Buttercup Festival
Buttercup Festival is a webcomic created by poet and author David Troupes. The comic's first run, from February 17, 2000 to January 10, 2005, began as a feature in the University of Massachusetts Amherst newspaper, "The Daily Collegian", where Troupes was an editor during his college years. It was written under the pseudonym "Elliott G. Garbauskas." At various times during its first run it was published in the newspaper, on its own web site, and in other student newspapers and independent periodicals. The second series ran from January 28, 2008 to November 24, 2013. The third series  started on February 4, 2019 and is presently ongoing. "Buttercup Festival"'s typical format is a strip of three or four panels, with the last often a non sequitur. Early installments feature simple two-value illustrations; as the author's skills matured, he began drawing larger tableaus and events. The comic's humor is marked by whimsy, puns, parody, and a gentle, eccentric madness. However, not all strips are wholly humorous; many are intended simply to evoke a sense of beauty or wonderment at nature (especially Sunday issues, painted in watercolor and often lacking dialogue), somewhat reminiscent at times of  Calvin and Hobbes. Individual strips were collected in three print editions: "Buttercup Festival", "Irony is Killing my Soul", and "Buttercup Festival: Unsinkable Affection for the World". As of January 2005, all are out of print. The author's other works include a short poetic graphic story called "An Island People Go To", likewise out of print, and another webcomic called "Green Evening Stories". Characters. Though "Buttercup Festival" has little, if any continuity from one strip to the next, and does not build on past strips, the same protagonist appears in every strip, and several other characters recur. Recent developments. On  December 21, 2007, Troupes posted a three-line message to the "Buttercup Festival" mailing list apparently announcing a second Buttercup Festival series: "Friends," "It has been awhile." "But there is news." "See the website." "EGG" On that day, Troupes's front page at buttercupfestival.com featured a reference to "Buttercup Festival Series II" set to launch January 28, 2008. Buttercup Festival Series II updated until 2013 on an unfixed schedule; typically, new comics appeared on a Monday, about once every two weeks. Series II was generally more visually oriented, featuring elaborate outdoor backgrounds and neatly written, minimalist dialogue. On November 4 , 2013, Troupes announced that "Buttercup Festival Series II" had come to an end, but that the comic would absolutely make a comeback. On February 3, 2019, David Troupes announced that Buttercup Festival was back, and on February 4, 2019, he posted the first strip of "Buttercup Festival Series 3".