We are back CRAZIES!!!  Last post of 2022!  Hard to believe we've come to the new year already.  As you get older, it all seems to go by even faster.  I look back now and can't even believe that both of my brother's kids are adults now.  I was practically changing their diapers a few years ago and now they're in college?  Time really does fly.  I won't drone on too much about the previous year.  Couple of lowlights for sure.  I got Covid, which sucked, but it really could've been so much worse which is why I'll say it again here: Go get vaccinated and boosted!  That's why it wasn't that bad!  My transmission also died, which was a very costly ordeal, but I made it through and got it fixed.  Overall though, 2022 wasn't too bad.  I worked a lot, got to go enjoy some seasonal festivities and best of all, I returned to WonderCon and Comic Con after FAR too many years apart!  The future is what we make of it folks.  Are there bad things out there to deal with?  Yup.  A lot actually.  But we are better than that and we WILL push forward and make things better for all to enjoy in the coming years ahead.  I wish you all a very happy, safe and prosperous New Year and may 2023 be blessed for us all!  Take care CRAZIES.  I'll catch y'all in 2023 with NEW art, NEW stories and NEW Con pics!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all in the not too distant future!  (Next Wednesday AD!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS YA JOLLY ANIMALS!!!

 

WOO HOO HOO HOO!!!  Christmas is here CRAZIES!!!  I won't waste any time here.  We're all excited and likely really busy with prepping for Christmas Day while also heading out for other holiday parties, festivities and such!  So let's dive right in, shall we?  Enjoy...

Hey hey!  It's Willow!  The long suffering girlfriend of Bubble Fox!  And she's singing us a lovely Christmas carol!  Why isn't Bubble with her?  Simple: He's not allowed to sing.  Court order!  That and because this was part of Illo_Advent, time was of the essence, so I likely only had time to draw one character!  Got a LOT of these drawings sitting around in old sketchbooks.  Eventually I'll get around to posting all of them!

That's it for this week!  We'll be back next time to send 2022 off on a high note, so be sure to come back!  Christmas is this weekend and Hanukkah is underway while Kwanzaa starts on Monday, so I'd like to wish you all a very wonderful and happy holidays!  If any toy, clothing or food banks are still open, please donate!  It's never too late to help those in need, regardless of the season.  Until then, take care, stay safe, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

THE HOLIDAYS ARE HERE AND LILLY THE HOLIDAY LIZARD IS READY!!!

We are back and ever closer to the big ride from the big guy in red!  No, not Truman Capote!  I'm talking about Father Christmas!  Kris Kringle!  Pierre Noel!  That wino on the street corner that the mall hired in a pinch!  SANTA CLAUS!!!  The elves are hard at work prepping the presents, reindeer and sleigh while Santa himself argues with Mrs. Claus about whether or not he should start dieting after the holidays are over.  It's an endless cycle, but a necessary cycle at that.  While you eagerly await the arrival of your gifts and family festivities, please take a moment to enjoy this little bit of seasonal art as my gift to you!  Enjoy...

Oh my are we in luck!  You've heard of Santa Claus, Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman and even Hanukkah Harry, but this rascally reptile tops them all!  It's Lilly the Holiday Lizard!  Her great love of ALL holidays has led her on a path to lift the spirits of everyone she comes into contact with, no matter the month or holiday!  She's a better booster than a Rankin/Bass special!  In reality, Lilly came about after a pal in England sent me a Christmas card after I'd already sent out all the ones I had ordered.  With none left, I drew a custom card with a new character, and Lilly the Holiday Lizard was born!  My friend loved it and I knew deep down this little lizard had some personality.  So I added Lilly to Bubble Fox!  She's not a regular character, but has been featured in several stories over the years and has been well-received for the most part.  She's quite scatterbrained and clumsy, two traits I know all to well!  When will Lilly strike next?  Only fate knows for sure... 

That's a wrap for this week, and hopefully for some of your Christmas shopping as well!  Trust me, you don't want to wait on that!  We'll be back next time with some more familiar characters to send us marching into the holiday weekend itself, so stay tuned!  As a reminder, food, clothing and toy donations are all open now and need your help filling them!  Donate today and help make the holidays happen for those who really need it.  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

GETTIN' STUCK ON CHRISTMAS WITH MIKE!!!

Welcome to December CRAZIES!!!  I mean, the holiday season is in full swing already here, but it was still November the last time we met, so the change in months MUST be acknowledged.  We're a few weeks away from not only Christmas Day, but a completely new year altogether!  The times are exciting for sure, but as the festivities start to take shape, let's all take a break from the hustle and bustle and enjoy a little bit of seasonal art to help calm our nerves.  Enjoy...

Uh oh.  Looks like Mike made the mistake of doing the infamous Triple Dog Dare!  Does nobody ever learn a lesson from Flick?  I think an even more troubling aspect here is Mike's total lack of warm clothing in obviously freezing temperatures!  By cartoon logic, he should be blue and have frost hanging from his nose!  Hopefully Mindy'd on her way with a cup of hot water to help!  This art was from my first ever attempt at Illo_Advent, a Twitter art collective that challenges artists to draw seasonal art for the first 25 days of December.  Not always easy, given how many things are going on during the month, but I love a good challenge!  Plus, the holidays just have a good effect on my imagination!

That's all for today, but fear not!  More seasonal fun will be scuttling over soon, so be sure to pop in next week and see who's come!  As a reminder, food, clothing and toy donations are all open now and need your help filling them!  Donate today and help make the holidays happen for those who really need it.  Until next time, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

MERRY CHRISTMAS DAMMIT!!!

Well, we move from one foodie holiday to another here.  Actually, pretty much EVERY holiday between Halloween and New Years is a foodie holiday when you think of it.  Oh sure, Valentines Day has candy and Easter has a feast, but food isn't the first thing you think of when those holidays pop up.  Food DEFINITELY isn't on anyone's mind on St. Patrick's Day!  But between October 31st through January 1st, it's just a nonstop glut fest!  But enough about that, it's now officially Christmas time!  And what better way to celebrate than with some festive Christmas art?  See?  I try think of everything when it come to these posts!  Enjoy...

Did I say festive?  I guess I meant miserable.  This art was part of my #illo_advent effort from 2019, with the overall theme being "Christmas Misery."  I wanna state right here and now that I in fact DO love Christmas, as much as everybody else does.  Having said that, there are a few things about the holidays that can be irritating, with shopping being one of them!  I'm fairly lucky in that I've only had a handful of bad experiences while out Christmas shopping, but I've certainly seen my mom and brother come home from a holiday shopping excursion looking like they were ready to murder something!  It's not always easy to be so holly and jolly when everybody around you acts like they already got coal in their stockings!  Another interesting note about today's art is that it is now available on my RedBubble shop as a Christmas card AND several other products, both wearable and stationary!  So be sure to look up JonsCrazyShirts on RedBubble to pick up this and other CRAZY merchandise!  I'd plug the links on the right side of my blog page, but I don't think they work anymore!

And that's a wrap on November 2022, but fear not!  We've already got a head start on Christmas and will only continue the festive fun from here, so stay "Tooned!"  As I always do this time of year, I once again urge you, dear readers, to help out those less fortunate this holiday season.  Times are tough for so many and it doesn't take much to drop a few cans off at a food bank or a toy at a toy drive.  Even some spare change in a Salvation Army bucket can make a world of difference, so please do your part if you can!  Until next time, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

TOM TURKEY'S TWISTED TERRIBLE TWOSOME, PT. 4!!!

We've come to the big day!  THANKSGIVING IS HERE!!!  Well, it's here tomorrow actually, but believe me when I say that as of this writing, I'm likely elbow deep in cornbread stuffing right now as I prep things in advance!  It's tough when you got one oven and three other relatives who need to bake things too, hence the reason I work so far in advance.  Seriously, It isn't even Halloween yet as I type this, that's how far ahead I try (And often fail!) to be!

Since it's Wednesday, and everybody might be in need of a break right now, why not see how Tom Turkey handles those devilish Brat Twins?  He's got Billy and Dorothy caught in their own glue trap and a lot of spare time.  What is Tom gonna do?  Scroll down and see!  Enjoy...

Nothing gets your point across quicker than spanking your enemies silly with a plank of wood!  Billy and Dorothy have had nothing but a BUTT-load of trouble with Tom since day one, and now, once again, they are bringing up the REAR!!!  Perhaps next year they'll get to the BOTTOM of things and catch that rascally bird!  That or just keep flying by the SEAT of their PANTS!!!

And thus concludes this year's Tale of Tom Turkey!  I'm sure that goofy bird will be back next year and still on the run from Billy and Dorothy Brat, two really bad kids that just don't ever learn!  In the meantime, we'll be coming back next week to end November on a high note and get Christmas started the CRAZY way!  Until then, take care and be especially safe this week.  Thanksgiving is tomorrow and Black Friday's the day after.  Some people tend to take things quite far kicking off the Holiday Shopping Season, so just be careful.  And while you're out, maybe consider donating to food, clothing and toy banks this holiday season.  A lot of people need help and it doesn't take much to do it, so try to think of others.  Happy Thanksgiving and I'll catch y'all later!

TOM TURKEY'S TWISTED TERRIBLE TWOSOME, PT. 3!!!

We've reached it!  The middle of November!  It's weird when there are five Wednesdays in a month, though it does make it somewhat easier as far as spacing out posts goes.  Tomorrow on Twitter, my dear friend Jennifer Cuthbert and I will be hosting the second annual CRAZIES Day Parade, a celebration of all things cartoony and loony!  To follow along, simply type in #CRAZIESDayParade in Twitter's search bar and see all the helium-filled hilarity unfold!  Since you all are so sweet and so loyal, I thought I'd let you, the CRAZYVERSE faithful, get the first look at my entry for the parade!  The above piece is playing off of the always gassy Sap O'possum, while the rest of the Bubble Fox cast try to coral the buoyant marsupial after springing another leak!  It's a mix of traditional and digital art, and pretty obvious which parts are which, but it's all good.  Digital's a great tool for sure, and as a fan of old school comics, I like that I can get a flat color look by simply using the paint bucket tool.  It's pretty much what's gonna happen when Peppertown relaunches in the near future.  But there really is something to be said about busting out actual art supplies like markers and paint and just going at it.  I urge aspiring artists and illustrators to try it all.  The more skills you pick up, the better your art will be!

And now, on to Tom Turkey and the Brat Twins!  Billy and Dorothy set a trap for Ol' Tom, but the wily bird was wise to their shenanigans and sprung a trap of his own!  Will it work, or is that funny fowl finally heading for the oven?  Scroll down and see for yourself!  Enjoy...

Nope, the Brat Twins really are that damn stupid!  And now, they are also sticky!  You'd like to think they would've known better as their father IS the farmer and likely would have mentioned the dollar-a-minute thing in front of them if it were going to happen, but as we've mentioned before, intelligence just ain't their bag!  So now the Brat Twins are caught in their own trap.  What does Tom Turkey have in store for the trapped twosome?  Come back next week and see how it all ends! 

Another week down as we head into Turkey Day itself!  Don't worry too much about overeating though because next week's Tom Turkey finale will help you laugh away the calories, so be sure to come back and check it out!  Until next time, take care, stay safe, donate to a food bank if you can and I'll catch y'all later! 

TOM TURKEY'S TWISTED TERRIBLE TWOSOME, PT. 2!!!

We are back yet again!  This is about the time of year I start mailing off any overseas Christmas cards I might have, as foreign mail delivery can take quite awhile, and start shopping for my Thanksgiving supplies.  My menu's fairly modest actually, but gathering ingredients is something I prefer not to dawdle on as anyone who's ever had to make a mad, early Thanksgiving morning dash to an open grocery store can attest to.  The Brat Twins, Billy and Dorothy, are also trying their best to get an early jump on their Turkey Day meal by leaving a trap for that ever tricky Tom Turkey.  He's got a strong record against them so far, but the Terrible Twins seem quite confident about things this year.  Will Tom get stuck in their Turkey Hen made of glue?  Scroll down and see!  Enjoy...

A dollar a minute to eat your weight in sweet corn?  That's certainly better than the dollar a minute I earn sometimes to put rock concerts together!  Much safer too!  The Brat Twins certainly seem interested in it as well!  It's obviously a trap that Tom Turkey has set for them, but the key thing to always remember about Billy and Dorothy is that they are really, REALLY dumb.  After all, who else would be tricked multiple times by a turkey, nature's D student?  We got two traps sprung here, but only will work.  Whose is it?  You'll just have to dangle like the Glue Hen's eye a little while longer to find out, or roughly seven days!

And that's all she wrote for this week, but fear not!  We are halfway through this timeless tale of a battle between halfwits and the next couple of editions will really stick!  So be sure to come back next week and check it out!  In the meantime, take care, stay safe and please donate to a food bank this holiday season.  It doesn't take much.  Until next time, I'll catch y'all later!

TOM TURKEY'S TWISTED TERRIBLE TWOSOME, PT. 1

Welcome to November CRAZIES!!!  October certainly ended on a weird note.  Now's probably a good time to clean about this.  I had Covid.  Despite all the precautions, it finally got me.  But you know what?  I felt kinda crappy for a few days and then slowly started getting better.  I have ZERO doubt in my mind that the reason it felt more like a cold than pneumonia is because I was vaccinated, though I haven't gotten the most recent booster yet.  Work's been insanely busy and my age group only just recently got approved for it, so timing really was everything in this case.  You can bet your asses though that I'll be getting it as soon as I'm cleared for it and I highly urge you, dear readers, to get your boosters too if you're able to!  They work.  Flat and simple.  I can actually attest to it.  And that concludes the preachy portion of today's post.  Now, on to the fun!

As previously stated, November is here, and you know what that means...  The start of Christmas overkill?  Well, yes, there is that.  But it's also time for my favorite Holiday, Thanksgiving!  Food!  Parades!  Turning leaves!  Hot cider!  The MST3K Turkey Day Marathon!  I love it all!  But there'll be time to celebrate all of that in the coming weeks, as we also must celebrate the return of that Feisty Fowl, Tom Turkey!  Yup, he's back again and still on the run from those pesky Brat Twins!  He left them wallowing in the mud the last time we saw him, but they've cleaned up and seem more determined than ever to get their prized meal in their bellies!  What nefarious plan do they have in store for Ol' Tom this time around?  Scroll down and find out!  Enjoy...

A turkey made of glue?  Really runny glue at that?  I don't think Ol' Tom Turkey's gonna fall for this, even if he hadn't overheard the Brat Twins' plan.  The Wiffle ball eyes are kind of a dead giveaway!  Tom clearly has a plan of his own, but will it be enough to fool Billy and Dorothy?  You'll have to come back next week and see!

That's all for this week, but what a great start, eh?  We'll be coming back next Wednesday to see how this battle of wills plays out between children and beast!  In the meantime, do take care, stay safe and get boosted!  Also, as it is that time of year again, perhaps consider donating to a local food bank this holiday season.  It doesn't take much to help those in need.  Until next time, I'll catch y'all later!

MORE LIKE A PUDDLE!!!

Well, here we are again, the last post of the month.  But hey!  That just means we are about to reach our spooky destination!  That's right!  All Hallow's Eve, aka, Halloween, is five days away!  While you fine "boos" and "ghouls" put the finishing touches and your costumes and party decorations, why not take a well-earned break and see what's crept in this week.  Enjoy...

Talk about a ripoff?  I always knew waterfront properties were a scam, but this takes it to a whole new level!  The Creature from the Black Lagoon gets the final spot of the month as we head into Halloween.  One of cinema's all-time classic monsters, he surprisingly hasn't appeared much outside of his initial films, the second of which was actually riffed on in a later episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.  Outside of a VERY effective appearance in Monster Squad and a blink-and-you-missed-it nod in the ill-fated 2017 The Mummy reboot, he's barely been used at all.  And yet, he's still very well-remembered.  Just goes to show you how effective that original suit was.  Quality makes a difference.  Budget and technology of the era wasn't on the filmmakers' side in those days, but they still delivered a kickass monster that has stood the test of time!  As far as the art goes, this wasn't the easiest to correct with all those dark colors, but it was still a blast to draw!  I do love a good monster!

And that's a wrap on October 2022!  Hope y'all enjoyed the spooky pageantry!  Next week, that rascally Tom Turkey returns and continues his war with those devilish Brat Twins, Dorothy and Billy!  Will Tom escape again or is he destined for the bellies of the Brats?  Find out next week when the chase returns!  In the meantime, take care and stay especially safe this Halloween.  The pandemic may be slowing down, but it's still happening so take proper precautions.  And also, be aware of your surroundings and make sure your candy/treats are safe.  Halloween is known for its tricks, some of which are not in the spirit of good fun, so be cautious.  Until next time, catch y'all later!

DINNER WITH THE DOOKS!!!

We are back and spookier than ever!  The Creeping Hour is ever closer and hopefully y'all have had some time to go and enjoy a few of the festivities of the Fall so far!  I've made it out to a few things (I hope!) but have also been working a lot!  October is typically our busiest time of the year as far as far conventions and trade shows go.  It's good for me financially, but not always optimal for going around and taking part in all the fun of the season.  Maybe one of these years I'll be able to join in.  But enough about that!  You want art and I got some!  So scroll down and take a gander why don't ya?  Enjoy...

Oh no!  It's the Babadook!  The myth!  The legend!  The... Who is he again?  I gotta be honest, I haven't the foggiest idea who the Babadook is, other than he's a villain from a horror movie from Australia I think?  I don't know?  But, he was simple to draw and giving him a plucky, perky wife just seemed like a natural!  Opposites attract after all.  Paula Abdul even wrote a song about it!  This piece isn't without its own horror though.  After all, is there any creepier food than Jello?!?  It's so moldable and jiggly!  There's definitely something suspicious about it!

And that's another week down as we get closer to Halloween, but fear not!  We got one more piece of spooky art to go before the Happy Haunts have their swinging wake!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

FEED... MEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Welcome back CRAZIES!!!  Now that we're past the mediocrity of Long Beach Comic Con, we can finally get into the seasonal spirit of Halloween!  Got some great art queued up this month, so let's dive on in and avoid any Knicks and scrapes!  After all, our first subject is ALWAYS thirsty for blood!  Who or WHAT is it?  Scroll down and see!  Enjoy...

Oh my goodness!  Audrey II is here and hungry!  Once a cute little plant bud in a coffee can, it turned out he/she was actually an alien plant bent on world domination!  Originally a monster from a 60's Z movie by schlock master Roger Corman, Audrey II was reborn in the early 80's when eventual Disney saviors Howard Ashman and Alan Menkin turned the flop film, Little Shop of Horrors, into an off-Broadway sensation, eventually making the jump to the big stage and then returning to film in a cult hit directed by Muppet legend Frank Oz!  For our purposes, Audrey II kicked off a new round for Twitter art collective Animal Alphabets, this time focusing on horror and SciFi movie monsters!  I was more than eager to take part in this one and had a great time with all the themes!  This movie in particular appealed to me.  Besides the Muppet connections, there were also a lot of SCTV connections to the film as well, so it was special for sure.

That's all she wrote for this week, but be sure to creep in next Wednesday where things will take a more cheery turn!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

LONG BEACH COMIC CON IS BACK!!!

 

Welcome to October CRAZIES!!!  Yet another tradition returned in 2022 after a three year hiatus, but we'll get to that in a moment.  First, take a look at my poor pumpkin patch...

It started off with a lot of promise, big healthy vines, flowers and leaves everywhere and an abundance of little pumpkin bulbs.  But within a month, they all shriveled up, leaving me with a handful of piddly pumpkins. Needless to say, I was disappointed and decided to cut my losses and pull up the dead/dying vines.  But then I walked out into my backyard and saw this strange occurrence...

Hot damn!  They'll put those things up in ANY open space, won't they?  It wouldn't be so bad if the patrons actually bought something!  It's the least they can do for hogging up all the parking on my street!  Perhaps next year, my pumpkins will be more successful.  One can only hope...

Now, back to the return of a yearly tradition.  Long Beach Comic Con has returned from the pandemic-induced hiatus!  In recent years prior, they'd cut back a lot in size and festivities.  Would they come back strong and blow things up like they used to?  Afraid to say no.  They didn't. In fact, they downsized even further.  I'd go on, but there are pictures waiting, so let's just get right to it.  Enjoy...

Here we have the winner for most creative use of a pool noodle in a cosplay prop!

Next up, the winner for most creative use of a frilly shirt!  So many frills!

The R2 Builders Club were one of the few Fan Clubs that returned to this year's show and as always, they were a hit!  They even brought Rex, the original pilot of the beloved Star Tours attraction at Disneyland!

Not a whole lotta booths this year, but some of the ones that did go had some nice displays.

There were many poor unfortunate souls in Long Beach that weekend, where a record high of 108F hit the city on the last day of the con!  Ursula took it in stride though!

Hook Deadpool and Tinkerbell!  I've seen a lot of Tinkerbell cosplay over the years, but this is the first time I've seen anyone do the version of her from Hook!

Catwoman enjoys her some lemonade!

Rambo knows it's important to mask up still!

An R2 unit went to fetch some pizza and chicken strips for its maker!

Would this be considered a Doggo-gorgon?

Party on Michael!

Johnny 5 came to chill with the astro droids!

Judging by the color of the flames, those were some particularly sweet donuts that Ghostrider was eating!

The Hyatt Regency Long Beach!  It's a very nice hotel and the adjacent Rainbow Harbor Lagoon is so much fun to walk around!  You can see numerous fish and birds hanging around the water, even several species of sharks and rays!  It's a pity they took away the bridges to the islands in the middle of the lagoon.  Still a fun site to visit.

The are many great access points and walkways around the Long Beach Convention Center, which is one of the things that makes it so sad that their comic convention has downsized so much in the last five years.  Hopefully that'll change with coming shows.

The only other fan group that came this year: The Trekkies!  Live long and prosper friends.

The Cars of the Stars were back in their usual spot, though they too downsized from the amount of cars that they usually bring.  And I should note that they brought more than just these two Jurassic Park Jeeps!  The rest were behind me!

Another amazing cosplay!  Even in a downsized year, LBCC still brought out some incredible cosplayers to the show!

Looks like the Riddler was able to score a few hard-to-find back issues!

And that was Long Beach Comic Con 2022.  It wasn't a good show.  It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't good.  This show used to be my favorite one to go to, more than SDCC even.  How it fell this hard this fast is beyond me. One could point to the pandemic as a cause to the cutbacks, and it's a valid excuse for sure, but this was happening long before COVID was ever heard of.  I hope they turn it around, I honestly do.  Long Beach is a fun place and I love visiting there.  They deserve to have a top notch Comic Con.  Next year though, I think I'm gonna go to Mid-Summer Scream instead.  That show looks awesome!

And that's it for this first week of October.  Be sure to drop in next Wednesday for some monstrous art kicking off a monstrous month!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

THE MYSTERY OF ZOULVISIA!!!

We have come to the end...  The end of September 2022 that is!  Pumpkins are piling up and tricks and treats are popping about everywhere!  But before we can hang out with our favorite ghouls and goblins, we gotta see to it that a lesser known spirit gets her day in the spotlight.  Who am I talking about?  Scroll down and see for yourself!  Enjoy...

Meet Zoulvisia!  A character of Armenian folklore, she may be a witch or a fairy or just a regular girl that lives in a magical realm and some of it rubbed off on her?  I honestly couldn't figure the story out, other than she and a King whose brothers she had slain live happily ever after in the end.  Hey, the original Cinderella had her step sisters mutilating themselves and then being attacked by birds.  They aren't always kid-friendly!  And thus concludes this round of Animal Alphabets.  It's by and large been all animals ever since, though there may have been a dive back into fantasy and myth in between, I honestly don't remember.  Guess we'll find out in the coming years!

And that's a wrap on September 2022!  I do hope you enjoyed these pieces, even though some of the art was pretty bland.  Sometimes ideas don't come as freely as I'd like and other times, it's all I can do to find time just to draw!  If a piece is pretty plain with no real gags, then it usually means I had a very busy week at work!  But when I do have some spare time, in addition to drawing, I try to get out of my house for a bit and next week, I hope to be shining a spotlight on my return to Long Beach Comic Con after three long years away!  So be sure to come back as we start October off with comics and cosplay!  Until next time, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

THE YOUNG KING... AND DR. X!!!

And we're back!  Again!  September marches on and things are really starting to get spooky outside!  Halloween ain't too far off and already decorations are starting to go up in yards, my yard being among them!  But there will be plenty of time to talk about mashing monsters next month as we got completely unknown fairytale characters left to cover in this current month!  So scroll down and see what we scraped up this week!  Enjoy...

It's the Young King and Dr. X!  The Young King is from Scottish mythology.  I tried to look up the story, but it just wasn't grabbing me.  Early on in the run, Animal Alphabets had asked some of us who should be used for X as there just wasn't a whole of characters to choose from.  Since human characters were being used, I jokingly suggested Dr. X, a character Bob Odenkirk played on Mr. Show.  For a moment, they ACTUALLY considered it before going with Xerxes instead, a character possibly even MORE obscure!  Dr. X was from a skit on the hilarious sketch comedy show Mr. Show With Bob & David.  It ran for four season on HBO between 1995 and 1998.  It took irreverent humor to a new level and still stands as a benchmark of comedy.  In one skit, an evil mad scientist named Dr. X successfully launches a laser into space capable of destroying the Earth.  However, being a fair evil scientist, he agrees not to destroy the planet on the provision that he be paid $30,000,000 a year, every year.  So he holds a star studded telethon every year to raise the money.  It was completely absurd and outrageous, but still insanely funny.  Since I just wasn't getting the Young King story, I decided to add Dr. X to the art, suggesting the Young King's age might've been the result of an experiment gone wrong!

And that's all she wrote for this week!  We'll be back for one more round of obscurity to close September 2022 out the proper way, so be sure to come back and check it out!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

SOMETHING'S "EELY" FISHY HERE!!!

We're back!  And already at the midway point of September!  Time really does fly as you get older.  I don't think anybody really realizes just how long a week actually is until they're well into their 30's!  But that's not the point of today's post!  It's all about art!  And I got some!  Scroll down and see what's slithering about!  Enjoy...

Hey!  It's... Xerxes...  From the Aladdin syndicated TV series...  *COUGHS*  I'm not gonna lie folks.  They were REALLY scraping the barrel finding characters for some of these letters.  I never watched a lot of the series that Disney put out based on their movies even though I was still within the age demo for it.  Part of the reason was because it was syndicated and as such was left at the mercy of whichever local station picked it up.  In the case of San Diego, my hometown, it aired on KUSI at noon, a time when my butt was parked firmly in a 40-year-old desk chair at school as opposed to my couch!  The larger part of it though was because even as a kid, I could tell that the animation quality wasn't even close to that of the movie and Robin Williams WASN'T voicing the Genie.  It wasn't the first time the Mouse House would pimp a beloved property on a dingy street corner, and it certainly wouldn't be the last.  This one was particularly insulting though as the movie is easily among Disney's best and could've spawned a great series of theatrical releases given how deep the Arabian Nights mythology really goes.  Now, they're just doing live action remakes.  Actually makes me yearn for the Eisner era!

Another week passes in this CRAZY time frame!  But we'll be back next week with even obscure silliness that'll hopefully make a few of you say "Hey!  I remember that!"  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

THE ELECTRIFYING WHITE RABBIT!!!

Welcome back CRAZIES!!!  September is here!  Yeah, I know, Summer vacation is over, though I haven't been a student in 13 years and most schools are year-round now anyway, still, that sentiment will always exist come Labor Day Weekend.  But not all is lost, for the Spooking Season is officially here!  Yup, Halloween is on the horizon and stores are already pumping so much pumpkin spice into their products that people are gonna be farting cinnamon and nutmeg until December!  But we'll be covering that all in good time.  You're here for some art!  At least I hope you are.  Frankly, I'm surprised spammers even bother posting comments sometimes around here, but that's neither here nor there.  I got some art to share so scroll down and take a look if you will!  Enjoy...

Well, that was certainly one way to get his watch working again!  You just can't trust a March Hare.  They're far too easily influenced by Mad Hatters!  Continuing from last month's theme of fairy tale creatures, I figured for September, I'd finish off this round of Animal Alphabets, which was creatures of myth and fantasy.  Alice In Wonderland certainly has its fair share of critters in it, both real and fantastical, and it all started with the White Rabbit catching Alice's attention.  This was a fun piece to do and actually had what Bob Ross would call a happy little accident happen to it.  You see, I draw these on vellum paper, a good thick stock that works well for both dry and wet media.  Certain marker colors though do tend to really bleed through, long after they've dried even, yellows and oranges being the biggest offenders here.  In most cases, I'd just erase the overshoots in Photoshop.  This time however, the spreading yellow left a really cool glowing effect on the White Rabbit, so I decided to just leave it in!  Happy accidents indeed!

And that's that for this first full week of September!  Be sure to come come next week for more fairytale goofiness courtesy of your pals at the CRAZYVERSE!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

BEAUTY FROM THE HEART!!!

Well, another month is in the books, committed to history.  Summer doesn't actually end for a few more weeks but come tomorrow, everybody will be in fall mode, and I'm okay with that.  Halloween stuff is already popping up in stores, so now I can officially get into the spirit of things!  Oddly enough, as kids are going back to school, I'm starting my own little break...

Yup, it's that time of year again over at the Bubble Fox site but it's all good as some dear pals have stepped in with some guest comics to help keep things going while I charge my batteries a bit.  Doing comics is fun, but it takes a lot of energy, especially when you take into account that I work full-time and have other responsibilities as well.  Sometimes we all just gotta step away for a bit and for me, it's always September.  The Blog will still be up and running though as it's a lot easier to maintain weekly art posts than bi-daily comic posts.  Having said that, it's time to jump into today's art!  Scroll down and see what's up!  Enjoy...

Behold!  Vasilisa, the Beautiful?  Never heard of her?  Neither had I until Animal Alphabets really had to start scraping the barrel to find ANY fairy tale character just finish out the last few letters!  I'm a bit of a purest as far as animals are concerned, but she does have a skull lantern, so that's cool, right?  As for the fairy tale itself?  It's basically Cinderella but in Eastern Europe and instead of a fairy godmother, she has a creepy, magical doll.  Also, Vasilisa more or less succeeds on her own in spite of her cruel step family.  The more she endures, the more beautiful she becomes while her step family become more decrepit, proving that real beauty comes from the heart.

And that's a wrap on August of 2022!  Was a fun month and nice to get back into doing some art-related posts.  We'll be back next week with some real blasts from the past as I add inks and colors to some of the few pencil roughs I have left from my Daily Doodle/Sketch Dailies era!  It's been a while so it'll be interesting to update these pieces during inks.  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

THINGS ARE GETTING KINDA UGLY HERE!!!

We are back!  Well, I am anyway and hopefully y'all are too!  Getting close to the end of summer here but we're still finding ways to keep cool before we'll have to start finding ways to keep warm!  But enough about that!  Y'all want art and I happen to have some. so here it is!  Enjoy...

They say real beauty's on the inside, but this crazy quacker is ugly to the bone!  At least, that's what he'd have us believe anyway.  We all know that in the end, the Ugly Duckling was really a swan that had somehow hatched in with some ducklings. Of course that begs the question, is their a baby swan out there rolling with the ducks?!?  Damn these fairy tales leave so many details out while being told!

And that's how things go for this week!  But fear not, we'll be back next time to wrap up August with a real beauty, so be sure to come back and see how things end for the summer!  Until next time, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

THE BIG BAD BLOWHARD!!!

Welcome back!  We are smack dab in the middle of everything right now as we rapidly march towards the coming fall!  But enough about that.  It's still summer and things are really heating up, especially in Fairy Tale Land where it looks like a certain expandable wolf MAY have finally found an edge!  What am I talking about?  Scroll down and see for yourself!  Enjoy...

For centuries now, the Big Bad Wolf has tried numerous times to huff and puff and blow down the brick house of the Three Little Pigs, never once coming close to succeeding.  'Course, in all that time, ol' Big Bad was using common, garden variety oxygen, the same type that you and I breathe.  That huge tank of VERY combustible hydrogen, however, might level the playing field a bit for him.  That or blast everyone to kingdom come!  This was another theme from Animal Alphabets a few years back and a Part 2 of sorts as the Big Bad Wolf was the subject of Letter B while the Three Little Pigs were the theme for Letter T.  This piece got a pretty good reaction from the Twitter folks.  What can I say?  People seem to really like inflated cartoon characters!

That's all she wrote for now, but we'll be back next week with some art that subjectively speaking is kinda pretty!  Until next time, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

ART IS BACK AND ITS A GAS!!!

Welcome back CRAZIES!!!  After so many weeks of Comic Con pics, it seems really weird getting back into the art part of the blog, but I have quite the backlog to post over the next few... Decades!  So, might as well jump back into it headfirst!  Ready?  I am!  Enjoy...

So THAT'S how they got the title?  If I'm being honest, pretty much all of my knowledge of The Wind In The Willows comes from either the Disney movie or the Disneyland ride, so I didn't even know that there was a character named Otter, or that he has a son named Portly, in the story.  Leave it to Animal Alphabets then to help get an uncouth American like myself up to speed!  I'm sure I made a lot of literary experts very mad by adding a fart joke to a classic piece of literature, but is it really any worse than the guys that added zombies to every Jane Austen novel?  Besides, that wind IN the willows joke is killer!

That's all she wrote today, but be sure to come back next week for some more hand-drawn fun as we continue our trek through fairy tale and literary creatures.  Until next time, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

COMIC CON 2022... A GRAND RETURN!!!

Well, here we are, two weeks removed from Comic Con 2022.  I'm still trying to process it all.  For a few days after, I wasn't even certain if it had actually happened, like maybe it was all just a dream.  But then I look at the gaping hole in my bank account and the bags full of swag that I got and I realize it all really did happen and I even got photographic evidence to prove it!

So, for one last time this summer, let's roll up our sleeves, slap on some GI Joe stick on tattoos, and take a trip to the VERY recent past and enjoy some Comic Con awesome!  Enjoy...

 

I don't think you'd want to build a snowman with him!

This year, my nephew Lucas tagged along for the first couple of days of the show and had the time of his life!  His dad, my cousin Chris, had just moved back to the US after two years of working in the Czech Republic.  I figured a trip to SDCC would be a great welcome home present for my ride bud and boy did we do a lot, including the Dungeons & Dragons Tavern offsite in Downtown!  What initially looked impossible to get into turned out to be the best run offsite at the Con this year!  I don't know anybody who DIDN'T get into it!  The atmosphere was incredible, the dragon attack effects were amazing and the Dragon's Brew they gave us really hit the spot!  This offsite gave anything Disney does at their parks a run for their money even!  Only downer, no swag.  But the experience was incredible!

Another offsite I was able to do was the Abbott Elementary Orientation, where I became the new 3rd Grade Teacher!  They had some great swag, but this site took way longer than it should have, especially considering that I was in line hours before it opened.  A walkthrough attraction shouldn't take more than 15 minutes, tops.

Thankfully, this kid didn't initiate AWESOM-O's fart or smell sequences!

Lo-Pan was there and had a keen eye on women with green eyes!

The Dragonball crew came back again for their third straight SDCC and they delivered big!  Lucas didn't want to leave so soon, so I had to set him straight.  These kids today!

Mega Bloks are back yo!  Part of Mattel now, they're making Masters of the Universe sets in honor of He-Man's (GASP!) 40th Anniversary!  How big of a statement were they making?  They built this life-size Skeletor statue out of Mega Bloks and placed it right NEXT to the Lego booth, which was directly adjacent to Mattel!  Talk about firing a shot?!?

Not surprisingly, American Horror Story got the Hilton Honors this year and FX also came back with an offsite that was a bit different than what they've done in the past, but still fun.  Instead of a giant offsite with numerous activations where people could come and go as they pleased, FX had a giant maze built where fans could stop by numerous photo ops and activations as they made their way through.  They certainly upped the creepy factor by throwing dolls all over the place, but there were some funny bits to be found too, like the vampire dance club!  All in all, it was pretty smoothly run and most fans made it in each day!

HEY HEY!!!  IT'S UNCLE MURPH FROM THE FOX KIDS CLUB!!!  If you weren't a kid in San Diego between 1990 and 1998, then this cosplay is totally gonna be over your head!  Uncle Murph was the mascot for the Fox Kids lineup on local station XETV.  In those days it was our original Fox affiliate, but these days the CW seems to air on it.  Uncle Murph introduced cartoons, held contests and promoted events all over Southern California!  I even saw him host an Irish Jig contest at a San Diego Gulls game on St. Patrick's Day in 1996!  It really is a pity kids today will never get to experience these simple joys.  Was fun while it lasted though!

The Petco Park Interactive Zone was back, though greatly diminished.  Hard to say if this was out of COVID fears or companies just not wanting to go all-in anymore.  Probably a mix of both really.  I wound up only doing the Black Adam activation but I'm sure the others were fun too.

Audible had an interesting offsite.  No swag or anything, but there were some very impressive sand castles as well as charging stations that people could use while listening to samples of books on tape!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH WHAT A RUSH!!!

The Road Warriors were in the house!

IT'S A BIRD!!!

IT'S A PLANE!!!

GOOD GOD, WHAT'S THAST SMELL?!?

IT'S FARTMAN!

The House of the Dragon offsite.  This thing ruined more childhoods than divorce that weekend.  Poorly run and executed, many waited entire days without ever getting in.  Sorry, but I can't justify wasting a day at SDCC just see a tent with a few props and actors in costumes in it.  Immersive offsites can be awesome, no doubt about it.  But it shouldn't take THAT long to do!  One of these days, somebody's gonna figure out a steady middle ground.

She's looking for the Queen!

Artie!  Strongest man, in the world!  He kept watch over all the little vikings in the exhibit hall!

The Gaslamp Quarter wasn't quite as busy during SDCC this year, but crowds would eventually show up by the weekend.  We all really missed the SyFy Street Team this year and are hoping they'll be back in 2023.  Fingers crossed!

Would you look at that!  It's Weird Al Yankovic!  Or rather his stunt double!  The real Weird Al always moves in the shadows while his doubles draw away the crowds!

Lastly, we'll end things on the massive Blizzard Entertainment booth, one of the few I've never set up!  These guys had nothing on the booth that Funko set up at the opposite end of the exhibit hall, but it was kinda nice to bookend things with two monstrous booths at SDCC.

And that was Comic Con 2023!  It was a very long three years in between 2019 and 2022, but honestly, it felt like yesterday when I arrived to start loading it in the Friday before it started, like no time had passed at all.  There were a lot of changes though.  Some booths didn't come back, be it for COVID fears or, like in the case of DC/WB, budget cuts.  Others that did come back took a less is more approach, Hasbro being the most obvious example.  On the flip side, a few booths really blew things up, like Funko taking up half of Hall G!  Offsites were a mixed bag, as they usually are.  It's been a common complaint from me for years now, but others seem to be catching on too: Most offsite activations are NOT run very well.  I won't start naming names, especially since I already tagged a couple of them earlier, but there are ways to make it work so that everyone gets to see.  Twelve years ago when the offsites started, crowding issues hardly ever happened.  Maybe it's time to revisit those past experiences and see WHY they worked?  Over all though, I had a wonderful time.  Saw a lot of old pals that I hadn't seen in a good long while and discovered some awesome new books and comics too!  Taking my nephew Lucas with me was awesome.  He's getting older now, so the window of him thinking I'm cool is starting to shrink!  Glad I could show him the ropes a little.  I think more than anything, Comic Con this year, much like last fall's Special Edition, was a test.  Companies and fans are still wary of things, and rightfully so.  As of this writing, numbers have been very low in regards to COVID, which is good.  The overwhelming number of attendees and exhibitors were good about masking up, so hopefully it's a positive sign in terms of next year.  We'll just have to keep are fingers crossed and keep taking proper precautions.

And that is a wrap on the CRAZY Comic Con Countdown!  I can't even believe how fast it went by.  It's gonna be a long ten months before the countdown returns, but with any luck, Long Beach Comic Con and WonderCon will be wetting our appetites soon enough!  Next week, the art returns with a look at characters of the fantasy realm, so be sure to come back if you missed all that!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!