MIKE & MINDY: 11 YEARS AND STILL CRAZY!!!

Welcome to February CRAZIES!!!  It's a new month and with it, a little renewed hope.  Valentines Day isn't too far off, Spring is around the corner and vaccines are beginning to roll out.  It's a very slow process but hey, it's a start.  February also marks another special occasion: The CRAZYVERSARY!!!  That's right!  This month marks 11 years since since I launched this blog with the help of a couple a rascally kids whose only mission in life it seemed was to wreak as much cartoony mayhem upon each other as possible!  I'm talking about Mike & Mindy of course, and today they come out of cartoon retirement again, albeit not in as grand of fashion as last year's bash.  But they are still here none the less and have brought another longtime pal of all things CRAZY with them!  Who you ask?  Scroll down and see!  Enjoy...

It ain't a party without cake, and it just ain't a CRAZY party without the legendary Dancing Asparagus coming OUT of the cake!  His origins are more simple than people realize, but the Cliff Notes version of it is he initially appeared as a mere mention in a jam comic that I ran with once it was my turn to draw a panel.  He appeared in my comics and art a lot during the run of M&M and Mushrooms and sort of became the unofficial Ambassador of the CRAZYVERSE.  He hasn't appeared much in recent years, but folks still remember him and it seemed only appropriate that he'd appear again as Mike and Mindy make their own return during their special month.  They may all be retired now, but these characters all still mean a lot to me.  They were my first stars and they will always be a very important part of the CRAZY legacy.

Well, that's all for this first week of February, but we'll be back next time with some fun guest art all paying tribute to the madness that is Mike & Mindy!  In fact, we'll be treated to this guest madness all month long, so stay "Tooned!"  Until next time, stay safe, take care and I'll catch y'all later!

MIKE AND MINDY RETURN!!! 10 YEARS HELIUM, BLOOMERS, MAYHEM AND... ASPARAGUS!!!

It's here!  The moment we've all been waiting for!  Mike and Mindy, the tykes that started it all, have come out of cartoon retirement to celebrate ten years of shenanigans, most of it involving helium, bloomers and other assorted mayhem!  The story of M&M is actually a pretty simple one.  After years of doodling and drawing but not really having much direction,  I came up with these two kids who popped up in another series I was working on at the time called Mushrooms.  Their initial appearances were as random kids in one-off comics with no real plans for them beyond that.  Somehow, the thought of a boy and girl duo really appealed to me and after a few more scribbles, there they were: Mike & Mindy!  They informally debuted on the Kids Love Comics blog back in January of 2010.  Ray Friesen, a cartoonist I had met at Comic Con sometime earlier, was kind enough to give me a shot and posted them for me.  After further thought and encouragement, I started what is now known as The CRAZYVERSE the very next month, the blog for all things CRAZY!  Well, if your definition of crazy is my comics, art and convention pics, then yes, all things CRAZY!  At the time, I had no social media presence, so it was a bit of a surprise when M&M started gaining a little bit of traction with fans.  By 2011, I finally added Twitter to the mix and things really took off from there!  In all, Mike & Mindy ran from February 2010 to December 2014.  They appeared in over 60 individual comics, three books, numerous splash pages, T-shirts, sketch cards and even quite a few guest comics to boot!  Although it's been over five years now since they ended, ten years is still a remarkable deal, and so all this month, we are celebrating their achievement!  Today marks the first NEW M&M comic since they ended (The two-page comic that appeared a few years ago had been drawn while they were still going, it just hadn't posted yet).  In addition to today, another new comic will bookend this month and we have plenty of guest comics in between!  So sit back and enjoy this revealing look at Mike and Mindy, as well as another old friend longtime CRAZIES might recognize!  Enjoy...

Dinner and a show?  Who could ask for more?  The Giant, Dancing Asparagus?  Hmm, okay!  You got him!  In addition to Mike and Mindy, this spirited vegetable has also made a return, though he never formally retired.  I just had no real reason to use him in anything after!  The Dancing Asparagus has a storied history.  He was born of the Buns & Wieners Club jam comics and somehow sorta became my character.  Given the content of my comics, I guess a giant, dancing vegetable really wasn't much of a stretch.  As far as personality goes, he really had none.  He literally would just show up and start dancing!  So I guess today's comic is not only monumental in that it features Mike and Mindy's return, but it also marks the first time ever that the Dancing Asparagus has had a job AND a name!  Asparago just seemed like a good fit for a magician/dancer.  As for the gag, I guess Asparago had been watching some Benny Hill or Looney Tunes prior to taking up magic because this is definitely a trick out of those playbooks!  Mike and Mindy seemed to be taking it quite well.  If you can't have an underwear dance party with a giant, mutant vegetable, who can you have an underwear dance party with?

That's all for today.  We got a guest comic on Wednesday that's full of youthful promise, so be sure to come back and check it out!  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all later and welcome back Mike and Mindy!