comics 0.9.5

GoComics API wrapper

comics

GoComics API wrapper

Installation

pip install comics

[!WARNING] Breaking changes since v0.9.1 Versions prior to v0.9.1 are incompatible due to an upstream change. Upgrading to the latest release is required.

pip install comics --upgrade

[!NOTE] Playwright must be installed after installing comics to enable browser-based features:

python -m playwright install --with-deps

Quick start

Find and download the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip published on January 2, 1990:

import comics

ch = comics.search("calvinandhobbes", date="1990-01-02")
ch.download("calvinandhobbes.png")

Find comics

Available comics can be found using the directory class:

import comics

# List available comics - total of 401
comics.directory.listall()
# >>> ("1-and-done", "9-chickweed-lane-classics", "9chickweedlane", "9to5", ... )

# Find endpoints for Calvin and Hobbes
comics.directory.search("Calvin and Hobbes")
# >>> ("calvinandhobbes", "calvinandhobbesenespanol")

First, pass the desired endpoint to comics.search. For example, to search for Calvin and Hobbes comics in english use comics.search("calvinandhobbes"); for spanish, use comics.search("calvinandhobbesenespanol").

Search and download comics

Then, search for a comic strip by passing date into search():

import comics

# Get a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip by date
ch = comics.search("calvinandhobbes", date="2013-05-13")  # Also accepts datetime.date or datetime object

# Get a random Calvin and Hobbes comic strip
random_ch = comics.search("calvinandhobbes", date="random")

Finally, show, download, or stream the comic strip:

# Show comic strip - opens in Jupyter notebook or default image viewer application
ch.show()

# Download comic strip - defaults to {endpoint}.png if an export path is not provided
# E.g., a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip will be exported as "calvinandhobbes.png" in the current working directory
ch.download()

# Stream comic strip - useful if custom image content manipulation is desired
ch.stream()

Retry logic

If a comic strip fails to load due to CDN delays or missing image data, a retry mechanism is built into download(), show(), and stream(). You can control this behavior via:

• retries: number of attempts before failing (default = 5)
• base_delay: exponential backoff seed time in seconds (default = 0.5)

This improves reliability when fetching newly released strips or handling transient issues.

Attempt	Wait Before Attempt (sec)	Cumulative Time (sec)
1	0.0	0.0
2	0.5	0.5
3	1.0	1.5
4	2.0	3.5
5	4.0	7.5
6	8.0	15.5

Retry behavior can be customized per call:

# Try 3 times total with shorter delay
ch.download(retries=2, base_delay=0.25)

Attributes

An instantiated search class will have the following public attributes:

import comics

garfield = comics.search("garfield")
garfield.endpoint
# >>> "garfield"
garfield.title
# >>> "Garfield"
garfield.start_date
# >>> "1978-06-19"

An instantiated search class with date will have the following public attributes:

import comics

garfield = comics.search("garfield", date="2000-08-20")
garfield.endpoint
# >>> "garfield"
garfield.title
# >>> "Garfield"
garfield.date
# >>> "2000-08-20"
garfield.url
# >>> "https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/2000/08/20"
garfield.image_url
# >>> "https://assets.amuniversal.com/6694c52099bd01365606005056a9545d"

Exceptions

An exception will be thrown if the queried date is unregistered or before the comic's origin date:

import comics

try:
    peanuts = comics.search("peanuts", date="1900-01-01")
    peanuts.download()
except comics.exceptions.InvalidDateError:
    print("Whoops, an invalid date was queried.")

An exception will be thrown if the queried endpoint is unregistered:

import comics

try:
    invalid_comic = comics.search("invalid_endpoint", date="2000-01-01")
    invalid_comic.download()
except comics.exceptions.InvalidEndpointError:
    print("Whoops, an invalid endpoint was queried.")

An exception will be thrown if Playwright fails to fetch a comic (e.g., browser not installed or page error):

import comics

try:
    garfield = comics.search("garfield", date="2020-05-05", force_playwright=True)
    garfield.download()
except comics.exceptions.ComicsPlaywrightError:
    print("Playwright failed to fetch the page. Check your Playwright installation.")

Contribute

• Issues Tracker
• Source Code

Support

If you are having issues or would like to propose a new feature, please use the issues tracker.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT license.