back.

  • Tiago Quintana

    Found out only recently the comic had come to an end and I had to binge-read the whole thing. This was great fun, and I wish you all the best on your next endeavour!

  • Darkseide

    oh, the Prophecy of the End!

  • Some nazi frick named Jim

    I might have only started reading this comic after it was finished, but I still have to say, this was an epic journey.

  • clogboy

    Late to the party… or rather returning after it’s long since finished.
    Amazing how Endgame, and now the shows, are setting up things in such clever and subtle ways. Loki will probably set it up a bit more from the Multiverse narrative, but I believe that you only create a new timeline if you change things by traveling back to the past. So Steve traveling back did not change a thing, other than him restoring the infinity stones. He stayed out of affairs that he already lived to play such a big part in, and him and Peggy managed to keep his existence a secret. He did not meddle because he already knew the outcome and managed to stay under the radar. Any other explanation would create a paradox.

  • AllenWynJones Wermer

    Sounds lyrical and poetic pac caen

  • Frank Royce Harr

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    What a good story. I hope all the medical stuff was O.k. I take it the prequil was never written as as their world has ended, there is no more stories for these guys. I guess there’s nothing for it but to buy the book.

  • Frank Royce Harr

    Huh. I thought I posted this.

    Well, that’s over. I enjoyed it. I guess the prequil never happened. And I hope all the medical stuff went well. I guess there’s nothing for it but to buy the book.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      You did, the comments section just doesn’t post new comments sequentially for some reason. Glad you enjoyed the comic!

      • Frank Royce Harr

        Oh. That is weird. O.K.

        Thank you for the reply. I didn’t expect it. This recommended in either Stand Still Stay Silent or Freefall. I’m glad I took them up on it.

      • Frank Royce Harr

        In particular, I thought the move from goofy to profound was smooth and although noticeable, essentially organic and satisfying.

        • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

          I’ve got to give Joe a lot of the credit there! The story itself was very collaborative, but his range of writing style, from contemplative, philosophical, and profound, to goofy slapstick and clever wordplay is exceptional!

          • Frank Royce Harr

            Oh boy is it. I hope he went on to other great things.

            I do wonder how Ina made out though.

            By the way, this page was set to Best. I’d thought the default was Newest.

          • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

            My head canon is that Yori and Ina eventually marry after some on again/off again relationship antics. Maybe Ina uses the political power provided by an encouraging family to bring about a cultural gender revolution in this wacky version of feudal Japan, who knows!

            It’s not really a narrative project, but Joe’s got a youtube channel here where he talks about his 3D printing projects: https://www.youtube.com/c/3dprinty

            I’m a full time employee for the online game flightrising.com, but I have an instagram where I, um, occasionally, post art: https://www.instagram.com/subsamjam/ (I have every intention of making that next scifi space opera webcomic, it’s just moving along a little slowly!)

          • Frank Royce Harr

            Things more slowly sometimes.

            In my head, Yorri becomes the official head of Ina’s clan, but she she does a lot of the long-term thinking and there’s all sorts of interesting things that happen that can involve her uncle bringing the Nija clan into things from time to time. Ken is a lot less alchoholic, but still drinks too much. And people keep having adventures.

            I have ordered the books and am looking forward to them.

            I’m glad people have jobs and are doing creative things. Good.

          • Frank Royce Harr

            YAY! I got my books yesterday! And a hat for some strange reason.

            However, I must ask, is Volume 3 in the works or did 1 and 2 not work out sufficiently?

          • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

            Thank you for picking up the books! We wanted to make the other volumes, but there wasn’t a lot of interest in them (we still have hundreds of copies of volumes 1 and 2 after many years). We considered print on demand services, but those can be very hit and miss, and increase individual book prices dramatically, especially for a full color comic with hefty volumes, which the other books would have been. If either of us become famous and there’s a sudden demand for nn4b merchandise, though, maybe it’ll happen!

          • Frank Royce Harr

            That’s too bad. It’s really good. Well, here’s hoping.

  • TekServer

    Well, I’ve arrived here at the end. I’ve read every page, every comment, and every review and recommendation. (I now have an extensive list of anime recommendations that I’ll get around to watching eventually. 😉)
    My path here has been long and meandering. I heard about nnfb years ago, but had a full list of webcomics I was following at the time and insufficient room in my schedule to add another. I often encountered mentions of nnfb in the comments of other stories, always with high praise and usually with a reference to the wacky sound effects. Nnfb had a place of honor on my “someday” list.
    And then, for complicated personal reasons, I stopped reading webcomics entirely for several years. In the last year or two I’ve reconnected with a small fraction of the webcomics I used to read, a number of which have ended. One day, I saw a reference to nnfb in a comment by Kid Chaos on Wilde Life, and I decided that “someday” had finally arrived.
    I was surprised to find out that I was late to the party, and sad to realize that I was a few years too late to get in on the reader interactions in the comments. Nonetheless, I’ve enjoyed reading both this story and all the great comments it has inspired.
    So that’s my story in a fairly large nutshell. My thanks to the creators of this masterpiece, and I wish you well in your future endeavors!
    😁

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      I’ve been seeing your comments pop up for so long, TekServer, that I kind of forgot you weren’t an old NN4B reader doing a re-read of the comic! I’m glad you came around to it eventually, and that you had a good time reading!

    • Frank Royce Harr

      Psst! Get the books.

      And watch Ascention of a Bookworm.

  • Frank Royce Harr

    Guess what?

    Ken showed up as a human test on TWC. :)

    • jwkovell

      If you don’t select him, the test should fail and display a pic of him punching out Fumio while yelling “That’s for call’n be not a human!”

      • Frank Royce Harr

        HA hahahahahahaha!

        It doesn’t quite make sense, but it is delightful. :)

  • zach

    Read through this again for the first time since this last episode released.

    Gotta say, I miss this series often, and was looking forward to finding out what project you worked on next, but I can’t find anything.

    I hope you did in fact start another project, your writing scratches an itch that nothing else does.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      Rest assured I think about and poke at my next comic every day! I have the first chapter entirely drawn out in a rough draft, with up to twelve chapters scripted, and a story outline. Beyond that, Joe has a 3D printing youtube channel (he’s got a passion for it), just youtube search 3DPrinty. I’m a full time artist for the online game Flight Rising, so a lot of my art energy goes into that job. I have an instagram where I’ve posted some art and concepts, if you search for subsamjam (although I haven’t updated it in quite a while, even though I have plenty of incidental art to fill it with).

      • TekServer

        If and when you launch your new creation, be sure to announce it here for the sake of us luddites who eschew social media. Please and thank you! 😉

        • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

          Of course!

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