Friday, December 25, 2015

Wonderglobe

Angel inside animated snow globe admires Christmas tree and flaps wings

Magic is everywhere.  You just have to open your eyes. 

Merry Christmas!

Friday, December 18, 2015

Christmas Creep

Christmas Creep supervillian sits at computer: Mwah-ha-ha  Soon there'll be Christmas advertisements in January  Explosion behind him  Boom  He is surrounded by huge crowd of superheroes  Um wow  I didn't even know there were this many heroes  Wait, aren'te some of you retired  Aeriform: You don't mess with Christmas

The Christmas Creep is a supervillian, and he aims to make us sick of Christmas by pushing merchandising to the extremes.  Normally I'd say to eliminate with extreme prejudice, but I'm not sure that's really in the Christmas spirit either. 

Note:  Yes, this week's comic is far from being called complete (between how many characters are involved and real-world stresses, this is semi-justifiable).  But I figured it's at least in a complete-enough stage that everyone can still get the joke, so today you get a behind-the-scenes look at how these things are put together.  I promise I'll finish the lineart and coloring ...eventually. 

EDIT:  I finally finished it!  It only took, what, an extra month or so?  Anyway, I figured this was historic enough (even if not in all the right ways) that I'm keeping the original sketch around for posterity.  (click to enlarge)

Friday, December 11, 2015

A Light Amount

Andrew, Anni Seed, and Pepper Mint the reindeer look at brightly glowing Christmas tree  Andrew: See, this is why I don't like your cousin visiting  Anni: Well, I admit she's a little flamboyant  Andrew: And how many lights did she cram on that tree  Anni: Er how many are in the state  Pepper: Ta-dah  Do you like it  Is it not enough

How many lights?  More than should be physically possible to fit on any tree. 

Anni Seed returns, this time joined by her cousin Pepper Mint, who's visiting for the holidays (yes, she's a reindeer).  And you thought living with one reality-warping cartoon deer was insane enough. 

Friday, December 4, 2015

Cats in the Christmas Tree

Crazy cat people methods of dealing with the yearly cat-in-the-Christmas-tree battle  Give up and decorate a scratching post  Give up and decoratte the tree with cat toys  Keep the tree in a locked room  Keep the cats in a locked room  Mew  Exploit it and create a laser-pointer Christmas tree  Distract them with the laser-pointer tree  Coat the tree in cooking spray  Decorate a cactus instead

You could also try decorating the cat, if you're bored and feel like thumbing your nose at PETA. 

Friday, November 27, 2015

Certified Fresh Turkey

Steve's family, including vampire relatives, gather for Thanksgiving dinner  Mom: The turkey is so alive and healthy  Vampire: It tastes much better this way  Dad: Honey  Steve on phone: Hey Mel, does your family have an extra seat at the table  No, it's fine if your uncle swore to eat all the stuffing
 
Thanksgiving is a time for family.  Unless, of course, your family is like this.  Then you can't be blamed for making a break for it at the first opportunity. 

The day after Thanksgiving on the first year I ran this blog, I posted a comic that unintentionally became the beginning of the saga of Steve and Mel.  I figured it's only fitting to pay tribute to it. 

Note:  You'll notice that this image is significantly lacking in the color department.  This will be corrected sometime in the hopefully near future, or at least before it's time for the next post.  In the meantime, I'll get some sleep and hopefully regain the capacity to think. 

EDIT:  Color capacity is now at 100%, and only a week late.  Um, this is a Thanksgiving comic, so we can all just be thankful about the color being here and just ignore how long it took, right?

Friday, November 20, 2015

The Week Before Thanksgiving

Grocery store workers in meat department load turkey fridge  Employee:  Are you getting sick of turkey yet  I hate turkey

To the brave workers everywhere who sacrifice their patience, sanity, and stomachs so that the rest of us may partake of poultry goodness on Thanksgiving Day:  We applaud you. 

Friday, November 13, 2015

Friday, November 6, 2015

Vampire Anteater

Anteater uses tongue to drink visitor's blood to zookeeper's dismay  Flier: See the Vampiric Zoo's newest addition the Giant Anteater

Close encounters with wildlife?  Yes.  Danger and intrigue?  Yes.  Unscheduled trips to the emergency room?  Yes.  You'd think the patrons would take those liability waivers a little more seriously by now, especially after the rabbit revolt. 

Friday, October 30, 2015

The Scariest Costume

The deities of death dress up for Halloween  Sedna as a pirate, Osiris as Frankenstein's monster, Anubis as a space soldier, La Calavera Catrina and Hel as Anna and Elsa, Hades and Persephone as Batman and Poison Ivy, Freya as Victorian, and Thanatos as a clown  Thanatos: What do you think of my costume  Freya: Please take that off
 
What scares the gods of death?  This. 

Left to right: Sedna, Osiris, Thanatos, Anubis, La Calvera Catrina, Freya, Hel, Hades, and Persephone. 

Happy Halloween!

Friday, October 23, 2015

Grim Defeats

Group of boys dress as the Grim Reaper  So who do you think has the best costume  Gaunt man in corner: You all have a long way to go  Oh yeah  Let's see you do better  Man materializes a hood and scythe:  If you insist  Swings scythe in front of horrified boys, who huddle in corner  Was that the real  Yes  Grim Reaper: You're all still alive  Good  I don't have to work overtime

Don't fear the Reaper.  ...unless, of course, you challenge him.  Then you're just asking for it. 

Friday, October 16, 2015

Who Woke the Dead?

Woman reporter on television: I'm here on the scene of the recent zombie outbreak, against my better judgement  Although the containment and removal squad acted quickly and mostly have things under control, authorities advise citizens to stay clear of the area until this is completely resolved  Grim Reaper, Sedna, Hades, Thanatos, La Calavera Catrina, and Anubis watch TV  Grim: All right, who was being funny  All point to Thanatos, who sheepishly points at Anubis  Reporter: Er, please tell me we have enough footage, because I think we need to leave now
 
How to put your job as a Deity of Death in serious jeopardy: step one. 

This week features Sedna, the Grim Reaper, Hades, La Calavera Catrina, Anubis, and last but not least, Thanatos, who has a certain reputation

Friday, October 9, 2015

It's a Small Underworld

Loki is chained to rock in cave  Hel, Jormugand, and Fenrir enter  Wife: You have visitors  Loki: Kids  It's been so long  How are you  Hel: Only still facing trouble over that stunt you pulled with Balder  Loki: No matter  Once I'm free, we shall conquer Asgard and you shall serve me as my faithful children  They roll eyes  Hel: Right  Well to show our appreciation, we thought we'd sing you a song  Loki: Ah  An epic about my glory days, perhaps  All three sing It's a small world after all  Loki: No  Anything but that  I thought you loved me

Condemned for murder?  Huh.  Chained to a rock until the end of the world?  Meh.  Viper constantly dripping poison on your face?  Whatever.  Being forced to listen to your offspring sing sappy songs?  Now that's cruel and unusual.  Don't worry.  Loki had it coming
At least they're not singing "Kumbaya."  This time. 

It's October, which means that we once again commence with the annual Deities of Death Fest, this time in a Nordic fashion.  Starring Hel with her brothers Jormungand and Fenris and her estranged father, Loki. 

Friday, October 2, 2015

Things to Run Away From

Steve and Mel eat lunch at Pulsar Pasta  Steve: I know you have a four-person apartment  Did you ever have a fourth roommate  Mel: Well, there was Hazel  Flashback of Hazel entering apartment  Hello  Mel: Hi  Pearl and Carmine prepare to do battle  Hazel turns around and leaves: Nope  Mel: She sleeps in the library basement now  Steve: I'm not sure which of you is the crazy one

Why first impressions are very, very important.  The correct one could save someone's life.  Or at least their sanity. 

Note:  Colors will be forthcoming, and will be accompanied by the traditional "the artist needs sleep" excuse. 

EDIT:  Color now!  You are required by law to admire it. 

Friday, September 25, 2015

Friday, September 18, 2015

Contraflow Carols

Car drivers backed up from road construction sing: This is the song hat never ends, It just goes on and on my friends, Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, And they'll continue singing it forever just because, This is the song that never ends  Construction workers holding slow stop sign  I have the sneaking suspicion that people are getting sick of road construction  Oh, really

As we bid farewell to the final official days of summer, let us pause to remember our fond memories of the annual road construction season and the long hours we waited to inch our cars three feet forward.  May these warm memories comfort us in the coming cold months as we wait for someone to pull over and help push our cars out of the snowdrifts. 

Friday, September 4, 2015

Hang in There!

Hang in there  A kitten hangs on a branch above a lava pit, as a snake, spiders, crocodile, vampire, manticore, and gojirasaurus with a buzz saw lurk beneath

Only horrific death and dismemberment await you if you don't.  No pressure. 

When there's a gojirasaurus coming at you with a buzzsaw, you know you're in trouble. 

Friday, August 28, 2015

Killer Ponies

Parents see daughter playing with ponies  Dad: She's so cute when she plays with her toys  Mom: She sure is  Little girl holds a pony and a princess doll: Great job, Lemonade  Now we can feed Princess Shimmerella to the minotaur  What's that  Oh yes, we do need to burn her remains afterward

Don't tell me little kids aren't like this.  I know little kids.  I know what they're like.

Friday, August 21, 2015

Access Denied

Man camping crawls out of tent with toilet paper, and comes face-to-face with angry buffalo

Nature has a few ways, in varying degrees, of letting you know when it's time to head back to civilization.  Most of them aren't things you want in your face first thing in the morning. 
2,000 pounds of bisonian death is just one of them. 

Friday, August 14, 2015

Inconsistency

Winter  Woman freezes outside  Come on, Sun  Let's get some heat over here  Summer  Woman dumps water over head while surrounded by fans and making phone call  Hello  Yes, I was wondering if it's possible to put a restraining order on a celestial body

The second panel is the reason why I don't complain about rainstorms.  "Good" weather is relative. 

Friday, July 31, 2015

The Awkward

Three teenagers watch a movie  Oh no  covers eyes  I can't watch  He's not really going to  he is  Mom: Are you at the scary part  Teenager: Worse  The awkward part  Is it over yet  Why would you do a stupid thing like that

You know the part.  The hero (or his socially-impaired sidekick) says or does something that everyone else - in and out of universe - knows is stupid and embarrassing, but can't do anything to stop and are therefore forced to cover their eyes and wait out.  The official term for this is "cringe comedy."  Emphasis on "cringe." 

Friday, July 24, 2015

Meow Mixed

Little girl dresses up pet cat  Here you go, Princess Glitterfluff  Aren't you the prettiest little thing ever  Adult relative: Um  You know that the princess is a boy, right  Girl: No she's not  I reject your reality and substitute it with my own  Cat holds sign: Help me

Therapy and emotional counseling will probably be needed, although we're not yet certain if it's for the cat or for the kid. 

Friday, July 17, 2015

Rainbow Apocalypse

Earth explodes in colored sparkles  On that fateful day, sprinkles across the globe gained sentience and rose up against humanity  The planet did not survive the aftermath  But on the bright side, it was a very pretty explosion
 
And thus was the cradle of humanity destroyed by a burst of sugar and color.  And it was glorious. 

Now I can justify eating sprinkle-laden ice cream as protecting mankind from destruction. 

Friday, July 10, 2015

Super Vampire!

Superhero vampire protects vampre from hunters  To the rescue, it's Super Vampire  Sworn defender of defenseless vampires everywhere

Having a pearly-white heroic smile doesn't have quite the same effect when your skin is almost just as pale. 

So what kind of powers does a super vampire have, anyway?  Super speed?  Super stealth?
Super slurping? 

Friday, July 3, 2015

Carrots Work

Andrew and Anni Seed watch fireworks  Andrew: So you somehow turned a bunch of carrots into fireworks  Anni: Well, they're shaped like rockets, aren't they  It seemed pretty obvious to me  Want to light off another batch
 
Anni Seed returns, this time risking getting arrested by the reality police for using vegetables in ways not intended by nature.  Oh well.  At least the result is pretty and festive. 

To my fellow Americans, Happy Independence Day!  To everyone else who might be reading this, make up an excuse, grab some fireworks, and light them off.  Because fireworks!

Friday, June 26, 2015

Butterfly Graffiti

Butterflies spray paint their wings  Flower power  Mariposa  Iron  Monarch  Milkweed

Otherwise known as "how to seriously mess with butterfly collectors." 

At one point a photographer managed to hunt down patterns in butterfly wings resembling not only the entire alphabet, but all the numbers 0-9.  Needless to say, this sort of thing wasn't included. 

Friday, June 19, 2015

The Humanity Percentage

Pearl lights candles  Mel: Carmine and I decided that you don't get out of the house enough, so we set you up on a date  Pearl: Oh, and you set me with a vampire as a joke, right  Well, forget it  Mel: Stop being so paranoid  This guy has 100 one hundred percent human DNA  Right  Carmine: Right  Pearl: Fine  Pearl sits at resturant with zombie: I'm going to string them by their toes  Zombie: so you're a vampire hunter  That's pretty cool  I was in a band with a vamp once, but man, was he hard to work with
 
Technically human?  Yes.  Great personality?  Yes.  Common interests?  Yes.  Alive?  Well... 

Having absolutely no life outside of trying to kill your roommate can have unforeseen consequences. 


Note:  Am tired.  Will add color when not tired, or at least conscious.  Sorry. 

EDIT:  Now there is color, and it is glorious.  Glorious, I say!

Friday, June 12, 2015

Bibliohazard

Sign: Welcome to the Eastpoint Library  Patron carries huge stack of books to check-out desk  Librarian pours out aspirin: Happy place, happy place, go to my happy place

When the mere sight of you gives the librarian a migraine...
When entire bookshelves are left desolate in your wake...
When simply carrying around your books grants you superhuman strength...
...Then you may want to start re-assessing your life. 

Friday, June 5, 2015

Six Minutes to Summer

Elementary school teacher facepalms as students worship the clock  Hail to thee, oh mechanism which marks the passage from boredom and spelling tests to life and freedom  Give us thy blessing and tick ever slower for us during our precious months of vacation  Hail
 
I'm not sure I want to know what kind of ritual they do for the school bus. 

Friday, May 29, 2015

Two Pairs of Fangs

One of these is a regular snake  The other is a vampire  One puts venom into you  The other sucks blood out of you  Both have fangs  Learn the difference before it's too late

The vampire is the more evil, mysterious-looking one. 
...yeah, I can't tell the difference either. 

Granted, they'll both kill you anyway, but if you're insistent on surviving it's useful to know if you'll need an anti-venom or a blood transfusion. 

Friday, May 22, 2015

Coconutty

Thoroughly impractical ways to open a coconut  Machete, shotgun, jackhammer, nuclear missle atom bomb
Oh look.  It's raining nuclear fallout and coconut milk.  Fancy that. 

One semester while in college, a pair of my roommates bought themselves a coconut, only to realize a little too late that they had no idea how to get the thing open.  Thus, they resorted to hacking at it repeatedly with a variety of knives.  About an hour and a few tons of shrapnel scattered across the kitchen table later, they finally succeeded.  Unfortunately after all that, they discovered that this particular coconut didn't taste very good.  Though having its insides tainted with the aforementioned shrapnel probably didn't help.  The leftover pieces proceeded to languish in the refrigerator for a few weeks, with the rest of us not daring to touch them, as the roommates in question were known to be both violent and rather possessive of their foodstuffs.  After a while, the coconut disappeared, never to be seen again.  The fridge probably ate it

Friday, May 15, 2015

Friday, May 8, 2015

Entry: Disaster Area

D  Disaster Area  picture of messy bedroom  This  Good luck  Dad reads Illuustrious Illustrated Encyclopedia: Your bedroom is in the encyclopedia  Did you know  Son: Very funny, Dad  wait a minute

The universe has ways of letting you know when it's time to clean your room. 


Other signs include:
-You discover Bigfoot has been hiding in your room for years.
-Your unwashed clothing has achieved sentience.
-The smell of your room has deafened people.

Friday, May 1, 2015

Drink Blood!!!

Drink Blood  It's good for your heart  Contains iron, protein, and other essential nutrients  Approved by the National Board for Vampire Health  No humans were harmed in the making of this advertisement  By no, we mean several  Vampire holds glass of blood

It's great for your health!!! 

...just not so great for everyone else's. 

Friday, April 24, 2015

Others Have Goats

Some people have puppies  Others have goats  Some people have kittens  Others have goats  Some people have small children  Others have goats  Some people have tiger tanks  Others have goats

I figure that goats happened when God decided to mix puppies and deer together.  The result was a species of adorable, devious critters that are nearly as efficient as wrecking balls, can exploit even the tiniest holes in their enclosure, and will happily ingest anything remotely vegetable in origin.  The good news is that all of this makes the excuse "the goat ate my homework" surprisingly plausible. 


For the record, most cats I know would try to eat the string too. 

Friday, April 17, 2015

We Have Priorities

Mel works on homework while Pearl and Carmine fight:  You two really should stop trying to kill each other  Pearl: Give me one good reason why  Mel: Bloodstains on the carpet will come out of your deposit  Exchange glances  Pearl: Gosh, Carmine  Your hair looks fabulous today  Carmine: That blouse looks so cute on you, Pearl  Mel: Okay, this is scarier

Ah, one of the joys of apartment living. 

Though given their track record, they're still probably not getting their deposits back. 

Friday, April 10, 2015

Prickly

Girl covered in bandages bandaids joyfully hugs a hedgehog
 
Alternate title:  "Cuddle Hazard."  True love knows no prickles. 


Fun fact #1:  A group of hedgehogs is called an array or prickle. 

Fun fact #2:  I just discovered that my home state will allow African Pygmy hedgehogs as pets, but not European hedgehogs.  Weird stuff. 

Friday, March 27, 2015

Monster Mash

Little girl prepares to smack the monster under the bed with a huge mallet

The monster under the bed is going to need a new job.  After he's released from the hospital, that is. 

Friday, March 20, 2015

Dorm-Cleaning Theater

Tonight on dorm-cleaning theater  The Thing that Grew Behind the Oven  Roommate: Thirty bucks if you go poke it with a stick  That's still not enough for life insurance

Arm yourselves with bleach and steel wool, soldiers.  It's going to be a long war. 

Friday, March 13, 2015

Twenty Swords, Zero Sanity

Girl puts on fencing jacket: These fencing jackets look kind of like straightjackets  Why is that  Fencer: Well, actually  Gangway  Crowd of fencers run past: It's time for Zombie Broadsword  Yeah  Bring it on  Don't forget the lucky daisies  Never mind

Are fencers really this nuts?  Yes. 

Before anyone asks, "zombie broadsword" is a game of sorts attributed to my brother and a group of other freshman fencers, in which each player takes a PVC pipe-and-foam sword and hacks at the others until their arms fall off either figuratively or literally.  I'm pretty sure it won't be showing up at the Olympics anytime soon. 

The scary thing is that this isn't the weirdest thing that happened in my high school fencing club. 

Friday, March 6, 2015

High School Lesson #7863

Girl sings the blues as classmates and teacher fend off attacking vampire marmots  Homeroom's gone insane, vampiric marmots falling from the sky  Yeah, homeroom's gone insane, vampiric marmots falling from the sky  School is closing for repairs, so I think that we'll all get by  There is a blues song for every occasion

No, really.  The structure for the twelve-bar blues is so straightforward that it can be easily adapted for literally any situation.  Here's how:

1.  Write a line describing the situation.
2.  Repeat it.
3.  Write a rhyming line that completes the thought.
4.  Sing the whole thing to these chords:  I-I-I-I / IV-IV-I-I / V-IV-I-I.
5.  Done! 

...So, as an example:
I'm sitting at a laptop, writing posts for my website,
I say, I'm sitting at a laptop, writing posts for my website.
If I get it done, maybe I'll finally get some sleep tonight.

Now, go sing some blues, people!  

Friday, February 27, 2015

Do Not Enter

Scratched door with torn sign reading Do Not Enter  Mental breakdown in progress

Some doors are best left unopened. 

Before anyone worries about my sanity, I'm drew this not so much because I'm having a mental breakdown, but because I might have one if I make myself do anything better than a minimally detailed cartoon right now.  I've been a little busy, so this is the best I could throw together in half an hour.  (But we've all had days weeks like that, right?)

Friday, February 20, 2015

Perfectly Logical

Woman finds boy and goat hanging from the ceiling, wearing Mardi Gras mask and beads  I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation for this  But guessing is more fun


I suppose this is a fairly good policy for facing the many, many insanities the universe has to offer.  Especially the ones that potentially make even less sense with context. 

Friday, February 13, 2015

Let Them Slay Cakes

Bride: So you're sure that you can do this design  Cake decorator: Not a problem  Bride and Groom face messy, sagging wedding cake  Bride: Gina, will you be a dear and bring me my katana  Groom: Hey, Brint  Where did I put my claymore  Photo montage of them attacking and eating dismembered remains of the cake, and assaulting the decorator responsible


A match made in heaven.  Maybe. 

I figured I ought to do something vaguely Valentine's-y, so here's something inspired by the many, many wedding cake mishaps that find their way onto Cake Wrecks.  I'm pretty sure this is an acceptable response to winding up with such a cake.  Or, at least my lawyer hasn't said otherwise.  She's covering her ears and making "la-la-la" noises right now, so I think that means I'm okay. 


NOTE:  Colors are forthcoming, and will arrive as soon as I recover from whatever I'm sick with this time.  My apologies for the inconvenience.  Now, collapsing in 3, 2, 1.... 

EDIT:  Color, glorious color!!!  And yes, I made the cake red velvet.  I figured that a cake with red insides would make the mandatory mauling even more spectacular.  Wait.  I think that came out wrong.  Um... made the dis-assemblage even more colorful?  Maybe I should go back to bed. 

Friday, February 6, 2015

Tasty, Tasty Blood

Black and white grayscale movie set  Does anyone know what happened to all that chocolate syrup we were going to use for fake blood  Man nervously spoons chocolate syrup onto a bowl of ice cream

Historically, chocolate syrup was used in black-and-white films as fake blood, including in movies like Psycho.   I like to believe that the cast and crew members abused this for all it was worth. 

Friday, January 30, 2015

High School Lesson #0006

Student hangs on root off side of cliff  Whose bright idea was it to put the football field right next to a cliff  I'm starting to think it isn't coincidence that there's a graveyard right at the bottom  You think  I'll go get a rope  A little help here  Pride comes before an often literal fall

There is a time and a place to show off your mad ball-chasing skills.  This isn't it.