[3][4] It was not the first comic series published through the Internet – Witches and Stitches was distributed through CompuServe in 1985, and Where the Buffalo Roam was distributed though Usenet in 1991[5][6] – but it published through the World Wide Web, meaning it appeared on its own webpage rather than being sent out just by mailing lists or other earlier Internet technology.

[3][7] Its creator, Dave Farley, started uploading Doctor Fun while working as a computer technician for the library system at the University of Chicago.

[11] On June 9, 2006, after posting the final page of his 520th week of strips, he announced that his series was concluded.

[8] A writer for the National Center for Supercomputing Applications said in the comic's first month that the creation of the strip was "a major breakthrough for the Web".

The columnist called Doctor Fun "a Far Side clone", describing it as a "one-panel, full-color net.toon with a decidedly twisted outlook" and saying, "Farley's appeal is universal".