And thus closes another chapter in the Frederickverse. This arc started on September 20, 2011 and has run for a record-breaking 128 episodes during which Geoff has charted us everywhere from the palace of Theodora to the backseat of Flave's love van. On Tuesday, I shared numbers 10 through 6 of my favorite moments, and now, the Top Five!

Number 5: Episode 516: It's no secret that Drover Cleveland is pretty much my favorite thing from this arc, and his explanation of The Drover Code in this episode is the seed for so much that follows.

Number 4: Episode 493: I love this episode not merely for the way in which Newton proves his/her identity, but for the fact that Leibniz must have programmed his security systems with just such grandiose monologuing in mind as the definitive test of Newtonry.

Number 3: Episode 484: Public Health Announcements from Jack Kerouac. That's all I gotta say.

Number 2: Episode 505: Every time I read Abe's dialogue in panel 2, I just burst out laughing for a good minute. Don't ask me why, or how, but Geoff somehow tapped into the primal line here of everything I find funny about anything.

And my number one favorite moment from Geoff's epic run...

Episode 474: Drover explaining what a Drover is. I love it on its own, but also because it almost exactly mirrors the conversation Geoff and I had at our table at APE in 2011 when he was writing out scripts and I was drawing sketch requests. He was batting around ideas for what the Presidents should turn into, and after settling easily on Rutherborg B Hayes and Triple T Taft, he kept getting drawn to the name of Drover Cleveland, and proceeded to argue with himself more or less exactly the way that Hayes and Cleveland are arguing with each other in the first four panels, while I was just cracking up next to him. The whole thing is Geoff Incarnate, and so it makes me happy all over again whenever I read it.

So, there you have it! Brand new story arc, penned by yours truly, next week! If you want to do some preparatory reading, there's no better place than the Holiday Specials!

- Count Dolby von Luckner

I didn't realize that the arc ended up at 128 episodes. What a good power of two to end on.

My original conception for this arc was to be a quick, jokey "Abe gets his Funk back roadtrip" and the tale grew in the telling.

Frederick has been moving on up during the course of this arc. We've got the Kickstarter money to print up the next book, so we'll be busy with that over the next few months.

We're also gearing up to head off to Emerald City Comic Con again, so if you are in Seattle, stop on by.

With The Count's arc starting up next week, now is a fine time to tell your friends to jump on the bandwagon.

I'm personally looking forward to getting some scripts to read that didn't come from my head.

Onwards to affectation!

--Geoff