BUBBLE'S BOUYANT, BALLOONY BROTHERS THREE BLOWOUT WITH JOSHUA HAUKE!!!

Time it is a tickin' CRAZIES!!!  Hard to believe that June is next weekend!  And while we welcome the arrival of Summer, we must not forget the virtues of Spring.  The birds...  The bees...  The Buoyant, Bouncy, Bubbled, Balloon Brothers?!?  That sounds a little sketchy, but perhaps today's art might shed some light on the subject?  Enjoy...

Ever the gentleman, Bubble Fox made sure all of his party guests got balloons before heading home from his party.  But when it was revealed that the Little Neighbor Girl from down the street didn't get one because Keith, Wayne and Dougie used up the rest of the balloons trying to talk like chipmunks, Bubble decided to kill two birds with one stone.  He inflated his rowdy guests with enough helium to guarantee they'll sound like chipmunks until puberty while also giving their little girlfriend the most lifelike balloons this side of a politician!  I'd say it's a fair trade.  At least until all that gas passes!  It's been awhile since Joshua Hauke has been able to take part in any guest activities.  That's because the Mad Man from Michigan has been insanely busy over the last few years!  He's moved, had kids, does school visits and comic cons and between all that somehow found time to create two new books about a boy and his daycare full of post apocalyptic mutants!  I often wonder how Josh even finds time to sleep some nights?!?  But he somehow found time for this special hand-drawn art honoring ten years of Bubble Fox and his antics!  It's a hilarious piece from one of my oldest pals in comics and I'm so honored to see Bubble Fox and the Brothers 3 FINALLY meet!  Thanks again Mooseman.  Considering all the bizarre adventures they went on over the years, being turned into balloons isn't even the weirdest thing to happen to the Keith, Wayne and Dougie!

Well, only one week left to go in this special month honoring Bubble Fox fan art, and boy are we closing it out on a high note!  I can't reveal too much else other than this art and its creator totally RULE!!!  So be sure to come back next week and see how it all wraps up!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

OH HOLY NIGHT!!! GALLAGHER MEETS HIS MATCH!!!

Welcome back CRAZIES!!!  Christmas beckons even more and hopefully y'all are finding ways to still have some holiday fun.  Baking cookies is a low risk, and delicious, way to still safely celebrate the season!  In fact, there are many seasonal treats that are enough to fill your hearts with joy in these trying times.  One "treat," however, should be avoided at all cost.  Which one?  You probably know already, but if I keep you in suspense, you'll be more inclined to scroll down and see for yourself!  Enjoy...

Fruitcake.  Hearty.  Hated.  Durable.  Few elements of this world are truly indestructible, but Fruitcake certainly makes its case here!  My Grandma Fiorentini, God bless her, would make them every year even though most of us couldn't stand them!  I, at best, could maybe handle two bites before I'd had my fill of them.  My Dad, God bless him too, and Grandma Nena loved them though.  Even after my parents split, my Grandma Fiorentini, who we all called Nana, would still make my Dad and his mom fruitcakes and date cakes every year because she knew how much they loved them.  It was a kind gesture that reminded me that despite some of the things she may have said, Nana really was a good and loving person.  She also loved to laugh and one of the people that made her laugh uncontrollably was the melon-smasher himself, Gallagher!  For those of you who don't know him, Gallagher was a comedian whose claim to fame was smashing watermelons, among other things, with a giant mallet!  One of the many jokes often thrown at fruitcake is how solid they are, and indeed, not even Gallagher's famed "Sledge-O-Matic" was enough to crack that tough exterior.  Gallagher is largely retired these days, but does do the occasional stage or TV appearance.  His act is actually pretty funny once you get past the food smashing.

And because the holiday season is in full swing, I got one more book recommendation for y'all!  My good pal Joshua Hauke is back, and this time, IT'S PERSONAL!!!  Just kidding, he actually just has a new book out, and it's gonna make you roar with approval, and laughter!  Check out Beasts To Feed Your Brother To: Vol. 1!

Got an annoying little brother but no means of permanently ditching him?  Then THIS is the book for you!  A comprehensive guide to all the various critters that hide under the bed, lurk in the closet or swim in the toilet, this book is your guide to finding, identifying and even attracting said monsters so that your home can be little brother-free!

In all seriousness, Josh Hauke is one of my closest pals in comics.  We both broke into cartooning around the same time, tabled at our first con together and have been booth-mates at many cons since and have provided each other guest comics many times over the years.  Having both grown up in large, wild families and loving cartoons, it seemed like destiny that our paths would eventually cross and it's been good times ever since!  Josh's latest book is a spinoff to his much beloved and critically acclaimed Tales of the Brothers Three, with many of the monsters featured in those comics finally getting their due!  It's a perfect book for all ages and actually makes a perfect stocking stuffer as it will actually fit in a stocking! Just keep it out of reach of Mook!  To get your copy, click the title link a few paragraphs back!

And that's all for today.  We'll be back next week with art so cozy, you'll wanna bust out your snuggliest jammies and stay in bed!  As the holidays approach, please be mindful of those that need help.  Obviously, things are tight for everyone right now, and it simply can't be helped.  But even some spare change in a Salvation Army bucket can make a world of difference if enough people help.  So, if you can, try and donate to food and clothing banks this season.  We're all in this together and every little bit helps.  Until next time, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

KICKING OFF CHRISTMAS WITH A LITTLE BIT O' CHAOS!!!

WELCOME TO DECEMBER CRAZIES!!!  And with that, welcome to the Christmas Season!  I know, it's been Christmas at every department store since October, but now it's okay to proudly display that ugly sweater with the light-up snowman you have hidden in your closet!  You wanna know what goes good with an ugly Christmas sweater?  A funny Christmas book!  And I just so happen to have one now available on Amazon!  Yup!  I have officially crossed over into the realm of picture books with my first offering, the hilarious Wendy's Christmas Chaos!  Peppertown star Wendy had been in hiatus long enough, so last year, she leapt from the comics to the pen and ink drawings of my ill_advent theme.  Well, actually, it goes a bit deeper than that.  You can say it all started back in 2016...

I had never taken part in anything like Inktober or illo_advent before, so this year marked a first.  For those not in the know, both take place on social media platforms, usually Twitter and Instagram, and you just post a drawing a day throughout the duration.  Both have themes, but some, like me, just do our own deal.  Since I was new to the concept, for ill_advent, I just did a bunch of random Christmas scenes involving the CRAZYVERSE characters.  One such drawing had Wendy eyeing a gift she couldn't open yet (See above image).  Two years would pass and I just kept coming back to that image and it always felt like more could come from it.  Fast forward to 2018 and suddenly I have a revelation: EVERY page for the 25 days of illo_advent would be part of a story!  Far from groundbreaking as many people have done it already, but this was a breakthrough for me.  I'd longed to get back to drawing Peppertown, but time just wasn't on my side, and this seemed like a good way to at least get little Wendy back out in the open.

In the end, I had a blast drawing it!  The art and story got a great reaction from the Twitter CRAZIES and generated a lot of interest in seeing it as a book.  A few days after Christmas last year, I took a good long look at things and agreed I did have something there.  In addition to posting art, I'd also posted a rhyme with each piece of art that I'd tweeted out and found that to be enjoyable too.  So the decision was made: Wendy's Christmas tale was gonna be a book!  But first, some things needed to be fleshed out a bit...

Funny as it was, 25 pages wasn't going to be enough for this tale.  Granted, it didn't need to be much longer than it already was, but some gags did require some setup pages, particularly the beginning.  If you go back on Twitter, the story literally just starts right before the madness ensues!  So the work began and new art and rhymes were created!  The above art, for example, was not originally in the illo_advent feed.  With everything drawn and corrected, all that was left was to put it all together and publish it!  That's a story I'd rather not talk about though.  It was a learning experience to say the least, but I'm through it now!

All in all, I could not be happier with the book!  The colors are great, the action is fast paced and the rhymes are pretty darn good if I do say so myself!  The above and below pics were illo_advent originals that have now been colored and polished and look even better on the printed page!

For those who aren't on Twitter, the Cliff Notes version is Wendy's not patient enough to wait until Christmas morning to open her presents and gives in to peeking, only to learn that her gifts have been charmed by elves to prank her any time she tries to peek early.  After catching the elves, she tries to trick them by disguising herself as Santa Claus, leading to disastrous results from the clearly-not-buying it elves!  What follows is a cat-and-mouse chase that culminates in a harsh but earnestly learned lesson about patience and karma!  It's a fun tale for any age, even the grownups!  So be sure to pick up a copy!  It's now available on Amazon and even qualifies for FREE shipping with a certain purchase amount!  Not a bad deal eh?  So pick up you copy of Wendy's Christmas Chaos today!  It's the perfect counter to the sappy Hallmark holiday specials!

Before I end this week's post, a HUGE thanks goes out to Joshua Hauke and Warren Frantz for their help as I created this book.  Both gave me a ton of advice throughout the whole process, especially on the cover art and Warren, being a Kindergarten teacher, tested it out on several grade levels at his school.  It was a huge relief when he reported back that the kids loved it and wanted another story!  Tell the Kindersmurfs that I'm happy to oblige, Warren.  But they have to take a lesson from Wendy and be patient!  I'm blessed to have such great pals like Warren and Josh.

And that's all for now folks.  Posting a bit earlier than normal this week so that I can get the marketing machine up and running, hence the reason you're seeing this on Monday.  We'll be back next week on our normal Wednesday schedule with some more Holiday fun!  As always at this time of year, try to think of others.  There are many out there who won't have such a merry Christmas without a little help, so please donate to food, toy and clothing drives,  Even some spare change in a Salvation Army bucket can make a world of difference for some.  Share the love this holiday!  Anyway, take care and I'll catch y'all later!

WONDERS OF THE WEB: MOOK GETS CRAZY AND BUBBLE TAKES A BREAK!!!

August has reached its stopping point.  Well, it will on Friday at least, but today is the last post of the month so for our purposes, August ends in a few paragraphs!  That relaxing art you see just above THIS paragraph signals that Bubble Fox and his critter pals will be going on their annual September vacation!  We got a great lineup of Guest artists ready and waiting, so be sure to check out all the fun over on the ComicFury site over the coming weeks!

And now it's time to wrap up our Web Comic Salute as we pay homage to a big party animal and monster who could give Beetlejuice and Maurice a real run for their money in the old attitude department!  Scroll down and let the good times roll!  Enjoy...

Why, it's Mook!  The sock-eating, color-changing, barking spider-wrangling pal of Wayne from Josh Hauke's Tales Of The Bothers 3!  Ever wonder why socks go missing?  It has nothing to do with dryers sucking them into lint traps.  It's all the work of hungry monsters who absolutely love the taste of filthy socks!  And there's no greater sock thief in the free world today than Mook, who's lucky to share a house with three wild boys that are always up to something!  It's amazing Mook's even able to keep such a lean figure with all the socks he routinely devours!

And that's all she wrote for the month of August!  Although Bubble and pals are going on a break, the ol' CRAZYVERSE blog will still be up and kicking because, well, these toons are relatively easy to get done compared to Bubble Fox.  Plus, it's just not in me to go into full Sleep Mode here!  So be sure to come back and see what's in store!  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all later!