Action Toupee

This strip could easily have been a three panel strip using frames 1, 3 and 5 but I flushed it out to a Sunday size because I thought it was too obvious and wanted to add the clapperboard joke at the end. One day, when this strip is reproduced at a larger size in a Rabbits Against Magic book collection you will be able to fully appreciate the full range of duck hairstyles in the poster on the back wall of panel 4. I recently discovered that the red stripe on the barber pole sign actually represents blood from the time when barbers used to do minor surgery. And who says things were better back in the good ol' days?

Less vs. Fewer

Anyone who shops at Rainbow Foods in San Francisco will recognize these checkouts. I do often catch myself counting the items in the basket of the person in front of me even though the chances of me saying anything are exactly zip. Is that normal?

Fooling Around

This was my April 1st strip. Among the jokes and gags on the ground are a whoopie cushion, a finger trap, black soap, itching powder, invisible dog collar, chattering false teeth, black eye telescope, a jumping spider, googly eyes, a hand buzzer and vampire fangs. Lio would have had a field day with this stuff.

A Fish in Sea

If you only have one eye, you wouldn't be able to stand a 3D movie for very long. I drew this Sunday strip shortly after seeing the stunning Pixar 3D movie, Coraline. It sort of reminds me of when Toto looks behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz. All the props on the shelves are actual items that popped out of the screen in other 3D movies.

You Are the Comics Editor

Often, when people find out that I draw a comic strip I end up in a heated debate with them which usually turns into me having to defend the medium, in particular the lineup in our local newspaper the San Francisco Chronicle. Most people it seems don't seem to understand that the selection needs to appeal to a broad demographic and can't just be the editors favorite strips. It can't be an easy job. Personally I think the Chronicle has it about 70% right which is more than most.

So here, for the record is the line up of the 20 strips in no particular order that I would pick if I was the paid comics editor for a major metropolitan daily newspaper. Strips only, no panels. It in no way reflects my own personal favorites! (which you can see in the list on the right).

Doonesbury - A no-brainer. One of the most intelligent and greatest strips ever.

Cul-De-Sac - Currently the most interesting strip in terms of complex characters and tapping into that non-gag type Seinfeld humor.

Get Fuzzy - Always great to see a strip pushing the envelope with great writing as well as great art.

Lio - It's dark. It's wordless. It's fabulous to see in so many newspapers.

Pearls Before Swine - Just too funny to leave out of any comics page.

Dilbert - Scott Adams is on autopilot these days but still churns out a consistently high product.

Zits - The best of the crop of "family" strips. although for the record I thought The Norm (RIP) was better.

Bizarro - Consistently quirky and, well, bizarre.

Non Sequitur - It's great to see Wiley run riot in his little space.

Pooch Cafe - Okay, it's Canadian but it's no "For Better or For Worse".

Candorville - Sometimes Darrin Bell strays into nerdiness with his vampire and Star Trek references but his political strips were a happy replacement for The Boondocks when Aaron McGruder packed it in.

Luann - Somehow it always manages to grasp its way out of mediocrity to remain interesting.

Mutts - So well drawn that the artwork trumps the banality of the writing.

La Cucaracha - This is a better strip than most people give it credit for. It's provocative as well as having characters you care for.

Sally Forth - Francesco Marciuliano has done a really great job of writing this strip back into relevancy.

The Duplex - One for the conservatives.

Baby Blues - They sell a lot of books and get away with jokes about squirting breast milk.

Garfield - It kills me to include this but kids love it and it's gotten better since Jon got a girlfriend.

Zippy the Pinhead - In a just and fair world, Zippy would be more popular than Mickey Mouse and parents would take their kids to Griffyworld.

Over the Hedge - Just because Pogo's gone and everyone likes anthropomorphic animals.

Artsy Fartsy

The text in the first bubble is a word for word transcript I overheard from an actual art museum docent (I'm not kidding). The strip was then sketched and inked in the cafe area of the same gallery. These are the lengths I go to in order to bring you the originality and authenticity you can expect from this strip.

Vintage Spiderplant

Direct from 1985, a full 23 years before Robert the Plant, comes this crappy old strip I drew back in art school. All the strips were basically the same..... three panels of complaining plant and then the final panel showing some unexpected consequence. He was supposed to be the plant version of Peter Parker but I never got as far as giving him any super powers. Apparently spider plants are native to South Africa. Who knew!

The Mad Reader

I blatantly ripped off the "tired, run down and logy" line from the early issues of Mad magazine which remain to this day a huge influence on me. Notice that the carpeting came back for this strip, just so you can tell they're in an attic (or maybe it's a basement) in the last panel. Also, the ghost of the globe that was destroyed by a dart at the end of 2008 makes a guest appearance.

Madcap

This is a game I used to play a lot with chums after a few libations. The incident above actually occurred although the resulting famous person in that case was Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. I changed it to Preston Sturges just because I'm a huge fan.

Edoc Sdrawkcab

For a few brief weeks in 1976 I did actually write my journal in "secret code". I like to think I soon wizened up and figured it probably wasn't terribly effective but more likely I got lazy or forgot. 1976 was actually the first year I started keeping a daily journal (or "diary" as they are called in Britain). I've not missed a day since (really!) and have all 33 volumes lined up on a shelf. Another amazing Lemon factoid that can only be found here!

Rabbits Against Clovis

I've mentioned Lucus Turnbloom's "Imagine This" strip before on this blog. Well, while he's taking paternity leave at the moment he's asked twelve cartoonists to do his strip over the next two weeks and he's assembled quite a stellar cast of guest cartoonists. Tony Piro (Calamities of Nature) and Brian Anderson (Dog Eat Doug) provided the first two strips. Here's my humble attempt/homage that runs today. IMHO Imagine This is one of the best drawn web strips currently running. It's a sort of mutated crossbreed between Calvin and Hobbes and Get Fuzzy so if you haven't already seen it, what are you waiting for!

Giants Amoebas

This is from one of my 1971 sketchbooks so I would have been a mere six years old. It appears to be a story about a deep sea diver discovering an amphibious colony of doodles, one of which clearly went on to be the inspiration for Pac-Man. The numbers are obviously some sort of secret code.

How To Get A Head In Cartooning

Here's a strip I ran on Sherpa last September:... and here's the original version as I first drew it. Sharp-eyed readers will notice the Homer Simpson-like head was supplanted by a skull. I'm not sure why I self-censored here but I was happier with the result. Maybe the skull looks goofy enough that you can overlook the otherwise realistically rendered human digestive system. I've only ever received one complaint (so far!) about a Rabbits strip and that was a reference to one of the characters urinating in his pants rather than miss the National Anthem at a ball game. Notice Doodles the Duck in the background making perhaps the worst shot ever in the history of miniature golf.

Acme Weather Prediction Kit

For anyone who saw me drawing at Wondercon a few weeks ago, this was one of the strips I was working on. I've wanted to do a magic eightball gag for ages, especially since it was the original inspiration for the character. In the strip Eightball shakes himself before turning himself over although if you look at the box this is not recommended in the "instructions"! One feature of the strip lately is that with the troubling economic times the interior of the rabbits home has become very sparse and the carpeting has been replaced with bare floorboards. I'll bring back the carpeting when my 401K gets back up to a more healthy ballance. Tim Geithner.... are you reading this?

Water Color Off A Duck's Back

My watercolor set came out again this week to color in some old Rabbits strips. I inked this one way back in June 2008 and the joke is as fresh today as it would have been back in the 1940s.

GAG of the Month

Over on the Northern California GAG website I'm this months "featured artist". There's a mini interview I conducted with myself. If you're in any way connected with the graphic arts (cartoons, illustrations, design, photography) you should seriously consider joining the Guild. It's an amazing organization and not only do you get support and guidance (their assistance with copyright laws and contracts is invaluable), they'll send you an indispensable handbook and invitations to cool art events.

Dating Tips from 1969

Here's another very vintage comic strip. I drew this when I was four years old. The handwriting is my mother's. I assume that this is how I explained the scribbles to her at the time. On the right hand side it looks like the man is cursing because the wind has blown off his toupee. Or is he throwing up on a butterfly?

Redently Chewed and Mouse Masticated

Apparently hamsters (at least the Mesocricetus auratus or "golden hamster" seen in this strip) come from Syria. Who knew?

Hip Hippity and Hopping

The great Mike Durrett over at About.com did a romping mini-review of Rabbits Against Magic on his neat little Web Humor Blog. Thanks Mike. See the review here.

White Chocolate Lavender Passionfruit Green Tea-Black Sesame

We have a new "gourmet" ice creamery that just opened in our neighborhood. I tried the "balsamic caramel" and l "secret breakfast (cornflakes)" flavors when I was there on opening day. I'm sad to report that they have recently added "fois gras" and "pistachio bacon" flavors to the menu. Dead animal parts have no place in dessert.