The end.
Thank you all for reading O Human Star over the past eight years. There will be an illustration going up next Thursday for the last week of the Volume 3 Kickstarter and to serve as a landing page for the foreseeable future, but that will be it for a while.
The decision to end the comic without explicitly revealing what Al will look like was a deliberate decision – I felt like the Word of God on her appearance wouldn’t measure up to the readers’ individual imaginations. O Human Star, the story I chose to tell, was about this strange intermediate period of Al’s existence, after she thought her life was over and before her life began. Everything from here on is up to you.
What an incredible work. Thank you for these eight years.
Thank you for the incredible experience that was this comic.
awful ending to an average comic
Don’t be a dick
Horrible comment from a horrible commenter
Yes and perfect and thank you so much, Blue.
I want mooooooore foreeeeeeever but this stopping place is exactly right.
*happy happy happy*
beautiful, thank you so much
I discovered this comic three days ago. I can’t believe that it began 8 years ago and just finished today. As a trans woman, this comic helped put to words a lot of feelings I’ve been grappling with and couldn’t describe, and renewed confidence in the path I’ve been going down. Thank you so much for sharing this story.
Thank you so much. I have loved every part of her journey.
Thank you for this comic. It’s an incredible one. <3
Thank you for the last eight years.
I love it! and it’s true. I feel each of us has an idea in our head of what she would choose to look like. I like to imagine that once she gets used to the new world, she starts changing as much as she can. Flamboyant hair, muscles, ballerina build. Like a teen changing weekly during puberty, she’ll try everything.
Love this, it’s so realistic – she won’t stay stagnant anymore.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH (thank you for this comic, it was a pleasure to read)
Well that was abrupt and slightly disappointing…
Thank you for the years and work. I will very dearly miss the updates and wish that I could have seen where you would have taken your characters next, but I understand the choice to tell this particular story. It feels personal too that as this was being written, my spouse began and moved through their own realization that they were trans. The book ends now with my spouse beginning to transition as well. Thank you for giving us Brandon, so I would know how to continue to love my spouse. I look forward to seeing where you go next.
Thought the ender would have image, forgot that we have the poem as routine. But fair enough, Al’s transformation seems meant to be just left for out imagination, since not everyone want the poster to be the standard answer.
Thanks for telling the story. Can’t wait for your next project or would be nice to see some extra works for OHS,
I’m a little sad that we didn’t get to see Sulla and the family after the transformation, but not having everything tied up perfectly is a beautiful stylistic choice as well.
Thank you for an amazingly brilliant and gorgeous comic. The attention to detail and artistic consistency is amazing and the story is such an authentic and beautiful piece. My words are not adequate to express how much I love it
Thank you
Great ending. I thought there was going to be resolution to some other parts of the plot, like the robot who bought his own independence, but I get why things ended this way – it was always Al’s story.
Looking forward to whatever you plan on doing next.
R.U.R.! what a great way to end it.
thank you so much for all you do. for all you’ve done.
Awesome story. Looking forward to the book!
Thank you for this lovely story! It’s such a hopeful narrative with such layered characters. Thanks for taking us on this journey these past years :)
I…
I don’t know what to say.
This comic has meant so much to me, it’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever read and has helped my conceptualize my own transition and has given me new ideas about what comics and scifi can be. Leaving the future open to the reader resonates w my own experience, because to me transition means infinite possibilities for a life afterward, when you are no longer constrained by the closet. Congratulations on finishing, and thank you so much for making OHS.
Thank you for this wonderful story.
I discovered it in a very… Peculiar moment of my life (just after realising I’m trans), and it’s accompanied me these past few years. I felt Al and Sulla’s experiences closely mirrored my own, and they helped me through some bad spots.
I hope whoever needs this story will find it, like I did.
Again, thank you :)
Thank you so much for this. It’s been eight wonderful years, and I’m excited for the years to come.
Thank you so much, for this beautiful journey, and for giving life to these wonderfully complex, struggling but real characters which are also a part of who we all are.
Oh, and I just have to say that I’ve always loved the quotations: thank you also, for introducing me to other works to explore.
I’m going to go cry now…
A world without limits… not even the limits set forth by the author. Canonically defining what Al’s life is like from this point forward would be a form of limitation. This way, the possibilities are endless.
Does she retire from public life and work to build her little family? Does she embrace her newfound role as the matriarch of synthetic life? Does she answer Tsade’s call to break whatever shackles remain?
And what about the person she is? Will realizing her true identity in synthetic flesh bring her inner peace? Does she still need to fight all her inner demons? Will she learn to enthusiastically embrace the world as Sulla has? Will she still carry much of Alastair’s grumpy, somber, and reserved demeanor? Will she pick an entirely new name, or pay homage to her old one?
Maybe all of it, or maybe none of it. Most likely a bit of everything, in varying amounts depending on the reader.
As for this reader? I’ll likely spend the next while taking apart the story to try and understand it as best I can, much like I imagine Al would with her robots. This story has rocked me to my core and reached me in ways I never thought possible. While I understand that this is where the story ends, I’m not ready to let go of this little family yet, and so I will carry on living in this world of yours using the tools I have.
Thank you for gifting us this story, and this World Without End. I honestly doubt my imagination is up to the task of picking up where you left off, but I’ll do my best.
I started reading OHS in the autumn of 2015, and there wasn’t a single moment when it didn’t feel like something very special. Same is going to be true all the way through every reread, I expect.
R.U.R. gets mentioned offhand so much in trivia about the etymology of ‘robot’, but I know so little about the work itself that I never caught on to the title of the comic being a quote from it. Now I’m thinking I should read it in its entirety!
We actually got more than I expected in terms of filling in the last few pieces of the puzzle. I kept thinking we were on the last (pre-epigraph) page, or that all we’d see at the end would be Brendan welcoming Al back. I like that we covered a huge amount of ground and still stopped at a pivotal but open-ended place. I’m not much of an artist but I wouldn’t have made such a good structural choice – would have kept it up for too many years until I either got sick of it or pushed it well past its natural endpoint, or both.
I look forward to a lot of years of continuing to recommend your work, and of meeting the enby pen pals going to space, and everything thereafter.
Thanks for making this comic! I confess I’m a little disappointed that the other plot threads didn’t get tied up, but I suppose this is all that matters to Al.
Thank you so much <3 I'm sad that it's over but I'm so glad I got the chance to read this
I’m so happy you completed this comic, I loved it. It made me think about many things.
Congratulations for all this work done
After 6+ years following this story, it’s a little bittersweet to let it go as a routine. But it was thoughtful, creative, and fun, and the characters were engaging and real, so it’s a little like saying goodbye to friends who are moving on.
I’m happy with the ending, we knew it was coming and I thought the fade-out was perceptible before the final page. No need for a Hollywood happy ending scene to close it.
Thank You
Thank you
Thank you. I’m really looking forward to whatever you come out with next.
Thank you for this incredible story <3 you've really brought something beautiful into the world.
Read some of this when I was a cis teen and came back to it as a trans adult. Stories about robots have helped me think through a lot of things about myself and this one added to that list. Thank you so much for sharing this and taking it to the end!
Thank YOU, Blue. That was a beautiful journey and I feel privileged to have been on it.
Started reading this webcomic in 2015 and it was such a revelation in terms of visual storytelling! I’ve just finished reading it again all the way through and I couldn’t be more impressed with how perfectly the storylines tie into each other. That “transformation” sequence on the last page echoes that poster we keep seeing in Al’s home, that is such a beautiful detail. I thought synthetic beings as a metaphor for the trans experience was very well done when it first cropped up, but enriching it with a trans narrative, in such a skillful way, really brought the story to another level, in my opinion. Thank you for writing such a beautiful, complex, nuanced story.
…I’ve been reading this for a while. I only started, I think, last year (time is a blur right now, for Reasons). Your story was beautiful, heart-breaking, thought-provoking, and deeply tender. I can only thank you for this journey.
I’m so happy for her. It took death and new life, but finally, she will be herself. I am so proud and touched to have been able to watch her journey.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I have followed this story from the beginning, well spun! This quote inspired me to resurrect R.U.R. on Kindle, and now I understand where Sulla’s name came from. Look forward to more from you.
Sad to see it’s over.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful comic! Also, I see where the name comes from now!
O Human Star made me feel things about identity like nothing else I’ve read, and I love all the characters!
I only found this comic last week, but I enjoyed the whole thing. Thank you so much for making it!
Congrats on finishing, Blue, tremendous work.
Thank you so much for the incredible ride! I hope Al has all the happiness she deserves going forward!
Thank you SO MUCH Blue!!!! This whole story is amazing, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the physical copy! Thank you for sharing this story with us.
I have to admit that I was actually hoping that Al would choose to go post-human and eschew gender altogether. But I wanted to thank you for a wonderful story, well told and beautifully illustrated. I started right back when you started publishing. I’m a cis-gendered white male (for context) and loved the way your story kept me coming back. It reflects my belief in empowerment, choice, and acceptance.
I’ve been reading this comic for a number of years now, and while I’m so very sad to see it end, I’m also happy to see it complete!
Thank you for blessing us with a wonderful story, one that’s meant a lot to me with my own transition. I hope Al and Brendan and Sulla and everyone else get their happily ever after!
I came across this comic by chance only one week ago.
Although I read it over the course of 2 days, I have become more emotionally invested in these characters than most other media I have yet to consume. Thank you for the laughter and tears, and for showing me newer and greater ways to relate to fictional characters.
I can’t wait to read more of your work!
I can’t believe it’s over!!!
But it was wonderful!
Thank you for the journey!!
I can’t wait to support you in your other endeavors! If you decide to have them!
Thanks for creating such a beautiful piece of work, and for sharing it with the rest of us.
What a gorgeous ending to a remarkable story. I’m sorry to see it end, but I agree that this is the right place for it to do so. Thank you so much for giving Al and Brendan and, especially, Sulla to the world. I will carry them with me in my heart.
thank you so much for this comic! it’s been incredible following along for the past 5 years and this was a lovely note to go out on
Thank you so much for your years of dedication to these lovely characters. I’ve very much enjoyed going on the journey with them.
Thank you.
It’s been a lovely story
I will miss it but it has come to a natural and beautiful end.
It’s hard having to say goodbye to a webcomic that I accompanied for 6 years. I never expected that conclusion of this beautiful story, and it’s a fact that was an absolute piece of art. Thanks for everything, Blue.
…is there going to be any more?
I’ve enjoyed this comic so much throughout the years. Such a beautiful and imaginative story! Thank you for sharing it with us.
I love this so much! And of course I want more, but this is very good.
Thank you for all the hard work toward making a wonderful comic.
I’ve been following this comic for years and years. Thank you. Just, thank you. 💛
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Blue, for taking us on this wondrous journey with Al and the others. The craft and deliberation that clearly went into every panel have been so incredible to behold since the beginning (the way the closing images of Al’s physical transformation mirrors the opening images of the light changing on the poster gives me goosebumps every time).
I love the way the end both resolves and leaves unresolved. We know where Al is, but not where she’s going. Sulla has this whole new set of friends with exciting new opportunities ahead of them. Tsade is working on something big that may take years to unfold. Lucille has been brought back into Brendan’s confidences, but her trust for him may take years to rebuild.
I love that you’ve given us enough to know that the characters’ stories in no way end here without having to spell everything out for us. It feels like a perfect ending note.
I started reading O HUMAN STAR in December of 2016. Reading updates has been one of my most-anticipated moments of each week. Thank you for giving me that experience. I wish you all success on everything that comes next. I’m pretty sure I’d read a phone book if you were associated with it in any way.
This ending feels perfect, and the last two sentences of your comment hit beautifully. I have to echo Eli above—looking out for updates to O Human Star has been a much-anticipated bright spot for years. Thank you!!!
seems this will be an unpopular opinion — dissolving every other complexity (such as
1. brendan and al’s relationship lacking depth and development in the modern timeline
2. al’s complex trauma that stems from more than just homo- and transphobic parents and guardians
3. “i raised my lover as my child, and now my lover — presumably — is back from the dead and inhabits the exact psychic spaces via memory as my child”
4. al’s resurrection from the dead
5. al’s re-embodiment as an ai
6. sulla’s lack of self-worth (vis a vis being a “failed” copy))
into al’s (theoretically) perfect “transition” is the same reduction of trans characters we see in many media. the deus ex machina is the medical or physical transition that frees the “true” self and life may now begin. that narrative is true for many trans folks and also dangerous (as all of our selves, and i believe we are always many selves at once, are our selves, and transition does not resolve other experiences of oppression, trauma, learned helplessness and so on).
since this story did not really deal in ambiguities in its story-telling, the ending feels abrupt and out of place, as well as deeply unsatisfying. i am trans and have been with this comic all eight years and feel very let down by the last chapter and the handwave. what is particularly frustrating is sulla’s experience can stand for (some of) a younger generation who have access to supportive parents and the healthcare and providers to transition (although, again, the comic marked her “trans-ness” over and over metaphorically with the very adolescent desire to pass as human). al’s story could have been much richer as an adult who has more than gender expression to resolve. that is a story trans folks need and i have seen rarely portrayed.
blue, thank you for the time, love and hard work of eight years to produce this comic. this comic, particularly as i grappled with my sexuality, gave me things to reflect on. best of luck in future endeavors.
Thank you for your comment and criticism.
I too love this comic and want to congratulate Blue for her work and dedication (truly an unique comic in so many ways and we are blessed that it’s a free webcomic), but I think it’s important to point out how some of the story complexities were not explored to their full potential.
I understand that to do so would probably extend the comic even more years and it’s not like a story needs to have everything resolved by the end. I see how the ending mirrors the beginning an it’s a full circle. Al’s transition would be another new webcomic in itself (I see this one as Al’s path to coming out). But this ending leaves us at such a cliffhanger that I fear for the characters. I’m glad that Al came out but there is so much unresolved baggage with the 3 main characters. They lied to each other for such a long time.
I guess a bittersweet ending has always the advantage of making us think of various epilogues (I’m not going to lie, I was expecting an epilogue after this chapter). It’s a starting point for other stories and that’s amazing.
This is one of my favorite comics ever, without a doubt. I’m gonna miss these characters ; _ ;
Thank you so much for creating it Blue
Granted that ending where it does this story isn’t going to get into Al having to deal with her different-but-also-the-same life after transition, but did I miss something you saw? The dialog between Al and Brendan pre-transfer where Al talked about her uncertainties and fears laid some pretty heavy groundwork for “this transition isn’t going to magically fix everything”. Is it just ending where it did that gives the impression that it’s a perfect resolution, or did I miss something important?
I can’t tell you what this comic has meant for me in discovering myself. I’m sad to see it end, but so glad that it was in my life and that I got to enjoy it so much. Thank you for sharing it with us, and best of luck to wherever life takes you next!
I loved this work, and while I desperately wanted to finally see Al happy in herself, I respect and recognise your choices as great in a different way. Maybe I’d want to argue for a final splash page of her transforming final panel face to give your readers just a little closure or focus on that new beginning to come? But other than that, magnificent. Thank you for the love you’ve spread with this work.
Thank you so much for eight years of this wonderful comic. <3
And I love the not-quite-explicit callback to Al's poster from the very beginning of the comic as the final drawn image.
Such a bittersweet end, I wanted it to go on forever but the story has been told, she’s finally herself. Thank you for all the work you’ve done these past 8 years, I found this comic years ago but forgot about it until recently, coming back, rereading all of it, gives me such a sense of nostalgia. This has been one of my big inspirations to creating my own comics, though I’m still a little hesitant to take that final leap and start making finished pages.
Thank you so much, Blue, I loved sharing these gals’ and guys’ (and others’) life! Congratulations on taking this story to this glorious end… But boy! will this week be hard on me… Yesterday, ☆O☆HS☆ and tomorrow Avialae comes to an end too *sob*
What an incredible work… I’m so thankful I got to experience it! I first stumbled upon it years ago, blazed through the pages, and lost it for a while… I’ve since then moved countries and professional aspirations, and allowed myself to consider I might be and finally realize I was nonbinary. And then I found O Human Star again, and wow :’) I remember being so happy about Sulla when reading the first time around, and hoping Al might be trans as well, but brushing it off because I’ve never encountered a story like this before, and couldn’t even picture it. But oh, how beautifully it has turned out :’)
Time to reread it… and draw a thousand fan arts of Al and her family, living their best lives :’)
I admit that I wish this series was continuing. I love these characters and their development. Please keep us updated with any other series you work on.
CONGRATS!!! i am so excited to reread when i get the books, and see what i get out of it
I’ve been following O Human Star almost since it started. It was such a journey to follow it. I read it again today, start to finish.
This is such a complex, rich, deeply human story. It feels real – the people are real people who live and breathe as you read. The problems and quandaries and messiness that they experience are so realistic, and so deeply relatable. My gender identity is complex, but even having a very different life experience, it felt like I lived these lives while I was reading it.
I’ve also read some of your shorter works (I just enjoyed your latest contribution to OJST, btw), and it always feels this way. Your storytelling is masterful.
Thank you for this story. It is truly a work of art.
This… has been a wild ride. thank you so much for this writing this. as a trans person this comic has been incredibly impactful on my life and i will always remember reading it. again, thank you :)
Thank you so much for this beautiful story. I’m really looking forward to seeing what you do next! Whatever it is, it will be glorious.
You are a masterful storyteller, and this is the kind of story that becomes a beacon for so many. (It’s very dusty in here now. Stupid allergies.)
Thank you so much for the incredible amount of love and thought you’ve poured into this comic over the years. Your work will always have a special place on my shelf.
One of my favorite web comics ended. ARGH! ;-)
Thanks for the wonderful creation, Blue!
A powerful work of visual literature, and the perfect ending. Thanks for this amazing story.
It’s been…such a journey, I’m glad I was able to see it transpire as it did…see ya down the road!
Thank you for this incredible story.
Thank you for taking us on this wild, wonderful journey. Take care in the future, I look forward to my books and whatever you do next!
Thank you so very much, Blue, for birthing this beautiful story and sharing it with us. We are graced.
Thank you for sharing this story and your art! Best of luck on your next adventure!
It’s over? Nooo…
Well, sadness aside, thank you for such an amazing comic!
And our revels now are ended…
….Such stuff as dreams are made on
Well done.
Thank you so much, Blue, for sharing your craft and your heart!
I will miss seeing the story unfold, but it’s unfolded so nicely.
Thank you.
It’s great – I’ve had my own problems so haven’t commented much for a while. Perfect endings; Charlie Stross would say it unpacks to infinity. What will they do next?
Someone nominate this for a Hugo.
Congratulations and great job on finishing your comic! It was a joy to read and re-read again and again :)
Thank you for the ride, Blue.
While I want this to go on forever, this is a perfect place to place an end point, and a perfect end point to put in this place.
Wonderful.
It just hit me on the way to work just how much I’m going to miss this comic and just how much its been tied to my happiest memories. The story has always been a part of my weekly routine. From the time I was a young teenager, to a young adult. People have been born and people have passed in that time. We’ve all changed in that time. And yet we never grew away from the story of Alastor Sterling and her family. I remember many mornings being woken up by an excited Zodiac, asking if I read the update yet. Even when we moved out of our old home. I remember just putting the baby to bed in our old building when the big reveal happened. It all feels so unreal that it’s been 8 years already and now its over.
I wish you luck with whatever you decide to do next, and thank you for being apart of our lives.
Thank you for this lovely story <3
Holy crap. Wow. I know it’s a crappy thing to say, but I have no words. Your comic has astounded me over and over again, kept me looking forward to something, and inspired me by means of representation I couldn’t find anywhere else. I’m so sad it had to end, but thank you so incredibly, wonderfully, unbelievable and unfathomably much for your work. This story has come to mean so much to me.
Blue, You created a rich and fascinating world that I would love to explore further….thank you for sharing this story with us. I am looking forward to receiving the final volume so I can reread the whole thing.
Thank you!
This was and is a wonderful, wonderful comic that I have recommended to more than a few people. I didn’t want there to be another page; I thought last week’s update was perfect, so I’m glad that this is the end.
Really, thank you. I’ll miss this.
As I said last time, I was sent here at the perfect time (by the Polygon article), and binged the whole thing in a single evening. A wonderful tale (literally, “full of wonder(s)”) and well-ended. Thank you so much for sharing it with us, and best of luck with all of your future works.
Thank you for the many years of a wonderful comic. I find myself still wishing for more, but I know stories must end at some point.
Incredible- thank you for sharing this story.
Ohhh myyyy… /takei
Don’t remember how many years ago I started reading OHS, but I stopped reading all webcomics in 2018 I just came back to this today, and finished all the rest of it just now. I am amazed at how well written it was, and how beautiful the ending was. You have an incredible ability to write characters who anybody can care about, no matter how different our own circumstances may be. I’m a cis het male and yet I cheered over their accomplishments and grieved over their misunderstandings and sufferings. Thank you so much for such a heart-wrenchingly true story.
“…of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most… human.” — James T. Kirk, at Spock’s memorial service
Truly an incredible story from start to finish from the writing to the art. I fell in love with all these characters and I doubt they’ll be leaving me anytime soon. As a woman who realized I was bi because my girlfriend of several years became my genderfluid boyfriend and then husband for years to come, I can’t tell you how much this story and it’s genuine nature speaks to me… it means more than I can possibly say. Thank you, thank you, thank you.