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Kafka Dreams by Bill Waterson

Merry Christmas from Lio

Lio by Mark Tatulli is a strip that brings me joy. It closely resembles Calvin from Watterson’s Calvin & Hobbes, but Lio is more demented. While it is sure that Calvin has his moments of grossness and vulgarity, Lio is someone who revels in the macabre 24/7. The strip is also amazing in that it largely works through the visual as opposed to the textual. Gags frequently involve the supernatural/occult, alien invasion, or mass destruction of many sorts, creating a surreal, disturbing atmosphere in the comics.

Some of the strip’s recurring themes involve Liō getting even with grade-school bullies, helping animals (most of which are non-anthropomorphic but display obvious intelligence) defend themselves against humans or their predators, and performing mad scientist style experiments. He is often seen using robots that he constructs himself for causing mischief.

So enjoy some holiday cheer courtesy of Lio.

Comics

Every morning when I open up my e-mail I’m guarenteed at least two e-mails. These two e-mails are something I’ve grown to love and look forward to every day for the past few years.

gocomics.com & comics.com

I am a large supporter and fan of the comic panel artform. If you have $10 to spend, I urge you to register at one of these sites. Yes, I realize this is a pretty shameless plug, but I cannot help it, I really do enjoy these comics and I feel the need to share this enjoyment with you, my reader. I will paste a few of the comic strips that I enjoy, my favorites. If you’re thinking that $10 is a bit too much, consider the enjoyment of past comics from your childhood: Gary Larson’s The Far Side, Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes, Jim Davis’s Garf….hahahaha PSYCH!!!! As If I’d support that sell out hack.

If you still are thinking that $10 is a bit much to spend, at the least go to these sites and register for their free service. You will not be able to get all of the comics that you want, but you can pick one single comic and have it delivered to your e-mail each morning, and that’s something to look forward to. Enjoy.

Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley: is a wry portrait of single life, with pets. At the center of this warm and fuzzy romp is Rob Wilco, a single, mild-mannered ad executive and guardian of Bucky and Satchel, anthropomorphic scamps that still live by their animal instincts. Bucky is a temperamental cat (is there any other kind?) who clearly wears the pants in this eccentric household. Satchel is a gentle pooch with a sensitive soul who tries to remain neutral, but frequently ends up on the receiving end of Bucky’s mischief. Together, this unlikely trio endures all the trials and tribulations of a typical family… more or less.

Pearls Before Swine by Stephen Pastis: At its heart, Pearls Before Swine is the comic strip tale of two friends: a megalomaniacal Rat who thinks he knows it all and a slow-witted Pig who doesn’t know any better. Together, this pair offers caustic commentary on humanity’s quest for the unattainable. The title of the strip comes from the New Testament, and is taken from the phrase, “Don’t cast your pearls before swine.” In this case, Rat believes that he is an endless source of wisdom, and that it is wasted upon Pig, who is rather slow. In truth, neither of them is very smart, but while Pig is content with his humble status in life, Rat is always on a futile search for fame, riches and immortality.

Lio by Mark Tatulli: The world of Lio is filled with the extraordinary – monsters under the bed, wild reptile pets, robot inventions, weird science – but it’s all commonplace for this most uncommon first-grader. Mark Tatulli renders this pantomime strip in pen-and-ink style, giving the artwork a dark, spidery feel to match the strip’s dark humor. Lio explores the twisted realm of a kid’s imagination – at once bizarre, creepy and fun.

Ink Pen: Ink Pen: the insider’s look at the seedy underbelly of cartoon character employment. Find out what happened to loveable Bixby the Rat! Witness the struggles of Ham Hock, the talking pig, as he tries to break into a business that sees him as nothing more than a slab of meat. Meet (briefly) the plucky sidekicks, thrust into danger by careless superheroes and the villains they duel.

Dog Eat Doug by Brian Anderson: The “Dog” in the title refers to Sophie, a female chocolate lab; Doug is her owner’s newborn baby. The two share a love-hate relationshipi n their everyday lives and imaginations. Doug’s parents also make appearances in the strip as minor characters, though they are only seen from the neck down.

Richard Thompson’s Cul de Sac, is a comic strip about the life of a pre-school girl named Alice Otterloop. It is a light-hearted comic strip centered around a four-year old girl and her suburban life experiences on a cul-de-sac with her friends Beni and Dill, older brother Petey and her classmates at Blisshaven Academy pre-school. Alice describes her father’s car as a “Honda-Tonka Cuisinart” and talks to the class guinea pig, Mr. Danders. She has the typical older brother who plays jokes on her, and she contemplates ways to keep the scary clown from jumping out of the jack-in-the-box with friends.

I wake up to these strips everyday. I urge you to invest, seriously…think about it. $10 is not too  much to ask for a year’s worth of entertainment as well as knowing that you’re supporting a comic medium that is in vast need of your patronage.

I know I sold out on this post but look at the talent above, it’s worth it. At the least I guess you’ll enjoy the strips that I’ve posted, a few of my favorite single panels from the past few years.