This strip was originally drawn a long time ago. It's probably over a year old, maybe nearing 2.
Cartoon Tony is younger, hence I put the part back in his hair. Murray is just a puppy in this strip, and Bailey's still...well, Bailey.
Said rabbit didn't take to his new little brother very well. In fact, coming up on 3 years later, we're just now reaching the point where the two are semi-cool together (Murray likes Bailey, but comes on WAY too strong for a skittish bunny). They'll hang out a bit and tease each other while Bailey's cage is open, now...so, that's good.
BUT...back in the day, Bailey was still the sadistic, jealous little bastard I portray him as now. And the chance for him to get young Murray into trouble was too good to pass up, even if it means somehow gaining the ability to bark!
I was doing a series focusing on their interaction, and this one isn't bad. Melissa loved this strip, as did a bunch of her friends and co-workers, who were flipping through my sketchbook at some point.
Looking for some way to get back into cartooning shape, I went back in time for a classic Spilled Milk moment. Check out the original sketch that led to this strip below. Did I make a mistake by taking a lot of the detail out of the background? Originally, it was set in a kitchen, on tile, and with a big window in the background that would allow for play with lighting/shading.
Ugh. This site is so DEAD right now.
It's depressing.
That little cartoon me should explain exactly how I feel about neglecting my comic duties, lately.
Plus, I was kind of down when I drew it. So...that comes through.
This one was done months ago, when you couldn't flip past a cable news channel (or that stuff the FOX Propaganda Channel tries to pass off as "News") without hearing about bloody Radical Clerics causing trouble over in the sandier part of the world. The term really got to me, hearing it over and over again. I'm all for people doing what makes them happy, but when you start harming others or restricting their freedoms in some way, you LOSE the right to get away with doing whatever it is YOU want...and you deserve to be hurt BACK. I must take this opportunity to, once again, earnestly thank the Bush Administration for putting us in direct contact with many more of these kinds of people. (Cough.)
Anyway, I think I was on a very odd kick, where I was doing one-off strips that didn't follow any plot whatsoever, and just kind of stood alone. I was also toying with commenting on current events more, but in a less topical kind of way. And, I was taking Cartoon Tony in weird, new directions, including the addition of his ability to talk to inanimate objects in a rather unrealistic manner. Often, this ability manifests itself in the form of...that's right...Talking Food (TM).
Sometimes, I wish I were on some serious, hard drugs. Because then, it might be easier for me to explain the dopey things I write. I'm not, mind you. Nor do I tend to hear food talk. My guess is that Cartoon Tony's food-talking is probably just his imagination, too.
It is funny to consider what exactly this juice hopes to accomplish through its ultimate sacrifice. It's another of those "Why is Murray the mommy?" moments.
I always did have a very overactive imagination. So, it's possible that I was looking to bring out that childish, carefree side of myself that didn't mind having a conversation with a teddy bear or cookie or shoe or imaginary cartoon character running around on my desk during school to help me pass the time through boring classes.
Man, I used to dream up little scenarios for popular (at the time) characters, then "pretend" interact with them or just allow them to play out their adventures like movies. I used to draw little dungeons/mazes/obstacle courses in my notebooks, and then take some figment of my imagination through them, all the while ignoring the yammering of the teacher at the front of the room.
In 5th grade, I finally got called-out for doodling all the time during class. It was an English teacher, who then later told me that my chronic doodling and daydreaming must not have been entirely bad...because I was still getting A's in class consistently. After that after-class encounter, I don't recall ever being hassled again for doodling.
Anyway, this strip's weird. But I liked it enough to have kept it around all this time and I'm using old material to save time while I gear up for the start of the actual, continuous storyline of Spilled Milk. Below is the original sketch I adapted into the strip you just read. Note the original format I'd intended for Spilled Milk's panels...they first one's all little and stylish (for no reason), and that black box behind everything serves as a kind of frame-type thing.
Note, the baseball bat and beaver thing. That blurred-out box above the beaver was a logo for the TV station I work for.
And, yes, I did just say "box" and "beaver." Hee.
A common (and largely undeserved) knock on my department is that we do nothing and spend all day goofing around on the Internets. I think this misconception springs from the fact that we are fun people who do something that is inherently creative and, indeed, pretty fun...
...while most in different parts of the building toil away in misery all day, wallowing in their own crapulence.
Now, everyone gets their Smoke Break Time (TM), but the idea that our entire department is just screwing around on MySpace all day is absolutely absurd. To our credit, most of the people who complain about us are terrible and should be canned, anyway.
Still, this is my ode to that falsehood.
It's also, ironically, the first strip I was able to create entirely, start-to-finish, without the aid of my work computer. Thanks to Joe for the assist on that.
There's a slight difference in the look of the strip. I put more work into the background this time around...but also had to touch up a lot of lines before posting the strip because they came out really "thin" and colors tended to bleed together a bit. Chalk that up to the fact that I'm still getting used to having a modern-era, fully-functional verison of Photoshop at my disposal.
Hey, and the other character is loosely based (cough) on my co-worker, Josh. So...welcome to Tony comic lore, pal!
As you may have noticed, I've been a little behind in posting new, weekly strips. Mea culpa.
Luckily, my darling misses has stepped in and created this delightful single-panel strip entitled "Boys in Snow!"
You're no doubt familiar with our pets, Murray and Bailey. (If not, read one of the previous strips, newbie!) Well, this edition features our little guys in a situation literally RIPPED from the local news headlines -- it's snowing out.
You know, I work with newspeople. I should slap them when passing in the hallway more often. For SHAME, hype-mongers. For shame.
Well, enjoy my girl's Spilled Milk debut!
