Dear Blogger,

You are a royal pain in my ninja ass. I’m breaking up with you.

Love,

Me

La Casa Comics will be migrating soon to its own domain and its own hosting. The lacasacomics.com url will continue (always) to work, so if you’re making links, or mad pimping our comic to your friends, that’s the info to spread.

It’s Friday, and it’s Saint Patrick’s day! How cool is that!? I’m even wearing green. I can’t remember the last time that happened on this day. I always forget. Raise those guinness glasses high, folks, and if you see a snake, hit it with your sheleiligh … sheleiliegh … shehlielegh … fuck. Poke it with a stick.

The Artist here,

As I have mentioned before, there are many people who are stars in the world of webcomics. Jeph Jacques and Jeffrey Rowland are two of them. Jeph because he writes characters so accurate you can’t help but want to kill them and Jeffrey because … well, because he’s a god. He has two comics, Wigu and Overcompensating. Last year, out of the blue, he did a crossover. This wouldn’t have been anything extraordinary except that Overcompensating is a diary style comic so he himself is the main character. In the crossover he is asked to kill one of his main characters by another character. The three characters depicted here are Sheriff Pony, Topato (the yellow dude) and Princess Dongle. All of them are from Wigu.

Jeph extended a challenge and though I have neither the time, energy, nor will to execute it to the letter, this is a temporary reprieve from the mundanity of gamer comics. So, while killing two birds with one stone, I did this drawing pretty quickly so it doesn’t have all the nuances (read: shading) that I orginally intended, but the point is made pretty clearly. The pony is playing the guitar and the poisonous potato and the princes are dancing to the tune while wearing sunglasses. That’s a description of what I drew for all you people who can’t see … y’know, art.

Ahniwa introduced me to Questionable Content and I have gotten hooked. I got Ahniwa hooked on Overcompensating and now he is an incurable intarwub junkie. Looking for the colors for this drawing was an opportunity to go through the Wigu archives again. If you get a chance, you should read through them. The stories are very well told. I wish I had that kind of ability. I found Wigu by accident way back in the day when I came across Rowland’s old comic, When I Grow Up. I loved that strip so when Wigu started I was set to enjoy it. And enjoy it I did. Overcompensating is the kind of comic I feel all artists aspire to draw. Witty, sarcastic, ironic and it has been the impetus for new words. Go forth and enjoy this new found trove of Intarwub lovin’. That’s Webcestuous!

–The Artist Formally Known as Theo

Concerning yesterday’s sketch, Theo says he doesn’t know where the inspiration came from. If I got to choose Theo’s inspiration for the sketch, I would pick the demented video known as Billy’s Balloon and this drawing by Steve Adams. Of course, the Alice in Wonderland influence is also noticeable.

Concerning today’s comic, there is a pirate joke. The funny thing is, people who haven’t heard this joke before, when first asked it, often answer “long johns”. I did, and two other people I know have. In a way, long johns aren’t really socks, but it’s such a cooler answer than “arrrrrgyle”.

I’ve mentioned before that a lot of my script ideas come from odd conversations that I have with my friends. I’d like to take this moment to give credit to Amy Best. I’ve seen documented evidence of Amy playing checkers with pirates, and I’m now under a strict training regimen so that when we meet on the field of checkers battle, I will emerge victorious.

Unfortunately, Amy, having seen Monday’s strip, has vetoed the use of monkeys, ninjas, and any and all crossbreeds of the two, and has thus thrown a wrench in my plans. I’ve started training ninja-caterpillars. Soon, they’ll be fuzzy, cute machines of absolute destruction. If they’re lucky, one day perhaps they’ll metamorphose into butterflies of doom. That would be exciting.

Your days are numbered, Miss Amy.

The Artist here,

There is a myth going around that I am, in fact, a walrus. I want to put that to rest right here and now. I am not, nor have I ever been, a walrus. Some strange breed of mutant from planet XQ11YP yes, but not a walrus. Yuck.

This was an interesting drawing to do. Dunno where the inspiration came from but I felt that it thoroughly describes, in picture form, how I feel today. I’ve been feeling a bit detached, a bit on edge, a bit stared at by a dog with sunglasses. It’s one of THOSE days.

I checked on news from Webcomicdom today and there was nothing substantial. I left it alone.

Tomorrow’s comic will rock your sawks off. Enjoy the rest of your Tuesday!

–The Artist Formally Known as Theo

It was an admirable and ambitious goal, that taken upon by our artist to run a seven-strip side-story in the space of one week. If you bear in mind that the normal strips take about 1/3rd the time of the Ben and Robert strips, and even then that we only post three a week (remember that we have full-time jobs, besides), it was very ambitious indeed. The math dictates that Theo would have had to draw seven times as much as he does on a normal week. As it is, he put in about four times as much work, so he certainly deserves some credit. Theo may, at some point, finish the Ben and Robert series in true comic form. Until that time, however, I have been given the go-ahead to finish the story off literary-style. This is exciting for me because it means I get to use my ending, which was originally vetoed for not being enough of a visual gag. Without further ado, I present to you The Adventures of Ben and Robert #5-7.

————

Ben’s mouth gaped open. The creature that Robert had so ironically referred to as a banana slug was much more like a case of lime jello gone bad. A really big case. With teeth. As they stood, momentarily stupefied, the creature was gnawing on the corner of a high-rise office building.

Robert looked over at Ben. “Well partner, I guess it’s time to earn our keep!”

Ben smirked, “Did you remember to bring your giant salt shaker? Figure we should try reasoning with it first? Like, ‘Hey giant slug creature, stop eating that building and we’ll buy you a donut?’ We could call Bill Cosby down here to be our negotiator.”

“Hah, even if we were lucky enough to have an alien crash on our planet that happens to speak English, I really doubt he would speak Cosby.”

“Yeah, good point. Shoot first, sell the corpse to Jello later?”

Robert raised his gun and grinned, “Sounds like a plan to me!”

Ben and Robert each unloaded a full clip into the creature. At first, it didn’t seem to take much notice, and continued to gnaw on the office building. After a few rounds, however, it dropped from the building and landed with a loud “SPLOTCH!” not far from where they stood.

Robert eyed it warily. “Do you think we killed it?”

The creature oozed it tentacle eyes around to glare at Ben and Robert angrily and began to slide towards them.

“Somehow, no, I don’t think so. We may have made it mad though.”

Robert sighed, “How come things always get mad when we shoot them? I mean, isn’t it fair? You eat our buildings, we shoot at you. No need to get all personal about it! So, what’s plan B?”

Ben shrugged, “Does plan B ever change?”

“Come to think of it, I guess not. Run!”

They took off running towards the river, when suddenly Ben turned left towards the university district. “Wait, I have an idea. Lead it this way!”

For an oozing jello-beast, the creature made pretty good time, and Ben and Robert were huffing and puffing by the time they got near the university. They’d gained some distance from the creature, but it was still sliming its way towards them with a vengeance.

Ben crouched over to catch his breath. “That’s it, I have to cut back on the carrot cake. You’re a robot, though, why are you wheezing?”

Robert shrugged. “To make you feel better. Also, it adds drama.”

“Ah. Umm, thanks, I think.”

“So what’s the plan now?”

Ben pointed towards an apartment building. “We hide in there.”

Robert eyed the building suspiciously. “Student apartments? This isn’t another trick to make me participate in a panty raid, is it?”

Ben shoved Robert in the door with the creature hot on their heels. “Oh c’mon, that only happened … three times. The last time you were quite a hit!”

They sprinted up the stairs. “Maybe, but I felt so used!”

As they kicked in the door to an apartment, they could see the creature sliding up the wall past the second floor. Attracted by the motion, it caught sight of Ben and Robert, and angrily started grinding its teeth against the wall. The room shook slightly as Ben looked around frantically. He shouted to Robert, “Here, help me grab this futon!”

They each took hold of one side of the futon, and had it raised over their heads just as the slug chewed through the wall. Robert, face to face with a waving eye, shouted, “Alright, now what!?”

“Throw it into its mouth!”

The creature looked about ready to eat Robert’s head as they lofted the futon into its gelatinous maw. At first, it seemed to just disappear into the monster’s gut, and Robert momentarily feared for his head. Suddenly the creature stopped, and gave out a massive belch. A warm gust of semi-digested brick and drywall filled the room, and Ben and Robert fell back into the hallway.

Ben covered his mouth and looked ill. “That’s totally disgusting.”

No sooner had he spoken than a rumble came from the apartment, and the creature exploded. Green goo flooded the hall, and the duo was swept back down the stairs and into the street.

Ben wiped the slime from his face and spit a few times. “Ugh, well it definitely doesn’t taste like jello!”

Robert smiled, “I turned my taste receptors off, so I’ll gladly take your word on that one. You mind telling me what just happened?”

Ben tried to get the clean of the slime, but gave it up as a lost cause. “Where do students buy their furniture?”

Robert scratched his head. “Sears?”

“You’ve obviously never been a student,” Ben sighed. “The universal home of student furniture is Ikea. And where does Ikea furniture come from?”

Robert shrugged.

“Sweden! And have you ever tried to eat Swedish food!?”

Robert brightened slightly, “Ahhh, I’m beginning to understand your plan. Nicely done!”

“Thanks. I’d feel a whole lot better about it if I weren’t completely covered in concrete-flavored pudding snack right now.”

“I know what’ll cheer you up!”

“A shower?”

“Cruising through town in a spaceship!”

“Ooh, you make a good point. You mean you’re actually going to let me drive?”

“Only if you promise to be nice.”

Ben grinned, “Hah, like that ever works. Think we should call someone to clean this up?”

“I’m sure they’ll figure it out.” Robert shrugged, “Besides, even if it does taste like concrete, I hear college students will eat anything.”

“Ugh, once again you speak the truth. And once again, the truth is totally disgusting. Let’s roll.”

————

And thus ends the story of Ben and Robert. For now. If you’ve actually read this far, kudos to you. I hope you enjoyed it!