Hyperbole and a Half

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About

Hyperbole and a Half^[1] is a webcomic and blog maintained by Oregon resident Allie Brosh.^[2] Launched in 2009, the comics feature MS Paint-style drawings often paired with dark themes about growing up or depression.

History

Brosh launched Hyperbole and a Half in July 2009, opening with a text post^[3] dedicated to the loud basslines emanating from her neighbor's apartment. Later that month, Brosh began incorporating drawings in to her posts illustrating a story^[4] in which she accidentally drank from a sprinkler releasing pesticides.

The blog began receiving large amounts of attention in the first half of 2010, when it was featured on Serious Eats^[5], Skippy's List^[6], Strange Future^[7] and Beauty Geeks.^[8] In April 2010, Brosh contributed a bear fashion guide based on her bear comics to The Gloss.^[9] The same month, she was able to earn enough money from merchandise sales to make blogging her full time job.^[10] The following month, Brosh did an interview with True/Slant^[11] where she described her writing and drawing processes and noted Rage Guy as one of her artistic influences.

Book Deal

In May 2011, Brosh announced^[12] on her blog that she had signed a book deal with Touchstone with an anticipated release date of fall 2012, half of which would be brand new material and the other half taken from the blog. Following the announcement of the book deal, Brosh ceased to update the comic blog regularly.

On April 5th, 2013, Touchstone Books posted a photo of the manuscript to their Instagram account^[19], which was shared two days later on the /r/Books subreddit^[20] and earned more than 3,700 upvotes. As of April 2013, the book is ranked #7 on Amazon^[21]'s Comic Strips chart, slated for release on October 29th, 2013.

Hiatus

In August 2011, Brosh posted a note^[13] to the Facebook fan page to explain her extended absence due to her working on the book. On October 27th, 2011, she posted Adventures in Depression^[14], touching on her ongoing struggle with clinical depression. As of April 2013, there has not been another update to Hyperbole and a Half.

In March 2012, Redditor honeytrap submitted a question to /r/AskReddit^[15] inquiring about Brosh's whereabouts. The following day, Brosh responded to the thread^[16] wherein she revealed that she had been taking a hiatus to seek help. On March 7th, 2013, a friend of Brosh under the handle "Minion" took over her personal Facebook fan page.^[17] The following day,
"Minion" posted a status update acknowledging that she had received 11,000 private messages for Brosh in the past day.^[18]

Highlights

The Alot

The Alot is a fictional mammalian creature that first appeared in the comic "The Alot is Better Than You at Everything"^[22], posted on April 13th, 2010. Brosh imagined the animal as a method of dealing with her desire to correct people's grammar when the phrase "a lot" is misspelled "alot." The same day, the comic was shared on Reddit where it gained more than 2,100 upvotes. In 2012, a subreddit^[23] dedicated to the Alot was created.

X all the Y

X all the Y is an exploitable image macro series derived from two panels in the comic "This is Why I'll Never Be an Adult"^[24] published on June 17th, 2010. The two panels illustrate the differences in her motivations to participate in stereotypical adult activities while coping with her responsibilities. After initially being remixed on Canvas, the image became a popular exploitable on Reddit, resulting in the creation of the /r/AllTheThings subreddit^[25] in July 2011.

Traffic

In May 2011, Hyperbole and a Half was receiving between 3 to 7 million visitors per month.^[10] According to Quantcast^[26] data, the blog sees approximately 10,500 monthly visitors as of April 2013.