HAVE SAPPY!!! HAVE A SAPPY!!! HAVE A SAP, SAP, SAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

THE END IS NEAR!!!  The end of 2017 that is!  I won't get into the sorted affairs of the world in this post.  Twitter and Facebook can sum it up much more graphically than I ever could.  Instead, I'll merely reflect on my experience with the year.

2017 had many up and many downs, as any year will really.  WonderCon and Comic Con were certainly high points for me, as they are every year to be honest.  It was a tight year financially for me, but that's almost become the norm in my life.  I'm about to not have to worry about my car payment anymore, so that's gonna help a lot.  Hopefully 2018 will be the year I finally make some gains for my future.

Losing my dad was obviously another hard blow.  It was something we weren't exactly shocked by, but at the end of the day, nothing prepares you for losing a parent.  It will always hit hard, no matter how expected.  I had a hard time with it initially, but the response that came from his passing was just mind blowing.  On Twitter, my timeline was flooded with condolences and well-wishes from pals, and a good many from total strangers even.  It reaffirms my faith in humanity in that there are still kind people in the world that would offer support to someone they don't know.  His wake had close to 200 people show up.  My greatest fear was being alone at his memorial because he'd burned so many bridges over the years.  To see that all these people still loved him and forgave him helped with the healing.  It was because of that, I was able to see my dad as I saw him as a child again and not as the shadow he had become towards the end.  In a way, he was redeemed.  It still saddens me he'll never get to see the great things my brother and I and his grandchildren have yet to accomplish firsthand, but I know in Heaven he looks down on us and is proud.

Creatively speaking, I'd say 2017 was a banner year for me.  Bubble Fox and the blog cartoons were very well received and I made strides in other art arenas that I'm very happy with.  Building my Halloween props for my front yard was a blast and got so many of my neighbors excited.  I even started taking another look at screenwriting this past year.  I look forward to more comics, more cartoons, more prop builds and who knows?  Maybe even a script or two in the coming year.

I'll end this post and 2017 with a simple plea to please be kind to one another.  Hatred is a vicious beast and one that is not easily defeated once it gets started.  By helping one another and just plain being nice, maybe we can make a difference.  Take care my CRAZIES.  May the coming year bring happiness and success to us all.  Catch y'all in 2018!

MIKE AND MINDY AND MISTLETOE!!!

We are back and well past the halfway point of December!  Christmas is just a few days away and already the North Pole is on lock down as Santa goes through his intense physical training regimen so he can be ready for the big night!  Given that he's been at it for over 2,000 years now, you'd think he'd have it down to a science by this point?

As you can see up top, Mike and Mindy have once again come out of cartoon retirement to bring some laughs just in time for the holidays!  Not sure why such highly poisonous plants like mistletoe, holly and poinsettias are the symbols of Christmas, but I suppose they work better than rotten apple cores, a pair of underwear and a Kenny G album!  During their run, many fans often asked me what Mike and Mindy's relationship truly was?  Were they siblings?  Cousins?  Friends?  "Serious" friends?  All good questions to which I always answered quickly, friends!  They're just really good friends!  Their habit of being comfortable around each other does give a family feel for sure, but the truth has always been these two tykes are just really good pals.  Good pals that will likely get married someday!  The basis for their relationship was always that of two kids that like each other, but don't know how to properly express it, hence the constant teasing/pranks between them.  We can all be goofs as kids, and these two were the embodiment of that.  So I hope that clears up the mystery of M&M!

And so ends all of the Holiday hubbub for the year.  Christmas will have passed by the next post and all eyes will be on the coming New Year!  It's never too late to help others this season so please donate while you still can!  Every little bit helps!  I wanna wish all of you a very safe, wonderful and Merry Christmas with all of your friends and loved ones.  Life changes very fast, so please cherish those around you and let bygones be bygones.  Until next time, take care and I'll catch y'all later and Merry Christmas!

A MOST MERRY MOUSE!!!

Woohoo!  Getting closer to Christmas y'all!  So many things to see and do!  Provided I'm not sick or hurt, tomorrow will be annual my visit to Knott's 'Merry" Farm while Friday brings Star Wars back into my life!  For those who don't live in SoCal or a state where theme parks are open year-round due to more agreeable weather, Knott's Berry Farm has long been number two in the California theme park hierarchy.  Literally minutes away from Disneyland, it tends to get overlooked sometimes but man is it a fun place, especially between October and December!  Their Halloween Haunt is legendary, having received global acclaim as being the best Halloween attraction around!  The Merry Farm during Christmas time is also a blast, giving a real down-to-Earth feel as opposed to the bazooka full of cheer that Disneyland blasts everyone with during their holiday festivities!  Both parks are worth going to during the holidays, so try to go if you can!  Anyway, enough rambling!  Time for some art!  Enjoy...

This little mouse got a lovely treat for Christmas: Fresh breath!  This, as well as last week's art came from the IlloAdvent art collective held on Twitter every year!  It was a bit of a challenge to come up with a new drawing for 25 days straight, but well worth the effort!  I must have been channeling my pal Jamie Cosley in this one, because the sparkly eyes I gave my little mouse make her look like one of the insanely adorable characters he always draws!  Mice have always held a special place at the Esparza household when it came time to decorate for the holidays.  My mom has always kept a small collection of mouse ornaments to put around the house, despite the fact that she's afraid of them!  She's never said why she's so fond of the mouse ornaments, but I guess any vermin can be cute if you pump enough holiday cheer into it!  Might have to try this theory with spiders!

And so ends another week as we march towards Christmas!  A couple of familiar pals make another brief return next time to get us all in a silly mood for Christmas!  I would once again like to urge all my readers to please help those in need this holiday season.  Every little bit helps!  Until next time, take care and I'll catch y'all later and to all my wonderful Jewish friends, Happy Hanukkah!

YELLOW CHRISTMAS!!!

It is now December!  Although Bubble kicked off the CRAZY Chirstmas Season last week, it is now formally the 12th month of the year, so now I can listen to Christmas music and watch Christmas movies in a guilt-free environment!  One of my guilty pleasure during the holidays is the many Muppet Christmas specials that Jim Henson made during his run, with Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas being my favorite of the bunch!  But you didn't come to hear me ramble on about mistletoe Muppets.  You came for art!  So here it is!  Enjoy...

Well, the dog's certainly enjoying the moment, but poor Frosty sure isn't!  Frank Zappa made a song about this, but I think actions speak louder than words in some cases.  Good thing snow melts!  It was long a fear of my mom's that one of our dogs would pee on the Christmas tree one year.  Looking back, the only two male dogs I ever owned, a pitbull named Rocky and a boxer named Buddy, never did it.  And Rocky totally was the kind of dog to do it too!  She also always feared my cat Sparky would climb up the tree or attack ornaments, but ever the lazy cat, Sparky always left the tree alone.  He preferred sleeping under it.  To him, the tree was his castle!  My brother's cat's on the other hand...  Rocky, Buddy and Sparky are no longer with us, but all three were most precious to me and made the holidays that much better in the House of CRAZY.

And that's all for this first week of December.  We'll be back next time with a radiant rodent celebrating a sweet score!  Remember to think of others this holiday season.  Not everyone gets a Merry Christmas or a Happy Hanukkah.  By donating to a toy/food/clothing drive, you can make a world of difference.  So please help!  Until next time, take care and I'll catch y'all later!