After a 15 year run, Paul Trap retires leaving Thatababy to someone else

I remember back in 2010, when a seemingly fun strip called Thatababy started showing up on GoComics.com I used to visit the site for Calvin and Hobbes. I found the theme of the strip fresh and started following it. What started as an act of serendipity soon started into a full blown daily pursuit, curious about whats new on the strip everyday.

The artist Paul Trap is pure genius. Like a sitcom, this strip had different situations - a day care, a living room, a bedroom and the baby's very own crib became the main backdrops for the comic and was filled with pure laughter. I learnt quite a bit of trivia from this strip when mom reads a book to the baby. Inspired by his own first child, Paul had a lot of first hand experiences that later became the subject material for the comic.

The timeouts that dad gets for stepping on mom's last nerve, the wall art, the pop culture monsters that visit the baby's crib during Halloween and the occasional tribute to fallen celebrities are really what has made Thatababy a very popular comic strip among comic lovers.

Paul drew the comic strip for a whopping 15 years. Towards the last few days of 2025, the comic was all about saying thank you to the audience, the publishers. It never once struck me as any sort of a farewell but I was in for a surprise when I hit my favorite bookmark on Jan 1 2026. The strip was in a completely different style. To be honest, I did not even think it was someone else. I thought it was yet another stunt of Paul imitating an artistic style while paying homage to someone specific. I did not read into it. And then next day, I saw a signature from the previous day thats not characteristic of Paul Trap's works. And thats when I started reading the comments and realized that the last few strips of 2025 that Paul made were specifically designed to convey his goodbyes.

All Comic Strips used here belong to GoComics.com and Andrews McMeel publishing and are merely being used here for documentation and reference.

Comic Strip of Dec 29 2025


Comic Strip of Dec 30 2025


Comic Strip of Dec 31 2025


It is quite surprising that Andrews McMeel still has not published the collected works in paper. I am eagerly looking forward to collect it when it comes alive as a publication. And for what its worth, just last year before even any of this happened, I had personally emailed Andrews McMeel and they said anything is possible depending on customer popularity.

I wish I would be able to meet Mr Paul Trap someday and tell him how much his comic strip has been an inseparable part of my daily life for the past 15 years. Thank you Mr Paul!

The comic continues to be drawn by Jonathan Lemon. Will he keep up the comic strip's popularity and the existing consumer base? Only time will tell.

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