11/23/2022 – There is a new Octopus Pie story. Click here to read it from the beginning.

ope 2022

40 thoughts on “ope 2022

  1. Thank you for this story. It was a delight to catch back up with the gang.

  2. Oh. My. God.
    You do this better than anyone else I know. Thank you. I’m amazed at the dialogue; so real, so pointed, so off the cuff human.
    This is a strange, challenging, rewarding, painful, joyful journey we’re all on, and you capture it all. – Proof that “comics” can touch on deeper topics: love and death and the journey between.
    I will read your stories of these people for as long as you choose to tell them, and I hope there will be more.
    Thanks.

  3. Christopher Buecheler

    Gotta be honest: I went into this thinking “I’m not sure we need another OP update” and by the end of it I was ready for the entire series to just continue indefinitely – you can brings these folks back when they’re all in their eighties and I’ll (hopefully) be here for it. There’s so much good stuff here, and it’s really interesting to see the whole crew navigating that weird period where you stop being the grown-up kids you are in your early-to-mid twenties and just become grown-ups. Thanks as always, Meredith.

  4. Thank you for this. Every little snippet into their lives is such an emotional sucker punch, a beautiful reminder of all these characters that matured alongside me, alongside many of us I’m sure.
    Your writing continues to be incredible

  5. i’ve been reading octopus pie since i was in my late teens and as someone who has just turned 30 (and commenting for the first time!) i am so stoked to be growing up with these characters. eve and the gang have always been a little bit older than me and even though i relate to parts of this, i know i will relate to more of it in a couple of years because that’s how it’s always been. i am sure you must worry about whether to pick things up with these characters again or not but every time you have it’s felt so genuine and real. thankyou for this!

  6. I’m always happy to receive new Octopus Pie content! I actually had a pretty serious conversation with my partner recently talking about our relationship and the future so I related to this chapter a lot. Ngl, I kind of think Hannah deserves better for her marriage. She needs a lot of help and I feel like being with Marek could have helped her. Just wanted to share my opinion on this

  7. Reading this at what is the tail end of my own little tight knit group of Brooklyn friends, pregnant on the couch — first of my friends to go over the cliff.

    ❤️❤️❤️❤️

  8. Wow. This is something special. Also, I started this before putting my baby boy to bed and finished it right after. Very relatable and absolutely heart melting baby drawings. Thank you.

  9. Thanks for letting us see the gang again, Meredith

  10. I feel like I’ve grown up through my twenties with the Octopus Pie posse, and now, as a parent of a toddler in my 30s, and with a drastic paring-down of what, and who, are actually important in life, yeah, this rings true. Thank you for the update.

  11. Meredith,
    Thank you. Thank you for the years of entertainment; the laughter, love, joy, sadness, deeply poignant and wildly scary introspection that Octopus Pie has give me and many others. When you dropped the Pandemic Update, I didn’t know that I needed to see these characters so much. It was a boost during a trying time, and this chapter is another example of how much your writing and storytelling are dear to me. You are exceptional and I am glad have been a part of this journey. To many more years of revealing introspection.

    Also, I really miss my old “Olly’s Organix” mascot shirt. 😂

  12. Feels like checkin back in with old friends

  13. Strange to think that I started to read this comic before I ever thought about having children, and now I read it in a time when I contemplate if I should have had them years ago.

  14. Thanks for the happy tears. 🙂

  15. A spiritual balm. An absolute treat.

  16. Yes yes yes yes loved all of this

  17. I started reading in my early teens so reading OP has always felt like a little peek into my future. You’re a huge inspiration as an artist SO GOOD!!!

  18. 5 years ago I commented for the first time on the last page of the comic. I had just graduated from college and I felt like a lot of things were coming to an end. I was alone on the precipice of great change. Despite that precarious feeling, I resolved to keep on moving. 5 years later I’m in my 30’s, I live with people I love in a new place, with a new name that’s mine, and I’m making my art. Life really does go on. Thank you, Meredith.

  19. This was a beautiful last (?) glimpse at these characters. I am only a few years younger than them and I have loved and related more with them as I’ve been growing up. Thank you for telling such wonderful and personal stories and for doing it in such a beautiful medium!

  20. I’m always so glad to see keeping Octopus Pie in my RSS feeds pay off! A stunning addition once again.

  21. thanks so much for this

  22. Decided to check in on octopus pie on a whim. It’s been a while and I’m so happy there were new comics. Thank you for your stories, Meredith.

  23. You’ve done well. I know your comics about your kid and family too. Will you organize those somewhere someday?

  24. You really know how to write a story about the awkward perils of adulthood. Having found you in my early college years, I really do connect to the characters and their stories. And you keep updating too! Thank you for this and all of these looks into the characters’ stories.

  25. Oooofff this resembles my life so well rn. I’m not 30 yet… but I reunited with some old friends from university and it has been so nice to reconnect and talk about the past I became close to one of them again since our fallout 5 years ago. The story and characters are so incredible and it inspires me and makes me feel ok how the characters are going through the pains of aging and changes and facing each other once more because I’m not 30 yet and I’m planning to spend the next chapter in Europe.

  26. I followed Octopus Pie for years and it has always felt like a peek into the near future. With the characters being a few years older than me they were always in the middle of things that were only just being introduced into my own life. This comic always feel so real and this time it feels more relevant to my own life than ever before. Thank you for giving me a peek into my future and into the lives of these characters. They’re real because they’re loved.

  27. This is why I check this site every week hahahahahahahahhaaaaa
    You are a genius, you need the McArthur grant so you can keep portraying the loveliness that can be found in the inevitable march of time. The OP gang has always been about 5 years ahead of me, and their adventures give me context and comfort.

  28. I am a cartoonist from an older generation and I love the way your comic beautifully captures the moods of your peer readers. The writing is superb and heartfelt, but also couldn’t be from any other generation than yours. I find that very powerful. Have always been a fan.

  29. sorry i’m a bit slow – is the part at the beginning before the wedding, or afterwards (i.e. they’re going to get divorced) and the rest of the story’s a flashback?

    1. I’d guess its all linear, because we last saw Hanna and Larry in a van before this story. They make up after the fight, get married, and then go to Sean’s wedding.

      Incredible story, thank you so much for sharing Meredith

  30. oh my heart. what a beautiful gift. I had a terrible friend break up (still kind of in the midst) and I really hope I’ll be like Mar and Hanna some day. It still means so much to me that Hanna found her person in Larry.

  31. Oof. I got the boot from all my friendship groups and I’m not as low-anxiety as Hanna. I hope life looks okay alone from here on out. Time to up my wizard game I guess – it is how survival is done.

  32. What a ride. Bravo!

  33. One of my favorite things about webcomics is that you get to see someone get better and better at what they do, see more experience and skill put into the art and writing, right up until the very end. This has certainly held true with this comic. This was very special. Definitely going to remember Octopus Pie as one of my favorites.

  34. I started reading this in my late teens on my laptop, at my well-used school-supplied desk, in my dorm room with my name on the whiteboard outside.
    I finished today in my early 30s on my laptop, at my brand new desk that I bought from an actual furniture store, in my house with my name on the mortgage.
    A lot has changed. A lot of people have come an gone. Octopus Pie has always remained with me, changing too, and accurately reflecting what I can expect 1 or 2 years down the road. I love this comic like the slightly older sibling I never had. I can never thank you enough for it.

  35. very good comic it was very cool to see how the characters grew and how the drawing style evolved
    I was more of a fan of the style at first but hey it’s very good.
    I really liked it despite being a subject super foreign to how things are in the United States.

  36. I’ve always enjoyed Octopus Pie, and it was quite a lovely surprise to see a new one. Now that I’ve become a father myself, and have felt the slow drift away from the lifestyle and friends from my 20’s and 30’s, this story really mirrored a lot of my own experiences and I definitely felt a lump in throat at parts. Thank you.

  37. This comic once and forever feels like a millimeter laser beam that hits me right in the center of my heart. It’s been great growing up alongside these characters, i can’t wait to read the comic about them old and retired

  38. richard schumacher

    More Octopus Pie! It’s a wonderful time to be alive. You make me feel young again.

  39. I end every day with a few treasured comics that show a delightful insight to life for regular folks, shown with humor yes but also candor and ardor. OP is always the first up, and favorite. Now restarting it for the fourth run thru over many years.
    From someone attempting to be a writer who has spent a lifetime on the Spectrum struggling to get humans, your incisive take and attention to emotional detail are …. lost for words here — some writer. Let’s say beautiful and so helpful.
    Thank you so much MG

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