Reindeer Snowflakes

 

There's magic in the air tonight...  

Merry Christmas!

Note:  Some people familiar with my other webpages have probably already noticed that this is just an animated version of a design I made last month.  This is due to me having busted the wrist on my drawing hand and being banned from using it until further notice.  Fortunately, shifting around snowflakes is one thing I can do left-handed, hence this.  Also due to this, I don't know what kind of comics, if any, I'll be posting for the next few weeks, so consider yourselves warned.  (HSL has a couple more weeks before the buffer dries up.)  

Thanks for understanding, and I wish you all a happy New Year!

Star of Wonder

 I'm pretty sure that a giant star suddenly appearing is a universal sign for "important thing happening." 

Honorary Blue Angel

 

The best in aviation!  

Among other things, Saint Nick is the patron saint of sailors, and the Blue Angels just happen to be part of the US Navy.  He's also apparently the patron saint of archers and pharmacists, though that comes up less often. 

Tastes Like Christmas

Many people have a favorite seasonal beverage.  Popular ones include hot chocolate (yum!) or eggnog (less yum).  Less popular but still important ones lean towards a more evergreen-y flavor. 

Radio Gremlins

To their credit, I don't think the local radio station ever actually played "Dominick the Donkey" last year.  I may have sent them an email specifically begging them not to, but that's beside the point.  I'm probably not the only one who thought some gremlins needed to be cleaned out of the system. 

A Thyme and a Seasoning

Having the quality of going "kaboom" does not make it a suitable spice.  

So back in Kindergarten, my classmates and I all got to dress up in little paper costume accessories for Thanksgiving, and I wound up being the only girl who chose to be a pilgrim instead of a Native American.  I didn't find out until years later that this was unintentionally accurate - there were only four pilgrim women in charge of cooking because four is all that survived that long (we're not counting their daughters, who also helped with the food).  They were greatly outnumbered by the men, which were greatly outnumbered by the Native Americans.  So my Kindergarten class turned out to be proportionally just about right.  Funny how stuff like that happens. 

Formal Complaint

 Same thing happens every year.  The screams of outrage don't change anything (unless they somehow contribute to Global Warming), but it at least makes our goat friends feel better.  Probably. 

Holiday Crossover

Remember back in grade school when the math teachers would drill the order of operations into your heads, because Very Bad Things would happen if you got them out of order?  

Turns out it's not just for math.  

And before anyone asks, yes, this is based on a real house I saw last year. 

Night of the Roommate

Happy Halloween!

Property of Cerberus

 Hades has such a talented doggy. 

Unforseen Duties

Thanatos and Hades look a little worked up.  A nap might help.  You know, once the personification of sleep finishes consulting the internet. 

Revised and Expanded

If you're going to take liberties with someone's manuscript, you might want to think twice if that someone happens to be a god of writing.  And also if he can easily weaponize your work against you in the most painfully literal way possible. 

Deadly Secrets

Some days he might be wearing a business suit under his robe.  Other days it might be pajamas.  Or it could be something else entirely, like a kilt or a luchador costume.  But you'll never really know, and from now on you'll always be wondering. 
Except today.  Today it's pretty obvious. 

And with that, let the 10th annual Deities of Death Fest commence! 

Pan Pan-Pan Pan

I don't feel nearly as guilty about this as I really should. 

In fact, I could have gone further and included the Polish card game Pan, camera panning, Mexico's Partido Acción Nacional, the international urgency signal PAN-PAN, and the ancient Hindu kingdom of Panpan. 
Panpan PAN Pan Pan PAN-PAN Pan Pan-Pan Pan. 

High School Lesson #3972

Don't acknowledge the cultists.  It only encourages them. 

Grammaticollapse

She might be compensating for something. 

Stalk Like an Egyptian

Wherever and whenever vital fluids are being drained, blood-sucking fiends will follow.  As if reaching the Egyptian afterlife wasn't complicated enough already. 

While sketching this out, I seriously considered if there was any tasteful way to depict a severed liver.  I found none.  Lucky you. 

High School Lessons on Webtoon (Special Announcement!)

I'm pleased to announce that I just started a new webcomic on Webtoon!  It's called High School Lessons, which naturally is based off the "High School Lessons" cartoons that keep showing up here.  The new webcomic follows Rowan Wolford, a former student at Westpoint High, as she recounts the crazy things that have happened there.  Don't worry - I'll still be posting HSL cartoons here - you just get extra comics every week. 

Read the first episode here. 

Thanks, everyone! 

Arrival Via the Strait of Jacket

This is not the Cinderella you're looking for. 

Bison Set

A brief introduction to sports in Yellowstone Park invented solely to thrust karma upon the heads of obnoxious tourists who yes, were warned.  Many, many many times. 

While drawing this, I discovered that the scientific name for the Plains bison subspecies (a.k.a. the kind that lives in Yellowstone) is Bison bison bison.  I felt that it was important that you know this. 

Storm Pixies

An introduction to deliberately jinxing the weather for fun and profit. 

Albino Plants

I'm sure some other people have quite a lot of questions, but that's for another day. 

A Walk in the Zoo

Some zoos do indeed partner cheetahs with dogs.  Basically, male cheetahs are very social, but are also high-velocity 'fraidy-cats, so having a doggy friend gives them social cues so they know not to freak out at every new thing.  And the dog is just happy to have a new playmate.  So, good news for everyone!  ...unless they decide to gang up on the zookeeper. 

Olympic Chopsticks

The 2020 Olympics were originally slated to start about now, before the planet closed for cleaning and they got delayed.  But I decided to do something Olympic-themed anyway, which naturally had to be absolutely ridiculous.  For the record, I came up with this joke before I remembered that the host city is to be Tokyo. 

A Grate Achievement

"Enough cheese" is relative. 

Foiled Again

No concealed weapons permit needed for this one.  Good luck getting through doors, though. 

You'd think that this started out as a contemplation on ways to make sure people stay six feet away from you, but it actually didn't.  In fact, I didn't even make the connection to the present situation until I was halfway through drawing this.  I just wanted to make a dumb joke.  That's really all. 

P.S.  a foil is a type of fencing sword.  

Red, Bite, and Blue

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do fire pyrotechnics at bloodsucking fiends with utmost prejudice. 

Out of the Hat

He'll probably be spending the rest of the night trying to make the elephant disappear. 

Tripping the Light Fantastic

Introducing the third and final of Anni Seed's cousins, Chen Pi.  She's a Chinese water deer, which do indeed have tusks, and has never quite figured out that some people find her appearance ...odd.

Her given name is Chen.  In Western name order her name is Chen Pi.  In Eastern name order her name is Chen Pi.  She's a cartoon Chinese vampire deer fairy princess.  Just go with it. 

Lion in Wait

Day #1473:  Still have not succeeded at eating humans. 

Supposing Roses

I'll be honest here - this one of the dumber things I've drawn, and I'm not even sure what prompted it.  The June full moon is known as the "Rose Moon," so maybe that's a contributing factor.  Besides that, I've got nothing.  Sorry. 

High School Lesson #0015

Normally I'd say "beware the quiet ones," but given that percussion is his primary instrument (surprise, surprise), he was pretty loud to begin with. 

More or Less

Beware what deeply nuanced adages you impart unto children, because they will take it in a direction you never intended. 

Waffling on Space Matters

To be fair, you'd probably also need a fan of some sort to pull steam away from the waffle iron (more anti-gravity fun), and even then I'm not 100% sure it will work.  But if this becomes a thing, you heard it here first. 

Picking Poison

There's dedication to a lifelong passion, and then there's blatant stupidity.  I don't know if this crosses the line, but it's definitely close.
Officially, it's wild rose that keeps the vampires away, but I imagine the garden variety does the trick as well.  Hawthorn also works, among other things.  One more reason to love flowers.

The Misprint that Time Forgot

Yes, this happened.  No, I'm not disclosing which of my cartoons was the culprit.  I am not disclosing when the error was discovered.  It has been corrected.  Only a fleeting memory of its occurrence shall remain among the children of men, preserved here in a joking afterthought.  The rest is swept away, stricken from the records forevermore.  So let it be written.  So let it be done. 

A Hello to Arms

Overcoming physical limitations, one dino-head grabber at a time.  Anachronisms abound, but a happy T. rex makes it all better. 

A Taxing Operation

I've probably exhausted my allotted amount of snide comments for the month.  I regret nothing. 

I finished up my taxes this week (yes, the deadline was extended this year, but I didn't want it hanging over me any longer).  And not only was I reminded just how much of a headache it is making sense of all the instructions and whatnot, but I also discovered that there really are over 800 different tax forms.  And thus did the agonized screams of a thousand tormented souls echo up to the skies and make the folks over by Alpha Centauri wonder what the heck was going on. 

All Hats Are Off

No idea how she got through the door.  So... anybody volunteer to sit behind her?

Less likely to come up this year, due to the planet being closed for repairs (but I swear I'll throw something if I see one more person call the situation "unprecedented").  That said, there will probably be a fair share of people next year making up for it, so the rest of us should probably brace ourselves.

Blood Cell

Vampires ruin everything, example #59,082.  At least someone made a profit on this one.

I'm kind of surprised that no one's made this a thing in real life.  It's an idiotically obvious pun. 

Unintended Function

I'll actually be impressed if no one's tried this.  College students are endlessly inventive in the most beautifully idiotic ways possible.  "Slim Jim spaghetti" comes to mind. 

Taste Tested

Basically what happened between one of our barn cats and some of our baby goats a couple days ago.  I never thought I'd have to utter the sentence, "Stop eating the cat," but that's what happens when you have goats. 

It's a Party In Here

Maturity is only skin deep. 

Shielding Effects

"Fear not, fair lady!  I shall protect you from the fiery darts of... your roommates' latest stupid argument."

Milk Sideburns

There's probably a way to top this, but it would probably result in the requirement for a mop, eight towels, some very irritated parents (your own and others), and mandatory usage of a sippy cup for the next twenty-three years. 

Combination Block

Last year someone made a comment to this effect on the RPM website.  This is what we call "asking for it," because what followed was, predictably, an onslaught of suggestions for utterly bizarre song titles that I'm very certain had not been used before.  
But it's not the first time that a composer's friend had a hand in inventing a silly title - apparently Beethoven's "Rage Over a Lost Penny" got its name this way. 

Not Kitten

If she still wants to kiss him after this, that's love.  And also grounds for raising her health insurance premiums. 

Blood Dope

Sloth, gluttony, and general slobbitude all wrapped up in a nice little package that makes even other vampires cringe.  It's almost poetic. 

Funky Safari

Any excuse to wear a pith helmet.

Meet Cory Ander, a cartoon fallow deer buck and the second of Anni Seed's three "cousins."  If Anni is the problem-solver of the group, Cory is the explorer (and a prominent reason why Anni has problems to solve). 

The Science Project's Revenge

There have been many instances of science providing a good excuse for revenge.  There have also been many instances of the science experiments turning against the scientist.  Just glance over a random 1950's sci-fi movie and you'll probably find a plot built around that.

Isn't it great that little Mindy learned this so early in her career?  I'm sure she'll grow up to be a great mad scientist!