We’ll be exhibiting at Emerald City Comicon in Seattle this weekend. If you manage to wade through the sea of batmen (batmans?), you’ll find us at booth 2606 along with Marian Call.

Very much looking forward to this weekend, Emerald City is great!

Marian Call’s Live in Europe album has been released! I’m probably singing, clapping, coughing and farting in the background of those songs! Seriously, she sounds amazing. So much love.

• Marian Call Live in Europe

When I visited England last fall, we were traveling at an incredible pace and I had only a few tiny moments to myself.

During one brief hiccup in time, I managed to slip away to Kensington Gardens where the Peter Pan statue lives among the trees and ducks. I’ve always loved Peter Pan, more so after meeting and studying with Stewart Stern.

I just had enough time to do some cursory sketches, snap a few photos and breathe the air. When I returned to Juneau, I completed this illustration.

If you like it, I have a few limited prints available in our gallery and online store. Here are some of my sketches…

I was traveling through England with Marian and we ended up in Birmingham for a meetup with her fans. Birmingham, as it turns out, is where J.R.R. Tolkien grew up and where he saw the pastoral lifestyle of his youth trampled by the industrial revolution. This immediately got me thinking about drawing orcs in business suits.

I love the idea of orcs in suits.

So here are a few comics that loosely inspect the pastoral/industrial conflict in the Lord of the Rings through the all-seeing eye of Mordor Unlimited Finance.

It’s kind of a Bane Capital meets The Office meets Sauron thing.

• Comic – Co-Orcers
• Comic – Mordor Unlimited
• Comic – Synergy
• Comic – Early Retirement

• Comic – Sky Surfing

I suppose this one is fairly similar to my other comic about flying, there’s just something magical, inspiring, and terrifying about floating through the sky in the belly of an aluminum tube… even if the math does work out.

I’m told the math works out. It does, right? It’s sure going to be awkward when someone actually checks the math and discovers giant metal birds really shouldn’t be able to soar across the Earth.

Of course I’m thinking about flying because I’ve been recently. I’m off trekking about Europe with Marian Call and Scott Barkan, it’s a really wonderful experience, I recommend it.

Here’s a picture of me with a ton of camera gear strapped to my front, a bag of perpetually dirty clothes on my back and a couple giant boxes full of CDs and miscellaneous gig equipment. Escalators are easy. The fun part is when we hit a narrow stairwell or an overcrowded train.

Home soon. Loads of photos and sketches to share when I get back.

Rule 1: We do not think about Philosophy Club

• Comic – Philosophy Club

I made this comic because I thought it would be fun to draw René Descartes, he just looks like a total bad-ass French dude. Kant makes an appearance as well, playing the part of the stuffy philosophy club president.

I haven’t studied much philosophy, maybe one class somewhere along the trail, but I sure do think it’s a romantic pursuit. I’m not sure if being a philosopher is a profession these days or if it’s just a collateral occupation to anyone who thinks about the world.

My favorite contemporary philosophers have mostly disguised themselves as comic creators – Bill Watterson, Randall Munroe, Kazu Kibuishi. I also like Malcom Gladwell and Michael Pollan. Bob Ross. I think he counts. Yeah, Bob Ross definitely counts.

As it happens, I’m writing this from France, just a few blocks from Voltaire’s house. It’s nice outside. I’m going to go explore, that’s what a philosopher would do.

Bears are fairly common in downtown Juneau, this guy was climbing around on our roof yesterday. He sure was itchy and incredibly agile.

This bears was probably drawn to downtown Juneau by garbage and other delicious aromas. This particular alley is often littered with trash from local winos and must have smelled appealing.

There’s been an effort to enforce bear proof garbage containers which has done a lot for the problem but “bear proof” doesn’t always mean bear proof to these clever animals and sometime they get bold enough to skip the bin and break directly into homes and businesses.

I know several people who have had bears in their homes and while I haven’t heard of them hurting anyone, there’s a frightening potential for a physical encounter. My dad had a few cubs wander into his house and my mom had a bear climb in her bedroom window and get away with a bag of sugar a couple years back. Live here long enough and you’ll probably have a bear story too.

The story of this particular bear has a sad ending. He was hauled away and killed not long after being darted. A news article mentions that this is likely the same bear that invaded a downtown yogurt shop and was seen climbing on another rooftop in the area. He was a repeat offender and was getting far too comfortable around people. I don’t know if it would have been possible to relocate him but some attempts to relocate has been unsuccessful and expensive.

If you’re concerned about bears, please keep Juneau tidy and store your garbage indoors until garbage day.

Ahhh yes, Shark Week, that nostalgic time of year when the people of the world set aside their differences. When families gather around the warm glow of a television to watch cartilaginous predators snack on nature.

If only there were more holidays based around marine biology, I think the world would be a better place.

I wrote this song with Marian Call and I have very little musical talent so allowing me to contribute a few words was a big thing. A bit like translating my clumsy sentiment into a new language… probably more similar to lending me wings.

I have great appreciation. Even if it is a silly song.

If you want to support us making more songs and movies you can pick up this track for a dollar at bandcamp. You’d be surprised at how many people contributed to this tiny song and Marian has a nice detailed list of the recording credits posted there.

• Buy “Shark Week” on Bandcamp

The music video was shot at my cousin’s house and features Marian Call, Lael Rogers, Izzy Christensen, the Keltner family and a number of fierce and salty pirates.

The excellent shark fin hats, aprons, and oven mitt were made by Carol Race & Carol White.

Thank you everyone who helped with the singing and dancing and filming!!

Chomp! Chomp!

• Comic – Zeus

I got back from Comic Con last week and realized it’s been way too long since I was publishing web comics with any kind of regularity.

I’ve decided I’ll be doing this more often. It makes me happy.

Zeus is Poseidon’s older brother and king of the gods. He chases skirts, skips meetings, and he’s quick to anger but he’s a good dude anyway.

He would have been the youngest sibling but his dad, Chronos, swallowed all the other kids and barfed them up in reverse chronological order which somehow makes him the oldest.

I’m going to Comic-Con this July and I’m going to eat a ton of ice cream and get a bad case of booth hunch. It is known.

I thought I’d combat the problem by bringing my running shoes, wearing a Flash shirt, and going for a run along the waterfront.

If you’re free I hope you’ll join me. Saturday afternoon looks ideal and I’ll announce a time once I get a look at the schedule.

I’m kind of over flash mobs but I haven’t seen nearly enough Flash mobs so if everyone wants to dress up as The Flash, that would be cool. Or the Juggernaut or Quicksilver or some other running themed comic characters… or yourself. Of course you can come as yourself but I hope you feel out of place dressed as a normal human and at least wear a red shirt with a yellow lighting bolt taped to it.

Right. Disclaimer. This isn’t an official event, this isn’t any kind of event, running is incredibly dangerous and not for the faint of heart. I can’t be responsible if you trip on an invisible jet and skin your knee.