February 25 - Good Skates

In celebration of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Ricki Lee & Tony, happily married, become a figure skating pair. Tony is a professional hockey player and Ricki played college hockey, so skating is second nature to them, especially as a pair. This cute cartoon will later become a greeting card.

February 18 - Snow on Mauna Kea

Mauna Kea, an extinct volcano that is the highest point on the Big Island of Hawaii (over 13,000 feet), gets dumped with snow every time winter storms pass through the Hawaiian islands. Nobody expects snow in Hawaii, but Mauna Kea's sheer height virtually guarantees it. Residents from neighboring islands come to the Big Island every winter to ski and snowboard on the "Pineapple Powder".

In this cartoon, Ricki Lee & Tony and the boys are playing in the snow on Mauna Kea. Notice the shaka salute on the snowman's left arm and the lei-covered cross in the foreground, an affirmation of the family's Christian faith (and of my own).

January 31 - Dee Dee in Recovery

It's finally done! Ricki Lee's younger sister Dee Dee stars in her own digital comic book, "Dee Dee in Recovery", geared toward faith-based alcohol and drug recovery programs like Celebrate Recovery and Overcomers Outreach. Dee Dee, a student member of Alcoholics Anonymous, deals with the trauma of having her anonymity broken on YouTube and confronting the guy who posted it.

The thumbnail pages above, in order, are downloadable as JPEG images for use in 12-step support groups or personal reading. A higher quality PDF file is available by clicking here.

January 25 - Card Club

It's card night at the house, and little Isaac is holding all the cards, and most of the chips. Are you all in on the joke? :)

January 9 - Introducing Dee Dee

With this cartoon post I'm getting a little serious. As I mentioned in my very first post, Ricki Lee's college sister Dee Dee is a student member of Alcoholics Anonymous. This is one page of a comic book story I am working on right now starring her. In it, she is shocked to find on YouTube a video of her stone drunk from an high school party a few years back... and it breaks her anonymity as an AA member. It is essentially cyberbullying.

In this preview page Dee Dee's parents tell her that, sadly, she set herself up for embarrassment when she chose to get loaded that night. Her AA sponsor Dallas seconds the motion. But mom and dad stand by and love their daughter no matter what.

The complete story will be posted and available as a PDF e-book once I'm done scanning in and coloring all four pages. And while AA is mentioned in this cartoon, it does not imply an affiliation with or endorsement by AA's World Service Office.

January 5 - Desperate Stay-at-Home Moms

No, not desperate housewives, Desperate Stay-at-Home Moms. They're essentially the same thing, but I'm not talking about selfish, scheming, sexually addicted housewives like on the ABC show. Desperate Stay-at-Home Moms are true domestic goddesses that are committed to the man they married, the children they raise and the daily disasters that happen at home like a screaming baby, broken flower pots, toddlers always asking for Mommy and pets that always want to go out for a walk... all of which are depicted in this cute Ricki Lee cartoon.

This cartoon is available as a ladies t-shirt and coffee mug at my new online store, powered by Zazzle. It's called The Pandapolis Store and can be visited by going to www.zazzle.com/richartrod.

January 2 - Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from Isaac, Tony, Xena, Ricki Lee and Robert... and yours truly.