State of the Stack

My fellow subscribers, the State of our Substack is… late.

Yes, Noth Things has arrived in your inbox later than ever before. I take full credit for this achievement, for reasons best explained by this image:

I launched Noth Things in July of 2025 with nothing but the humble dream of building the most profitable media empire the world has ever known. There were to be multi-tiered subscriptions and paywalls galore. I blueprinted the entire operation last summer in this rejected cartoon:

But after seven months of operation, I have failed to create even a single paywalled post. Why? Because I’m a terrible businessman. I draw cartoons for a living—hiding them behind walls feels counterintuitive.

So, I’ve decided to keep these weekly Cartoon Combat posts free for everyone. However, to make Noth Things a sustainable venture, I will begin regular paywalled posts starting in March. I’d better start thinking of excuses for those being late now.

This week, we have two cartoons from the business world, both of which feature animals. We will begin with Jumpstart.

And the challenger, a heavyweight we will call Ursa Major.

Now on to the semifinals! First up, it’s the winner of our fashion mashup, Coma Patient.

It will be taking on last week’s winner, Keytarist on the Roof.

Finally, Noth Things is proud to announce our first monthly Champion for 2026, after a surprisingly strong victory over the formidable Inmates, it’s Portrait of the Artist 2!

Thanks for voting and subscribing! And a special thank you to all the contributors, whose support allows me to be a cartoonist.