While you’re in a spending mood, it’s time to tell you about Squishbook, the best thing you can buy for a primary-school-aged child at this exact moment. (Or ‘elementary-school-aged’ for our toothy alien friends.)
Squishbook is half comics and half about making comics, with a whole extra half on top, of silly nonsense and thoughtful advice — occasionally a challenge to distinguish — all one hundred and fifty percent of it for CHILDS. Perhaps your childs, or any curious and creative childs you might be aware of in your vicinity. You can learn much more about it at the crowdfunding page beneath this link.
It has been exhaustingly compiled by the excellent David Blumenstein, who assembled a crack team of sensitive and whimsical inner-child-havers including Ben Hutchings, Scarlette Baccini, Ive Sorocuk, your hero Patrick Alexander, and the ever-popular Many Others.
Contributor portraits by David Blumenstein
My bits in Squishbook include:
Erntnence Rotisserie-Ha’pennyworth’s Catalogue of Hats, which is two pages of very much what it sounds like
A drawing of a truly appalling unicorn, perhaps the worst yet, suitable for colouring in if you can choke back your vomit for long enough
Answers to children’s questions, for which the publisher (not me) is legally responsible
Blip Blop Chronicles, starring Li’l Atishoos — a four-page comic about the naughtiest child in the world furiously succeeding at it
Here’s a tiny bit of Blip Blop Chronicles for you, in both roughly pencilled and expertly inked forms:
Squishbook is partly funded by the City of Melbourne but partly funded by YOU, right now, as you head to the crowdfunding page and order some copies for all the children you can think of and also any Grown-Ups with a Sense of Wonder that you haven’t been able to rid yourself of socially.
The crowdfund ends in one week-ish (November 28th) and is already near its goal, but you know what? The print run actually costs twice as much as the goal! So if you can help to push the final total way past that goal, that would help to soothe David’s stress-related brain rash, I bet.
Will you still be able to order copies from the Pozible page after the crowdfund ends? I… I think so? I’m pretty sure yes you will. But if you are reading this in time, go and place an order now and get a cool thing for someone’s Christmas. “Ooh mama, it’s gonna be a zing-daddy boobly-o!” as the beloved carol goes.
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.
I know, I know! They have been for some months. I accidentally updated the PHP version and broke them — they were running on a very old, very simple gallery script that I liked. Oops. As compensation, here is a new Pink Chickens drawing:
I’m tired of messing about with websites, so what I’m thinking of doing is compiling these old comics into some PDFs and putting them on gumroad, so you can read them that way. Sound good? Let me know! Leave a comment here, or on instagram, or talk to me on twitter — you know, the internet!
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.
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.
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.
I collaborated with some fellow political tragics on this info-thing about the Abbott government’s proposed changes to Medicare and the pharmaceutical benefits scheme, based on this study from the University of Sydney.
Please share it with your own personal bits of the internet, in the handy format of your choice:
A sister infographic by Beyond the Hedge; a result of the same collaboration. For those who like their graphicalised infos slicker, sexier, and sanser of googly eyes.
The first picture is a peek at my four-page comic, Bunbun and Sadhead; the second is a peek at another four-page comic by me, Job Interview; and the third picture is the cover of Dark Horse Presents #36, IN WHICH THEY BOTH APPEAR, just as the volume itself appears this very moment in the racks or on the shelves of comic shops all across this ever-flatulating great brown earth.
Oh hey look at that writing on the cover; look at those words, ‘Stan Sakai’ and ‘Jaime Hernandez’; yeah those guys are my colleagues I guess. Don’t make a big deal out of it though. Oh yeah, ‘Mike Mignola’, I guess he’s a guy who exists or whatever.
(Hey while you’re writing that comic shopping list, remember I have a PDF doodle book you can get, too.)
