gocomics.py is a Pythonic, fun, and easy-to-use library for fetching comics and metadata from GoComics.com. Whether you want to build a comic reader, analyze trends, or just grab your favorite strip, this package is for you!

Features

• Fetch any comic by identifier and date
• Get comic metadata (title, author, description, images, etc.)
• List all available comics and categories
• Find popular and political comics
• Fully documented and type-annotated
• MIT licensed and open source

Why gocomics.py?

• Simple: One-liner to fetch a comic!
• Powerful: Access all the metadata you need
• Community-driven: Contributions welcome
• Inspired by comics: Because code should be fun!

Background

In 2024, GoComics.com changed its interface and added a paywall that blocks most comics from non-subscribers. gocomics.py works by programmatically fetching comic data and images, allowing you to access comics and metadata even if they are paywalled on the site.

Requirements

• Python 3.8+
• beautifulsoup4
• requests

Installation

# Stable release
python3 -m pip install "gocomics.py"  # Unix/macOS
py -m pip install "gocomics.py"       # Windows

# Development version
git clone https://github.com/Ombucha/gocomics.py

Comic API

• gocomics.Comic - Fetch and explore a comic

  • .identifier (str): The comic's identifier (e.g., "calvinandhobbes")
  • .date (datetime, optional): The date of the comic (default: latest)
  • .title, .description, .image_url, .author, .followers_count, .about, .characters, etc.
  • .download(filename=None, path=None): Download the comic image
  • .show(filename=None, path=None): Open the comic image in your default viewer
  • .refresh(): Refresh the comic's data

• gocomics.search - List all comics (optionally filter by category or updated today)
• gocomics.search_political - List political comics (optionally filter by category or updated today)
• gocomics.get_popular_comics - Get trending/popular comics (optionally political)
• gocomics.stream_comics - Iterate comics for a strip between two dates

Examples

Basic usage:

from gocomics import Comic
comic = Comic("calvinandhobbes")
print(comic.title)
print(comic.image_url)

Fetch a comic from a specific date:

from datetime import datetime
comic = Comic("garfield", datetime(2020, 1, 1))
print(comic.title, comic.image_url)

Download and show a comic:

path = comic.download(filename="garfield2020.png")
comic.show(filename="garfield2020.png")

Refresh comic data:

comic.refresh()

List all available comic identifiers:

from gocomics.utils import search
all_comics = search()
print(all_comics[:10])  # Show first 10

List comics in a category:

animal_comics = search(categories=["funny-animals"])
print(animal_comics)

List comics updated today:

updated_today = search(last_updated_today=True)
print(updated_today)

List political comics:

from gocomics.utils import search_political
political = search_political()
print(political)

List popular comics:

from gocomics.utils import get_popular_comics
popular = get_popular_comics()
print(popular)

List popular political comics:

popular_political = get_popular_comics(political=True)
print(popular_political)

Stream all comics for a strip between two dates:

from gocomics.utils import stream_comics
from datetime import datetime
for comic in stream_comics("garfield", start_date=datetime(2020, 1, 1), end_date=datetime(2020, 1, 5)):
    print(comic.date, comic.title)

See the Documentation for full API details.

Contributing

We love contributions! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines. Lint with pylint, follow PEP 8, and open a PR!

Support & Community

• Found a bug? Open an issue on GitHub.
• Questions? Join the discussions.
• Be kind and have fun - see our Code of Conduct.

Links

• GoComics
• Documentation
• PyPI

License

MIT License. See LICENSE.