Happy Holidays

Here's my holiday/New Year card this year.  I always manage to sneak in a few Rabbits characters. Thanks for reading and have a splendid celebration of joy and peace.

Rabbits Against Skeletal Remains

Over in my former homeland, fellow Brit cartoonist Dan Brown of The Independent has won the Political Cartoonist of The Year award from the Political Cartoon Society.  Congrats Dan and nice Rabbit skeleton.

Rabbits Against Surreal Removal of Endoskeleton

No idea where this one came from but thanks to Mostly Forbidden Zone for the top hat tip.

Ace in the Hole

Ace Gorham was born in 1901.  According to Magicpedia he worked as a product salesman for the Standard Oil company and became a successful magician in his spare time.  There is no record that he was able to pull a cartoon rabbit out of a hat.

Headless Rabbits Against Magic

I don't remember if I've posted this one before but if I have it's worth re-running.  It's an early piece from the great Sam Gross which was reprinted in Taboo, a collection of what was then risqué and controversial cartoons.  Thanks to Mike Lynch for the link.

Rags Rabbit Against Magic

Billed as "the funniest rabbit in comics", Rags Rabbit was one of a rare foray into the Funny Animal genre from Harvey Comics. It ran for eight issues back in the early fifties. Rags appears to be the larger of the two rabbits here (his tiny sidekick is called "Pesky" for reason that will become apparent if you read more). Via Super I.T.C.H.

Rabbits Against Bronze Casting

I really love the work of illustrator  Óscar Villán. I discovered him through his children's book illustrations.  He recently had his Pequeño Conejo Blanco (Little White Rabbit) character cast in bronze. He has a nice Flickr stream here as well.

Dibs From Down Under

The austere Australian Cartoonists Association did a nice little write up on my humble little comic strip this week.  Thanks guys! Or to put it in words you can better understand, ¡sʎnƃ sʞuɐɥʇ  ˙ʞǝǝʍ sıɥʇ dıɹʇs ɔıɯoɔ ǝlʇʇıl ǝlqɯnɥ ʎɯ uo dn ǝʇıɹʍ ǝlʇʇıl ǝɔıu ɐ pıp uoıʇɐıɔossɐ sʇsıuooʇɹɐɔ uɐılɐɹʇsnɐ ǝɹǝʇsnɐ ǝɥʇ.

Negative Space

Because nobody likes a fat rabbit.

Geckos Against Robot Mosquitos

I expect the gecko is being punished for his irritating British accent.

Rabbits Against Leafy Clothing

A dress made of lettuce... really?

Rabbits For Productivity

You really should.

Rabbits Against The Summer Volume of the Breviary of Renaud

"Summer Volume of the Breviary of Renaud"

Marguerite de Bar, Metz ca. 1302-1305.

Verdun, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 107, fol. 105r

Rabbits Against Freud

This seems like a real life New Yorker cartoon.

Captions anyone?

Team Cul-de-Sac Charity Auction Has Started!

For the next two weeks, bids are being accepted at Heritage Auctions for the original artwork that is featured in the Team Cul-de-Sac book (see my last post).  I was lucky enough to see a preview of the book this weekend at the Reuban Awards in las Vegas and it's an absolute must-have item.  And now is your chance to own an original piece featured in the book and help out a good cause in the process. Pieces available include 128 originals by a veritable who's-who of cartoonists including Stephan Pastis, Bill Amend (Foxtrot), Sergio Aragonés (Mad), Jim Davis (Garfield), Richard Thompson himself and even Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes) although I don't expect that last one is going to go cheap, after just a few hours it's already at $1,600!  The page 74 artwork is by me, as seen below in b&w (it's colored in the book).  It could be yours. The price is currently just $4!

Rabbits Against Parkinson's

The blurb: Artists from around the world are passionate about Richard Thompson's work. His cartoon, Cul de Sac, has been endorsed by Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson--high praise indeed. In 2009, Thompson announced his diagnosis of early-onset Parkinson's. The Team Cul de Sac book serves as a showcase of original artwork donated to benefit Team Fox, the fundraising arm of the Michael J. Fox Foundation, founded in 2000 to help speed the development of better treatments for Parkinson's patients and, ultimately, cure the disease.

It's all for a good cause and don't let it put you off that I'm one of the contributors.  I've seen a lot of the other worth therein and it's not to be missed!  You can order it here.

Scrape

I was quite surprised to find that there isn't actually any actual bands called Scrape after a quick (and somewhat worried) Google search after I'd finished this strip.  With so many new bands breaking through each year the pool of remaining names must be shrinking rapidly. The idea for this strip came while I was listening to the new CD by the malian rap band SMOD.  Their original line-up of Sam, Mouzy, Ousco and Donsky was interrupted when Mouzy left the band but they wisely left the name intact.

The Great Foxini

Over at the always great Big Blog of Kids Comics they have posted this fascinating Gold Key comic version of Fractired Fairy Tales from 1962. This story art for these stories is Mel Crawford working in the style of the great Al Kilgore (who usually handled the art for Dell and Gold Key Bullwinkle titles).  The re-telling of the Aesop's Fable The Fox and the rabbit particularly caught my eye.

Rabbit Fest

[click image for bigger view]

Here's an exciting preview of the art for this Sunday's Rabbits strip.  I removed the text, partly because I'm not supposed to post the strips before they run but mostly because the joke is kind of 'muh' anyway. I had fun drawing every famous rabbit character I could think of including Crusader Rabbit,  The Energizer Bunny, Miffy, Max (of Sam & Max), Hector (from Arctic Circle), Captain Carrot, BunRab (from Pogo), Miyamoto Usagi (from Usagi Yojimbo), Buni, Binky, Bongo and Sheba (from Life in Hell), the Trix rabbit, Bunnista (From Minimum Security), Hodge-Podge (from Bloom County), Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Roger Rabbit, Bugs Bunny, Lio's vampire Bunny, Rabbit (from the A.A. Milne's Pooh stories), Chippy (from Chippy and Loopus) and Thumper (from Bambi).  I think I forgot the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland and those Watership Down guys too but that's about it.

Rabbits Against Magic Camp

The great Dave Whamond does it again over at Reality Check.

The Rabbit Parade

This is a 1920's photograph of Dorothy Sebastian wearing a hybrid ermine/rabbit costume.  A perfect image for the unofficial Lepus festival of fertility this weekend.

Salt Peanuts

My college degree is in Visual and Performing Arts which is why, when I graduated, my first job was walking along a beach with a sandwich board advertising a nightclub.

Gnome Is Where The Art Is

Here's today's strip which, due to complications beyond my control, isn't loading at the GoComics site today.  Since Friday was Dr. Seuss's birthday and yesterday was Super Tuesday, one can ascertain that today must be Wacky Wednesday.  Click for a bigger view!

One Trick Pony!

calling all rabbits-being-pulled-out-of-hats fans. This T-shirt is for sale over at Woot! today for just $12 (shipping including if you reside within these United States).  Don't delay or the price rises to $15 at midnight.  This unpaid announcement comes to you courtesy of vague amusement during a time of idleness.

Rabbits Against Clackers

Some wonderful rabbit paintings from Japanese painter Shichinohe Masaru. Via tinybunnywoman.

Rabbits Against Flat Cutouts

Today's strip is one of those rare instances where I coincide the theme with a holiday of sorts.  Typically I avoid all the religious holidays to focus on the quirky celebrations of tomfoolery (April 1st), mortality (Day of the Dead) and high seas shenanigans (Talk Like a Pirate Day).  Today marks the tenth Valentine's Day I've spent with my spousal unit.  maybe I'm getting slushy in my old age.

Today's delightful Google Doodle features a magic rabbit around about the 41 second mark.  The awesome artist responsible, Michael "Lippy" Lipman, created it in Flash.  Now that Adobe has started winding down the format in favor of HTML5 and Adobe Air I wonder if we will see the end of the golden era of computer generated animations as the tools become less accessible to creative people.  Anyway, happy Valentine's Day.

The Ears Have It

There's a lot going on here, although what intrigues me is the strange kazoo embedded into the larger rabbit's body.   Is it some sort of curious lupine musical instrument or a fifties bong perhaps?

Fats Calico

Not a rabbit but without a doubt, the greatest animated gif of all time.

The WIld Front Ear

I long for a return to the astonishing colors of the fifties.  Technicolor... come back!  All is forgiven.

Rabbits Against Magic Sets

Another great Liō strip.

Incredibly Strange Rabbit Picture Number 47

It's hard to know where to start with this one.  From the prosthetic leg to the Bugs Bunny headed wreath comprised of sad looking discarded toys this image has it all!

Who the heck is John Glynn?

In case you're wondering, he's my editor at Universal. I slipped his name into today's strip to make sure he was paying attention (and he was!).  John is a frequent guest in many comic strips. Here's a brief selection.

Rabbits Against Earbud Tangles

Oh how I love this strip. Let me count the ways.  More over at Dark Side of the Horse.

Incredibly Strange Rabbit Picture Number 46

Looks like a Playboy Club derivative after the lawyers got a hold of it.

Roomsaid Against Magic

Going To Pot

This series is based on a real life artifact, the "Fountain" readymade by the Dadaist Marcel Duchamp in 1917. Marcel Duchamp began his career as a gag cartoonist submitting panels to Parisian literary journals. Comics historian M. Thomas Inge has suggested that the “R. Mutt” signature Duchamp scrawled at the bottom of this famous “readymade” was an explicit reference to Bud Fisher’s Mutt from Mutt and Jeff.  Duchamp gave up art in 1923 and spent the rest of his life playing chess to the exclusion of almost all other activities.  And people say Dalí was odd.

Playrabbit Magazine Cover

Is there such a thing as too many rabbits?