In 2014 I backed a crowdsourcing project to launch a new Linux Magazine. This was some time after our ‘Monsters, Inked‘ strip had last appeared in our local newspaper, and while we were still updating ‘The Greys‘ online, we were itching to see our work on paper once again. So when the magazine passed its funding goal, and it was clear that it would definitely go ahead, I contacted the editor to offer a regular comic strip, based around a 20-something woman who was smart, sassy, and very technically savvy.

That magazine was ‘Linux Voice’ – often abbreviated to ‘LV’. So we decided to name our protagonist accordingly, and our ‘Elvie’ comic strip was born.

Linux Voice ran for 32 issues, until November 2016. It was subsequently merged into Linux (Pro) Magazine as a regular section, featuring several of the Linux Voice contributors. Elvie also made this transition, and has continued to be a monthly feature of the magazine. By the time issue #260 came out, in July 2022, Elvie strips had appeared in 68 issues of the magazine, for a total of 100 strips (not including a web-only prequel strip). This strip was created to celebrate that milestone, and to thank not only our readers, but all the editors and staff we have worked with at both magazines, for their support of our little techy comic heroine.

Do you want to see what 100 Elvie-bearing magazines looks like? Okay…

Photo of 100 Linux magazines, each with an Elvie cartoon in

Fork this comic (or just grab the source files) on GitHub

↓ Transcript
[Panel 1: Elvie is soldering a PCB]

Elvie: Because this is the 100th published Elvie cartoon, I'm breaking the fourth wall to thank all my readers in the only way I know…

[Panel 2: Elvie is holding up a large board mounted with an array of LEDs, lit up in multiple colours to display the words "Thank You"]

Elvie: …with an array of NeoPixels hooked up to an Arduino, running some custom message scrolling code!