Like numbers 500, 400, 300, 200 and 100, another recap of what we’ve learned in the last 100 comics. I enjoy putting these together, but they do take quite a while. All the panels are from comics from the last 100 comics. Can you name where all of them are from?

Also, we have something else to celebrate! We also recently passed the four-year anniversary of the comic as well. 400 comics! That’s pretty good, right? That officially makes The System my longest-held job / relationship.

<I’ll insert more words about what it’s like to do 600 comics here soon.>

Anyway, if you want to help me celebrate, there’s a few things you can do:

• Share your favorite comics from the archive with friends.
• Comment on posts.
• Buy prints of any comics you like from HilariAwesome.com, our online store.
• Buy shirts from HilariAwesome.com, our online store.
• GET READY to give me more money, because I’m going to be launching a Kickstarter for The System Book 1 in a few weeks. As soon as the book is mostly built and I have a quote for the number of books, it’ll all come together. Stay tuned!

Welcome to comic #400, and the 2-year anniversary of The System! I know what you’re saying, comic #1 was posted July 1st. True, but it went live somewhere around July 8th and y’know what? Close enough.

Since then we’ve seen lots of changes to the site, from some recurring characters to comics that have been across the internet and back (with varying amounts of credit thrown my way). I could not have made it this far if not for the help of my many friends (both those with websites and without) and fans who have encouraged and supported this project along the way.

Over the next few weeks you will start seeing some improvements around here, as some new personal opportunities have come up that will allow for some more time and effort to be put on the comic and its various accoutrement. If you’re a fan of the site and would like to do your part, check out the online store and consider supporting the comic and taking something home while you’re at it. If you don’t see something you like don’t worry, preorder for BOOK 1 of The System will be going up soon along with other pieces of amazingness.

For those of you less monetarily inclined but with plenty of free time, it always helps when you share comics on StumbleUpon, Reddit, forums, blogs, BoingBoing or any other sites you frequent. Or for that matter just participating around here by commenting on posts and talking back as I use this site (and Twitter, and Tumblr) to talk at you. I know RossMom always appreciates it, and at this point I think we can pretty much call her a moderator. And yeah, that’s my mom.

Also upcoming, I’m going to start posting a bit of a retrospective on how The System is doing in an effort to show you guys what goes on behind the scenes and also get some thoughts out. Posts about how I’ve gotten this far (if you call this far) and what I’ve learned along the way. For those who like that kind of inside baseball I think you’ll appreciate them. For those that don’t, well, there’s always the comic.

Speaking of the comic, can you pick out where all the panels are from? The art is all from previous comics starting between comic #304 and #399. See what you can do and post it in the comments!

The first in a possibly exhaustive series on how to be an expert.

HEY EXPLOSM FANS! Thanks to my good friends Rob (the drinker), Kris (the “Funniest Man on the Internet”), Matt (the other drinker) and Dave (possibly another drinker) for posting The System on their site as “Stuff We Like”. I noticed right off when people started commenting on early comics. That’s generally a pretty good giveaway.

For those of you who are fans of Explosm, while I suggest you bookmark the site and read it religiously, I may also suggest you might want to check out some comics in the past on Jimmy the Murderdog, Explosions, Batman and possibly farts. Of course there’s plenty more on biking, coffee, typography, and (my favorite) rules and terms that may just tickle your oh-so-refined fancy.

A little behind the scenes: Apologies for the late-in-the-day updates, the lack of consistency, etc. While there is always the RSS feed, the comic is still being churned out as fast as I can. A little bit of real life has trickled into the process, but rest assured more are coming and I’m trying to keep to the Mon / Wed / Fri schedule as best I can. Of course with none from last Friday, I’ll try to make that up this week as a show of good faith to you loyal Systemics out there.