Orange Recovery

Uh oh. Then again, who else would it be besides Garlic and Radish?

Narrow Escape

But does that trail continue to lead somewhere? Would our villains be so careless? Well...maybe.

Clandestine

This little kitty's clandestine plan to snatch the catnip under cover of darkness seems to be a success.

I guess I never really knew how to pronounce clandestine until now. Doesn't rhyme with Clementine. I had a hard time with this Illustration Friday theme, but I think I finally figured out something that works okay.

Batman RIP

I haven't posted in superhero geek mode in quite a while, so here's my (somewhat spoilery) take on the controversial Batman RIP run in Batman # 676-681 and DC's big plans.

Obviously not "Rest in Peace," because if DC killed off Bruce Wayne, they'd have a massive fan revolt. I'm guessing it's more like "Respite in Peace." Of course, Batman spent most of the RIP storyline in a alternate state of consciousness, so maybe he's Really into Pretending. Then again, there was Bat-Mite in this storyline, so perhaps he's Running in a Parallel universe. Frankly, whatever DC's plans for Batman are in the coming months, the fans will need a Recipe including Patience.

A lot of comic book readers didn't like the Batman RIP run. Grant Morrison told the story in puzzle pieces that didn't completely fit until the end. He included pieces from older stories-- meaning the entire history--which I liked but others didn't. Pieces of this story were planted from the beginning of Morrison's run, which made it a little cumbersome to put together (I didn't buy all the crossover comics for the Ra's Al Ghul story, so there's probably a piece of the puzzle I missed). There was the introduction of Damien, Talia Al Ghul's genetically engineered "son-of-Batman." We revisit the Club of Superheroes--Batmen of all nations (from the 50s Detective #215). Fake Batmen (Batmans?) appear in Gotham. Batman actually really dies for 4 minutes and we get retellings of #47 and #156. All before the RIP run even starts. And then there's Jezebel Jet. Bruce falls enough in love her to reveal his alter-ego, but Morrison never made her likable enough to be worth Bruce thoroughly opening up. I suppose we were supposed to distrust her, but it would have been a better piece of the puzzle if she were a legitimate contender for Bruce's ironclad heart. My biggest beef would have to be that the pieces of this story were too spread out. But that's also somewhat the brilliance of Grant Morrison as a storywriter. The point of the story was to explore whether Batman is breakable. Is he? Is he truly insane? As insane as, say, the Joker? Did Dr. Hurt really start this process way back in the 60s #156? Batman seems to pull it together in the end. Allies rally to help. Damien shows back up. But it's pretty open-ended and didn't quite answer everything. Is the Black Glove (club of villains...bored rich people into murderous games) truly disbanded? Who is Dr. Hurt? And of course Batman is gone now.

No Batman in Batman or Detective comic books and by March those titles will be "on hiatus." (Likewise Superman's storyline ends up with no Superman in Superman or Action comics.) Nightwing, Robin and Birds of Prey will all be gone. Instead we'll have a Battle for the Cowl comic, and Barbara Gordon gets an Oracle title. I know DC has to shake things up every now and then, but messing with your major titles in such a drastic way might test readers' patience even more than crossovers do. I have to say, I will buy the Battle for the Cowl. Tony Daniel is writing and drawing it. Tony penciled the RIP run and I really like his art. I hope his writing talent matches his art talent. That's Tony's Batman above.

RIP was supposed to cross over to Detective, Robin, Nightwing, and Batman and the Outsiders. It didn't, which is a pretty dirty trick to play on your readers. But Detective and Batman are now intertwining as the title nears hiatus. Yay, Denny O'Neil!

Enough With The Snow!

I really should get back to Beware the Red Radish, but I have been super lazy. Finally today the temperature rose slightly above 32! Here is my yard this morning, before it started to melt. The lavender shot is about the same as the one two posts below if you care to compare.

"Snowpocalypse"

Our "big" storm wasn't as bad as they thought, but some places had the predicted high winds and some places got the new foot of snow. We got 4 new inches topped with a crust of freezing rain. And I see it is snowing again now...rather heavily. Too cold for big fluffy flakes, instead we have icy powder that permeates the air. NOAA called it "ice fog" yesterday on their weather page for my area. I prefer a fellow Northwest blogger's term: Snowpocalypse.
By the way, that's my spectacular Nootka Rose behind the pine tree needles. Those rosehips are huge! I wish its neighbor Nootka Rose would follow suit!

This picture of an arborvitae is a little blurry, but shows the snow well.

I still have half a pot of chili and plenty of dvds to see me through until the roads are clear and/or all the idiot drivers have wrecked their cars.

Waiting for More Snow

This junco seems to be eating lavender seeds. I liked the textures in this photo.
This junco is waiting for his turn at the feeder where he won't be chased off as quickly by his brethren. It just started to snow again--the beginning of what's been forecast as a big storm. We'll see.

Voices

This week's Illustration Friday theme is voices. So here it is: the voices coffee cups hear. Makes me feel cozy, especially with our persistent chilly weather and the snow outside.

Brrrr

It's supposed to be clear and cold today, but it's overcast and snowing. Most schools in the western part of Washington started their winter breaks early. Some earlier than my district, which gave us clear-but-cold Wednesday off for fear of snow later in the day, and then made us go to school yesterday while it snowed and then froze, making getting home a little hairy. (FYI native Washington drivers: trying to pass someone on the right up a steep and very slippery hill is nothing less than moronic.)
Now, I realize my friends and family in Colorado and Minnesota are rolling their eyes, but snow and ice in Washington is always a big disabling deal. Temperatures under freezing, especially for longer than a week, are unusual, and ice and snow is always dangerous to drivers who never learn....
So I'm glad to be home watching the birds and the snow...or my new big tv.

Rambunctious

Raccoons were the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the theme for Illustration Friday this week: rambunctious. Above are raccoons rambunctiously dancing on my roof, as they often seem to do late at night. Below is a panel I snicked from a July story in my comic strip of typical raccoon rambunctiousness as well. I could have drawn birdbath-tipping, tag-playing, tree-climbing, cherry-throwing.... Raccoons=rambunctious!

Rush, rush

Oh, there you are, Pear. Don't worry. Dr. Orange is only sedated.
By the way, the bubble bath has "sparkle!" but I think you have to click on the picture to see it.

Best Laid Plains

Wow. I thought the Orange brothers were immune to the crossfire between Radish/Garlic and Pear. Hey. Where is Pear? (Or even Pearil?)

Found Out?

Hmmm, how to avoid potential discovery of the villains by the good guys? What scheme could Garlic be concocting now? Frankly, I have no idea what's going to happen next.

Similar, too

I've been sick for the last couple of days. Just a naggy virus of some kind. So I've slept a lot and thus am up late, still awake. So here is another interpretation for this week's Illustration Friday theme of similar:

Kittens.

I have to say, some of the art over there just blows me away. But then, many of the regulars are actual artists by trade and others who have devoted more time to drawing than I. Fun to see the talent that is out there. Go internet!

Similar?

Which one of these is not similar to one of the others?* Illustration Friday's theme this week, as you can guess, is similar. I'm sure IF visitors are tiring of the Orange brothers, but since they're twins, I couldn't not include them in a smorgasbord of similar things...even if they are the only imaginary ones. BTW, Myrna and Spot turned out just about perfectly.

*This reminds me of Sesame Street's "One of These Things Is Not Like the Other" song.

The Horror!

Dr. Orange is supposed to be holding a petri dish, but I see it looks more like a powder puff. Maybe Dr. Orange is very sensitive about his complexion.

I discovered a paint shop lesson I haven't learned yet: how to skew text to show perspective. Will have to do that some other time.

The Incredible Floating Onion!

It took me a while to decide what to use for a kid in Insalataville. I've never considered younger fruits or vegetables.

I like how the layout of this strip turned out, but I'm not happy with the word balloons. It just can't always turn out exactly right, can it?

Balloon

I guess that shallot disguise will have to be revised. She looks more like an onion now.

The IllustrationFriday theme this week is balloon, and I couldn't resist working it into Beware the Red Radish for a third week. It just seemed to fit into the storyline. Also, I didn't want to draw something with a real balloon or a word balloon. I liked the idea of the verb, and poor Garlic made the perfect victim...I mean subject.

No!...Aaah ha ha ha....

I guess they're all thrown off by the blue eye shadow. It couldn't possibly be Garlic without the purple eye shadow.

Giggly Shallot

Garlic is on the loose with the giggles...and apparently it's a good thing she seems to not be in possession of her cleaver collection. Lemonade, anyone?

Opinions Abound

Garlic is certainly being stubborn.

Side effects from the goo vapor? Or side effects from Dr. Valencia's "cure?"

Coincidentally, this week's Illustration Friday theme is opinion. I'm not sure this is exactly what I want to submit, but I think I'll go with it for now. I could draw a random student expressing his/her opinion of just how much he/she hates reading, because I sure heard that enough this week to have a pretty clear picture in mind, but Illustration Friday is supposed to be a relaxing departure from my non-hobby world. So there, random student, I can get away from you, and if you didn't hate reading so much, you could get away from me, too, because a good book is a great escape. Too bad you don't know that.

Oops, sorry. Random education rant. I guess we're all expressing stubborn opinions this week.

Pretend

This week's Illustration Friday theme is pretend. Such a broad theme was causing me slight consternation, but then I realized that I could easily work the theme into the current Radish storyline....even if Garlic is deluding herself in thinking she could resemble a shallot.

Rude Awakening

Is Garlic working out her frustrations vicariously through Radish? Or is Radish out throwing forks because that's just what he does? Will Broccoli ever have a moment's peace?

Don't judge my palm trees, by the way, they're only dream palm trees anyway. Speaking of dreaming, my goal is to have posted 100 Beware the Red Radishes before my blogiversary. Only one month left. Counting the original Radish drawing, this is #87. Can I do it? Or am I dreaming?

Throwing Cleavers at Principles

Yeah, right.

Wise...?

If you are evil genius Dr. Valencia, you probably think it wise to test out any chemical concoction. But is it really? What other interpretations of wise are over at Illustration Friday?

Beware the Red Radish will be back soon. Check back midweek.

SuperSpot

I'm knitting a new poncho, but I think it looks pretty nice as a superhero cape for Spot. The red certainly complements his black and white fur.

It has been stressful at the job. And while that usually is fertile ground for many a Beware the Red Radish, I have been too tired to create/color and post. You will have to make do with your imagination and SuperSpot here.

Yesterday I went out for my first autumn gardening session: 4 layers of clothing, some tunes and a rain cloud. Gardening in the rain is incredibly peaceful. I wish I had more time to do the peaceful things.

Vacant

If you've read or browsed my blog from the beginning, you might recognize this vacant rowboat tied to the bulkhead at my parents'. I drew this from that picture. This wasn't my first idea for the "vacant" theme, but one of the first pictures I clicked on over at Illustration Friday was. So I went in a different direction--just as peaceful, I think.

Repair

What needs repairing? Hmm. And who would do the repairing? Hmm. So, Illustration Friday's theme is "repair," and I got an idea extra quick. I'm sure there will be tons of similar things, but I haven't looked yet, so it will be interesting to see how similar the ideas are.

It looks like the cat from "Detach" got its tail back, or is that a different unlucky cat?

I should do some sewing. It might help repair my mood from the week I had.

Too Late

Apparently Garlic isn't too thrilled about the spots. Today's strip coincidentally also fits the Illustration Friday "late" theme. Hmm. If I posted this one over there, people might have to go back and see why Garlic is so upset. Too much work?

I see that my blog is falling into a weekend routine. I'll have to make an effort to spread out the posts a little. Nap less during the week? Heh, probably not.

Late

The Illustration Friday theme this week is "Late."
Frankly, I'm one of those chronically late people. I'm really not a morning person, so having to be somewhere first thing in the morning is challenging. Very challenging....
So anyway, this illustration represents the other end of the day, and how the cat probably feels when it's getting late and I'm not home yet. I decided to go with a yellow cat this time to contrast with the darkness of the late hour in the drawing.
The cats often meet me at the door. It's one of those nice moments of the day: being greeted by the welcoming committee.

...Look Over Here!

Will Garlic be forever spotted now? Will Radish be distracted by his new bomb?

Anti-Anti-Villain Goo Vapor

Seriously. If the main ingredient in anti-villain goo is ranch, then naturally the antidote would have to include....
This is definitely one I recommend you click on, just in case you can't see the side effect of the antidote.

Clean-Up on Aisle...Lair

The lair sure has a nice tub. Wish mine were a claw-foot soaking kind like that....
What do you suppose the antidote to anti-villain goo is?

True Story

This week's Illustration Friday theme is "strings." And Mom was right..."strings" brings to mind "cat" and "toy."

My little cat, Myrna, cannot resist a ball of yarn. It's true. One evening, she was playing with extra yarn that I had balled up for her and managed to hogtie herself. I have a picture of her on my fridge, looking very surprised to be all tangled in yarn.

(FYI she doesn't get to play with yarn unattended.)

My favorite part of this picture is the top panel, because Myrna's paws look just like that.

I have new Radishes roughed out, but not drawn yet. It was an unusually busy week and my annual autumn cold got the best of me after the 12-hour conference day on Tuesday. Glad to be breathing almost unlaboredly today.

Sugary

So, as I said below, this week's Illustration Friday theme is "sugary." So here it is--sugary snow on a pine needle tuft hanging over the sugary syrup that humming-
birds love. I drew this with the help of a couple of pictures I took. The snowy pine needle tuft was in Gregory Canyon, Colorado in 1988. The hummingbird was drawn from a picture I took last summer--the same day as this one. My first thought for "sugary" was actually snow, but I wasn't sure how to draw it. I think it worked out. Maybe I still had snow and hummingbirds on my mind from last week's drawing for "packed."

Lazy

It is a rainy day in the Pacific Northwest. We are all having a lazy afternoon. I just put out a fresh hummingbird feeder and was pondering exactly what to draw for this week's Illustration Friday theme of "sugary." I have an idea, but plan and execution are often very different things. Besides, I'm supposed to be grading stuff. And I need to grocery shop. A nap sounds good, though. I'm sure the kitties would vote for that.

Look Up!

Where are the SWAT grapes when we need them?

Ooey

OK, the good guys? They need some competency training or something...because, um, they do not seem to notice the most obvious things.

Packed...Round Things

Mom suggested hummingbirds in their nest for this week's Illustration Friday theme of "packed." I liked the idea, but it made me think of other things compacted into a small area...things that are packed into their surroundings: a snowball in a mitten, a cat in its knitted bed, and hummingbirds packed into their tiny nest.

I had a pleasant weekend away from home. I went out to my parents' island home and then out the other direction to a friend's home near Mt. Rainier. It was a nicely quiet weekend. Quiet: like snow, or a napping cat, or hummingbirds sleeping off a sugary meal.

SOS

With all that goo vapor hanging in the air around Garlic, how are the police going to get near her? And doesn't goo vapor cause confusion? Can Radish rescue her? So many unanswered questions!

Clique

Which of these cliques do you belong with?
This week's Illustration Friday theme is "clique." I had more than one idea for this week, but I thought I'd use my comic strip characters and their respective cliques. So which is it? Wholesome Broccoli, Dr. Orange, Cherry and Pear? Or dastardly Dr. Valencia, Garlic and the Red Radish?

The Return of Anti-Villain Goo

What a relief. I was getting worried about Pear there for a moment.

Imminent Danger

I kind of thought Pear was smarter than this.

Mixed media again. I guess it does add a different texture to the strip.

Isola

This week's Illustration Friday theme is "Island." As a Pacific Northwest island frequenter and daughter of bonafide islanders, there were a ton of things I could have drawn. I settled on a representative lone evergreen and the cats, making this into the island of me.

Cherry in Mixed Media

I colored part of this (and the next one) with colored pencil, but discovered some of it didn't scan very well. It was my intention to just do some minimal fill with Paint Shop.... To which I sort of was able to limit myself, as I didn't do any overlayers for shading. It sure is hard to stay away from my mouse, and even though I was fairly successful starting off with left-handed mousing, I just had to switch. My brain was laboring too much with the mouse on the left side.

Hey!...Cherry has a crush on Pear!