2012 was an interesting year. In many ways, I felt like I finally grew comfortable with the whole JEFbot “machine” in that I was mostly able to keep up with the twice-a-week updates, readership was at an all-time high and I hit more conventions than ever (and most were fairly profitable!) While that stability would define most of the year, the tail end would prove the exact opposite, as I lost my job of 10 years, I rebuilt my website after a cyber attack and the BOTshop finally opened after getting my first book published after a long delay.

So far, these end-of-year surprises have been good for me and the strip: I’ve now had time to continue building the site, I’ve been able to spend more time on JEFbot strips and sales of the book have been great and I’ve not had to panic about getting a new job. Now that the holidays are over, the new year has begun and things have started to stabilize a bit, here’s what I’m hoping to accomplish in 2013:

• First and foremost, I’d like to ramp up to 3 strips-a-week and a MWF schedule!
• More merch and more diversity in the BOTshop. Right now, there are books and tees, but look for new (and more) offerings soon!
• More conventions! I’d like to start moving further east this year from my mostly west coast exclusivity. Of course, more conventions means less time creating strips and new merch, so I’ll be finding a balance.
• JEFBOT VOLUME.02! Might not come out until the end of the year, but I’ve already started planning it out. Stay tuned!

Okay! It wouldn’t be a year-in-review post if we didn’t have lists, so here ya go!:

TOP COMMENTERS OF 2012
As you can guess, this list documents the BOTreaders that have written the most comments on strips and blog posts here throughout 2012! Unsurprisingly, the Top 10 is filled with many of the personalities we’ve come to know and love (including the Ladies of bot, aka The Harem) throughout JEFbot’s time on the web. A huge thanks to everybody on this list and anyone who has ever left a note giving an opinion on a strip, an anecdote about how you could relate to bot’s shenanigans or a checkmark on a poll! As always, you guys make this comic fun to do and keep me going and I can’t thank you enough.

So, cue the drumroll, and the Top Commenters of 2012 are:

 Pixie (158)
 Tiana (146)
 shanna (103)
 DressesAreStupid (101)
 daughterjudy (97)
 Maryz (97)
 Sarah W (94)
 KenderBryant (89)
 Timothy P. Callahan (81)
 Jiro Maeda (78)

And rounding out the Top 20:

 52pickup (70) •  Natalie (70) •  Rainey (68) •  Funnyshaffer (67) •  MrSnow (65) •  GardeBlaze (61) •  Jason (that crazy… (59) •  E. A. Setser (57) •  ROM! (57) •  ShadowShuffler (56)

TOP WEARERS OF THE SHADES OF FIRSTING
2012 had a lot of wearers of the Shades – more so than any other year, actually – and these BOTreaders all wore them well. But the one who wore them most well last year was: Insectoid! So he gets the 2012 Shades of Firsting Supreme. Wear them well, Insectoid. These do nothing but make you look totally supreme:

And the Top Wearers for last year breaks down like this, with all of them making me proud, as the Shades aren’t exactly easy to get:

Insectoid (7)
Jereme (4)
[tie] Brad L., fig, Flame_Fingers, jf300 and ROM! (3)
[tie] Anonymous, Jason (that crazy guy), Jim, Kaze, Maryz, Mephron, Peg and Ryurei (2)
[tie] #1 Jefbot Fan, Allan!!!, Bl4ckw0lf, Blackout, boobear, David Crewe, DeeD, Deviemn, Dj, Doug, DressesAreStupid, Fijiman, GardeBlaze, GeekGirl1, Ghost, Joe, JoLee, JustCrusingBy, Maria, Maesonic, Mombot, Naoki, Noramil, Nuurgle, Pat wolfman dude (W.D. Pat), PureShadow, Rainey, Ranmarru, reynard61, Sarah W, SewDucky, ShadowShuffler, Striker, Shruikan, The Programmer, Thebogeyman, toastygod, tudza and Vik-Thor Rose (1)

MY FAVORITE STRIPS
These are my personal favorites from the past year, and may not reflect the “funniest” or “prettiest” of the bunch, but might represent something that was going on with me at the time, or something as simple as a new digital pen or texture I was using. Or, yeah: what I found the funniest or prettiest. Your results may vary:

(In no particular order)
• Because underwear is awesome.
• Because underwear is still awesome.
• Let’s just forget the live-action movie.
• So me.
• Screeeee!
• My beloved ice cream bar!
• Awesome tech.
• It’s not my fault.
• Mind games.
• Not my fault, either.

I really like the Disneyland strips, too, and a few others I’ll neglect to mention for brevity’s sake. So what were your top JEFbot strips of 2012?

TOP 10 COUNTRIES/TERRITORIES READING JEFBOT
I always find looking at this stuff fascinating, as it really demonstrates how incredible the Internet is! That I have readers in other countries is just mindblowing to me, even after keeping an eye on this stuff for the past 5+ years. It also almost convinces me I could justify a trip (to scout conventions, of course!) to any of these places outside of the U.S.:
1) United States 2) Canada 3) UK 4) Germany 5) Australia 6) Netherlands 7) France 8) Belgium 9) Sweden 10) Denmark

I think that about wraps up the summary for 2012! I’m looking forward to 2013, as it’ll be my first full year of focusing on JEFbot full-time! It’s a little scary, but the enthusiasm and support I’ve gotten from you readers since 2007 keeps my outlook positive. Thanks for your readership, and here’s hoping 2013 is a great year for all of us!