Monday 30 May 2011

The tailometer

Once again based on observing my cats. This is the state of play between Smudge and Gizmo at the moment. If Smudge has a toy she likes she won't let anyone else have it no matter what. And she'll communicate her displeasure with her tail very succinctly.

Saturday 28 May 2011

Millie week 18

Daily Mirror, July 28 1990

(Don't forget you can see the strip at a much bigger size just by clicking on it.)

Dixons was the main chain of electrical outlets in the High Street in the 80s and 90s. It's since moved mainly online, and into out-of-town big box warehouse stores (under the Curry's brand), but you'll still see a rump of high street stores here and there. At the time it was famed for the cluelessness of its Saturday staff, who tended to be schoolboys with rudimentary English and Maths who didn't know anything about their stock but who were very persistent in trying to sell you unwanted warranties. Gemma's seen here wearing the typical Dixons uniform of red and white candy stripes.

Friday 27 May 2011

Wednesday 25 May 2011

Doors 2

Time to catch up on the blog. I've been performing all week in 'The Full Monty' with the Hastleons this week, (clip here, with the fantastic Robert Grose strutting his stuff - I'm the fat bloke at the end of the audition panel) so I've not had the time to do any posts. Not only that, I'm getting behind with my drawing. I'm only a month ahead now and that makes me nervous.

Once again based on Cholmondeley, who worked out how doors with lever handles worked at a very early age. Ones with knobs totally defeated him though.

Monday 23 May 2011

The Paw of Doom

Once again this is based on observing my own cats. In particular, this was Cholmondeley, who would get frustrated if anyone decided to use the toilet and not let him in to watch.

Linda and I are fairly relaxed about bodily functions and we will leave the door to the toilet open so that the cats can wander in and out while we are sitting on the loo. Smudge would just check you were OK and then leave you to it. Cholmondeley, on the other hand, would leap onto the sink opposite, sit in the sink bowl and then stare until you until you had finished, purring in an encouraging manner.

If we had friends round and they used the loo, they would encounter The Paw of Doom. This can be quite alarming if you're not expecting it. Imagine sitting on the loo in a strange house when a big blue paw suddenly thrusts itself underneath the toilet door and starts scrabbling for purchase! Eeeeeeeeeeeee!

Saturday 21 May 2011

Millie week 17

More plot setting, and the first strip in which the two title characters don't appear.

When I wrote this I didn't have a car. I was also very very single.

In fact I didn't pass my driving test until I was 40. Both my parents were driving instructors - I think there was a tinge of parental rebellion in there, combined with a touch of holier-than-thou green activism. That and I couldn't honestly justify having a car when I could get anywhere I wanted by bike or train. I have a car and a driving licence now, and I hate myself for becoming too dependent on it.

In the second last frame we have our first glimpse of Sammi's dad's corner shop, which becomes one of the strip's regular locations.

Friday 20 May 2011

Vacuum cleaner 3

Inevitably the vacuum gets its revenge. And now you know why I chose a vacuum with a Cylon 'eye'. Luckily Smith will only get chased for as long as the flex lasts.

Smith's pose and expression in panel three reminds me a lot of the work of my fellow Sherpa cartoonist, Steven Wilverding - the poodle in his comic 'The Willies' will quite often have the same staring eyes and open mouth. Steven seems to have gone quiet lately. If you read this, Steve, more comics please. We miss you.

Wednesday 18 May 2011

Vacuum cleaner 2

Another strip based on the observations of my cats. I've never seen one of them attack a vacuum cleaner - that's far too big a foe for them to deal with - but I've seen Cholmondeley nervously deal with a pebble that was looking at him in the wrong way in exactly this manner, and Gizmo's done the same to a Zoom Groom brush that was lying on the floor minding its own business.

Monday 16 May 2011

Vaccuum cleaner 1

Another strip inspired by watching my cats. In my household I'm the designated hooverer, and it's quite amusing to see the reactions of my two cats whenever the vaccuum cleaner comes out. Smudge just remains where she is laying, and expects to be hoovered around. Gizmo, on the other hand, panics as soon as he sees the machine emerge from its lair. He can usually be found afterwards, hiding behind the suitcases on top of the wardrobe, making piteous noises like an injured seagull.

Yes, this is a very retro Electrolux cleaner. It's more characterful than my own Vax, and it has that lamp at the front that gives it a certain Cylon menace.

Saturday 14 May 2011

Millie week 16

Daily Mirror, July 14 , 1990.

I don't know how they prove this statistic, which is one of those things that gets trotted out every now and then. Surely the very act of noting down every time you think about sex would affect the results, wouldn't it? And as Sammi says, you'd end up thinking about not thinking about thinking about sex and so on into infinity. However, it has been proven that the average Sun sub-editor thinks about sex every fifteen minutes - but that's because it's written into their contract.

Friday 13 May 2011

Friday 13th Part 2

I always like to do something a bit strange on Friday 13th, whenever it comes along. Running the cartoon reversed, running the cartoon with the frames in the wrong order, running the cartoon upside down, I've done all of those so far, deliberate mistakes designed to make it look like something's gone wrong with the strip.

Ironically something has gone wrong with the strip. GoComics has been refreshing its website and there have been a few teething problems.

I say 'a few teething problems'. Some are more serious than others. The internal navigation going out of order I can live with. The loss of editing on posted comments is an irritation but not a disaster. But having 100 subscribers evaporate into thin air is unforgiveable. I know this has happened because I subscribe to my own strip, and my emailed selection of strips from the main GoComics page and Sharpa has been a mess over the last few days. I get multiple copies of some strips and no Sherpa strips at all.

I'm giving GoComics the benefit of the doubt for the moment - it's a huge database driven site and it's probably a nightmare to update - a tiny bit of code going wrong somewhere in the guts of the system can lead to massive errors when it comes to assembling pages. But I don't have infinite patience.

If you're having problems with the GoComics site I suggest you resubscribe to the strip on the original Sherpa site: http://www.comicssherpa.com/site/feature?uc_comic=csmdx or follow this blog instead.

Wednesday 11 May 2011

Splap!

Just one question. Why do cats do this? Answers on a postcard, please, as they used to say...

Monday 9 May 2011

Tails you lose

Tails are useful things but sometimes they must get in the way. Cholmondeley in paticular never quite kept his in control.  He would often sit with his tail soaking in his water bowl and not realise it until he moved away again. And there's a reason why his nickname was 'poo-tail'.

This is more a case of Smith becoming conscious of his tail. Isn't it funny they way you can suddenly become conscious of a bit of your body you've never thought about before. Your little toe, for example. How's that doing at the moment? Not itchy? Not feeling too confined in your shoes? Not too sweaty or cramped?

I may have just ruined any chances you have of walking naturally for the rest of the day...

Friday 6 May 2011

It's Ideal!

I got a Mouse Trap Game for Christmas around 1970. I think I played the actual game just once, that was really dull, but assembling the wonderfully Heath Robinson-esque trap and seeing it operate gave me many hours of enjoyment.

For the uninitiated, this was how it worked. Turning crank A cause cog B to rotate. A tab on the cog caused a stop sign on a lever tensioned with a rubber band to move backwards. Once the tab released the lever, the stop sign sprang forwards, propelling an old boot hanging from a lamp post into a bucket, which tipped over, releasing a ball bearing. This tumbled down a flight of stairs, and then into a sinuous drainpipe, at the bottom of which it barreled into a spring loaded pole with a hand on top. A bowling ball is balanced precariously on top of a crazy complex of plumbing - this is disturbed by the hand on the pole and guided through a thing-ma-jig (that's what they called it), dropping down into a bath tub and then down onto a seesaw. A diver is perched on the other end of the see saw - he is propelled into a hot tub and the vibrations caused by his landing causes the cage balanced on top of a serrated pole to fall down onto the space where the mouse used to be. The mouse is now in the next county.

I'm shocked to discover that MB Games have redesigned the mouse trap. Is nothing sacred? I mean, what is going on here? There's a toilet on top, for heavens sake!

Wednesday 4 May 2011

Perspective

Oooo. Treasure this. I don't use perspective very often, preferring to use a more straight on approach of the kind used by Schulz and Herge.

Close up of a bunch of toy plastic cows... the kind you'd get with a toy farm set. Pull back to reveal Ted and Dougal. Dougal frowns, puzzled.
TED: ...OK, one last time. These are small, and the ones out there are far away. Small... Far away...
Dougal smiles and shakes his head, uncomprehending.
TED: Ah, forget it...

Father Ted Series 2, Episode 1: "Hell" by Graham Lineman and Arthur Matthews

Monday 2 May 2011

Eek a mouse!

Here's Chumley, Smudge's brother. Like the real cat he's based on (Chomondeley, now sadly deceased) he's a gentle giant. His first response to any problem is to purr at it it to see if it'll be his friend. Or to run away from it (see the Scrumpy Jack story from last week).

Here are a few photos of the real Cholmondeley.