THE CRAZY INFLATION BLOWOUT: REVENGE OF THE LOONS!!!

Well, here are, the end of January.  Well, post-wise we are as there's still a few days left.  But it'll be February by the time this blog comes back!  But enough about that though.  Today is all about lightening the load and pumping in some laughs.  With inflation raising concerns globally, I've decided to remind folks that there is a lighter side to this pressure that's building up!  Don't believe me?  Scroll down and see what's floating your way!  Enjoy...

Uh oh kids.  It looks like the balloon animals are fighting back!  Years of being inflated and twisted into warped playthings for ungrateful brats that so callously pop and discard them has left these Loonies with a twisted sense of revenge!  Hopefully they'll be a little more merciful to these puffed tykes than they ever were to the poor loons!  Time will only tell!  Today's art once again comes from Animaloonies on Twitter.  The theme for December 2020 was "Kidloons,' which would go on to become one of their most popular themes ever.  I guess a lot of us had pent up anger towards bratty kids that we just needed to get out of our systems!  All the kids in this piece had appeared in previous Animaloonies themes where they themselves callously inflated some poor animal, so for this piece, it was all simply payback.  I guess revenge is a dish best served inflated!

And that's a wrap for January 2022!  Hope you all enjoyed this expanded look at the lighter side of inflation!  Next month will see some old pals who are coming out of retirement to celebrate yet another anniversary as the demented duo, Mike & Mindy, return!  All month long we'll be seeing guest art provided by quite a few CRAZY pals from all over the world!  See be sure to come back and see how it all kicks off!  Until next time, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

THE CRAZY INFLATION BLOWOUT!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EH?

We are back!  And already halfway past January!  Said it many times since this blog started, but time flies, and very fast at that.  Hopefully you are all in good spirits today, but if not, I got some well-rounded laughs in store that should get a rise out of you as some friends have floated in from the great white north! They're just bursting with excitement, and a little bit of helium, to meet you all!  Who are these rotund guests?  Scroll down and enjoy...

What happens when a dear pal's birthday is coming up and you need a gift fast?  You call in some favors of course!  Bubble Fox has pals all over the world, and a good many of them live in Canada!  Pals like Lollipop, Donna, Gully, Max and Foster!  You see, it was Kim Belding's birthday and to celebrate, his beloved creation, Picpak Dog, wanted some balloons.  But why give the Pink Pooch just any old dumb balloons when he could have some balloons with a Canadian flair!  That's when Bubble Fox came in and called up some pals from north of the border, who all agreed to lend their services for such a noble cause, as Kim and Picpak have made us all smile a lot over the years!  Up front is Lollipop from Jennifer Cuthbert's wonderful educational comic series The Adventures of Lollipop and Max Fogherty from Caanan Grall's masterpiece of comedy, Max Overacts!  Meanwhile in the back, Donna from Donna McKay's semi-autobiographical comic series Once Upon A Donna and the always familiar Gully Golz from Warren Frantz's hilarious hockey romp Off Season, seem to have inhaled a gut-busting amount of helium to round out THAT much!  Due to a helium shortage, Foster the Beaver of Ryan Klassen's City Folk had to settle for regular air!  Kim loved this piece as did my fellow Canadian pals, though Caanan's actually from Australia originally, but art and comedy have no borders!  Of course, the hard part now is...  How do I top Kim's birthday art this year?!?

Another week down in our lighthearted look at Inflation!  Come back next week as we end the first month of 2022 with a total blowout!  We are inflating our grosses in the next post, so be sure to float in and give it a look!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

THE CRAZY INFLATION BLOWOUT: BIGGER AND BADDER!!!

Welcome back CRAZIES!!!  After a one-week break, the art has returned and in a very big way!  As we all know, inflation is a rising problem in America and many nations around the globe as finances remain stressed.  In the cartoon world though, inflation is an endless source of hilarity and amusement and has become one of the hallmarks of CRAZY!  So starting today and for the rest of this month, we'll be highlighting the lighter side of inflation with a series of larger than life pieces I've done in recent months that'll hopefully let some of the air out of this high pressure situation!  I think you will all find it a very enlightening experience!  Enjoy...

The Big Bad Wolf...  A serial huffer and puffer who didn't take into account that Little Red Riding Hood kept a bike pump in her basket for Grandma!  He certainly got his fill this time!  Might have to start calling him the BLIMP Bad Wolf from now on!  Today's art came from a Twitter collective known as Animaloonies.  Founded by my dear friends Nora, Poppy and Valentina, each month, they pick an animal and put it out there for artists around the world to draw comically inflated!  It's a very fun collective to take part in and obviously a natural for me given the often surreal nature of my artwork.  And contrary to popular believe, I had NOTHING to do with it's creation!  It is all just a wonderful coincidence!

That's all for this week folks, but be sure to come back seven days from now when we blow something else up real good!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

COMIC CON RETURNS!!! IN A NEW SPECIAL EDITION!!!

 

Welcome to 2022 CRAZIES!!!  Well, 2021 certainly ended much the same way it started, but there's no need to dive into that.  I have reason to have hope and I'm gonna continue to pump the good vibes in.  One reason I have hope?  Comic Con FINALLY returned after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.  And even better?  It was held safely with no cases or outbreaks traced back to it!  If that ain't a good sign, I don't know what is?!?  Granted, it was nowhere near the size it usually is, but there were still easily between 25,00 and 30,000 people that entered the Convention Center that weekend, and we pulled it off!  Everybody followed the rules.  Everybody stayed masked.  Everybody provided proof.  But most important, everybody was polite!  Overall, it was a really nice weekend!  So let's dive right in and see what this smaller version of the pop culture juggernaut had to offer!  Enjoy...

Right off the bat, crowds were far more manageable at this show.  They still shut down most of 5th Avenue, but everything really was at a nice leisurely pace!

There are some who call him... Tim?!?

One of the coolest parts of the weekend was my old pal Riki came out to spend a day at the show with me!  We have been to VERY many cons together, but this was the first time since 2017 he was able to make it out to a show.  It was great to have one of my tag team partners back!

Speaking of pals, one of my longtime cartooning buddies, Austin Verburg, was there in his "Master Chef" costume!  He was easy to spot as he's usually a whole head taller than everybody else! 

Granny was there with Sylvester and Tweety, who, oddly enough, caused no mayhem!

Usually another piece of the puzzle is needed to summon Gozer!

Casey Jones knows how to promote safety.  He's double masked!

One of the cooler booths was the Pacman Museum!  Lot's of items and memorabilia on display, including all the games!  An even better Pacman exhibit is currently on display at the Comic Con Museum in Balboa Park!

Squid Game was very well represented at the show.  In addition to this booth which had an insanely long line, it was easily the most popular costume at the con.

For those that didn't have tickets, which is weird as the show didn't even come close to selling out, Comic Con had a really cool pinball lounge set up at the Marriott Hotel next-door.

Even some of the Akatsuki got in on the pinball wizardry being offered!

Offsites weren't as big a part of the show this time around, but some were still there, which came a welcome surprise!  NBC returned to Tin Fish Square with a small but fun La Brea activation that included photo ops, swag and even a media display!

The Hilton also got in on the act with their own small offsite, a bus celebrating the TV debut of legendary underground comix series The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers!  It really wasn't much.  I remember working at the Hilton back in September and was excitedly told by some of the house workers there that they were getting something for Comic Con!  I'm sure that excitement died quick when a tour bus was all that pulled onto the lawn.  Still, it's the thought that counts in the end.

That isn't to say that everything out side of the con was small in scale.  DC and Warner Bros blew things up with their Peacemaker activation!  It was quite popular and had long lines the whole weekend!  They even stayed open well into the night on Saturday where those taking part were shocked to see John Cena himself being among the "volunteers!"

Would ya look at that!  It's our old pal Ed from Good Burger!  This guy was the smash sensation of WonderCon 2019, and I was happy to see him make the trek south!

Much like the last actual Comic Con in 2019, Gundam played a huge role at this special edition!  They had Gundam robots on display all over, a really cool shop where I bought a few figures and even up until recently had a hidden popup shop in San Diego!

The Empire doesn't take kindly to Starfleet entering their domain!  Into the Stargate portal Picard goes! 

Always nice to be served lunch by Lt. Dangle!

Rosie The Riveter was their and showing us all what a true badass she really is!

Not a very common sight at San Diego Comic Con: Breathable Halls!

Disney owns roughly two-thirds of the globe.  Yes, they had a cosplay presence here!

Happy to say that Artist's Alley was MUCH bigger than it has been at recent cons.  It was virtually nonexistent at the 2019 show.

Two icons of my youth: Kamen Rider and Ultraman!  Kamen Rider is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary while Ultraman kicked off the global phenomenon that is Tokusatsu!  Power Rangers, Beetleborgs, VR Troopers, hell, even Japanese Spiderman would not exist had it not been for Ultraman.  Kamen Rider has landed in America on two separate occasions, neither very successful.  The first attempt, 1995's Masked Rider, was a mess that just plain didn't work.  In 2009, a second attempt was made to bring it stateside, and although it was critically popular, the newer Kamen Rider suffered from the sad fate that Saturday morning cartoon blocks just aren't a thing anymore.  With news of a reboot coming in its home base in Japan, there's a decent chance it may try for a third time in the US.  We'll just have to wait and see.

Last up for this post: Freddy Mercury Hulk because... Why not?

And that's all she wrote for Comic Con Special Edition!  A much smaller and quieter show than its spring and summer offerings, it was nice to be able to just stroll and browse without fear of getting trampled.  I will say the panel lineup was kinda weak and it would've been nicer if some bigger name companies could've taken part.  I was stunned that IDW wasn't there as they are based in San Diego.  Their studios are literally less than 15 minutes away from Downtown.  Also would've liked some smaller comic sellers there, the ones that have nothing but trashed dollar boxes.  Every comic being sold there was either mint or modern.  Needless to say, I didn't unearth any hidden gems at this show.  Still, the people who were there were great and I discovered several new titles while walking around.  Will this lead to a fall show?  Hard to say.  I don't think attendance was a big as they were hoping, but I also think the overall endgame here was to see if they could safely put on a large-scale comic con, which they did.  In addition to the pandemic, Thanksgiving weekend is also a hard sell for a convention of any kind really because there's just so much going on.  There's many questions going into this year and the future about a fall show, but for now, I think we should all take this as a victory and a good sign that WonderCon and regular Comic Con can safely happen and will happen again this year!  Fingers crossed...

And that's a wrap on week one of January 2022!  Next week, the art returns in a VERY big way!  Don't pop with excitement!  We need y'all to come back and see what I'm floating your way!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!