Every year, I do a Halloween drawing of my family on social media. This year, I took a page from one of my favorite Stephen King books (‘Salem’s Lot is definitely in my Top Three). I was a little dubious about this being THE Halloween drawing, since it doesn’t directly connect to the season, but whatever!
You can see the rest of the holiday drawings over the year here.
If you’ve been following my comics here for long enough, you know the drill – every December, I draw my family’s Christmas card featuring all of us in some kind of seasonally appropriate homage. This year I decided to have a go at Rankin/Bass’ seemingly immortal Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. As a kid, this one was always my favorite.
I waited a bit to mention this but as it’s been almost a month, I think it’s time.
Longtime readers of the comic might remember comics about Chewie, my longtime feline companion.
Chewie was an indoor cat for his entire life, from Brooklyn to our move to Southwest Ohio. Over the last six months, Chewie developed a pretty intense interest in getting the hell OUT of of the house – he’d sneak out if we left a door open for a minute. Usually he’d make his way around the yard and then come back… but about a month ago, he disappeared and we haven’t seen hide nor hair of him since.
Chewie was a big part of the comic when it focused solely on my personal life through the mid-2000’s. I always joke that Chewie was the reason I was able to lure Ellen back to my bachelor’s pad when we were first tentatively interested in one another.
It’s sad. We loved him. I’ve heard stories of cats wandering back to their owners’ after months, sometimes years of being out in the world so I’m not completely giving up hope… but I thought it was time to let everyone know.
Behind the cut are a couple more Chewie-centric comics from the early days of this effort. They make him seem like kind of a butthole… which he totally WAS sometimes… but he was also as sweet at a cat can be.
Glad to have Chewie back although since his excursion, he’s become more and more interested in trying to slip out the back door whenever we leave it open.
Have you read Stuart Little lately? I mean, read the book, not seen the CGI kids’ movie that came out a few years ago. We read it to the boys in the spring and man, what a somber, interesting ending to a book for children.
Our cat Chewie is an indoor cat but somehow he snuck outside while we had the back door open.
This year’s Thanksgiving drawing came out a little muddier than usual- I’m a total idiot when it comes to Photoshop, so I’m not very sure why. Our dog Roxanne is actually that cracked out and ugly.
Anyhow, Thanksgiving! Hope you have a happy one, if you’re celebrating. Ellen and I are hosting our first for some friends this afternoon and it should be a good time. I’ve already had to make three “emergency” runs to the grocery store, so I know there’ll be a lot of food.
Teachable Moments 