5,986 screenshots, Photoshop files, thumbnails, and assorted graphics. 2,709 materials, models, and effects. 170+ comics. 8.38 GB of hard drive space. 525,600 minutes ♪- no, sorry, that’s the wrong one. I can’t begin to guess how many minutes I’ve put into it since I made my first comic 20 years ago. Yes, I hate those hard number reminders of the passage of time as much as you do. I certainly didn’t expect to find myself still at it after so long (please do ignore that 15 year hiatus in the middle).

I’ve had something that’s been lightly weighing on my mind since dear Mythos contacted me for my comics archive back around 2018 – I didn’t have everything backed up. A good part of the early collection made it, but most of the newer material was trapped on a broken HDD last used in about 2009. So, in an amazing fit of procrastination about making something proper for the 20th anniversary bout of genius, I found a small hard drive recovery service nearby and prayed that it wasn’t too far gone. It was manufactured in 2003, a testament to its age and probable lack of viable replacement parts. It made no noise other than a faint high-pitched whine. It travelled across the country and back with me over those years. My hopes were low but I wanted to know for sure.

Initial diagnosis from the repair shop showed obvious electrical damage, a diode near the power port and another chip halfway across the PCB with a big scorch mark. Well, shit. At that point it would be a few hundred dollarydoos for a replacement parts that may not even resolve the issue, on top of the initial diagnosis costs. But still, I wanted answers. And you know what? I got ‘em. I can even say we got ‘em, because now I can present to you:

The (Closely) Complete Clover Comic Collection!

Starting off are 5 of the missing Jeff comics! 53 through 55 are still lost to time, but this is as close as we’ll get and they were probably quite bad anyway. Ignore that #111 is a goodbye comic and an offer to pass off the series to someone else. That obviously didn’t work out in either capacity!

Next up is the little-known Rave Man series! Best described as a campy superhero comic with music-genre-themed heroes and villains, it is rather dated. This was the humour of a 16 year old in 2006, an era ripe with Family Guy and Dane Cook styled humour. I understand why old shows like The Brady Bunch now air with disclaimers about the content and ideas being a product of its time. Also it’s very flashy at parts, so prepare to squint.

It turns out that there were 3 more entries into the “Clover Plays Gmod” series that I didn’t remember making. They should be promptly forgotten. Same disclaimer as above!

There’s also the very first “Hollywood vs Real Life” entry and another ode to Chris Livingston’s Concerned: The Half-Life and Death of Gordon Frohman (the superior male_07). The Concerned one fits into the plotline at that time, I don’t remember why I made a more canon one compared to my previous “Concerned-Like” comic.

All in all, I’m glad to have as much of the old works as possible available on the site. Mythos is a mad genius to have assembled the 700+ comics here – he’s a master archivist with the worst hobby. While we’re all feeling nostalgic, I implore you to read through Mythos’s oral history of PHWOnline! Like every article here, it’s an insanely comprehensive and well-crafted story of the early days of Garry’s Mod comics.

I’m not the only one crazy enough to still creating Garry’s Mod content, though. Check out our Discord channel and the Metrocop forums for new creations of comedy, Scandinavian crime thrillers, fantasy to sci-fi to everything in-between, perskin adventures through the HL2 plot, slice of life moments, cool screenshots and scene builds, and so much more.

See you in another 20?