I Draw Comics

Update

2008-09-15T05:08:00.002-04:00

Hey, all. Todd and Penguin will be back on Wed. with a comic that you will DEFINITELY enjoy! Sorry for the delays, I've been jobsearching my butt off.

as always, thanks for reading,
dave

When worlds collide

2008-09-05T03:52:00.002-04:00

Books have always held a special place in my heart.

When I was a child, books provided an escape from a world in which I didn't fit in. I found my fingers tracing illustrations carefully crafted on pages, longing to be in a world where things made sense. A world where mysteries were to be solved and adventures to be had by children my own age.

One of my favorite series of books was in fact not so much a book, but collections of Peanuts comic strips. I have many fond memories of curling up with old Peanuts treasuries and getting lost in the world which Charles Schulz created. I felt Charlie Brown's pain. He was a kindred soul who also had trouble fitting in with the people and world that surrounded him. I laughed at Snoopy and his wacky adventures. I wondered with Linus as he explored the human condition and thoughts theological in nature. I identified with Lucy's misplaced rage.

Each panel, so succinctly drawn, pulled me in with the little things. The way Charles Schulz drew the lines of rain, covering most of the panel as Charlie Brown was stuck in a rainstorm. I felt that rain. The way snow lines flowed in the background, the way a single leaf would fall down from a tree. I was TRANSPORTED to that world and it felt safe and comforting.

So, why am I talking books and comics?

Well, it is these childhood treasures that shaped who I am today as surely as a pen draws a series of strokes which shape words and images. These books made me want to write, made me want to draw comics, made me want to create and bring worlds alive for others to lose themselves in.

Many worlds

The internet has become to many, what books were for me as a child - escape.

The web offers us access to more worlds than we can imagine, real and imaginary. The web also allows us something books never did - to sometimes meet our fellow world travelers. Whether it be chatting with fans on a message board or interacting with the artist themselves, the web opens up a host of possibilities which never existed before.

Sometimes, it even allows creators to meet and author a world together. A marriage of words and images. Two worlds into one.

When worlds collide

I was thrilled recently to discover Writer Dad, another writer who has strong devotion to words and his creations. I was honored when he asked me to help bring one of his worlds to life. While the first story he pitched to me is still in the creation phase, we decided to collaborate on another project he was looking to complete. One which aims to help parents and children through a sometimes difficult phase - potty training.

Told with humor and love, Number One and Two It should help ease some of the trepidation that parents feel about the subject.

Writer Dad tells a little of the story behind the story in his appropriately titled post today.

So. yeah, this is a lot of buildup for what is essentially a story about where your poo goes, but it's not everyday that you meet someone who you can trust enough to help you build a world. The collaboration, along with the words of others I've met in the past three weeks since this blog began, has refueled my desire to create more worlds. Perhaps, maybe even build a world you (or your children) to get lost in.

Here is a picture of the book's cover. I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed creating it. You can order the wee-book at Writer Dad's site.

Todd and Penguin update

2008-09-01T00:16:00.002-04:00

Todd and Penguin will be up late Monday night.

The first chance I had to draw the strip was late Sunday night (as my son has been sick and in need of constant attention due to his extra crankiness). Just as I was about to sit and draw, a shrill BEEEEEEP BEEEEEEP filled the whole house! The smoke alarms were going off in tandem because I'd forgotten to change the batteries (in like, forever). So, suddenly, I am racing around the house looking for the suspect alarm while praying that the loud beeping doesn't wake my son up (because he will then be up another two hours).

Found it, went to get some 9 volts from the junk drawer and of course we DON'T HAVE ANY 9 volt batteries.

Nobody actually buys them for anything other than smoke alarms, right? So, then I had to race to the nearest Wal Mart (the only store near me open 24 hours) and raced back home and replaced the suspect battery. All is well. I'll change out the rest tomorrow, though I'm not sure how the hell I'm going to get to the top of our cathedral cieling without a ladder.

So, yeah, that's why Todd and Penguin will not be up. Someday, I'll be syndicated, have the comics done weeks in advance and won't have to worry about things like these. Though I'm sure I'll still forget to change the smoke alarm batteries.

For those of you that would like to see a post about my job situation and my son, please visit my new site, bloggerdad.com.

Hurricane and new site

2008-08-20T04:04:00.003-04:00

Spent the day preparing for a hurricane and not drawing comics. Hopefully, I'll have power and will be able to post a new comic Friday.

In other news, I'm proud to announce a new blog I've been working on for nearly a month is finally live. If you enjoy my blog posts on parenting, I strongly encourage you to visit the BloggerDad.com and subscribe to the blog feed. While I will continue updating this blog, I will be updating the other site much more regularly and it will feature more parenting-related stuff and humor.

Since the blog is a new site, it will take me some time to attract a readership. I doubt everyone who reads Todd and Penguin will also be interested in the new blog. So, I need some help. If you have a blog/site/comic which appeals to parents, I would greatly appreciate any help in spreading word about bloggerdad.com.

thank you,
dave

update

2008-08-15T14:57:00.002-04:00

Sorry about the lack of comics this week. I've been attempting to complete work on another project which I hope to have done next week. I'm hoping the new project will help me in my pursuit of work. I'll explain more next week and provide a link for you all.

Thanks for your patience. Comics will be updating on a more regular schedule next week.

The birthday dinnner

2008-08-11T23:32:00.005-04:00

corral (n.): An enclosure for confining livestock.

My wife, my 16 month old son and I packed up and headed to the new Golden Corral for my birthday Saturday. Yeah, hardly an exciting way to celebrate, but when you’re married and you have a toddler, sometimes you just want to go somewhere with as little hassle as possible. Besides, all I really wanted for dinner was some chicken, potatoes and some corn, so the restaurant seemed like a good choice.

I failed to take into account the fact that the place just opened this week, and was packed with EVERYBODY in town, which defeated my hassle free plans.

The fun begins in the parking lot, which was packed with cars circling the parking lot, everyone jockeying for a spot. Fortunately, I found a spot about four rows from the restaurant. Just as I reach the spot, my wife points out a spot one row closer.

My wife is one of those people who is all about finding the BEST PARKING SPOT POSSIBLE, even if it means taking 15 minutes to find that spot. I don’t mind parking far away if it means getting into a place a bit sooner. Besides, I’m about to go consume 50,000 calories, I think I could use the exercise. Against my better judgment, I listen to my wife, and pursue the other spot. Just as I turn into the row, another car pulls in.

“Frack!” (expletive deleted)

Now, I have no spot and am sure someone else has already taken the spot I passed.

However, as luck would have it, another car is leaving, opening up a spot towards the end of the aisle. I put on my blinker, the internationally recognized sign of Claiming The Spot. However, some jerk NOT YET EVEN IN MY ROW, also sees the car backing out and he starts towards My Spot.

I don’t think so.

I stomp down on the gas, sending the car lurching forward and I pull into the spot with a deft maneuverability and speed heretofore not seen in any parking lot ever. Which, of course, sends my wife into a fit.

“Do not drive like this with our son in the car!”

I remind her that I am a Very Safe Driver and that I looked around before making a carefully calculated decision to hit the gas. At no time were we in any danger of hitting anyone, crashing into anything, or being hit by another car. She’s not pleased with my response. We don’t argue often, but I would guess that 9 out of 10 fights we have had, started in the car and were due to my driving or impatience. Which sets the mood perfectly for a nice birthday dinner.
We get to the restaurant entrance just before 5 pm and there was already a line of more than 100 people. Normally, I would leave. However, I’m trying to act against my impatient impulses.

You know, mature a bit.

Once inside the door, we get a glimpse of chaos. It’s huge - a freaking madhouse with the calming atmosphere of the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Part of me just wants to get the hell out of there as fast as possible.

Once inside, we were presented the option of getting into one of two winding lines which lead you to cashiers to purchase your meal. From there, you have to wait for a table to open up. Since the house is packed, the wait could be a while, so choosing the correct line could be the single most important decision of the evening.

I want to stay in the line we are in, on the right side. My wife points out that the other line is shorter, let’s get in that one. Since I have a habit of ALWAYS CHOOSING THE WRONG LINE, I follow her advice. Besides, if she’s wrong, I can just blame her. See? I’m already looking for ways to take out my annoyance on my wife.

Meanwhile, I monitor the progress of the woman who was behind me before we split into two lines. Just to see where I would have been if I stayed in the right line as she did. She’s moving forward at great pace while my line is moving like the final slow-mo fight scenes in a Rocky movie. I begin to gripe under my breath before finally commenting to my wife, “Wow, the woman that was behind us is already at the cashier. Sure wish we stayed in THAT line.”

Obviously, I got a reaction from my wife. “Hey, YOU chose this place, if you want to go somewhere else, you need to tell me now, before we get to the cashier.”

I relent. While I would have liked to go, I made a commitment to stay. So I’d just have to shut my mouth and enjoy.

So, now there are two lines. My slow line, which is full of grumbling miserable people like myself shuffling forward like a herd of reluctant animals being led to slaughter. And then there’s the other line, where people are laughing, having fun, and moving so quickly, I’d swear they are on rollerblades! The woman from the other line is soon seated, a fact which I considered pointing out to my wife. Better sense prevailed.

After 40 minutes or so, we are seated at a tiny table for two, despite having a baby with us.
I ask the woman who seated us for a larger table.

“Well, they told me there were two of you, then I saw you had a baby.” (Yet, rather than get a table which could seat all of us, she still stuck us at a table for two. Way to think on your feet!)

So, she finds us a table for four. I run back to get my wife. Just as we get back, we see a 500 pound guy sitting at our table. He is eating with a ferocity which suggests a vendetta to settle with the buffet.

“Aww, cute baby” he says, in a voice reminiscent of an old cartoon with the line, “I wanna’ hug him and squeeze him and call him George”

While he might be a friendly guy, eagerly looking to strike up conversation with anyone (and I do mean ANYONE) who passed by, he set off that parental creepy meter just a bit too much for comfort.

The waitress apologizes, explaining that the guy just took the table, and she says she’ll find us another. Can you guess where she sat us? If you guessed at the table right next to the big guy, you win! And guess what? Chatty Charlie loves to talk to you, oblivious to the fact that you are attempting to have a private conversation. I would not at all have been surprised if he pulled up a seat and just started eating at our table!

Finally seated, we brave the long food lines, of which there are many, each offering a number of choices. My wife lets me venture out to fill my plate while she gets our son set up for his dinner, which we brought. Like I said, all I really want is some chicken, potatoes and corn. Then, if I have time and the patience to wait in more lines, I’ll sample some other fare. I couldn’t find the potatoes or corn on my first pass, so I got chicken and mac and cheese. The food was hot and good, the first thing that went right. My wife then got in line and returned with both potatoes and corn.

“Where did you get those?”

I finish my food quickly, eager to get potatoes and corn. The line where the corn (and other food) is located is rather long. Normally, I would settle for something else, but hey, its my birthday, I want corn! So, I wait. And wait. And wait. Finally, I am almost there, when the woman in front of me is allowing her two young daughters (who are about five years old and stand about eye level with the food) to choose what they want to put on their trays. They are standing in front of the corn, rice and some other dish, and taking FOREVER to make up their minds.

“Come on,” I’m screaming inside, “just PICK SOMETHING!”

The girls finally make up their minds and are about to move aside when one of them sneezes all over the three trays in front of them, one of which included the corn. My corn.

Happy Birthday to me.

photo oourtesy of Wandering Angel.

what happiness looks like

2008-08-08T14:33:00.002-04:00

My job search, a nasty cold and attempting to complete a syndication packet has kept me busy the past few days. Todd and Penguin will be back on Monday.

My birthday is tomorrow. Last year, my wife surprised me with a Carvel Ice Cream Cake (mmm) and by having Baby Wright dressed up in a party hat, which might be the cutest thing I ever saw.

Even though I'm jobless and feeling down about it much of the time, the look of pure joy on Baby Wright's face never fails to bring me back up.

Taking Up Space update and around the web

2008-08-06T00:10:00.005-04:00

Keeping in tune with yesterday's blog post, Wednesday's Taking Up Space takes aim at a familiar and favorite target - the TV news media.

Around the web:
Lifehacker has a cool video showing one future scenario for web browsing a decade from now. I'm of the mind that large TV/monitors will replace TV's in homes and each family member will have portable keyboards with their own chips which hold settings and data and such which can access any TV/monitor in the home.

Keane has a free new song available for download at their site. (link from Pop Candy)

I'm sure if you read PVP then you already saw a link for this, but just in case you haven't, Scott Kurtz got nailed (and a great free plug) by Triumph the Insult Comic Dog on Conan last week. Check out the hilarious video. I was actually watching Conan when this segment aired and I was cracking up when I saw Scott being interviewed. The rest of the segment is great, though not up to par with the time Triumph went after the Star Wars geeks. (here is the other part of that segment).

Not a funny subject, but um...

2008-08-05T02:40:00.002-04:00

The media circus is in full swing for missing child Caylee Anthony. Media outlets from every network and cable news channel have their giant rolling studios camped out on the street where the missing child's grandparents live. Oddly, one local news station decided to do a story on... the media's overwhelming coverage!

And without ANY SENSE OF IRONY!

"Hi, we're from the media and we'd like to interview you on how much the media's presence in your quiet neighborhood is bothering you."

Roll clip.

In comic-related news, Oscar is continuing his war on the family in the latest comic uploaded tonight.

state of the website/blog update

2008-08-04T02:37:00.003-04:00

A new Todd and Penguin will be up Tuesday. I spent my free time this weekend working on the blog redesign. (Dontchya' love the pretty blog header? No more lame text header.) Not having the time to learn CSS and being limited to Classic Blogger, I was forced to search for an already made template CLOSE to what I want. I finally settled on a template from suckmylolly.com and put in my own header. I have to modify a couple of other things during the week, like adding a label list. Classic blogger is such a pain in the butt! I don't know why Blogger doesn't allow you to export the new blogger system to your own site. Grrrr...

I'm also working on a redesign for Taking Up Space, to make that comic horizontal, rather than stacked vertical, so I can add a blog over there. No, not another blog by me, but a blog by Jessika. She has lots to say, er, I mean complain about.

So, yeah, that's why Todd and Penguin will be a day behind schedule. I know, I know, you all don't come here for pretty site designs and probably want to throw rocks at me when I spend more time on behind the scenes stuff than the comic. I can't help it. I get obsessed with the design side of it and what I want my site to do and offer. And since I don't think moving everything to wordpress/comicpress is a viable option on my server, and would probably blow all the links set up for the archives people have bookmarked, I am forced to find other ways to get the same options such comic/blog sites have.

Note to Tony Piro : I'm still planning to do a guest strip for you. You should hear more in a week or so. And for those of you not named Tony Piro, or who are wondering who Tony Piro is, click on his name to check out his awesome strip. If you like Taking Up Space, you will like Calamities of Nature.

as always, thanks for reading,
dave

new Taking Up Space

2008-07-31T14:26:00.001-04:00

A new Taking Up Space is up. In my haste to build the newly designed Todd and Penguin site, I forgot to link to my other comics. woops!

I'll post more tonight.

update alert

2008-07-30T03:16:00.003-04:00

A new Taking Up Space will be up Thursday and a new Todd and Penguin will be up on Friday. Meanwhile, check this out.

Onion's AV Club lists the 22 most unflattering comic confessionals in autobiographical comics. From Robert Crumb taking advantage of a drunken date to Marjane Satrapi's getting an innocent man arrested, these artists' confessions dare you to like them, or at least understand them, as they pour it all out on the page for the world to see.

New look

2008-07-28T03:56:00.002-04:00

Todd and Penguin.com has a new look today. I changed the design, making a much needed change of the site's colors, which I was not happy with in the previous two designs. Also changed is the logo. While it is not as indicative of the entire comic as the prior one (which included the whole family), it looks much better.

Also changed is the size of the comics. Starting today, new comics will be 850 pixels wide, up from 800. Yeah, it forces 800 x 600 screen viewers to scroll, but judging from my stats page, very few people are reading this at 800x600 resolution. Besides, several other comics have already gone past the 800 pixel width, and bigger does look better. I'm not going to re-size the archived comics as it would simply take waaaaaay too long. Reading through the archives, you'll find comics starting at 600 pixels wide in the beginning growing to the current size.

While I had hoped to have a new wordpress blogging system up, it refused to work right with KeenSpot's servers. The page either loaded incorrectly or it looked horrible in the iframe. So, as of now, I'll stick with blogger until I can work things out. If you're curious what the new blog site looks like, you can find it at IDrawComics.com.

I'm not sure how many people are actually reading the posts at the Todd and Penguin site as opposed to catching them on LiveJournal or simply not reading the blog at all. I imagine most of you come here for the comic more than anything.

Judging from the posts from here and LJ and the email I get, it's tough to say how many people regularly read these posts. Rather than upload to three different places, I'm thinking of moving the blog off of Todd and Penguin's front page and simply posting a link to IDrawComics.com hosted offsite. If you have any thoughts on that, feel free to post or email me.

I'll be adding more to the site during the week and will post here once more changes are in place.

as always, thanks for reading,
david

a new look

2008-07-26T00:01:00.002-04:00

If you're catching this on the weekend, then you're catching the site in transition. I am working on a redesign of Todd and Penguin which will also implement a new blogging system. I've been using blogger, hosted on my own site, but its been very limiting to use blogger's 'classic' template, which doesn't allow many of the functions I desire. Nor is it very fast to upload. Hopefully, that will change with the new blog which you will find in this place sometime this weekend.

I USED TO BE COOL

2008-07-22T23:36:00.003-04:00

I used to be cool. While my formative years were spent in geekish pursuits such as listening to heavy metal, playing Dungeons & Dragons and reading comic books, (which are all considerably cooler pursuits these days), I didn’t hit my cool stride until I was in my 20’s. It was during that time that my musical tastes and collection had earned me street cred among all the cool people. I listened to artists and bands years before most of my friends heard of them. I’d gone from high school outcast to the cool go-to guy for all music related questions.

Want to know what that cool trip hop song in the commercial was? Ask Dave. Want to create the PERFECT mix tape for any occasion, Ask Dave!

I was like some revered character from the movie, High Fidelity. I took this honor seriously and cultivated it, reading and listening to anything I could get my hands on, always staying on the cutting edge of what was cool.

Somewhere along the way, I began to lose that coolness.
With marriage and adult responsibilities (read: bills). I couldn’t keep up with the ever-evolving music scene. Even if I could, who was left to impress? I’d moved away from my friends and all the cool indie record stores. I am now married and don’t need to impress women with my musical knowledge anymore (not that any were ever that impressed to begin with). Despite all this, I still listen to cool music, and like to think I still have a sense of what all the “cool kids” are listening to.

Recently, though, something happened which convinced me that I’m holding onto a fading past and I am in fact, no longer cool.

That realization came the other day, in the shower oddly enough, when I found myself singing (…brace yourself…) a Veggie Tales song! (I shuddered a bit as I typed that) Yes, not only children’s music, but Christian children’s music, which (no offense to Christians) is about as far from cool as you can get.
Somewhere, the Music Gods are demanding that I turn in my music collection.

Before you start thinking that this was some voluntary transition, it wasn’t.

My indoctrination to the stylings of the friendly singing vegetables with a wholesome Christian message came via my one year old son, who absolutely loves listening to their CD in the car. Try as I might to avoid it, over time, the songs GOT INTO MY HEAD!

It started innocently enough with me humming along in the car. Gradually, I started singing along in the car because my son seemed to enjoy daddy’s singing. I have absolutely no excuse for singing Veggie Tales songs in the shower, though.

So, if you have a question about what’s cool in music these days, ask someone else; someone younger. I have forfeited the right to be known as That Guy. I am consigned to the fact that I will never be cool again. I am now a Veggie-Tales singing dorky dad.

Well, at least one person still thinks I’m cool, and that’s my son. And I’ll take that over all the street cred in the world any day of the week.

Besides, it won’t be long before he is listening to some outrageous music that I’m just not cool enough to “get.”

OMG BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!

2008-07-21T14:33:00.002-04:00

Quick, everyone! Breaking News on the Yahoo front page!
That is all.

Oh great, Amy Poehler is going to ruin TWO shows

2008-07-17T21:03:00.004-04:00

Seems Amy Poehler has been tapped to star in the Office spinoff. It's not enough that she ruined SNL by mugging it up in nearly EVERY FREAKIN' SCENE last season, but now she gets to ruin a primetime show! Bravo, NBC! Though to be fair, the idea of an Office spinoff seems horrible to begin with, so why not? What could it hurt? Hell, if it means she'll appear in fewer SNL sketches, then it could be a great move.

And WHY does NBC feel the need to destroy The Office, anyway? Judging by last season's hit and miss episodes, they ought to concentrate on fixing the original before spinning off a NEW series.

I'll post a new Todd and Penguin comic later tonight.

Goodbye Cable

2008-07-16T23:10:00.000-04:00

Since I lost my job last month, we've been looking at ways to get by on less money. Since having a child last year, we've already cut most of our non-essential spending. So, now we have to look at our monthly expenses and trim the fat. Of course my wife and I disagree on just what is fat. To her, cable TV qualifies as fat. To me, cable is right up there with ESSENTIAL items such as food, mortgage and oxygen. However, hard times call for hard decisions, and no matter how hard I try, there is little way to justify the continued expense. So next week, I'm going to do the unthinkable and get rid of cable.

More importantly, I will be getting rid of the Most Important and Amazing Device Ever invented.

I'm talking about the DVR, or Digital Video Recorder, that the cable company provides for an extra $6 a month.

For those who aren't familiar with the DVR, (like my parents, who have somehow watched TV their entire lives without one!), the DVR allows you to record one show while watching another. You can watch TV on your schedule. The DVR also allows you to rewind shows you are watching. Did you miss something that the detective just said on Law and Order: Criminal Intent Special Victims Homicide and Pudding Theft Division? Rewind it. Want to see that unbelievable 90 yard touchdown reception again? Rewind it.

Perhaps the best part of the DVR is that it allows you to pause a show while you're watching it when reality rudely interrupts your television viewing. No longer do you have to miss ANYTHING because of interruption.

"Honey, the kitchen is on fire!"

"Hold on, let me pause the game."

No problem!

I don't know HOW we were able to watch TV before the DVR. Well, actually I do. We didn't have a child back then.

A DVR is an absolute necessity for any house with children, particularly a house with a curious one year old who finds it necessary to taste anything that will fit in his mouth. Add to that a penchant for chasing the cats, grabbing the cats, smacking the cats in awkward attempts to pet them, and putting his fingers in places the cats don't want a finger, and you can find yourself pausing a show 2,452 times (a rough estimate) per hour.

A DVR allows me to do the things that a good parent should do, like pick the baby up and comfort him after he falls off a toy train (even though I told him 900 times not to climb on it because he always falls), and clean and bandage cat-inflicted wounds. If I miss something on TV, I can simply rewind it.

Without a DVR, I will suddenly be forced to CHOOSE between my child and television! No man should have to make that decision. Not in the age of technology when you can have both! I know, I sound like the worst parent ever. But, hey, when your team is down 3-2 with bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, and the baby fell down (something he does about 400 times a day) he can wait a minute or two. Right?

Okay, obviously I can't ignore my son - well, not until he's old enough to ignore me (teenage years), so I will always choose him over TV.

I just hope he can limit his need for parental assistance to short two minute commercial breaks.

an update

2008-07-10T23:56:00.002-04:00

Todd and Penguin has an update (of sorts) today. I uploaded a "best of" comic from 2006 because I haven't finished organizing my office and my computer and scanner are still sitting in a pile of wires. Good thing, too, because I am pretty unhappy with the comic I drew and need to redraw it completely.

In related news, both Todd and Penguin AND Taking Up Space will return with its unhappy comics for unhappy people next week.

Comixtalk cover

2008-07-07T13:05:00.003-04:00

Look who graces this month's Comixtalk cover! I was pretty thrilled to be invited to draw the cover. The idea of pairing Penguin with Cookie Monster came from Comixtalk owner, Xerexes. I thought it was a great idea, provided I don't get a cease and desist from CTW. For those new to Comixtalk, you have to click 'view entire cover' to see the whole scene. I'll post the alternate version I was going to go with here tomorrow.

As for Todd and Penguin, it will be back Wednesday. I spent yesterday cleaning and organizing my studio (or as my wife calls it, my 'messy room'). Well, in order to make everything function better, I had to reorganize everything. What started as a one day project has turned into an at least two day project, if not more. My computer, scanner, keyboard and moue are all sitting in an unkempt pile of wires waiting to be sorted out and put back into place.

Thanks to Frank Frisina and his mother, Linda, who were kind enough to comment regarding the Sicily storyline that I wrote in honor of Frank's dog who died last August 9. For those new to the comic, Penguin met Sicily when he ran away. Sicily then found herself living with Penguin. On a happy note, in his comment, Frank tells us that he is about to get a puppy from Sicily's mother.

an update on the cat situation

2008-07-04T02:48:00.003-04:00

Thanks to everyone who has been posting in the blogs and emailing me. I'm honored that so many of you were touched by Sicily's story.

No new comic until Monday. I spent the day watching Baby Wright, who demanded my full attention. When he wasn't chasing the cats (we're still trying to teach him to pet softly), he was either running around the living room with one of various balls, or tagging me as "it" so I would chase him.

Speaking of the cats, we've decided that he is attempting to be nice to the kitties and not mean when he swats at them. He just gets excited and pets too hard, pulls chunks of fur or worse, a tail. Sweetie Cat endures quite and is the most frequent target of Baby's abuse. She craves attention, though, so she puts up with it. She's probably hoping that she will make a friend who will pet her all the time and give her Pounce treats. Baby's latest move is to try to cuddle with the cat, and by cuddle, I mean lay next to while holding tightly or laying on top of. It's actually a pretty funny site which I will have to catch a photo of.

Last week, the day after I made my post about the cat situation, Charlie Monster bit Baby. Luckily it was a minor wound. You'd think Baby would learn not to go after Charlie, but that doesn't seem to be the case. The next day, while in preschool, Baby was reaching for another child's food when the child, who is about the same age (14 months), bit him on the same arm as the cat bite! Two bites in 24 hours -- it's rough being a baby!

Happy 4th to everyone who will be celebrating. See you all on Monday.

2008-07-02T02:46:00.002-04:00

Thanks to everyone who emailed or posted on the blogs in reference to the recent Sicily storyline. Today's Todd and Penguin closes out the story.

In other news: Check out Tony Piro's Calamaties of Nature which turned one on Tuesday. The comic is one of my new favorites. If you're a fan of Taking Up Space, you'll really enjoy it. Trust me. I enjoy Tony's drawing style and his use of color and his ability to draw really nice landscapes. And of course, the comic is funny and enjoyable.

In yet other news, Comixtalk was kind enough to invite me to draw the cover for the July issue. I believe it will debut sometime this weekend or Monday. I'd love to tell you what I drew, but I don't want to ruin it. You'll see two VERY familiar faces in the comic is all I will say for now.

an ending.

2008-06-27T02:47:00.003-04:00

Friday's comic wraps up the current storyline. Check it out BEFORE reading the post below (which contains spoilers). If you want to start from the beginning, you can do so here.

I doubt many will be shocked by the ending, given my penchant for dour things such as miscarriages and the soul wrenching aftermath, car crashes and near death experiences. On a side note, there was discussion on another site about how miscarriages in comic strips are a frequent and cheap gimmick. I don't know if Todd and Penguin was the first comic to tackle a miscarriage story (if not first, it was the first I knew of when I did it) however, I believe I handled it in a very realistic manner which had LONG lasting effects (though I still wish I had taken the time to write it better). The characters were NOT the same.

Sicily's story wasn't designed to shock or cement my status as the guy who kills off major characters and whips up weird storylines every two years. The Sicily storyline is in honor of Frank Frisina's dog, Sicily who died last year (on my birthday, oddly enough). Frank asked if I would do something in honor of his dog. I said yes, just give me some time to figure out HOW I wanted to do it. Well, I wrote out a storyline which began with Penguin running away last Halloween. The story which followed took MUCH longer than planned as the demands on my time became more and more and updates became less and less frequent. What results is a herky jerky story which takes longer than I would have liked and wasn't as well written as I'd planned. However, I think some parts worked well. I hope I did Sicily's memory justice.

Surprisingly, since introducing the dog, I've received a LOT of email from people saying how much they like Sicily. I considered keeping her around, because let's face it, nobody wants to see the dog die or to see Penguin's devastation. However, I always stay true to the story and the characters. I couldn't and wouldn't change the story. Hopefully readers will understand.

I'm glad the storyline is over after several months. I look forward to bringing Todd and Penguin back to its happy and whimsical roots and exploring the family dynamic with the baby.

as always, thanks for reading,
david

Update, Baby V. Cat

2008-06-25T00:21:00.003-04:00

The Wed. comic is now up. Don't miss Friday's conclusion to the storyline.

Baby Wright is starting to test his boundaries, it seems. He has taken to swatting at the cats. It started innocently enough as what appeared to be an attempt to pet the kitties many months ago. However, in his excitement, the petting became swats to the cats' heads. We directed him away from the cats, sometimes taking his hand and showing him the "correct" way to pet. However, he would just get excited and swat again. Our older female cat, Sweetie, loves any attention she gets, so she takes the abuse for a bit before running away. Our younger cat, Charlie, who is also known as Jerk Cat and Charlie Monster for his propensity to torment Sweetie, is a bit less tolerant of Baby. He kinda' looks at us as if to roll his eyes and say, "Hey, you do something with this kid, or I will."

Baby's swatting has now progressed to include pulling tails. To make matters worse, he knows he shouldn't be doing it. How do I know that he knows? Here's an example of what happens:

Baby runs to Charlie Cat with hands outstretched.

Daddy (from across the room): "No...."

Baby turns, looks at daddy, smiles, swats cat.

Daddy (still across the room) "No... (and then with as much enthusiasm as daddy can muster) hey, where's the ball? Ball? Ball? Where's the ball?"

Baby (not falling for the misdirection - daddy apparently didn't sell it enough) swats cat again. Cat's ears are pinned to his head as he swats back.

Daddy then bolts across the room to get Baby. Baby sees this, gets SUPER hyper (mouth open wide and smiling and laughing), and begins to swat cat faster and faster, in attempt to get in as many swats as possible before Daddy can reach him.

Well, Charlie ran out of patience today, grazing Baby's arm which required Mommy to break out the boo-boo kit. Still, Baby continued to go after both cats later in the evening. I'm fairly certain he is not intending to harm the cats. He is only 14 months old and an otherwise good baby. He seems to think they are playing a game of "Grab the Tail and Smack the Head (New, from Hasbro)".

I'm not sure what to do to resolve the issue. I don't want to overreact, especially when everything I've read says a baby his age doesn't understand consequences yet, so punishment has an adverse effect. Yet, we don't want him to torment the cats or to get hurt.

So, if any of you parents out there have any advice, feel free to email me or post a comment back.

An update

2008-06-23T02:06:00.002-04:00

George Carlin died last night. He is the only comic I can think of with such a long career who REMAINED at the top of his game and actually got better with age. Wow. That's two surprising deaths of people who I admired for different reasons (the other being Tim Russert). I will miss the work of both men.

I won't even bother with attempting a decent segue. The new Todd and Penguin is up. A GIANT comic-book sized page which kicks off the final week of the current storyline, a detour from normal, to say the least. As is oftentimes the case, my ambition failed to consider the reality of drawing this thing. Monday's strip took me more than five hours!