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Sunday’s Non Sequitur sets traffic records

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Yesterday’s Non Sequitur clearly resonated with many people. According to the official GoComics blog, Wiley Miller’s strip was viewed over 300,000 times on Sunday – more than 10 times the normal average for a Sunday comic. The carton depicts a super hero character rushing to save a school bus heading over a cliff. I won’t spoil the ending, but Wiley’s not dulled his editorial cartooning knife in the least.

When I asked Wiley what kind of response he was getting personally, he responded,

It’s been pretty big, and every one of them raving in praise for telling the truth. It seems to have really touched a nerve, going beyond conservative/liberal, Republican/Democrat dynamics. Congress is pretty much universally despised right now, and the response I’ve gotten bears that out. I have yet to hear from anyone even remotely taking umbrage with it. I expected at least some saying, “well, not MY congressman…”, but not even that.

Wiley adds, “I may have created a monster. Almost all the e-mails I got want more of Congress-Man.”

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Comments 13

  1. Very nicely done!

    Sadly I’m missing my Sunday comics now, as my local paper has recently cut them.

  2. I always love it when the stuff I read gets a lot of hits. Wiley should always get this many hits. He’s one of the most consistent talents out there.

  3. Congress-Man doesn’t care about little kids in school bus. Congress-Man only cares about fatcat limo people. Yeah, there’s an incisive, clever statement that needs a quarter page of Sunday comics to get across. What’s next? Michael Moore-Man saving the fast-sinking Obama administration?

  4. Breaking news! Non Sequitur gets 1/4 the page views that Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal gets on an average day!

  5. I also love it when people feel the need to point out the superior web stats of another comic, like they’re getting something out of it. Maybe they think of comics like baseball teams.

    I love both Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal and Non Sequitur, but I’m increasingly learning that I must staunch an artist’s achievement by quickly comparing them to somebody who gets more eyeballs. Great, if I catch somebody watching a Fellini film I need to point out that Michael Bay is one of the most successful directors of all time. If I see somebody reading Hemingway I’ll need to tell them that Danielle Steel sold way more books.

    And those are just the easy ones. What if somebody is watching an old John Ford movie? Did Howard Hawks do better? Will I have to wear a John Ford jersey if I’m rooting for him?

    Congratulations, Wiley, on getting 10 times your usual hits. When somebody else does that, I’ll want to congratulate them as well.

  6. I understand a few people even saw it in print. Nobody who matters in the Nerdiverse, mind you, but it’s a matter of some interest to those who also maintain an active life in three-dimensions …

  7. I happened to see this in the Dallas Morning News on Sunday. I held it steady in my hand and felt the tingling fiber under my fingertips as I read every single line. The slight crunching noise of the paper folds gave me a wild sensation that I can’t convey fully in this forum. It was a masterful execution of artistry married to ordinary newsprint and though it was not millions of colors bursting in front of my eyes but the lowly bland CMYK palette – I felt satisfied after consuming it. I think I’ve said too much.

  8. I wonder if Wiley was a student of Al Capp.

  9. Hi, comics friends, I did just want to jump in to explain some of the audience numbers Alan cited (and I provided).

    As to SMBC, I love it. It’s a great comic. His traffic is massive and well-deserved.

    But if I could clarify, in reference to NonSequitur, the numbers I provided to Alan were just for GoComics.

    It doesn’t include the thousands more that see him on Yahoo News, our Google Gadget, msnbc.com and the hundred or so online-only clients whose analytics we don’t have access to, but I’d wager also affected by the audience surge as well.

    And it was a Sunday, which is traditionally a 15-20% lower overall audience numbers than a weekday.

    So, in conclusion, my very best to you and I hope we see each other soon. Don’t be surprised when you see me how grey I’ve gotten.

    -JG

  10. Congressional districts are gerrymandered so that the hand-picked candidate of the political party that controls the district, usually the incumbent, wins 85% of the time. That means that US congressmen are free to ignore their so-called constituents and serve only the best interest of their political party. Political parties belong to the powerful, and represent their owners.

    It’s a scandal that Americans still believe that their vote counts.

  11. “NonSequitur” is a terrific strip. Wiley Miller is a gifted, intelligent and funny cartoonist. But when he drifts into political strips, he becomes just another liberal hack, spouting one leftist cliche after another. It weakens his strip. Stay away from the political stuff, Mr. Miller, it’s not where your talent lies.

  12. I also wonder how many people read the strip in the paper, wanted to share it, and went online to find it.

    Years ago, somebody asked me to scan a Gary Varvel cartoon so he could email it to his friends. So I just went online and sent him that.

    His response? “My god, you’re good at scanning!”

  13. I got 12 hits last Sunday…. Man, my strip stinks!!!!

    Maybe I should go all political too….. Nah…. That is just not fun for me. I hate it when strips get all preachy….. Unless they are on my side of the fence. Mine is the side where the grass is always greener.

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