The Heartstopper webcomicâs first update dropped on September 1st 2016. Today, on April 11th 2026, the story has concluded.
I donât quite know how to put all of my feelings into one letter. Heartstopper means more to me than words can express, but Iâll try my best.
Heartstopper has defined the past decade of my life. It started as a fun side project and quickly grew into something much bigger, eventually becoming my career. Despite that huge and unexpected change, making the Heartstopper comic feels the same to me as it did on day one. When I sit down to make Heartstopper, I feel at peace. When the world feels so scary and difficult, I have been able to return to Heartstopper, and everything feels okay again for a little while.Â
Nick and Charlie first appeared as supporting characters in my first novel, âSolitaireâ. In Solitaire, Nick and Charlie represent the idea that hope, love, joy and connection can persist and thrive despite the trials and tribulations of being alive. So maybe itâs ironic that Nick and Charlie have come to represent this in my own life. They have brought me joy. They have given me purpose. They have given me everything, really. And Iâm so grateful for every moment I have spent with them.
Heartstopper is profoundly special to me. Which makes it extremely hard to say goodbye.
But it is time. I always knew that Nick going to university would be the end point of the story. And despite how sad I am to be bidding farewell to these characters, I am so, so proud and excited to have made it to the end and concluded the story exactly the way I wanted to.
Any webcomic creator can tell you that making a webcomic requires a heavy amount of determination and endurance. To draw a page almost every day for the past ten years has required a lot of sacrifice and a lot of energy. But every moment was worth it. And now that it is complete, Nick and Charlieâs story can be experienced from beginning to end, for the rest of forever.
I wouldnât have made it here alone. From the very start, Heartstopperâs readers have offered so much support, love, community, conversation, and enthusiasm. Knowing that there are people out there who love these characters just like I do has given me the strength to keep going. Iâve also had the support of many colleagues, friends, and family members, whoâve all helped in different ways at various points in the past decade. Thank you so, so much to everyone who has been here for the journey.Â
I have no idea what Iâll make next. For now, Iâm taking a break. And I know that Nick and Charlie wonât simply vanish. I expect I will always return to drawing them and writing about them, probably in smaller ways, for the rest of my life, as long as my body allows.
Nick and Charlie will forever be in my heart, hand in hand on a beach somewhere.
There's a quote from the AIDS epidemic I keep saying to myself, "Bury your friends in the morning, protest in the afternoon, and Dance all Night"
Don't feel guilty for creating beauty, for having moments where you laugh and feel good while the world falls apart around you. Because being miserable and consumed with the bad does no one any good. Dance all night to give yourself strength to bury your friends in the morning.
We will persevere. We will survive. And when it feels like you can't take another step, I'll hold your hand and take it with you.
"They tied [Greta Thunberg's] hands behind her back with the Israeli flag and made her walk. They didn't give us clean water,they told us to drink from the toilets. We went nearly 40 hours without food. We saw mothers writing their childrenâs names on the walls. We actually experienced a little bit of what Palestinians go through." - Activist Aycin Kantoglu
"They tortured Greta very severely before our eyes. [...] They dragged little Greta by her hair before our eyes, beat her, and forced her to kiss the Israeli flag. They did everything imaginable to her, as a warning to others" - Journalist Ersin Celik
"Greta Thunberg, a brave woman, is only 22 years old. She was humiliated and wrapped in an Israeli flag and exhibited like a trophy." -Journalist Lorenzo Agostino
"It was a disaster. They treated us like animals." - Singer-songwriter and humanitarian activist, Hazwani Helmi
"We stayed with reverse handcuffs for 5 hours. When we went to prison, they didn't give us water, we had to drink water from the toilet." - Author Said Ercan
"When we showed our reaction, they increased their violence even more. They tried to keep us under constant pressure in prison, waking us throughout the night and changing our locations." - Doctor Osman Cetinkaya
"They treated us like dogs. They left us hungry for three days. They didnât give us water; we had to drink from the toilet ⊠It was a terribly hot day, and we were all roasting." - TV presenter Ikbal Gurpinar
âThatâs why itâs hard to make friends when youâre older,â she said. âFriendship is rude.â
Her friendâs eyes widened. âWhat?â
âThink about it! When weâre kids we decide who we like and stick by them no matter what. As adults, weâre taught to be polite.
But, friendship is an impositionâ at least, I want it to be. Call me after nine oâclock. Donât think youâll ever wear out your welcome. Overshare, show up at my door, go to the grocery store with me so we can waste another hour chatting.
Weâll never be friends if we spend all of our energy trying not to bother each other.â
Itâs always âthe only good fascist is a dead fascistâ until somebody actually kills a fascist and then itâs âwell killing someone over a difference of opinion is never right, we should have empathyâ
2087
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