Floof’s ‘food art’ is based on an actual ‘sculpt’ by my older cat, Sam-E
In 2023 I kept the only New Year’s resolution I ever made. On December 29, 2022, I resolved to create the comic strip that I’d just drawn a lineup for, and get it published ‘by someone who wasn’t the New Yorker’ —which rejected my panel cartoons. I know they do that with everyone, but I wasn’t really cut out for that kind of cartooning. (They were kind enough to send me a polite rejection letter, which they don’t do for everyone.)
On January 3, 2023, I drew the first FurBabies comic, AMU picked it up in April, and it first appeared on GoComics on June 5. That was the actual first comic I drew. All of my other January/winter themed strips had to be moved to later in 2023 for obvious reasons.
On to 2024.
I’m good friends with “Bunny” Hoest, and heard in December (for my ears only) that she would move The Lockhorns to Gocomics and AMU beginning on January 1, 2024.
I immediately got an idea for a gag that requires some explanation if you do not read The Lockhorns.
Bunny and Bill Hoest began the strip in the 1960s, after they married. Loretta and Leroy Lockhorn are a childless couple who really do not like each other very much. Bill and Bunny based the characters on their ‘exes’. The Lockhorns were a refreshing change from all of the happy family comics where no one ever seemed to have an argument. Leroy and Loretta Lockhorn do little else BUT argue, and one of the longest running gags is Loretta’s inedible cooking. Sometimes, she tries to bake cookies. This example is a mild rejection: in a more recent panel, Leroy mused that Lortetta’s cookies could be used to caulk the bathtub.
THE LOCKHORNS, March 13, 2010.
Sirius Goodboy, like all puppies, will eat anything, and his daddy Shawm likes Kate’s burned charcoal cookie/dog biscuits. Kate is the World’s Worst Baker (the title and characteristic were based on my younger sister, who coined the handle for herself).
I drew up the gag where Kate welcomes the new neighbors and THEY give HER the hostess gift. Bunny Hoest loved the idea, and I also got a nice thank you from her editor at GoComics when the strip appeared yesterday.
I have a new copyright dingbat on the strip directing people to GoComics, where I highly recommend following THE LOCKHORNS.
This was my first attempt at a ‘crossover’, where characters from one strip appear in another. Crossovers happen with the consent of both cartoonists. There are possibilities for my strip; Kate and the FurBabies could meet some of the OVER THE HEDGE characters in the Park; most characters in dog based strips could meet them in the Dog Park. I haven’t been asked and haven’t asked anyone else. Perhaps Horace of DARK SIDE OF THE HORSE could appear in the elevator of the Gogo Apartments, where the FurBabies live. He might be a bit surreal for them, but then, Grimmy of MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM appeared in PICKLES a week ago (I recommend following both strips on GoComics.)
The wildest crossover of all time (and possibly the first) was when Zippy the Pinhead visited THE FAMILY CIRCUS, with the enthusiastic participation of Bil Keane. Yes, this really happened. Read Griffith’s article here:
https://www.tcj.com/bil-keane-an-appreciation/
Ooh..
I just got an idea for a DARK SIDE OF THE HORSE crossover and will contact “Samson” to ask for his permission.
Kate thanks her relatives for Christmas presents this week, then we get into the New Years’ resolutions, starting with Stella and Shawm.
This takes some preparation, so the dogs must be licensed and up to date with shots before they go into training. This story will take up much of January.
Kate resolves to be a Pickleball ‘pickler’ and this means she needs playmates. She meets two more this month. I like them very much and hope that you do, too. The first Pickleball strip appears at the end of January, after the dogs are taken care of and the new acqaintances met. I found a court in a nearby community centre and must speak to the manager this week to make it clear that I want to sketch, not photograph, child players to get some idea of the gameplay and moves for the comic. (once again, the Weirdo Factor must be dealt with). I will bring the first strips along, just as I did when photographing the actual Van Gogh apartment building in New York City (my former home) to show the doorman that I was not just some kind of weirdo. I was a weirdo who was drawing comic strips.
In February, Stella, Kate and Shawm begin Therapy Dog training. When I researched this, I got a surprise that changed the entire story arc. I contacted Therapy Dog Providers (the rules are different in the USA and Canada, and I used both).
So the new Year starts off, not with a bang, but with a literal whimper. No cartoon dogs will be harmed in the strip. The strips in mid January are actually based on my own ridiculous behaviour when I was in a doctor’s office, at age 8. It embarrassed my Dad and the little kids who watched me with eyes the size of saucers.
Don’t worry, I am not doing a crossover into my own comic.
Stay well, happy New Year, and keep reading the funnies. We need more funny in the world.
Your strip is one of the few comics that cause me to laugh out loud. It makes my day!
Happy New Year, Nancy! I agree--we DO need more funny in the world. You are certainly keeping up your end of the bargain. I love FurBabies!