No one wanted another case of The Simpsons on their hands. When asked why they wanted to end it, Horne had stated emphatically, “It’s better to burn out than to get old and weird and pathetic.” While the fans pleaded desperately to the authors to get old, weird and pathetic, we knew what they were talking about. Horne and Comeau had announced that they would end the comic a month ago, and had launched a Kickstarter campaign on the same day to launch a volume of the best comics they had made, appropriately titled ‘Anatomy of Melancholy’. Of course, we knew it was coming to this. It is only when I was asked to explain one of the comics that I realized how utterly poetic and often absurd this site really is, sorry, was. While most would say that the aim of each comic was to relate some sort of story, I would say that it transcended that level many times. The photographs were shot by Horne and the text was provided by Comeau. The comics would consist of three panels (but not always), comprising photographs and captions. It was borne in the unlikely circumstance of neither author knowing how to draw. To those that did not know A Softer World, it was a webcomic, published thrice weekly, often served with a strong dose of bittersweet humour. ASW, like the rest of the internet, has a deep-rooted love for cats, as evidenced by their first ever comic.

A Softer World by Joey Comeau