…And available to order (at my ko-fi shop) for that merest, most limited of times: one Earth week.
In the spirit of the season, but a little prematurely (as befits the age of commerce), I decided on but a slender whim to take a couple of Christmas illustrations I done, from 2015 and 2016, design a backside for them (oo-er), and thus transform them into postcards.
Christmas cards — the open-up-able kind — are more traditional, but here in Japan, the closest cultural equivalent is New Year’s postcards, which are better because you don’t need to lick envelopes and aren’t expected to write anything private. Here, then, is the cosmopolitan and forward-looking Christmas postcard! Wow your distant relatives and ‘legacy friends’ with these artisanal Yuletide greetings.
Whoosh! Zoosh! Actual mail, actual stamped-with-a-stamp post, flying through the air, literally, in aeroplanes! Just imagine. What a treat. Then plop, into someone’s mailbox, as if it’s nothing. What a special time of year this nearly is.
Again, these are available to order for ONE WEEK, ending midnight-ish November 26th, 2023. That leaves me a few days to make them and send them by month’s end, so that you will receive them in time to fan yourself briefly with them, enjoying the health benefits of their homely handmade energy, before vandalising them with your ham-fisted sentiments and passing them on to the even less worthy by Christmas Day. Whoosh! Zoosh!
Really, this is mostly for fun and, let me assure you, not very much profit. So don’t mess about: ORDER RIGHT NOW, or don’t, it’s less work for me if you don’t, I don’t care. But it will be fun for both of us if you do.
And hey if you run out of people to send them to — who knows anyone’s address anymore? — there’s always Postcrossing!
[extra casual voice] Oh and while you’re placing an order and thinking about Christmas shopping anyway, don’t forget about Mr Frisky’s Unbelievable Planet, Tobias and Jube’s increasingly real “We’re doomed!” stickers, and adjacent treats of a like nature. (Perhaps you know some rude intellectuals?)
Ever since Dennis and Ken slappo’d their way into Australian voters’ hearts back in 2013, those same besotted voters have been requesting a follow-up comic explaining the electoral system for the federal Senate, with its tentacle-long, bone-white ballots of terror. I’m happy to report that I managed to complete that comic in plenty of time for the election back in May, and you can read, download, and share it right beneath this link.
It was a huge amount of work to produce, and I did so with no sponsorship or outside support, because I like democracy and I wanted to help people. If that makes you want to click a Like button, try the Donate button instead, on my Ko-fi page! Yes, retroactively: even perhaps years after the fact, if that’s when you’re reading this. It’s like royalties! Go and donate! Yes, even if you’re not Australian! You think I don’t see you? I see you.
As for the international perma-meme that is Voting comic part 1, this year you might have seen it distributed in full-colour print alongside the campaign materials of Queensland Greens MP Michael Berkman and the teal candidate for Cowper, Carolyn ‘Caz’ Heise, as well as posted on the Facebook page of, uh, the Hunters and Shooters Society Australia. Can any doubt Dennis and Ken’s appeal across the entire spectrum of politics/sanity?
What this is is, I got really fed up with web two-point-oh, and sick of bloated-corpse wordpress too, and made a new, simple, easy blog (using publii) that I can post things on, when I make them! Comics, writing, illustrations, videos, whatever. Really tired of trying to keep up with social media websites as they rise and fall. Who has the time! Anyway add scrampbonk dot com to your bookmarks, or RSS feed if you’re on the cutting edge. Old Internet is still there, if we want it. Add me to your webring.
Getting serious with Ko-fi
I’m trying to gradually transition back to doing more creative work and personal projects, and the support of my… fans? Followers? Fellow weirdoes? — will be invaluable in making that possible, so I’ve been putting some time and effort into making my Ko-fi a worthwhile place to be.
Memberships
You can now become a monthly member to enjoy my new work earlier than ordinary internet plebes, see works in progress and other weird scraps, and even receive the exciting Envelope of Wonder in your actual, touchable mailbox throughout the year, if you so desire.
Contents (sans letter) of the first Envelope of Wonder. What will be in the next one? Fun and surprises, that’s what!
Monthly membership is a really, really effective way to help me create more of the stuff that you love, now and into the future. The financial support is straightforwardly helpful, but also encourages and motivates me on a mental and emotional level too. It’s like… tangible proof that people believe in my work. Thank you!
What’s that? You need a hundred of these? Contact me re: bulk discounts.
But wait! Before you click that “SPEND ALL OF MY MONEY” button… what day is it today? Because if it isn’t yet January 8th 2023, there is a sale on right now. You can get twenty whole percent off everything in the shop, simply by visiting it via this link:
And if that doesn’t work for some reason, just enter the code “YOWZA20” at checkout.
Oh, and! And! If you become a monthly member, you get automatic shop discounts anyway! Do the discounts stack? Sure, why not! (I’m actually not sure but I think so.)
Mr Frisky’s Unbelievable Planet
Hang on, Patrick, what was that about… a new comic?
Ah, yes! Sort of!
Clockwise from left: Mr Frisky, tiny Mr Frisky, Milkshake
A short comic I made in 2007, now shared with the world 15 years later!
Take a dubiously educational journey of discovery with Mr Frisky and his susceptible pal Milkshake, as they venture into the wildest, weirdest places on Earth and look at fish.
SUITABLE FOR ALL AGES. A perfect no-reason-in-particular gift for friends, students or teachers, niblings, or any marine biologists you happen to know.
That’s right, I had a completed 20-page comic sitting around for 15 years that I just never found the right opportunity to publish in any way. But now you can buy it in a slim, attractively designed, beautifully printed volume, at, as I may have mentioned, my Ko-fi shop.
It’s a little slab of delightful giggles and you will enjoy it, as will everyone you know or will ever meet. Buy ten thousand!
If you’d like to read a little about the design process of the Mr Frisky book, I blogged about that here, and if you’d like to see some exciting unboxing photos of the real thing, take a look here. And while you’re in an ogling mood, cop a load of these:
Phwoar! Yeah, I understand, you want it! Go and get it. (And don’t forget, the checkout code “YOWZA20” gives a 20% discount until a week into 2023. Yowza!)
I want to make more books like this, so don’t hesitate to encourage me.
Well my friend, we are in hyaku pasento resonance on those matters: I want those very same things. Support me on Ko-fi and help to make it all happen.
By the way, don’t forget you can join my mailing list on this website’s Contact page. Right now I rarely use it, but it’s potentially a great way to stay up-to-date while circumventing the invented need for social media. I’ll at least use it for important announcements, so pop in your email address and you won’t miss out. I promise I am not well-organised enough to be annoying.
And hey, is there anyone reading this blog post who was alerted to it via RSS? Leave a comment! I’d love to know that people are still using that.
Hey, remember last year, I released a new Tobias and Jube comic and an album of songs to go with that comic? Of course you do! It’s the last thing I posted about. Hello again!
After making that comic, and the album about the comic, I then made illustrations for each of the songs! And then I made lyric videos for the songs, using the illustrations as backgrounds. The first two are even a little bit animated. Just a tiny bit. Pretty cool!
I also used the illustrations to make these little ‘promo squares’ for each of the songs, to promote them on social media, since social media just loves squares these days.
What’s that? You haven’t heard and/or purchased Tobias and Jube and the Something Hat Mystery: The Euphonious Companion yet?? I’m so sorry; I didn’t realise. You can listen to it on bandcamp and also search for it on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and every other place digital music can be found.
Hello everyone, did I mention my new Tobias and Jube comic? I can’t recall. Anyway, it’s called Tobias and Jube and the Something Hat Mystery and the first chapter is up on the Stela app right now! It’ll run for five weeks; one chapter per week. It’s basically 50-something print pages, in total — a little book, like an Asterix book! It is also, would you believe, suitable for all ages. And ‘all ages’ doesn’t mean ‘children’, it means ALL AGES — I’m looking at you, Granddad! You think I can’t see you curled up on the floor behind the recliner? Granddad? Oh, the old silent treatment, eh? The old silent and motionless except for sporadic twitching treatment, is that it, old man? Pathetic.
I’m exceptionally proud of Tobias and Jube and the Something Hat Mystery and excited for you all to enjoy it. It’s not free — you do have to buy it (god, I know) — but at least you can buy it without leaving your house! FRESH LAUGHTER AND NATURAL HUMAN DELIGHTS, EVERY WEEK. And phwoar, look at those gorgeous colours by Lin Visel. Pages of that good stuff. Get into it.
BUT WAIT. Did you think that was all? “Oh, he’s made the funniest comic in the history of the medium, surely that’s enough for one man” — was that you just now?
[shakes head sadly while throwing head backwards in flamboyant laughter]
“I don’t think I’ve smiled this much listening to an album… ever? Ever.”
“I would say this feels like the soundtrack to a mysterious, quirk-laden Japanese PS2 game, but it’s the soundtrack to a wonderful comic!”
“I almost choked on my own snot listening to this. Patrick you are wonderful. My new anthem here.”
“This unironically owns.”
“That record is like some evil corrupt maniac formed the second coming of the Bonzos just to corrupt the minds of children.”
“That was brilliant! … What an inventive track, nice to hear something different.”
“Holy shit! This is hilarious and great!”
“The most fun you can have without burning down a church.”
— Comments already received from authentic fellow humans
Yes, Tobias and Jube and the Something Hat Mystery is also a 30-minute album of amazing songs, subtitled The Euphonious Companion, which makes quite a long and grandiose title altogether, but I promise it’s not prog, IT’S NOT PROG. It is a POP album but WEIRD POP and oh my goodness, remember how the comic is the #1 and sole greatest thing I’ve ever done? Well the album is also the #1 and sole greatest thing I’ve ever done! How is this possible? It’s not. It’s a miracle.
Bandcamp! iTunes and Apple Music! Spotify! Google Play! Soundcloud! And Amazon and Deezer and even Saavn, and other places too — just search for the album. And you can even Shazam all of these songs, which is really cool. If you play my songs at a party, people can go, “Siri, what is this stream of pure, rainbow-flavoured delight? I must know!”
It is a DELIGHTFUL album; that is the word I keep using. You will be delighted. It’s only a short album — go to Bandcamp and have a listen. You will feel delight, I promise. This isn’t cartoonist music, this is cartoonist AND musician music. You’ve been waiting for it, bored with everything else, and now, here it is.
“Patrick I bought the album and subscribed to the comic, I am into this Tobias and Jube thing, help me!”
An all-new, all-ages, all-colour, all-nonsense Tobias and Jube caper! Five chapters over five weeks, from September 25th, only on the Stela app. By the actual Patrick Alexander, with true colours by Lin Visel.
Blobby besties Tobias and Jube find a hat one day, and naturally want answers. Whose is it? What does it do? What’s the proper term for this specific type of headwear? Their square-jawed, glinty-eyed investigation causes setbacks for no less than three local businesses. Meanwhile, a slug and a spider search for the lost wallet of a high-profile client. Also featuring magic, chickens and ice cream, but not at the same time.
I am very proud of this comic; it’s the best thing I’ve ever made! I’m excited for you all to read and enjoy it. Amazing facts about Tobias and Jube and the Something Hat Mystery:
It’s appropriate for all ages. Your beautiful and special and precocious children will love it. You, also, will.
Tobias and Jube began in Australia’s Mania magazine in 2002, making 2017 the comic’s 15th birthday.
It is very funny and silly and it also has themes, but secret themes that only the brightest intellectuals will recognise and enjoy.
It will be accompanied by a short album of songs. Whaaat! Yes, really.
I’m happy to be interviewed about this project by anyone; please get in touch (email, twitter).
The illustration above is available as a print and on assorted products at redbubble.
Just a fun Tobias and Jube illustration with a colour palette that takes no prisoners.
You can wear this whole picture as a t-shirt, which is cool. I think it would make a good poster, too. Plus there are notebooks, phone cases, pillows, and all sorts of things, at my marvellous new redbubble shop. But yeah I think this one is especially suited to clothing; I would love to see someone rocking a bold pink-and-green outfit with this illustration as the centrepiece. Send me photos if that someone is you!
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Oh and it’s a print at society6 too, if that’s where you prefer to get your prints.
Yes, as promised, an all-new Tobias and Jube comic will be delivered to you soon, via Stela! There’s a little more info over on my tumblr. Short version: EXCITEMENT TIME IS HERE, ALL AROUND US.
I had an extremely busy 2016, and a quite productive one — just not obviously productive; a lot of it was taken up with a new Tobias and Jube comic that I can’t show you yet (among other projects). But I did manage to squeeze in these two lovely illustrations…
Print available. Tobias and Jube come across a garden of eyes whose attention seems to be anywhere else.
I used a pencil for ‘inking’, here, for the first time, which is something I’d wanted to try. It matches the watercolours and feels comfortable to me. (In fact, no actual pencils or paints were involved — both of these illustrations were done entirely on my ipad pro, in Procreate.)
On the whole I take my Christmas thoroughly Anglo, with as many pre-Christian rituals and ornaments as possible bleeding through, but of course also with proper carols, joyful and mysterious, about magic baby God, born to be sacrificed to himself, or, alternatively and ideally, about Wenceslas, a nice king with hot feet. No Santy Claus, no holly jolly jingle dingle, no crooners, no divas. But these are mostly aesthetic preferences; religion and spirituality have something but not so very much to do with it — consequently I’m happy to incorportate whatever ideas and symbols and activities happen to catch my fancy into my personal concept and practice of Yuletide, which is really the only way to do it nowadays, isn’t it?
So what have we got here. We’ve got some carolers who are a bit Peanuts and a bit Dickens. We’ve got some Japanese-style winter illuminations. We’ve got some holly wrapped around an old-as-fuck stone monument of the kind that dot the landscape of Tobias and Jube’s little world. What does it mean? Does anyone remember? And perhaps candles always burn with blue flame at Christmas, which is why no-one’s FREAKED OUT about that. Perhaps it’s got something to do with the Ghost of Christmas Present, or Father Christmas, or whoever it is, lurking in the background there, inspecting the scene with what we should hope is an approving eye. (Or maybe Leroy, the wizard, did it.) The ginkgo tree, like the ones here in Tokyo, is nearly bare at just this time of year. And I wonder if El Bobba, down the front there, is on his way to plop that yuzu into a hot bath, in line with the Japanese winter solstice tradition.
The new Tobias and Jube comic I mentioned earlier? You can meet all the carolers pictured above in that comic. Stay tuned.
オーマイガー！！ Moderately beloved cartoon double act Tobias and Jube have arrived on Line Messenger! WOW your acquaintances and very professional business contacts with this odd, colourful sticker set, featuring a fun mix of English and Japanese.
Right now boasting a shitload of art prints, hopefully including all the pictures from recent-ish years about which you have said to me, “I’d love to buy a print of that.” But if not, please tell me what’s missing — I’ll clean it up and make it available. (This invitation includes comic pages too, not just illustrations.)
I can put these pictures on other products as well, like t-shirts, smartphone cases, wall clocks and so on, but they require a little extra design work, so if there’s something in particular you’d like to see, let me know.
