Well, Next Year IS 2012...

I did some calculating yesterday, and today is the 1724th strip I've posted on this blog, not counting Blogger Action Day 2007, the "in progress" version of one of my strips, the two "lost strips," or the "three panels" mini-strip from the Twelve Days of Christmas. If you do count those, I've posted 1729 strips.

Maybe a better sentence would be "I've posted 1724 canon strips."

Hey, Isn't That Thidwick's Blanket?!

A Christmas Montage

When I first thought of this year's Christmas strip, I was thinking about having a strip about Moe opening one of his presents, and it started with the first panel in the second row. I had already drawn it when I decided to make it more of a montage of the whole day.

Why Is He Practicing?!

At first I was going to have the time be 2:17 (and have Julia have already gone to bed). But then I realized something: Moe's Midnight Roaming ends at 1:30, and then he goes to sleep. So if I made the time 10:17, Moe would still be waiting for 12:00.

I Wonder If They're Putting Julia's Presents Under There Last

I don't think I've ever drawn body poses like Julia's in the second and third panels.

Also, I was trying to think of a good pose for Charlie in the last panel. I decided to leave it for last and draw the rest of the panel and then figure out what would look best. But I drew the last panel and I realized Charlie probably didn't need to be in that panel. Also, the blue present with an orange ribbon is Moe's present from this strip.

You Took Your Own Sweet Time!

I was halfway finished coloring this strip when I remembered that Moe's house was supposed to be red.

And He's Drooling Again

The title is a repeated title of He's Drooling Again and, to a lesser extent, He's Drooling.

You Sneaky Kid!

The title is a repeated title of You Sneaky Mom!

I thought it'd be neat to add a touch of reality to my strips, so when it came time to color the strip, I took a black colored pencil (I have three, by the way) and drew in some door panels.

That Makes It Seem Sooner, Doesn't It?

I tried to make the first two panels as similar to this strip, even though I didn't actually look at it while I was drawing today's.

Naughty!

My brother gave me this idea.

It's Just A Crazy Ornament!!

Charlie is referring to the IWMA ornaments.

Ooh, You Got Cheated!

Notice the CD (not the case)? It's orange, which is more of a Halloween color than a Christmas color.

So, is Julia on Facebook?

That's One Big Tree

Moe's talking about this tree.

A Partridge In A Pear Tree

You Sneaky Mom!

Any Suspected Spots, Sherlock?

Flashback Time!

That's ONE Way to Beat the Cold

This strip came from a drawing I did for an earlier comic strip. I called it "Frank the Dog;" none of the strips were funny. I later reused the look of Frank for The Dog (you know, from Nermia).

Basically, for some unknown reason, Frank had stuffed himself into his owner's microwave. Then, for some unknown reason, his owner started the microwave. Frank jumped up and yelled "BARK! IT'S REAL HOT IN HERE NOW!" So he jumped out of the microwave.

Like I said, not funny–unless you consider the fact that his owner started up the microwave without knowing that there was something already in it as "funny."

How Could The Blind People Read That, Anyway?!

Actually, the logo residue is really a Braille word. But I'm not telling you what it is (no, not because it's something I don't want to type)–you'll have to figure it out yourself!

I Think You're Treading The Line Between "Silly" and "Annoying"

Dozens?

Which, ultimately, would be a better act?

Bad Timing, Julia

That Did Not Come Out Right, Did It?

I don't think you'd need to do this, you might need to read this strip out loud.

Re-Introducing...

The title is a repeated title of Introducing...

PUNCH

GULP

G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G

BURP

PTHFPTHFFFTPHTFTHHHH!

When I first drew this strip, it was just the giant blobs of water. But then I thought it needed a bit more "oomph," so I added the smaller drops flying everywhere. That helped a lot.

VVVVVV

Nemo and Belle Again

Yup, I decided to give the broom a name.

It's One O'Clock?!!

I did 1:00 because that's during Moe's Midnight Roaming.

Lily's Secret Life?

Actually, if you look back at my Lily strips, you'll see that she actually doesn't act smart around anyone but me and Moe.

The Battle Ain't Over Yet!

Apparently, There Are No Teams

Originally, Heidi's skirt wasn't going to be plaid–it was just going to be solid purple. But then a mistake I made in the drawing of the last panel forced me to make it plaid. I can't white it out, because since coloring over white-out would smear the ink, and I didn't want to have to completely start over, so I had to make it plaid.

The Army Is Enlarging!

Pretty Tricky

This Is Gonna Be A Good Week

I Didn't Faint!

I was originally going to consider having me faint in the last panel, like I've done in some past strips, but then I figured, Real World people don't faint as much as Cartoon World people do (hopefully), so I just had myself smack my forehead. The "I should have guessed" was added in later.

Blam.

The Three Evaluation Levels

Messy

 In case you're wondering how all that mud got on the walls, Merlin probably went in the house and shook, like this:

You know, the way dogs usually do when they're wet.

This was a strip I made before the blog was up. Recently I thought the punch line was funny enough to reuse in a blog strip. I wasn't exactly sure if I should keep it the same or not, but eventually I decided to change it to just a long panel showing the mud Merlin had coated the walls in. The original playout had Moe standing still. Then a blob of mud hit him. Then Merlin came in (treading mud on the floor in the process) and thought "Now I know what it feels like to be a pig!" And Moe told Merlin to wipe his paws. I changed Merlin's line to this version because I thought it was better.

All The Nermians Are Together!

If you're not familiar with some of these Nermians, check out our Nermia page (there's a link to it underneath the banner). It has links to our Nermia stories, and each one of them introduces at least one of these characters.

I was trying to think of a good Nermia Day joke, when it suddenly occurred to me that I could just do a get-together of the main Nermians. But when I "finished" the drawing, I thought the left and right sides looked extremely blank, so I put in Thidwick, Merlin, Moe, Bob, and Heidi on one side, and The Fork, The Platypus, and The Ghost Of Ex-King Mick Mustard on the other side. I also figured it would be a good idea to put in Nerm II, The Evil Tooth Fairy's castle, and the Nermian flag. So I did.

We're Out

This entire strip came from a simple doodle of Heidi sitting down and holding two bananas, saying "One banana, two bananas." I can't exactly remember why I drew this, but I recently decided I ought to translate that doodle into a strip, and this is what came out.

Multiple Personalities?

No, Moe does not have dissociative identity disorder (two separate personalities).

I actually did this myself once.

So Close, And Yet So Far!!

When I showed the last strip of last year's Election Week to my brothers, they were wondering how Strip Supervisor would have more power than the President. I decided I'd better explain that part in this strip.

Sneaky, But Not Sneaky Enough!

So this is what Julia meant on Tuesday when she said "We'll see about that" when I predicted that she wouldn't have any success in the election.

Obviously Not

Apparently Heidi doesn't know the history of the Presidents of I.W.M.A.; she doesn't even know the current President is Lily.