Youre a wonderful who’s done amazing works here and for many other groups of people. Thanks for the great comic and providing something i could get attached to and see to the end with a smile, I look forward to what your next projects bring and I’ll be watching closely 🙂
i have enjoyed this series so much, and it saddens me that this is the end. i wish i can see serenity through the next stage of her life. amazing work, and a great comic. i hope your future works are as lovable as this one. all the best to you AA…
An amazing journey through and through. Words can’t express how much I love the world of serenity rose and stories you’ve told in it, and I wait with great anticipation for your next work and the next adventure!
Oh, hell no. You do not get to stop it here, y’hear?
…. Well, maybe you do. But you have to start it up again some time. That’s all I ask. 🙂
It’s been a hell of a ride – thank you for letting us ride it. And yes, I most certainly am buying the book. <3
I’m no good at words when they need to come (quite good at ’em when they’re unnecessary…). I still remember when I was 15 and I found the first issue of Serenity Rose on the shelves of my local comic shop. I remember showing it to my few friends at lunch time, I remember wanting to do my hair like Sera’s (though at the time I was irrationally afraid of cutting my hair and looked like I was auditioning for the part of Rapunzel…). Sera helped me through those formative high school years. Promising myself to hang on long enough to read the next issue. Giving myself beacons to follow. I could escape to a gray, quiet world and let witches whisper to me… And redheads yell at me. The art changed, growing more defined, and so did my own. Art evolution is a beautiful thing to beold.
Then I went to college, and she was still there. I’d remind myself in the midst of research papers and go catch up on what I had been missing. One Christmas I got a commission for my mom (Aaragon! It’s hanging in the hallway with the family photos!)
Now here I am, 25, just about ready to go meet my family for the Thanksgiving meal, and next week I start what might be a career instead of a job. Thank you for the stories, Mr. A. Thank you for the decade of witchery. Thank you for the art, thank you for sharing your imagination with us. I can’t wait to see what’s next.
After MONTHS so hectic I couldn’t even THINK about keeping up with my FAVORITE THING IN THE WHOLE WORLD, it’s just a magnificent little bit of serendipitous (?) fortune that for SOME reason I can’t even remember, something I shared caused a brief flash of the FaceBook to appear, just long enough to reveal that SOMETHING was in my inbox… something that turned out to be the Kickstarter Kulmination of ten years of wonderful spookiness, which in turn led me to a post mentioning that the FINAL page had been posted a mere six hours earlier. And just for icing, it reveals no secrets but is nevertheless wondrous and beautiful. For I’ve realized how awesome it would be to finish this the way I started it: with printed, bound paper held in my hand. So I’ll be holding off on those lost months of pages until I can read them in hardbound, blue-beribboned, slipcased form, preferably with my very own heart-shaped-skull as company (a fuzzy troll would have made it even sweeter, but as the proud owner of the one and only original Hamchamber I guess I can’t complain too much about missing a limited run of 10,,,).
I can’t wait to see WHATEVER else is in store. Or in THE store, whichever.
Y’know, is there any chance the Codex Serenitae might be printed with the original-style lettering from the print comic run? Obviously not volumes 2 & 3, but I did so very much enjoy Sera’s lower-case and Tess’ cramped, oversized dialogue. And didn’t somebody mention at some point that the earliest parts, those that actually made it online before seeing print, included spot-coloring like the later stuff? Now there’s something ELSE I haven’t seen, but as this book is to be in color all the way, it seems I finally will…
Omygoshimsoexcited…… this has totally made my decade.
Mr A, I don’t know how to thank you for the past 10 years of art and stories. Like Z. above, the first Sera story helped me through rough times in high school… and it’s only gotten better since then. I love this witch with all my heart. This is the end of an era, and I don’t know what comes next, but I’m looking forward to it. As long as you’re making stuff and telling stories, I’ll be reading. Thank you.
This is even harder for me than “Let’s go exploring!”
But I love it, love love it. SR couldn’t have ended on a happier note. Can’t wait for the book, Aaron, but it’s the story in it that matters to me, and I’m so happy I got to experience it. Thank you a thousand times over for sharing this with us. I’ll be excited to see what you come up with next! <3
Ahh-! My heart. I might have to cry now, Gosh. It didn’t really hit me that this was going to be the last page for SR until I saw it. Love you Aaron, love this page. Jeeze, stop it eyes!
I heart the fact that you ended this with a *blue* sky. very, very nice choice. (^.^)
whilst everyone is sad about things ending, I see this as a beginning….a beginning which will be kicked-off with the sooper-duper, über-deluxe, in your face, ultra-specially-special, 10 awkward years release!
congrats on this completion and your tenacity to see it through. you-be-awesome!
so looking forward to many-n-great-n-amazing-type things from you, Aaron-sensei!
<3 <3 <3 I can't believe how much time has passed since I picked up the first comic. I instantly fell in love with the characters, story, everything! Sad one of my favourite series has ended. Kinda gettin' a little emo over here thinking about it. Thanks sooo much for sharing Serenity Rose and for posting the pages online so I could continuously go back and re-read pages from the other chapters at work while I was supposed to be working… 😀 <3 Thanks again and much love! <3
Been reading since issue one waaayyy back in 2003. When Arin took that long hiatus, I thought the comic was done for good until I discovered he continued it and put it online a year ago. Still have the first 5 or 6 comic issues in a sealed container. Good stuff, man. Looking forward to your future endeavors. :3
10 years of perfection. I’ve never been as attached to a world as the one you’ve created here sir. I chocked up a little when it hit me about 2 minutes after I read this page that another one in this story wouldn’t be coming. I’d say I can’t wait for your next project, but I can. In that I’ll wait forever if I have to.
I’m not entirely sure how to word this but no matter what i need to say thank you for your beautiful story.
I had only recently begun reading Heart Shaped Skull but from the beginning of it has drawn me in, more so than any story I can remember. Your characters are absolutely amazing and in many cases manage to be as complex as living people especially Serenity who despite everything that has happened to her manages to find her own form of happiness even though she has to deal with being exceptionally unique as both a witch and a lesbian. I must say that my favorite though was Vicious who’s outlook on life has drastically improved my own, I’ve never read a character who was able to be so carefree but both honest and serious before. Your artwork is astounding and has steadily improved to be among the best I’ve ever seen, especially in that it has retained such a unique form that I haven’t seen anything even close to for a very very long time. Altogether your exceptional tail has forever cemented its place as one of if not my absolute favorite story and beyond almost anything I wish I had begun reading it sooner.
Now personally I have been quite depressed recently and it is thanks to your wonderful writing and beautiful illustrations that i have been able to get out of it. I myself am transgender and have had to face monsters of my own before some of which drove me to cut and have suicidal thoughts in the past so I hope you understand what I mean when I say I don’t think I could ever thank you enough for Heart Shaped Skull. The way Serenity handled her hardships has helped me put my own in perspective and Vicious’s views have helped me out of my pessimism so I have to thank you for writing what has made me a better and happier person as a whole.
In the end like all great stories Serenity Roses’s is bitter sweet not in that its ending is sad but in that it has to end at all. You have definitely managed to break my stupid heart even if I only began reading about a month ago. Mr. Alexovich you have managed to win yourself over what I’m sure is just another lifetime fan and I will definitely recommend Heart Shaped Skull to everyone I can. Regardless of your intentions I have to thank you for a story that very well may have saved my life and I cannot wait to see what you do in the future. Cheers Mr. Alexovich to 10 years of what has been the best story of my life. Love L.
Thank you for writing that, L.L. Everyone’s been saying such lovely things, but yours especially got to me. I’m happy my little web comic was able to help you, even a tiny bit. That’s all any artist can hope for, you know?
I followed your comic since I was 13 years old. My favourite part is probably when she turns that poor blister’s car into a clown-pig. And then when she decided to move on in this volume.
It was the first webcomic I ever read. Thanks for turning Sera’s world colourful!
(^,…,^) this the part when I say! HOLY MOTHER OF THE FLYING witch I want to fly too! please is my dream to fly forever and ever (^,…,^)lml
F.U.C.K. Y.E.A.H.!!!
Reading this volume, I kept thinking of the song Nothing Sacred by Paradise Lost, mostly “But it seems like it’s going wrong again
And it feels like it’s going wrong again” but in the end, I started to think “And that night you came, you came and saw the earth”.
So now, the great closure and ending.
Ten years.
Ten years, started reading four years ago. When the third volume started nearly two years ago, I’ve been here every week to read, when the switch to half pages happened, I was here twice a week. A little bit of an addiction? Maybe, or maybe because this comic touched in a way I can’t say, but I’m sure going to try.
I fell in love with Serenity Rose because of how Sera is. That feeling of an outsider, her own confusion of what she feels, is this what she feels, or is it just a passing idea and not the truth, soon to leave her in the dust and back to normalcy? It’s a bit amazing, to read this, and be so able to identify with all of her quirks and ideas. I struggled as well, not understanding what I was feeling about others in high school, even in college when I started to explore myself, still not getting it and being afraid to get it. Maybe if I was a witch things would have been easier, or at least I could fly off and be alone. But, that was the generation I came from, and watching the new one that is being giving so much more hope, and the drive to push through the hate and fears, and works like this, I feel my heart lighten up, and I smile, realizing what I’ve been fighting is slowly fading out.
Sorry, being silly.
Aaron, you have done an amazing job on this comic. I know a few younger girls who have I have actually recommended reading this to, mostly for Sera and Maddie, to let them know that they are not alone, and that reaching out can be such a wonderful thing to help those being pushed and shoved. A small town boy, a small town girl, sometimes you don’t need to leave in the morning to find the love you need.
I’m babbling, I’m carrying on, I’m gushing and being a silly old girl, but how else should I react? I’m ready to cry cause this is over, and I don’t want it to be over. I feel selfish wanting more, but also feeling that this is the best way to end Serenity Rose. I haven’t felt like this since I finished Bone. I want more, I want this to never end, but I also am in love with what has happened and how you did it. I don’t want my own selfish wants to ruin the story you have told.
Aaron, thank you, from the bottom of my heart for putting yourself and your work out there for all to read. I won’t pretend to be speaking for all of us, but for myself, thank you, thank you, thank you. You gave a shot of dark light into a few lives, and I’m chiming my voice in with the choir as well. As I meet others who are like, I’ll be sure to pass this on to suggest they read it, a shot of hope and love.
Best wishes and luck for you in the future with all you do.
– A silly old woman who still thinks it’s Halloween everyday.
It IS Halloween every day, Noneso. Why can’t it be, right? Thank you! Having someone compare Serenity to Bone is… well, it’s the loveliest compliment I’ve ever gotten, and I have to run away from it immediately.
Dang straight mister Aaron, everyday is Halloween!
Aw, I’m sorry if I freaked you out, but it’s how I feel. Just like when it ended, I didn’t want it to. And this, I don’t want this to end either. But it’s honest and how I feel.
And I’m honest now, you’ve touched me in ways you got no idea about, your story and characters, you gave me hope, and you’ve given a few other girls hope too. Even in the comments, I’m not alone in being helped, you’ve helped a lot of us feel a bit of that acceptance we all want.
Wow, Just, wow.
I’ve been reading Serenity Rose for a little over four years now. In particular, the third volume started at roughly the same time that I left home for college, and I’ve been reading it (weekly and –weekly) the whole way through my studies. It’s been a highlight of my week the entire time, so I wonder what I’ll do without it in the final months at university.
Serenity Rose has helped me through some dark times, and has always left me with a feeling of solace and contentment. It’s also inspired me, as both a writer and an artist and, when I graduate from university in the summer, I fully intend to start work on my own graphic novel. If it’s even a fraction as impressive as Serenity Rose, or has even the tiniest impact on anyone, it will be time worth spent.
Thank you, a thousand times,
X
It’s going to be tedious clicking the back arrow 120 times in order to get to the beginning. Seeing as how I’ve never read this before… but it looks like it will be worth it.
Or I can call myself an idiot, and have you point and laugh at me. I noticed the issue, and it’s obvious to anyone but me who had to stare for a minute.
Nah, it could probably be more obvious. Clicking “Serenity Rose” in the menu bar takes you to the index page: http://www.heartshapedskull.com/serenity-rose/ Hope you enjoy! Or that it doesn’t hurt you too much, at least!
Hello AA. I don’t often comment on things (I only recently started commenting on you FB messages because of the kickstarter) I’ve loved these amazing characters of yours since I picked up this little black covered book with a heart shaped skull on the front. I’d just finished university and was not in the best of places. What I found was a beautiful comic with wonderful art and believable characters. After finding my way to the website and reading the other offerings (several times) I have been thoroughly won over.
Watching Serenity and the other characters change and grow has been holding a mirror up to my own experiences. I have recently been diagnosed bipolar (explaining much of my childhood and adolescent issues) and funnily enough Serenity and Viscious do remind me of me at my lowest and highest. And it helped me feel more comfortable about other aspects of myself. Isn’t it odd how these things happen? That a wonderful work of art can help us understand ourselves better. But thats what artists do through writing and through images, they touch peoples hearts. And this really has.
It was wonderful to be able to support your endevor to make a collection to celebrate 10 years and I was so happy to see that target smashed! You write and draw with all your heart and you definitely broke our stupid hearts. From one artist to another I have to say this is awesome. (I feel a bit like the gushing fan girl in the first book now 🙂 ). You are a very talented individual, I wish I could cohere my ideas half as well!
So thank you AA. I look forward to your wonderful book and I anticipate the next adventure you will take us, I hope you keep flying and whispering to witches.
Very true! I think it’s a work in progress after all we continually develop and grow as individuals. Will look forward to the next step. Glad I could be part of the kickstarter.
Wow, it’s hard to believe it’s over! Even though, really, I haven’t been following all that long. It’s probably only been about a year or so since I started reading it online, a little after Break Your Stupid Heart started I think it was. It’s a little sad knowing the story’s over, but at the same time it had such a sweet, happy ending (especially that last page with a nice blue sky), so I guess that kind of makes it ok. Not to say that I wouldn’t still love to see the story continued or added to some day! Maybe in animated form next?
Anyway, loved the story, loved the characters, loved the artwork, just pretty much adored the whole thing.
Time to bust out Working Through The Negativity and read the whole thing over again! 😀
I’m sitting here, staring at fully framed set of ROOM FOR A THOUSAND on my wall, and I still think I’ll see Sera in there somewhere. I fell in love with this series when, on the back cover of the first paperback I bought, it said to me “i like you”.
Noncommittal, shy, and perfect.
Thank you Aaron for a wonderful series – the last page was quintessential, and print worthy!
Oh wow I knew the end was coming. The last few pages have been a nice easy wind down. And the last page, well I’ll just second all the comments above, blue sky in particular. But still “break your stupid heart”, yea the title applies to me also. As a 60 something certifiable old fart Sera’s story has touched me ways that are that are beyond words.
I found your web site sometime before the start of the 2nd story and dutifully down loaded every page and would pull out the art into a separate file so when I needed a fix between episodes I could go back and read the story from the beginning. I wonder what the IT sleuths where I work think of that.
I can’t wait for the bound volume, it will be among my most treasured books. I will also add that I eagerly await your next endeavors. Perhaps Sera will make an appearance down the road. Many thanks again and best wishes for the future. sigh…
Iceea
🙁 I can’t believe its over. I love this series so much, I remember finding the book at my local library before leaving for the US Navy in 2008. Then I got the second volume while in the US Navy, and now that I’m out and finishing the third volume I want to know what happens next.
I have fell in love the art and I want to try to get my owe style down and also try others as well. Now that I am college this series will never leave me. I love everything about Serenity Rose, the art, the story, the characters everything. Who knows maybe there will be another volume. If so I can’t wait to read it. Also this this series has made my spark to make my own comic/manga even stronger.
Thank you for everything Mr. A and all the characters too.
I am a fairly late comer in this one, but I have to say I have read it all and it has done quite a bit for me. thanks for the trip man, and I hope to see more something someday. I appreciate the good work and adios amigo, for now.
Shit, man. This has been my very favorite piece of art/literature ever. I am pretty dang sad about it ending. Thank you so much, Alex for sharing this amazing story with all of us. Serenity Rose has inspired me so much as an artist, writer, and human being! Haha. I know it sounds silly, but it has really touched me. The art and characters are just so very sincere, it gets me every time. Good luck with all your future endeavors, Alex. 🙂
In hindsight, I read Serenity Rose as a response to that microgenre of superhero stories, like Spider-Man, where coming to grips with your power and using it to fight badguys is how you grow up. Sera tried that once, and all it got her was ATTENTION.
I don’t want to call it, like, a critique or a deconstruction of that type of story? Because it’s really about Sera, and this meta shit is scaffolding for her story. Still though, I like this application of the old trope a lot better. However responsible Spidey had to be, it was because of who he fought rather than who he was–being a human spider was always a power trip, which does not match my experience of what it’s like to have an unusual ability. It’s much more like, you look and look for ways to use it that would accomplish something you care about, and when you find one it’s in a fit of rage and turns out to be a terrible idea, and you never really live that down.
If you can’t fight your fate, you may at least rise to meet it. Sort of like Sera.
In any case, this series does provide a fine origin story for whatever comes next.
You’ve got me thinking of a book I read a few years ago called “The Lock Artist”. The protagonist is a regular person with an incredibly rare talent, and a repeating mantra of the book is the following phrase.
“There’s nothing worse than when very bad people find out you have a talent that can make them a lot of money fast.”
Just something I thought of while reading what you wrote.
I’m so glad there will be more, as stated in the kickstarter. I’m still having questions about the evil witches and is there no one who is going to stop them? Or that guy with the purple veins who’s name I forget — what’s up with him?
This is definitely one of the strongest endings to a comic I’ve ever read. The only other comic endings that made me feel this sad and hopeful were Calvin and Hobbes, and bloom county. I really hope this comic keeps on for even longer though, because I still have a decent store of unanswered questions, and I’m very curious about the lives of the other witches.
wow….. I can’t believe I always passed this up… I always saw Sera on the hiveworks page… but I never did click on the link…… but boy I should of, there is… just so much awesome here. Granted I’m mostly a werewolf kinda guy, but witches… witches like these, their personality! is just… damn.
Personally, I hope for more, I am at a loss if there will be more, but if not… well I’ll settle for buying the big book from the store when I see it and read it every week, and add it to the two other comics I’ve found great joy in reading.
I’m glad things happened the way it happened, and I’m happy I started reading this comic, little I knew that will become one of my favourites, I mean, I read it in a weekend, all of the pages, chapters, all of the characters, sublime art and story. I hope the book can be sold here in México, otherwise I must embark on a way to get one.
Thanks a lot for a great story, a lot of people like me enjoyed it a LOT.
Oh for fucks sake finally find a comic worth a damn and it’s already dead, the main character highly relatable, a world wrought with mystery, crestfallen filled with secrets lost to the ages. This comic could go on for years! Rivet hed, vamps, other witches, valentine, all 121 towers, too many untapped sources too many. Artistic style rare, dark and noir, but even and controlled, vibrant and alive! This is one thing I most hate bout online comics: the best end too soon and the shit ones continue. I love your comic, but I kind of hate you the creator honestly because you made a world of mystery and beauty and you choose to let it die.
Save this one, save your world, don’t let this go to waste.
Having only recently discovered this, and now finishing it, I feel like a hole will be left where this use to be. I have definitely enjoy the ride and will definitely miss it. But to all the fans and to the author himself, I’d like to thank you it’s truly been a most enjoyable experience and it has also been the single best comic I’ve ever had the honor of reading. I will be immediately buying both volumes.
Last I checked, Sluggy Freelance (mad science, aliens, demons, all that fun stuff) was still posting; I got into it back in ’98 & it’d already been going a while. One of these days I *swear* I’m gonna get caught up…
I too have just found this comic a few days ago, and I wish there was a fourth book (or more!) focused around Sera ;-; I just want to give her a hug DX
GAH I found this three days ago and I’ve already read through the WHOLE THING TWICE GOD DAMMIT GIVE ME MOAR SERA PLZ. This is the most adorable character in the history of plots. I can’t even compare Ville from ARTD to her. I just… All I want is more. This comic started with one mood–depressing. You know what, though? It was the most perfect portrayal of depression I have ever seen. Next, during “Goodbye Crestfallen”, it turned to tension and stress. You know what? Most perfect stress portrayal I’ve ever seen. Next, the color exploded. “Break Your Stupid Heart” is the most emotional piece of art I’ve ever seen in my life. The meeting with Maddie, the meeting with Crawlsie, and then suddenly this is over. I know it lasted ten years, but it needed thirty. This is one of the most perfect pieces of art the world will ever see.
Thank you, Aaron, for shutting down my brain completely so this comic is all that I can think about.
Ever since I started using the hiveworks hub for all my comic needs, I’d always see HSS but never read it. One day I was like, “you know, I always see this but have never read it…. So I’m going to read it,” and now that I’ve finished, I’m a little sad. T’was a truly wonderful ride and plan on buying the books. Guess now I’ll start reading ELDRITCH! to satisfy this new craving HSS has given me.
I remember reading this when it first came out, back in my early middle school days. I remember cutting my hair and dying the front purple instead of blue, but this was always such a wonderful story to read. I re-read it all the time! I sent in a comic years ago while I was practicing with watercolor, I’m happy I can still find it! Thank you for the stories!
^____^
Thank you so much for such a wonderful and truly special comic series Mr. Alexovich.
I look forward to your future endeavours!
Youre a wonderful who’s done amazing works here and for many other groups of people. Thanks for the great comic and providing something i could get attached to and see to the end with a smile, I look forward to what your next projects bring and I’ll be watching closely 🙂
i have enjoyed this series so much, and it saddens me that this is the end. i wish i can see serenity through the next stage of her life. amazing work, and a great comic. i hope your future works are as lovable as this one. all the best to you AA…
An amazing journey through and through. Words can’t express how much I love the world of serenity rose and stories you’ve told in it, and I wait with great anticipation for your next work and the next adventure!
^_^
Oh, hell no. You do not get to stop it here, y’hear?
…. Well, maybe you do. But you have to start it up again some time. That’s all I ask. 🙂
It’s been a hell of a ride – thank you for letting us ride it. And yes, I most certainly am buying the book. <3
I’m no good at words when they need to come (quite good at ’em when they’re unnecessary…). I still remember when I was 15 and I found the first issue of Serenity Rose on the shelves of my local comic shop. I remember showing it to my few friends at lunch time, I remember wanting to do my hair like Sera’s (though at the time I was irrationally afraid of cutting my hair and looked like I was auditioning for the part of Rapunzel…). Sera helped me through those formative high school years. Promising myself to hang on long enough to read the next issue. Giving myself beacons to follow. I could escape to a gray, quiet world and let witches whisper to me… And redheads yell at me. The art changed, growing more defined, and so did my own. Art evolution is a beautiful thing to beold.
Then I went to college, and she was still there. I’d remind myself in the midst of research papers and go catch up on what I had been missing. One Christmas I got a commission for my mom (Aaragon! It’s hanging in the hallway with the family photos!)
Now here I am, 25, just about ready to go meet my family for the Thanksgiving meal, and next week I start what might be a career instead of a job. Thank you for the stories, Mr. A. Thank you for the decade of witchery. Thank you for the art, thank you for sharing your imagination with us. I can’t wait to see what’s next.
“Let witches whisper to me…” That’s really pretty. Thank you, Z!
After MONTHS so hectic I couldn’t even THINK about keeping up with my FAVORITE THING IN THE WHOLE WORLD, it’s just a magnificent little bit of serendipitous (?) fortune that for SOME reason I can’t even remember, something I shared caused a brief flash of the FaceBook to appear, just long enough to reveal that SOMETHING was in my inbox… something that turned out to be the Kickstarter Kulmination of ten years of wonderful spookiness, which in turn led me to a post mentioning that the FINAL page had been posted a mere six hours earlier. And just for icing, it reveals no secrets but is nevertheless wondrous and beautiful. For I’ve realized how awesome it would be to finish this the way I started it: with printed, bound paper held in my hand. So I’ll be holding off on those lost months of pages until I can read them in hardbound, blue-beribboned, slipcased form, preferably with my very own heart-shaped-skull as company (a fuzzy troll would have made it even sweeter, but as the proud owner of the one and only original Hamchamber I guess I can’t complain too much about missing a limited run of 10,,,).
I can’t wait to see WHATEVER else is in store. Or in THE store, whichever.
Y’know, is there any chance the Codex Serenitae might be printed with the original-style lettering from the print comic run? Obviously not volumes 2 & 3, but I did so very much enjoy Sera’s lower-case and Tess’ cramped, oversized dialogue. And didn’t somebody mention at some point that the earliest parts, those that actually made it online before seeing print, included spot-coloring like the later stuff? Now there’s something ELSE I haven’t seen, but as this book is to be in color all the way, it seems I finally will…
Omygoshimsoexcited…… this has totally made my decade.
Mr A, I don’t know how to thank you for the past 10 years of art and stories. Like Z. above, the first Sera story helped me through rough times in high school… and it’s only gotten better since then. I love this witch with all my heart. This is the end of an era, and I don’t know what comes next, but I’m looking forward to it. As long as you’re making stuff and telling stories, I’ll be reading. Thank you.
Wow, I can’t believe it’s over already. Congratulations for 10 year of hard work and dedication.
I can’t wait to see what else you have in store in the future, especially now that you are at Titmouse.
Perhaps an animated series? (Probably not of HSS, but definitely something.)
At any rate, this is Mr. Hacks signing off!
…Oh, man.
This is even harder for me than “Let’s go exploring!”
But I love it, love love it. SR couldn’t have ended on a happier note. Can’t wait for the book, Aaron, but it’s the story in it that matters to me, and I’m so happy I got to experience it. Thank you a thousand times over for sharing this with us. I’ll be excited to see what you come up with next! <3
That was fantastic!
this is kinda sad….oh well its been real everyone…
Ahh-! My heart. I might have to cry now, Gosh. It didn’t really hit me that this was going to be the last page for SR until I saw it. Love you Aaron, love this page. Jeeze, stop it eyes!
Sad, I wish I hadn’t come so late to the party. Great series.
Perfect way to end the series. c:
Best. Ending. Ever.
I heart the fact that you ended this with a *blue* sky. very, very nice choice. (^.^)
whilst everyone is sad about things ending, I see this as a beginning….a beginning which will be kicked-off with the sooper-duper, über-deluxe, in your face, ultra-specially-special, 10 awkward years release!
congrats on this completion and your tenacity to see it through. you-be-awesome!
so looking forward to many-n-great-n-amazing-type things from you, Aaron-sensei!
Thank you for a great series. I’m going to miss new pages. Can’t wait for the Kickstarter collection.
I’m so sad right now, but it’s the best kind of sad there is. Thank you for creating such an amazing series.
<3 <3 <3 I can't believe how much time has passed since I picked up the first comic. I instantly fell in love with the characters, story, everything! Sad one of my favourite series has ended. Kinda gettin' a little emo over here thinking about it. Thanks sooo much for sharing Serenity Rose and for posting the pages online so I could continuously go back and re-read pages from the other chapters at work while I was supposed to be working… 😀 <3 Thanks again and much love! <3
Thank you for the years of fantastic art and storytelling, good sir! Much love! 😀
Aaa, so great. Loved all of it.
Been reading since issue one waaayyy back in 2003. When Arin took that long hiatus, I thought the comic was done for good until I discovered he continued it and put it online a year ago. Still have the first 5 or 6 comic issues in a sealed container. Good stuff, man. Looking forward to your future endeavors. :3
Thank you so much, everyone! It means a lot to me that these characters have meant something to you. You have NOT seen the last of them. See you soon!
10 years of perfection. I’ve never been as attached to a world as the one you’ve created here sir. I chocked up a little when it hit me about 2 minutes after I read this page that another one in this story wouldn’t be coming. I’d say I can’t wait for your next project, but I can. In that I’ll wait forever if I have to.
Onward & upward…
I’m not entirely sure how to word this but no matter what i need to say thank you for your beautiful story.
I had only recently begun reading Heart Shaped Skull but from the beginning of it has drawn me in, more so than any story I can remember. Your characters are absolutely amazing and in many cases manage to be as complex as living people especially Serenity who despite everything that has happened to her manages to find her own form of happiness even though she has to deal with being exceptionally unique as both a witch and a lesbian. I must say that my favorite though was Vicious who’s outlook on life has drastically improved my own, I’ve never read a character who was able to be so carefree but both honest and serious before. Your artwork is astounding and has steadily improved to be among the best I’ve ever seen, especially in that it has retained such a unique form that I haven’t seen anything even close to for a very very long time. Altogether your exceptional tail has forever cemented its place as one of if not my absolute favorite story and beyond almost anything I wish I had begun reading it sooner.
Now personally I have been quite depressed recently and it is thanks to your wonderful writing and beautiful illustrations that i have been able to get out of it. I myself am transgender and have had to face monsters of my own before some of which drove me to cut and have suicidal thoughts in the past so I hope you understand what I mean when I say I don’t think I could ever thank you enough for Heart Shaped Skull. The way Serenity handled her hardships has helped me put my own in perspective and Vicious’s views have helped me out of my pessimism so I have to thank you for writing what has made me a better and happier person as a whole.
In the end like all great stories Serenity Roses’s is bitter sweet not in that its ending is sad but in that it has to end at all. You have definitely managed to break my stupid heart even if I only began reading about a month ago. Mr. Alexovich you have managed to win yourself over what I’m sure is just another lifetime fan and I will definitely recommend Heart Shaped Skull to everyone I can. Regardless of your intentions I have to thank you for a story that very well may have saved my life and I cannot wait to see what you do in the future. Cheers Mr. Alexovich to 10 years of what has been the best story of my life. Love L.
Thank you for writing that, L.L. Everyone’s been saying such lovely things, but yours especially got to me. I’m happy my little web comic was able to help you, even a tiny bit. That’s all any artist can hope for, you know?
Just remember: You’re never alone.
Noooo! It cannot be over!
Aaron has broken OUR stupid hearts 🙁 I never thought the “your” in the title meant ME! *sob*
No not really! Without his gift to us? We would not have had so much joy in the first place. So much happiness from an imaginary world? It is great.
Thanks AA and I (we all) eagerly await future output!
I followed your comic since I was 13 years old. My favourite part is probably when she turns that poor blister’s car into a clown-pig. And then when she decided to move on in this volume.
It was the first webcomic I ever read. Thanks for turning Sera’s world colourful!
Its over…NOÔO! The pain the boredation on tuesdays and thursdays for now on!!!!!!!
(^,…,^) this the part when I say! HOLY MOTHER OF THE FLYING witch I want to fly too! please is my dream to fly forever and ever (^,…,^)lml
F.U.C.K. Y.E.A.H.!!!
grafic example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycslrXFALs0
Reading this volume, I kept thinking of the song Nothing Sacred by Paradise Lost, mostly “But it seems like it’s going wrong again
And it feels like it’s going wrong again” but in the end, I started to think “And that night you came, you came and saw the earth”.
So now, the great closure and ending.
Ten years.
Ten years, started reading four years ago. When the third volume started nearly two years ago, I’ve been here every week to read, when the switch to half pages happened, I was here twice a week. A little bit of an addiction? Maybe, or maybe because this comic touched in a way I can’t say, but I’m sure going to try.
I fell in love with Serenity Rose because of how Sera is. That feeling of an outsider, her own confusion of what she feels, is this what she feels, or is it just a passing idea and not the truth, soon to leave her in the dust and back to normalcy? It’s a bit amazing, to read this, and be so able to identify with all of her quirks and ideas. I struggled as well, not understanding what I was feeling about others in high school, even in college when I started to explore myself, still not getting it and being afraid to get it. Maybe if I was a witch things would have been easier, or at least I could fly off and be alone. But, that was the generation I came from, and watching the new one that is being giving so much more hope, and the drive to push through the hate and fears, and works like this, I feel my heart lighten up, and I smile, realizing what I’ve been fighting is slowly fading out.
Sorry, being silly.
Aaron, you have done an amazing job on this comic. I know a few younger girls who have I have actually recommended reading this to, mostly for Sera and Maddie, to let them know that they are not alone, and that reaching out can be such a wonderful thing to help those being pushed and shoved. A small town boy, a small town girl, sometimes you don’t need to leave in the morning to find the love you need.
I’m babbling, I’m carrying on, I’m gushing and being a silly old girl, but how else should I react? I’m ready to cry cause this is over, and I don’t want it to be over. I feel selfish wanting more, but also feeling that this is the best way to end Serenity Rose. I haven’t felt like this since I finished Bone. I want more, I want this to never end, but I also am in love with what has happened and how you did it. I don’t want my own selfish wants to ruin the story you have told.
Aaron, thank you, from the bottom of my heart for putting yourself and your work out there for all to read. I won’t pretend to be speaking for all of us, but for myself, thank you, thank you, thank you. You gave a shot of dark light into a few lives, and I’m chiming my voice in with the choir as well. As I meet others who are like, I’ll be sure to pass this on to suggest they read it, a shot of hope and love.
Best wishes and luck for you in the future with all you do.
– A silly old woman who still thinks it’s Halloween everyday.
It IS Halloween every day, Noneso. Why can’t it be, right? Thank you! Having someone compare Serenity to Bone is… well, it’s the loveliest compliment I’ve ever gotten, and I have to run away from it immediately.
Dang straight mister Aaron, everyday is Halloween!
Aw, I’m sorry if I freaked you out, but it’s how I feel. Just like when it ended, I didn’t want it to. And this, I don’t want this to end either. But it’s honest and how I feel.
And I’m honest now, you’ve touched me in ways you got no idea about, your story and characters, you gave me hope, and you’ve given a few other girls hope too. Even in the comments, I’m not alone in being helped, you’ve helped a lot of us feel a bit of that acceptance we all want.
Thank you.
Wow, Just, wow.
I’ve been reading Serenity Rose for a little over four years now. In particular, the third volume started at roughly the same time that I left home for college, and I’ve been reading it (weekly and –weekly) the whole way through my studies. It’s been a highlight of my week the entire time, so I wonder what I’ll do without it in the final months at university.
Serenity Rose has helped me through some dark times, and has always left me with a feeling of solace and contentment. It’s also inspired me, as both a writer and an artist and, when I graduate from university in the summer, I fully intend to start work on my own graphic novel. If it’s even a fraction as impressive as Serenity Rose, or has even the tiniest impact on anyone, it will be time worth spent.
Thank you, a thousand times,
X
Thank YOU, Fred! Send me a link to your book when you’ve got some finished!
It’s going to be tedious clicking the back arrow 120 times in order to get to the beginning. Seeing as how I’ve never read this before… but it looks like it will be worth it.
Or I can call myself an idiot, and have you point and laugh at me. I noticed the issue, and it’s obvious to anyone but me who had to stare for a minute.
Nah, it could probably be more obvious. Clicking “Serenity Rose” in the menu bar takes you to the index page: http://www.heartshapedskull.com/serenity-rose/ Hope you enjoy! Or that it doesn’t hurt you too much, at least!
Hello AA. I don’t often comment on things (I only recently started commenting on you FB messages because of the kickstarter) I’ve loved these amazing characters of yours since I picked up this little black covered book with a heart shaped skull on the front. I’d just finished university and was not in the best of places. What I found was a beautiful comic with wonderful art and believable characters. After finding my way to the website and reading the other offerings (several times) I have been thoroughly won over.
Watching Serenity and the other characters change and grow has been holding a mirror up to my own experiences. I have recently been diagnosed bipolar (explaining much of my childhood and adolescent issues) and funnily enough Serenity and Viscious do remind me of me at my lowest and highest. And it helped me feel more comfortable about other aspects of myself. Isn’t it odd how these things happen? That a wonderful work of art can help us understand ourselves better. But thats what artists do through writing and through images, they touch peoples hearts. And this really has.
It was wonderful to be able to support your endevor to make a collection to celebrate 10 years and I was so happy to see that target smashed! You write and draw with all your heart and you definitely broke our stupid hearts. From one artist to another I have to say this is awesome. (I feel a bit like the gushing fan girl in the first book now 🙂 ). You are a very talented individual, I wish I could cohere my ideas half as well!
So thank you AA. I look forward to your wonderful book and I anticipate the next adventure you will take us, I hope you keep flying and whispering to witches.
Thank you, Emily! “Understanding yourself” is pretty much a lifetime commitment, isn’t it? Hopefully I’ll get there someday.
Very true! I think it’s a work in progress after all we continually develop and grow as individuals. Will look forward to the next step. Glad I could be part of the kickstarter.
Think I might have to do some fan art : )
Wow, it’s hard to believe it’s over! Even though, really, I haven’t been following all that long. It’s probably only been about a year or so since I started reading it online, a little after Break Your Stupid Heart started I think it was. It’s a little sad knowing the story’s over, but at the same time it had such a sweet, happy ending (especially that last page with a nice blue sky), so I guess that kind of makes it ok. Not to say that I wouldn’t still love to see the story continued or added to some day! Maybe in animated form next?
Anyway, loved the story, loved the characters, loved the artwork, just pretty much adored the whole thing.
Time to bust out Working Through The Negativity and read the whole thing over again! 😀
I’m sitting here, staring at fully framed set of ROOM FOR A THOUSAND on my wall, and I still think I’ll see Sera in there somewhere. I fell in love with this series when, on the back cover of the first paperback I bought, it said to me “i like you”.
Noncommittal, shy, and perfect.
Thank you Aaron for a wonderful series – the last page was quintessential, and print worthy!
Did anything ever come of that mysterious witch from the original coven that showed up in the second comic?
Oh wow I knew the end was coming. The last few pages have been a nice easy wind down. And the last page, well I’ll just second all the comments above, blue sky in particular. But still “break your stupid heart”, yea the title applies to me also. As a 60 something certifiable old fart Sera’s story has touched me ways that are that are beyond words.
I found your web site sometime before the start of the 2nd story and dutifully down loaded every page and would pull out the art into a separate file so when I needed a fix between episodes I could go back and read the story from the beginning. I wonder what the IT sleuths where I work think of that.
I can’t wait for the bound volume, it will be among my most treasured books. I will also add that I eagerly await your next endeavors. Perhaps Sera will make an appearance down the road. Many thanks again and best wishes for the future. sigh…
Iceea
🙁 I can’t believe its over. I love this series so much, I remember finding the book at my local library before leaving for the US Navy in 2008. Then I got the second volume while in the US Navy, and now that I’m out and finishing the third volume I want to know what happens next.
I have fell in love the art and I want to try to get my owe style down and also try others as well. Now that I am college this series will never leave me. I love everything about Serenity Rose, the art, the story, the characters everything. Who knows maybe there will be another volume. If so I can’t wait to read it. Also this this series has made my spark to make my own comic/manga even stronger.
Thank you for everything Mr. A and all the characters too.
I am a fairly late comer in this one, but I have to say I have read it all and it has done quite a bit for me. thanks for the trip man, and I hope to see more something someday. I appreciate the good work and adios amigo, for now.
Shit, man. This has been my very favorite piece of art/literature ever. I am pretty dang sad about it ending. Thank you so much, Alex for sharing this amazing story with all of us. Serenity Rose has inspired me so much as an artist, writer, and human being! Haha. I know it sounds silly, but it has really touched me. The art and characters are just so very sincere, it gets me every time. Good luck with all your future endeavors, Alex. 🙂
In hindsight, I read Serenity Rose as a response to that microgenre of superhero stories, like Spider-Man, where coming to grips with your power and using it to fight badguys is how you grow up. Sera tried that once, and all it got her was ATTENTION.
I don’t want to call it, like, a critique or a deconstruction of that type of story? Because it’s really about Sera, and this meta shit is scaffolding for her story. Still though, I like this application of the old trope a lot better. However responsible Spidey had to be, it was because of who he fought rather than who he was–being a human spider was always a power trip, which does not match my experience of what it’s like to have an unusual ability. It’s much more like, you look and look for ways to use it that would accomplish something you care about, and when you find one it’s in a fit of rage and turns out to be a terrible idea, and you never really live that down.
If you can’t fight your fate, you may at least rise to meet it. Sort of like Sera.
In any case, this series does provide a fine origin story for whatever comes next.
You’ve got me thinking of a book I read a few years ago called “The Lock Artist”. The protagonist is a regular person with an incredibly rare talent, and a repeating mantra of the book is the following phrase.
“There’s nothing worse than when very bad people find out you have a talent that can make them a lot of money fast.”
Just something I thought of while reading what you wrote.
I’m so glad there will be more, as stated in the kickstarter. I’m still having questions about the evil witches and is there no one who is going to stop them? Or that guy with the purple veins who’s name I forget — what’s up with him?
This is definitely one of the strongest endings to a comic I’ve ever read. The only other comic endings that made me feel this sad and hopeful were Calvin and Hobbes, and bloom county. I really hope this comic keeps on for even longer though, because I still have a decent store of unanswered questions, and I’m very curious about the lives of the other witches.
wow….. I can’t believe I always passed this up… I always saw Sera on the hiveworks page… but I never did click on the link…… but boy I should of, there is… just so much awesome here. Granted I’m mostly a werewolf kinda guy, but witches… witches like these, their personality! is just… damn.
Personally, I hope for more, I am at a loss if there will be more, but if not… well I’ll settle for buying the big book from the store when I see it and read it every week, and add it to the two other comics I’ve found great joy in reading.
This Wolf thanks you.
I’m glad things happened the way it happened, and I’m happy I started reading this comic, little I knew that will become one of my favourites, I mean, I read it in a weekend, all of the pages, chapters, all of the characters, sublime art and story. I hope the book can be sold here in México, otherwise I must embark on a way to get one.
Thanks a lot for a great story, a lot of people like me enjoyed it a LOT.
Oh for fucks sake finally find a comic worth a damn and it’s already dead, the main character highly relatable, a world wrought with mystery, crestfallen filled with secrets lost to the ages. This comic could go on for years! Rivet hed, vamps, other witches, valentine, all 121 towers, too many untapped sources too many. Artistic style rare, dark and noir, but even and controlled, vibrant and alive! This is one thing I most hate bout online comics: the best end too soon and the shit ones continue. I love your comic, but I kind of hate you the creator honestly because you made a world of mystery and beauty and you choose to let it die.
Save this one, save your world, don’t let this go to waste.
Sincerely,
Kira
He’s not letting it die. The next story isn’t going to revolve around Sera, though it will be in the same universe, from what I’ve gathered.
Also, this comic has been going for more than 10 years. You’re just late to the party.
Honestly, this comic has had the longest run of any webcomic series I’ve ever read.
sinfest is the only older one I’m aware of
Sluggy Freelance is probably the oldest webcomic to get its start on web browsers. It began in 1997, and it’s still going.
Dominic Deegan is right on up there too.
Having only recently discovered this, and now finishing it, I feel like a hole will be left where this use to be. I have definitely enjoy the ride and will definitely miss it. But to all the fans and to the author himself, I’d like to thank you it’s truly been a most enjoyable experience and it has also been the single best comic I’ve ever had the honor of reading. I will be immediately buying both volumes.
Last I checked, Sluggy Freelance (mad science, aliens, demons, all that fun stuff) was still posting; I got into it back in ’98 & it’d already been going a while. One of these days I *swear* I’m gonna get caught up…
I share in your desire for more s rose. that’s why I’m taking the route of fan fic.
I too have just found this comic a few days ago, and I wish there was a fourth book (or more!) focused around Sera ;-; I just want to give her a hug DX
GAH I found this three days ago and I’ve already read through the WHOLE THING TWICE GOD DAMMIT GIVE ME MOAR SERA PLZ. This is the most adorable character in the history of plots. I can’t even compare Ville from ARTD to her. I just… All I want is more. This comic started with one mood–depressing. You know what, though? It was the most perfect portrayal of depression I have ever seen. Next, during “Goodbye Crestfallen”, it turned to tension and stress. You know what? Most perfect stress portrayal I’ve ever seen. Next, the color exploded. “Break Your Stupid Heart” is the most emotional piece of art I’ve ever seen in my life. The meeting with Maddie, the meeting with Crawlsie, and then suddenly this is over. I know it lasted ten years, but it needed thirty. This is one of the most perfect pieces of art the world will ever see.
Thank you, Aaron, for shutting down my brain completely so this comic is all that I can think about.
Ever since I started using the hiveworks hub for all my comic needs, I’d always see HSS but never read it. One day I was like, “you know, I always see this but have never read it…. So I’m going to read it,” and now that I’ve finished, I’m a little sad. T’was a truly wonderful ride and plan on buying the books. Guess now I’ll start reading ELDRITCH! to satisfy this new craving HSS has given me.
Please do more sera I love there so much!!!!!
I remember reading this when it first came out, back in my early middle school days. I remember cutting my hair and dying the front purple instead of blue, but this was always such a wonderful story to read. I re-read it all the time! I sent in a comic years ago while I was practicing with watercolor, I’m happy I can still find it! Thank you for the stories!