MARTY AND SPUD MEET BUBBLE AND GET BUBBLED!!!

Well, after a long ten weeks, it's back to normal here at the CRAZYVERSE.  I mean, normal by this site's standards at least.  We've long tended to lean more towards the silly and absurd here than anything else, and nowhere is that more obvious than with the antics of a certain fox named Bubble!  He's at it again, this time with some new pals who were pumped to meet him, but didn't realize that Bubble Fox and "pumped" are a bad mix!  Think we all know where this might be heading, but it's worth scrolling down anyway!  Enjoy...

D'OH!!!  BUBBLE FOX!!!  MARTY AND SPUD SAID THEY WERE PUMPED TO MEET YOU, NOT THAT THEY WANTED TO BE PUMPED "BY" YOU!!!  That fox is a menace!  He just can't resist when cartoon physics are involved!  I know young Marty was probably looking forward to a growth spurt someday, but he was likely hoping to be taller, not wider!  Gonna be a wicked case of gas later on!  Marty & Spud are the creations of my good pal Matt Hansel, a veteran cartoonist of MANY titles, most notably Hagar The Horrible and a whole host of toons over at American Mythology Comics, including Casper The Friendly Ghost!  When Matt offered commissions on Twitter last summer, I jumped at the chance to get some original art from one of my favorites, not to mention see Bubble Fox in another awesome artist's signature style!  Might have to commission Matt again next year just to see how much more Bubble pumped them up!  Thanks again Matt!  Nice to see that Marty and Spud don't have inflated egos!

That's all she wrote for this week, but we'll be back next time for more antics from a CRAZY, and spooky, friend!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

FULL OF HOT AIR!!!

Welcome back CRAZIES!!!  Can you believe how late we are into April already?  The month ends next month fro crying out loud!  We're not too far off from some summertime fun, but first we gotta enjoy what's left of spring!  And what better way to enjoy the season than some art?  Art with critters no less?  Scroll down and enjoy...

Oh my, those foxes are quite full of themselves.  Well, foxes that work in the news business, particularly those that cover politics, do seem to be constantly gassed up!  That turtle certainly said it best: Those foxes really are blowhards!  This piece was part of Foxloon Day from the former Animaloonies Art Collective on Twitter.  The theme was Foxloons (Inflated foxes), which I admittedly have drawn a few of over the years.  With things being the way the were in the world at that point, this seemed like a perfect commentary.  Another funny little tidbit about this piece are the station call letters.  XETV is a station based in Tijuana that broadcasts in San Diego.  From the 1950's into the 1970's it was our original ABC affiliate before they moved to KGTV Channel 10.  In the 1980's, XETV became our inaugural FOX station and would hold that position well into the 2000's, when FOX moved to KSWB Channel 5.  These days, it's a CW affiliate but for a good chunk of my life, it was a FOX affiliate and so I paid homage to that in this art!

That's all for this week CRAZIES, but fear not!  We'll be next week to finish April off right!  It's my birthday this weekend, so I'm off to celebrate!  Until next time, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

WINNERS AND LOSERS!!!

We've done it!  We've reached the end...  Of January!  What?  Did you think I meant something else?  We still got plenty of fun to be had this month and this year in general, but more on that when the time is right.  Speaking of more, we gotta wrap up our fight again Inflation this month, and we saved quite a doozy for last!  Don't believe me?  Well then, just bounce your way a little further down the page and see for yourself!  Enjoy...

BUBBLE FOX?!?  WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?  I mean, I know the Little Princesses are evil and no doubt deserved to be turned into dirigibles, but what did their Goblin Butler ever do to you?!?  This is what happens when you enter a CRAZY contest.  You get a CRAZY prize!  Another Twitter art collective run by Jennifer Cuthbert and myself, this time it was the #CRAZYTalentShow!  We got quite a few entries, all insanely good, but at the end of things, Jennifer and I decided that the piece done by the incredible Nora Racz, featuring her Evil Little Princesses putting on a show, was the best of the bunch!  And so they were given their prize, a year's supply of helium, all at once by Bubble Fox himself!  This was a fun piece to do, but boy did it take awhile to color, especially later when it came time to do Photoshop corrections!  Darker colors are just a straight up pain!  Hopefully these kids didn't get a swelled head over their win, but as far as inflated egos go, these Evil Little Princesses are usually pretty pumped!

And that's a wrap on January 2025 and our Fight Against Inflation for the year!  I can't think of a funnier way to kickoff the new year, well, maybe a whole month of fart jokes instead, but that would likely get old fast.  Be sure to come back next week as we begin a new month with new fun.  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

IT'S A ROUND DOG'S LIFE!!!

What the?  Company?  Oh my!  I wasn't expecting visitors today!  What's that you say?  Loons?  You want...  LOONS?!?  Well then, you've certainly come to the right place because we are using good, old fashioned cartoon loons to fight bad inflation with good!  So pull up a chair and relax as I roll up some laughs for you!  Enjoy...

Oh dear!  When Mr. D said he wanted to do some lawn bowling, Jazz and the others should've been a little more cautious about just how extreme the notorious Dalmatian would take things!  A regular bocce ball simply wasn't enough for this daredevil dog, so he downed five canisters of compressed air to become one puffed pooch!  Hope he has some air left because it looks like Libby's in dire need of decompression herself!  And Jazz, y'all are cartoon dogs.  It's best not to question the logic here!  The pooches above belong to my dear friend Janet Gamble, creator of the webcomic Get A Dog's Life, the tale of the world as seen through the eyes of four dogs!  One of those dogs is a rascally Dalmatian named Mr. D, who lives at the firehouse with a bunch of bachelor firefighters and as such has taken on a rather carefree, and frankly dangerous, party lifestyle!  He even dates a similarly dotted racehorse named, wait for it...  DOTS!!!  I'm sure the next time Mr. D tries this stunt, he'll use hydrogen as regular air just isn't intense enough for him!

Well, one more week to go in our fight against inflation!  Will good prevail over evil or are we all doomed to be enveloped by the bloated bodies of our own excesses?!?  Come back next week and see!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

PARALOONING!!! CATCH THE BREEZE!!!

Back for more are we?  Well then, you've certainly come to the right place as we got MORE of EVERYTHING this month as we continue our Battle Against Inflation, which in and of itself is all about more to begin with!  Well then, now that I've grossly inflated this paragraph, let's say we float down and see what artistic masterpiece (HA!!!) is in store for us today, shall we?  Enjoy...

Bubble and his pals sure know how to have fun.  Why parasail when you can para-loon?!?  Willow may not get it, but Pepper and Charlie sure do!  They stayed puffed for hours, enjoying fun in the sun and even taking a bounce or two among the waves!  I think that shark and octopus might be a little jealous that they didn't get to have a few turns themselves!  Eventually, all that helium came to pass, leading to Pepper and Charlie having the squeakiest farting contest ever!  This piece is from another art collective that Jennifer Cuthbert and I hosted on Twitter last summer called the #CRAZYSummerBlowup!  In it, artists are challenged to draw their characters either inflated into beach/pool toys or just having some summer fun in general!  This piece was a lot of fun to draw and features a very rare shot of Bubble Fox front-facing!  Can't thank Jimmy Gownley enough for showing me how its done!

Well, another week down as we are already at the halfway mark for January, but our fight against inflation is far from over because next week, it's all going to the dogs!  So be sure to come back and check it out!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!! THE CRAZY INFLATION BATTLE RETURNS!!!

WE ARE BACK CRAZIES!!!  51 weeks to go in this year 2025, so we may as well get to the meat of the matter: INFLATION!!!  It's not a good thing in an economy that will likely get even more volatile in the coming years.  As a cartoonist though, it is among our best tricks at getting somebody to laugh, and starting today, the CRAZYVERSE's annual Fight Against Inflation returns in an effort to bring more smiles and fight bad bloating with good bloating in the coming weeks!  So let's quit chewing the fat and float in with the Helium Hijinks!  Enjoy...

Uh oh Bubble!  Head official Gully is on to your scheme to give your pole vaulters more of a lift at the CRAZY Summer Olympics!  Just a pity your methods worked a little TOO well!  Sap, Clover and Mooch floated all the way to the Alps before finally being rescued and deflated and returned to Paris to watch the rest of the games!  Today's art was part of the #CRAZYOlympics art collective that Jennifer Cuthbert and I hosted on Twitter last July!  A fun effort that saw cartoonists from all over the world draw their characters performing in popular (And not so popular) Olympic Events.  Here, Bubble Fox was hoping to coach the Ragtags to Olympic glory, but his use of Performance Enhancing Gasses (PEGs) led to disgrace!  In a funny turn of events, my good pal Shaylee Robson sketched a few quick revenge doodles that saw her character, Invisibella, rescue the Ragtags while also giving Bubble his just desserts!  Eventually I'll share these hilarious pieces with the CRAZY faithful, but for now, let this be evidence that cheaters never prosper, unless they're politicians of course!

Well, that's all for now, but be sure to come back next week for even more puffed posteriors as our fight against Inflation continues!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

MIKE AND MINDY... LOONY FOR LIFE!!!

Welcome back CRAZIES!!!  Well, we've reached the end of another month...  In a few days at least!  But for all intents, August and Summer is just about over.  Believe me the abundance of early pumpkins is making that VERY clear!  But there's still a little time for some fun in the Sun, so how's about we see what guest fun has been floated our way this time?  Enjoy...

Would ya look at that?  It's our old pals Mike & Mindy drawn by the amazing Sean Foley Hall!  Sean is the amazing artist behind such fun titles as Dirk Brody and Agnes From S.P.A.CE.!  He's also a good friend and amazing guy.  When a fellow friend needed help last fall, Sean did not hesitate to offer commissions as a means of raising funds.  Well, I just couldn't pass up getting some original art from Sean, not to mention helping a dear friend, so I ordered two pieces: One for me and one for our friend as a birthday present.  The top piece is obviously mine and with Sean having already taken Bubble Fox to new heights in last year's guest month (And believe me he raised the stakes further this year!), I just had to get his take on Mike and Mindy in one of their funniest moments!  And, not surprisingly, Sean delivered big!  Sean reminds me a lot of Jack Davis in that he can draw these really detailed and realistic characters and yet still make them feel lighthearted and cartoony.  It's an amazing skill and I get lost in his art constantly!  As for that other drawing?  Do some snooping around Twitter or BlueSky and you'll catch a glimpse at one of the funniest cartoons ever drawn!

And that's a wrap for the month of August and the season of Summer!  And yes I'm aware Fall doesn't actually start until late September, but when there's already Halloween decorations out and the smell of pumpkin spice permeates the air, it's kinda hard to think about beaches and BBQ's at this point!  Luckily, I do have some cool, colorful art coming next month to bridge the seasons, so be sure to come back next week and see how it all starts!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

BUBBLES AND TROUBLES!!!

We are back!  Hard to believe the spooking season is literally knocking on our door already!  Granted, it's already been Halloween at most arts and crafts stores since before the 4th of July even, but that's neither here nor there.  It's still summer dammit and as such, it is the time for summertime fun!  Childhood fun!  And what's more childhood than blowing bubbles?  Popping balloons you say?  According to Professor Google balloon popping is indeed considered a tradition of sorts, albeit an old one, but it still counts!  Can the two pastimes be combined with Bubble Fox fan art?  Scroll down and find out!

Uh oh!  Looks like that darn silly Bubble Fox has gotten some more of his friends into some danger involving helium and sharp objects!  Given his reputation, you'd think more pals within the realm of webcomics would be very wary of hanging out with Bubble, but I suppose some lessons must be learned firsthand!  Those claws look sharp too!  Might be time to start thinking about burping or farting boys because those are the only other options for escape!  Geoff Munn's been a pal for years, having first connected on Twitter and thankfully keeping things going on BlueSky (Geoff's the one who gave me an invite code!).  His comic, #Parenting, has long been a favorite, highlighting the silly, often surreal things one encounters while raising children.  From yard peeing to kazoo irritants, the comic covers it all!  Geoff's boys were all little dudes when he started, with his youngest not even being born yet!  Now they are all maturing into slightly bigger dudes with personalities as wacky as their old man's!  I should also note that my favorite trope of this comic is how each boy starts out with dot pupils that grow into full-on eyeballs as the characters age!  It's small touches like that that add to the humor and sweetness of Geoff's work.  When Geoff began offering commissions earlier this year, I knew I had to get a piece with Bubble interacting with his characters, and he delivered BIG!!!  Thanks again Geoff!  You, Bubble and the boys have never looked so buoyant!

Well, another week down as we march towards Fall.  But I promise we'll end the Summer on a high note, so come back next week for a DOUBLE dose of fun as Bubble PUMPS up the laughs!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

UP, UP AND AWAY WITH BUBBLE FOX, PEPPERMINT TWIST AND LOONYPOP, ER, LOLLIPOP!!!

*Sighs* Well, after weeks of wonderful WonderCon coverage, things are back to normal here at the CRAZYVERSE, but that's okay.  Life goes on and we must move forward, otherwise we'll just remain stagnant.   Plus, we're roughly seven weeks away from starting our Comic Con coverage, so the wait for more cosplay chaos won't be too long!  But what are we gonna do in between?  Celebrate some wonderful artist pals, that's what!  The next few weeks are all about Fan Art, so let's get right to it with one of my most uplifting pals!  Enjoy...

Lollipop!  Lollipop!  Oh lolly lolly lolly Lolli-FWOMP!!!

My goodness!  Lollipop really let herself go!  NO!!!  That egotistical Peppermint Twist couldn't take being a second banana anymore and goaded Bubble Fox into inflating Lollipop with helium so that she'd float away and Peppermint Twist could take over as the star of the comic!  It's funny, Lollipop's the one that is actually inflated and yet Peppermint Twist STILL has more hot air!  This week's art honors my very dear friend Jennifer Cuthbert, creator of the wonderful all-ages comic The Adventures of Lollipop, the tale of a girl named Lollipop and the wild adventures she and her brother, dog and friends go on due to her extremely well-funded Canadian public school!  Several years ago, Jennifer introduced a side continuity where Bubble Fox enters their school as an American exchange student and, as expected, hilarity and surreal cartoon gags emerged, with Bubble and Peppermint Twist, Lollipop's frenemy, forming a particularly close bond.  In many ways, it kinda mirrors the friendship Jennifer and I have, two people from different backgrounds, different countries even who found a bond through a mutual love of comics and entertainment.  'Course, Jennifer and I are far less inflatable than our cartoon counterparts!  What does the future hold for poor Lolli-POOF?  Stay "Tooned!"  

Well, that's all for now, but we got even more Fan Art coming your way next week, so be sure to come back and catch all the action!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

BATTLEFIELD: EVIL LITTLE PRINCESSLOONS, GOLD VS. BLUE!!!

We've come to the end CRAZIES.  The VERY end.  As final as it gets.  The very last CRAZYVERSE post ever...  Of January 2024!  What you thought I was quitting?  Never!  So long as I have at least ONE reader left, I'll keep slogging off post after post until I inevitably drop dead by choking on a ham sandwich in my bathtub!  Until then, we still got one more bit of inflated art meant to combat bad inflation with good, so let's bounce right in before someone grabs a pin and send January off floating!  Enjoy... 

In history, there have been many great battles.  USA vs. USSR, Rocky vs. Apollo Creed, the Yankees vs. the Red Sox, even Spy vs. Spy.  But no rivalry in recent years has quite matched up in the way that this one has.  I'm talking about the battle between the Gold Evil Little Princess and the Blue Evil Little Princess!  These sisters share purple hair and the same mother, but not much else!  Their constant bickering has driven all within the castle nearly mad, from the goblin servants to the bats in the belfry to even the Queen herself!  In this piece, they've taken their sibling rivalry to new heights AND girths!  In an effort to prove that one was bigger than the other, they took to inflating themselves!  I swear there are politicians that can't hold THAT much hot air!  Will it ever end?  Only they, and their clothes, know for sure!  These wickedly adorable Evil Little Princesses are the creation of my dear friend Nora Racz.  A most fabulous illustrator, she posted some art of these vicious tykes driving their mother crazy one day and it set all our hearts ablaze!  With a little encouraging, there's now quite the series of these princesses battling it out, even teaming up once to inflate the queen!  I knew I needed one more post for my Fan Art Fridays on Twitter last year, and I didn't have to look far for inspiration.  Right now the Gold Princess has one more win than the Blue one.  We'll have to see what Nora does next!

And so ends the first month of the 2024!  We hope you enjoyed this bloated display of tastefully inflated cartoon characters!  Be sure to come back next time as we hope to kick February off right by celebrating a certain fox who's just finishing up a big milestone!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

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!)

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!

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!

PYGMY HIPPO IS HERE TO PUMP *CLAPS* YOU UP!!!

 Welcome to May CRAZIES!!!  New month, new digs, new hopes!  The world is still having some issues, but, as of this writing at least, things are looking up a bit.  Hopefully things will continue to improve.  We'll just have to wait and see.  But enough about that.  The few of you who still read this blog expect art, and I intend to deliver!  Deliver BIG that is!  What do I mean?  Scroll down and see!  Enjoy...

Pygmy hippos are much smaller than their river hippo cousins.  Pump-me hippos have the advantage of being cartoon characters and thus totally expandable!  This entry was from the Pinch Punch Post Twitter art collective, which posts monthly.  This was the theme for January 2017 and I had fun with this one.  I mean, it features my trademark gag, so how could I not?  The Twitter regulars got a kick out of it too, so that made me happy, but I assure you I got no inflated ego from it!

That's all for this week!  Be sure to come back next time as we blast off and REALLY rocket into things!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

MERMAID GENTICS... THEY AIN'T PRETTY!!!

Welcome back CRAZIES!!!  Hopefully y'all are staying safe and strong as we continue to recover.  Time marches on here as it does elsewhere.  If you happen to be in need of a laugh or two, just scroll down the page a bit and take a peek!  Hopefully the laughs will expand more than the subject's posterior did!  Enjoy...

Watch out Dad!  She's gonna blow!  More!  If you're gonna be half human, half fish, then you're bound to have some variety at some point!  I mean, look at how mermaids are typically portrayed:  Human top with a generic fish tail.  Surely they are more complex than that?  Well, today's art shows that yes they are!  'Course, now I'm curious as to what the rest of her family tree might look like!  This was another Animal Alphabets theme and boy was this one fun to do.  This could stand alone as a single panel comic strip in a newspaper.  When I started out, I was scared to do single-panel gags because I didn't think I could nail a story in such a short frame.  I'm not on Gary Larson's level, but I think I've gotten pretty good with the single-panel medium.  The reaction this one got was very satisfying.  Everybody got a kick out of this spoiled, swollen mermaid!

Well, that's all for now.  We'll be back next week with some colorful new art that you may find a little hot around the collar.  Until then, 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!

TERRIBLE TOM TURKEY: SNEAKY AND UNDERHANDED FOWL!!!

Welcome to November my CRAZIES!!!  The time of the turkey is upon us!  Longtime visitors of this site know that I'm a fanatic when it comes to Thanksgiving!  The food, the festivities, the parades...  I love it all!  Of course, no Thanksgiving dinner is complete without a turkey, and that ever so clever Tom Turkey is back and fixin' to find a safe path away from the kitchen once again!  He's 3-0 so far, can he make it an even 4-0?  Let's find out!  Enjoy...

Well, Tom's certainly inflating the odds in his favor!  Some pal he his!  He and Gilbert Gobbler have been friends since they hatched!  But it's survival of the fattest, er, fittest on the farm, and Tom has to keep his edge.  Looks like he's well on his way to another year in the pen!  I should note this art originally appeared on Twitter as part of Animaloonies' TurkeyloonDay.  This art got big laughs from pals and a lot a sympathy from bird lovers.

And that's it for this first week of November!  Things take a dramatic turn next time, so be sure to come back check it out!  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all later!

EVERYTHING IS PEACHY!!! WELCOME TO ROALD DAHL MONTH!!!

Welcome to September y'all!  Fall is upon us!  Sure, for some that means back to school, but you know what?  It also means cooler weather, football and holidays!  I say that's a fair trade off!  September's a special month this year at the CRAZYVERSE.  You see, last summer, the Daily Doodle did an entire week of art devoted the books of Roald Dahl!  As many of you are well aware, I'm a HUGE fan of Dahl's work and was excited for the chance to put a CRAZY spin on some of his most celebrated stories!  So sit back and strap as I take a crack at the World of Dahl!

First up is James and the Giant Peach!  I remember reading this book back in the fourth grade and loving it.  Then being disappointed by the movie which changed many of the elements from the book that made the story so satisfying.  Still, it gave stop motion animation a badly needed spotlight, so for that I'm grateful at least.  The bugs were always my favorite part of the book but sadly, I only had room for one.  Also felt this was a more realistic way of making the peach giant.  Just hope nothing pokes it!

Last week, I mentioned I was taking a break from Bubble Fox.  Well, it's true and it's also important to squash an easy-to-spread rumor before it starts.  I am NOT quitting!  I'm just taking a month off is all.  It may not always seem like it, but cartooning takes a lot of time.  One strip alone usually takes several hours to do, and that doesn't even include colored comics!  Now multiply that by 8-10, and you can see where I'm coming from here.  I've been cartooning nonstop since 2008 more or less.  In that time, I've graduated college, become a full-time stagehand, tabled at cons and dealt with a troubling amount of personal and family issues.  Sometimes, we just get burned out and need a break.  I know it's easy to fear such things given how many artists take breaks that wind up never ending.  But I promise all of you it's only for a month and come October, Bubble will be back foxing it up like never before!  In the meantime though,  some pals have agreed to house sit for me while I'm gone so be ready for a guest month of epic proportions!  So be ready!

You may be asking yourself "Why Bubble Fox and not this blog or Peppertown?"  Well, the art for this blog is fairly quick to produce since the pencils already exist.  And most of Peppertown has been complete for YEARS now!  It's only just now getting posted.  Bear in mind I don't do roughs anymore.  When you see a Bubble strip, your seeing it as I do: From my mind to the page!  Anyway, I hope that clears everything up.

Well, that's all for this week.  We'll be back next time with a magical little girl that predates most of the ones who've shined in the manga world for decades!  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all later!

RIDDLE ME THIS? WHAT'S ROUND, FUNNY AND FULL OF HOT AIR? TIM GREEN'S MIKE AND MINDY COMIC!!

Welcome back!  It's week three of the CRAZYVERSARY and things are really getting huge!  And that's not just because Tim Green is handling today's guest comic duties, although he is partly responsible.  See for yourself…

Trolls can be fierce, but not particularly smart.  They've also been known to be quite full of themselves, as seen above!  Just this Bridge Troll's luck that he came across Mike and Mindy instead of some billy goats!  He should be thankful he didn't come across Mindy's Bloomer Bud Sunny!  No telling WHAT she'd do!

Tim Green of Vinnie The Vampire fame is one of my closest friends.  He's comforted me during many rough days, wrote the foreword to my third book and even gave me a copy of his first VTV collection.  Flat and simple, if you looked up gentleman in the dictionary, there'd be a picture of Tim beside it.  He's a class act and an amazing man and I thank God our paths crossed.  Although that troll probably ain't too happy about it now!  Thanks again Tim!  I think you taught every troll out there you can't be rattled.

And that's all for today!  Tomorrow, the great Scott Warren drops in to "Pour" us all a great big bowl of awesome!  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all tomorrow!