Bat-Man

I thought I would end the year with a bit word play, something I'm quite fond of. This cartoon was originally published in The Comic Buyer's Guide, a comic book collecting publication. Predictably, the comic book folks geeked out over it -- but in a good way.

Political Statement

My End-of-the-Year Holiday Letter #1

It’s that time of year where we all receive at least one of those chatty, and sometimes boastful, Year's-End/Holiday-Open-Letters from distant family, or friends. The following is my very first---you lucky devils. I’m writing one this year because: 1) It’s a fun experiment 2) I’m too cheap or broke to buy enough stamps 3) I’m doing my part to help the environment by not using paper products 4) Too damn lazy to stand in line at the Post Office. Take your pick. Greetings from the Dawson Household, to all our family and friends. Well the year just flew by as they all seem to do. Tracy and I are both one year older, but it feels like more somehow. Our animal companions have been busy this year. Last Spring, our Labrador Retriever “Clover”, won Miss Congeniality at the Greater Houston Area Dog & Pony Show. As you can imagine, we are quite proud. She also completed obedience training with flying colors. We just might re-name her “Einstein”. Our back porch kitty “Pinot” a.k.a. “Dingus” is doing well. His thick “winter coat” has now grown out completely. Despite his missing tail, and wonky ear, he now looks as close to normal as he will ever get. He keeps himself busy patrolling the yard for other cats and raccoons, while making unearthly sounds at night. We're glad to have a happy Dingus. Our little parrots “Kirby” and “La Paz” are happy, cheerful, and talkative as always. We discovered last winter that our birds have learned to curse horribly in three different languages! This is a quite shock to us as my wife and I can only curse in English. I think I know where the problem lies, and I will be having a word with our housekeeper and yard man soon. The really big news this year is the repair and remodeling of our home. We love our new bathrooms and re-finished hardwood floors. It all went quite well with insurance paying for most of it. Tracy’s parents were generous enough to help us out as well with some much needed cosmetic upgrades. We had several rooms repainted giving everything a fresh, new look. Best of all, I finally got the fire pole I’ve always wanted, and my wife loves her new spiral staircase. Installing both of these items was quite an engineering feat, as our house only has one story. This Fall’s yard sale was a complete success. We sold everything. Yard sales are the very definition of the phrase, “one man’s junk, is another man’s treasure”. We were inundated with enthusiastic crowds of people for that whole weekend. I got rather caught up in the frenzy of it all, and somehow managed to sell off our carport, and a large oak tree in the front yard. Our neighbors are just great by the way. They are happy to loan us things, and not ask too many questions. They're being very good sports about the Ark I'm building in the back yard. My nephew Eric wants to pass gas for a living, and become an Anesthesiologist. He is currently a senior in High School and plays bass in a rock band called, “The Useful Idiots”. That about wraps it up. May you all have a Cool Christmas, a Happening Hannakah, a Kick Ass Kwaanza, and a terrific New Year!

The All-Purpose Holiday Symbol

It is now that magical time of year between Thanksgiving, and Christmas. A perfect time to trot out my All-Purpose Holiday symbol. Certainly not all of our holidays are represented, but the major ones are here. Future versions might include more, but for right now this one covers all the basics that we Americans enjoy celebrating. Why not write a comment and list the holidays you see represented? There is no prize involved for getting it right, just the satisfaction of being an observant know-it-all.

His, Hers... It's ?

My wife and I just spent the last four months having two bathrooms in our house completely remodeled. So this is the kind of stuff that's currently on my brain.

Your Government at Work

I don't normally do political humor because it can be divisive. Topical humor becomes irrelevent quickly. I prefer to comment on those things that have always been, and probably always will be... true. This is one of those occasions where I can get away with it.

Be Here Now...

Today's post sounds like something that might be said by baseball great Yogi Berra, or perhaps Forrest Gump.

Pay enough attention to Life, and anyone can be a philosopher.

Good Companion

Some people really love their dogs. Sometimes the line between human and canine can get a little fuzzy.

Silly-ness

Here is an example of some of the other "fun stuff" I promised you would see in this blog. This is my twist on the "Practice Random Acts of Kindness" bumper sticker. That is a wonderful concept, but I decided to take it a little further. A random act of silliness is easy to do and would bring some much needed levity to the world we live in. This is provided of course that your act of silliness does no harm. Do it just for the pure joy of creating something non-sensical, weird, fun, unexpected, or surreal. Do it for the entertainment of your self and others. We used to do this as kids, didn't we? And remember -- practice makes progress.

Inner Child

This idea is a play on the old schoolyard threat of "My old man can whip your old man!", but with a twist. A few years back there was a lot of buzz about how we all have an "Inner Child". I like that idea, and it seems to explain a lot.

Here is your homework assignment: Go do something nice for your Inner Child today. Then go do something nice for someone else's Inner Child. Have fun, you'll thank me later.

Earth

Humans have been sighting strange flying objects in the sky for thousands of years. Are we being visited by extraterrestrials? If so, I figure they have not formerly introduced themselves because we humans have not learned how to play nice with each other yet. Because of our behaviour, Earth is probably considered to be a cosmic loony bin.... but with great scenery. I'm posting this toon in it's original, glorious, b&w format.

Screwed

This is the very first "BuckShot" cartoon I created. It was also one of my first to be published. Looking at it again after many years, I can see how I would do some things differently. However, it still makes me laugh. This is why I create cartoons in the first place. I make them to amuse myself. There is no attempt to cater to anyone else's sensibilities. What I have found over the years is that if I create something that tickles me, then most likely other folks will enjoy it too.

The gag in this cartoon is based on a sign. As a former sign maker myself, I believe that: A world without signs would be...chaos. Something to think about. Or not.

Herring Houdini

For ten years I had a part-time job working with a professional magician. And no--I was not the lovely assistant, but more of a glorified stagehand. My job was to make sure that the show ran smoothly so that the talent could do his thing. It was great fun, and we functioned like a well-oiled machine. I have some good stories about those days.

Chicken

When people eat some unusual creature from the land, sea, or air, we are accustomed to hearing them say, "It tastes like chicken". This happens so often that I have come to the conclusion that chicken is  a constant throughout the galaxies. A Universal Flavor if you will.

We have here two intrepid individuals minding they're own business, when an alien spacecraft falls to Earth. When presented with advanced, intelligent, extraterrestrial life forms, these two fellows make an interesting choice.

Rudy the Dog

This cartoon is quite popular with my animal loving friends. It has been published many times, and in many ways. It was once used as part of a fund raising campaign for a local no-kill animal shelter. The dogs I draw are always loosely based on dogs I've had in the past. It's a good way to remember my old friends. I thought the monogrammed towel was a nice touch.

Virtual

Robin Williams once said, "Reality-- is for people who can't handle drugs". My follow up question would be, "Then what is Virtual Reality for?"

I've always been rather good at making the most of what I have. It is with that in mind that I created this cartoon. The figure in this toon is modeled closely after a guy I used to work with a few years ago. Don, was a mild-mannered former Marine (which sounds like an oxymoron), with an interesting look about him, who was into technology. Thanks for the visual inspiration Don, but no royalties for you I'm afraid.

Sculptor & Superhero?

Like many of you, I grew up watching "Godzilla" movies on TV. Godzilla had many enemies, but my favorite of his foes was "Rodan". Later in life, I became an admirer of the sculptor Auguste Rodin, whose name sounds just like that of Godzilla's one time enemy. This bit of word play suggested to me the surrealistic vision of a super powered French sculptor battling Japan's favorite giant lizard.

Not As Smart As You Think...

Dolphins. People like them, and what's not to like? Dolphins are beautiful, sleek, playful, and intelligent. Really, really intelligent we are lead to believe. What I take issue with is the "dolphin worship" that takes place in certain circles. There are people who believe that dolphins are the smartest, most wonderful, magical, and spiritual beings ever to inhabit the Earth. Why--if only they had opposable thumbs, then they could probably rule the world. (If only we would let them!). Meanwhile chimpanzees don't get enough credit. Chimps have 98% of the same DNA as humans. They have proven language skills, and are highly intelligent too. Probably even more so than dolphins. Dolphins have bigger brains but, there is growing evidence that a larger brain size does not necessarily equal greater intelligence. Certain parrot species are proving this daily. People really like chimps, but you don't see them being "worshipped" like dolphins. You see, chimps have an image problem; they are hairy, smelly, throw feces at each other, and remind us too much of ourselves. There are probably dozens of New Age shops across the country named "The Crystal Dolphin". But you will never see a New Age shop called "The Crystal Chimp".

In this cartoon, I like the idea of the dolphin trying to convince the researchers that they're expectations are too high, and are wasting their time. If he plays this right, they might even let him go.

[Apologies to all my New Age friends, you know I love you.]

Dueling Hypnotists

We Americans love a challenge, it's in our DNA I suppose. And we love dueling things like banjos, and such. This toon is merely a "what if" senario that came to my mind one day, probably while in the trance-like state of daydreaming.

Inappropriate

While this cartoon is just having a bit of fun, it has been said that we are only as sick as our secrets. What if for one day each year we could openly proclaim just one of our secrets and there would be no penalty for doing so. No penalty, no matter what it was. Perhaps letting our secret out into the light of day, and hearing others do the same, would be quite liberating. Maybe our secret would not be so awful or shameful any more. It might give us some much needed perspective. People have actually said to me the very things that are in this cartoon. No matter where I go in my travels through Life, I find that people will confide the strangest things to me. I take my role as "father confessor" very seriously. On a similar note, check out http://www.postsecret.com/

Technical Difficulties

When I was a kid, our family had one huge, black & white TV. Back then, most TVs still had tubes in them. You had to turn it on, and let the tubes "warm up" for a minute before the image would appear on the screen. Anyway, one time our local TV station was have "technical difficulties" and asked it's loyal viewers to "please stand by". Being the helpful child that I was, I took the "please stand by" quite literally and was eager to do my part. I remember standing next to the TV hoping that by following the instructions, our TV would return to normal soon. I was informed by my older brother that standing next to the TV was not going to help anything! Before I could sit back down, the TV returned to it's regular programming, already in progress. I was sure that I had made a difference somehow. My brother maintained it was a coincidence, and I had better stop blocking his view before something bad happened to me!

Many years later, I had an office job where one of my duties was to handle low level IT issues. On many occasions, when I got close to, but not yet touching a malfunctioning PC, printer, or copier, etc. ....normal functions would instantly return. It did not happen every time of course, but my "ability" became a running joke among my co-workers. If true, what a marvelous gift this would be. Almost like a super power. Perhaps my brother was wrong about me after all.

Self-Portrait

Self-portraits are a little predictable by nature. I like this one because not only was it easy to do, but it is incredibly accurate. This is exactly what I look like from a great distance. Ask anyone.

Hoax

I thought I would begin my blogging adventure with one of my all-time favorite cartoons. This was inspired by something my first wife said. I came home from work one day and she told me about something cute our dog had done. She finished the story with "Sometimes I think there's a little person inside her (the dog)". My mind seized on that, and I quickly developed the cartoon. Although this toon was created a number of years ago it still makes me laugh. Here's why; Who would perpetrate such a hoax on this poor guy? It took an awful lot of time and patience to pull this off. The photo on the wall implies a history of good times between the two. Finally, the look on our guy's face; it's that pause upon realization but before any reaction. Priceless. Your comments are always welcome.