…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.
It’s not chit-chat, it’s sketch comedy, sort of. It favours attentive listening but could also serve as some quite weird background texture, I suppose. I don’t expect everyone to ‘get it’ but you know what? I bet you will.
New episodes how often? I don’t know! But let’s hope for every month-to-two-months. This shit, even at its most basic, is time-consuming! (Which is why most podcasts are chit-chat or improv.)
In recent years, too much of my limited free time has been dedicated to creative projects that stall or fail, so the very kind and supportive people who follow my work (that’s you again) don’t often get to see what the hell I’ve been up to. That’s frustrating for both of us! So I’d like to start spending some time on small, stand-alone things; things that I can start and finish by myself in the narrow windows of time that I can afford, and put straight out into the world. This podcast is such a thing; I expect some fresh Hilarity Comics will be another.
I may soon start offering memberships on my ko-fi website so that my supporters get early access to all of that, plus any bonuses I can squeeze out. In the meantime you can make one-off donations there any time you feel overwhelmed with gratitude for the intermittent trickles of pleasure I freely provide. Thank you and enjoy!
