July 8 - Bedtime for Cousin Lee

Cousin Lee is all snuggled up in her nice, soft and comfy bed. The nice cool tradewinds are blowing into her upstairs bedroom through the open windows, where she has a great view of her Pearl City neighborhood and Pearl Harbor. It all makes for one happy hapa. Lee loves living in Hawaii, and she's ready to close her eyes and say aloha o'e to another day in paradise nei. And with her bedroom door locked, no screaming keiki or hyperactive pets can barge in and ruin her mood. :)

May 25 - Mine!

Little baby Robbie just learned a new word, and it's striking terror into his parents Ricki Lee & Tony. He loves innocently showing off his expanded vocabulary and is quite proud of himself. This is the title card of a Flash animation I'm working on.

May 22 - We Are Na Ali'i... Seriously

Here are some of the students and faculty Ricki Lee works with at Calvary High School of Hawaii in Honolulu, where she teaches English and Japanese as well as coach the three-member cheer team. From left to right are school mascot Ono Grindz the Ali'i Sheep, Ricki's mentor Mrs. Yamashita (aka Tutu Huhu), Ricki, cheer captain Tita Silva and her class-clown boyfriend Jared McMooney. The L in "School" perpetually falls to an angle because the pegs behind the L won't stay put in the concrete, but as an inside joke the administration just leaves it that way to remind themselves and the student body that despite our best efforts to keep up outward appearances, all of us are still imperfect and sinful before a perfect God--but thanks to the finished work of Jesus on the cross, we stand before the Father as if we never sinned.

April 18 - Don't Get Huhu in Ricki Lee's Classroom

Ricki Lee teaches English and Japanese at Calvary High School of Hawaii, a tiny private Christian high school in suburban Honolulu. Tita Silva is the short but spirited captain of the CHS cheer squad, which Ricki coaches. Tita's temper tends to be just as short as she is, and she often makes a fool of herself when she gets huhu (angry) over the dumbest of things. Now she is learning the hard way during detention that you don't do such things in your coach's English class, and she can't blame her Portugese and Samoan heritage for her huhu. Hence the sneer. Bart Simpson isn't the only one, you know.

April 12 - Da Kine Easter Parade

I created this happy Easter cartoon on Easter Sunday, which this year in the United States was on the last day of March. I did a thumbnail sketch in my notebook a few weeks before, then after my church's Easter sunrise service I drew the final edition on the back of an envelope at the Cafe Westminster in Westminster, California and scanned it into my laptop.

The Rogers ohana is dressed in their hau'oli Easter best--pet mongoose included--to celebrate the resurrection of Christ at a local Easter sunrise service. And in doing so they are putting on their own version of Da Kine Easter Parade, yeah? Pictured from left to right are Cousin Lee, her adopted daughter Keisha, Lani Girl the mongoose, and arm-in-arm Lee's parents Della and Pete. Keisha laughs at Tutu's Easter bonnet because she's never seen one before and to her it looks so wonderfully ridiculous. :)

St. Patrick's Day in Hawaii Nei

Do people celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Hawaii? Why faith and begorrah, of course they do, brah--but with an island twist. Ricki Lee, dressed as an Irish folk dancer, is happily swinging on a vine from the big banyan tree with baby Robbie in tow. Her Uncle Pete and Aunt Della mix shakas with shamrocks on the lawn, joining their daughter Lee (who is "Hapa Irish" through her dad), adopted granddaughter Keisha, Ricki's other son Isaac on the other vine, and the ohana pets Xena the Chihuahua and Lani Girl the mongoose.

November 2 - Late Night HDTV

This should have been posted before Halloween, but I've been busy with work this week and haven't been able to until now. This animated video was made during the summer and is the sequel to a 2009 Ricki Lee & Tony cartoon, Late Night TV. As the name implies, this new one is high-definition and widescreen. Here, cousins Issac and Keisha are watching test patterns while Cousin Lee (Keisha's adopted mom) is sleeping. The keiki (kids) make jokes about Popsicle flavors and donuts while the noise wakes poor Lisa up to a bizarre TV nightmare.

October 22 - A Harvest of Costumes

It's the annual Fall Festival at Ricki Lee & Tony's church--or what some would call a safer Halloween alternative without the scary costumes and gothic enthusiasts--and everyone's dressed up as somebody, including Ricki Lee as legendary Hawaiian singer-songwriter Aunty Irmgard Aluli, Cousin Lee as a University of Hawaii cheerleader, and Isaac as an Angry Bird. Unless you live in or have visited the islands, you might not get the local kine jokes, including Auntie Della's. But have fun fo try, eh? :)

October 17 - Oktoberfest in Hawaii Nei

The traditional German festival known as Oktoberfest is celebrated in Hawaii, too--often at hotels, tourist traps and Lutheran churches. (At churches, though, it may be with root beer instead of the regular kine.) The Ricki Lee & Tony ohana, Lutherans all, are all in the Deutschlander aloha spirit in lederhosen, peasant Hausfrau dresses, feathers in their hats, and haku lei on their heads. Even Lani Girl the mongoose is in the act, holding up a stein full of root beer with her tail. Alas, little Isaac hasn't been properly brainwashed in the Oktoberfest spirit. They'll get him yet. :)

January 23 - Bad Golf Day

From the joy of New Year's Eve to the frustration of being a pathetic golfer: so much for Lee trying to be like professional golfer Paula Creamer. At least she can look like The Pink Panther, right? It doesn't help, though, when your mom and daughter really rub it in. And it really doesn't help if you have an explosive temper on the course like Lee clearly does.  :)

January 9 - Happy (Achoo!) New Year

Happy New Year! Since 2010 I have created Ricki Lee & Tony-themed New Year's cartoons in addition to my Christmas greeting cards. In this year's version the whole extended ohana in Pearl City welcomes you to 2012. Poor Ricki has come down with a cold, but that doesn't keep her from dressing up in her "Breakfast at Tiffany's" best for New Year's Eve. When her cousin Lee complimented her festive white gloves, Ricki angrily fired back "It's so I can wipe my runny nose with them!"

The cartoon was directly inspired by my own bout with a cold--the second one in a month. I myself was laid up in bed for most of the New Year's weekend, and decided to make lemonade out of lemons by incorporating it into the artwork through Ricki Lee.

The whole family as shown clockwise from left to right: Lee, her adopted daughter Keisha, her parents Della and Pete Rogers, Tony, Ricki Lee with her cold medicine and tissue paper, Xena faithfully watching over her mistress, and Ricki Lee & Tony's sons Isaac and Robert (seated).

May 30, 2011 - Welcome to the Ohana!

As promised, every cartoon posted from now on will now reflect Ricki Lee and Tony's family moving to Hawaii. In this post, everyone celebrates cousin Lee officially adopting little Keisha as her own daughter at the Honolulu children's court, and changing her name to Keisha Kealoha Rogers. Lee's mother Della is crying joyfully not only for having a grandchild, but for seeing the love and care she raised Lee with now being passed on to another generation.

This drawing was designed for an adoption-themed greeting card, which is available for purchase from my Zazzle.com online store.

May 28, 2011 - Honolulu Reboot

Ricki Lee and Tony have moved to a new home... Hawaii.

In February, I spent four days in Honolulu to prepare for and compete in the Great Aloha Run, a 8-mile charity run held every Presidents' Day on the streets of Honolulu to raise money for several local nonprofit groups on the island of Oahu. I fell in love with Hawaii while there, and it persuaded me to reboot Ricki Lee and Tony by relocating them there. All new comics posted will reflect the aloha, so to speak. Here's the storyline.

Tony was unexpectedly traded down to a Triple A-class minor league hockey team in Hawaii, the Honolulu Devil Dogs. To keep the family together, he and Ricki made the tough decision to leave California and move to Honolulu within the two-week notice Tony was given to report there. Although she is already a "Hawaiian by heart," the sudden move devastates Ricki as she leaves behind lifelong friends and close family on the mainland to join her husband halfway across the Pacific. She sobs uncontrollably on the flight to Honolulu.

They temporarily move in with Ricki's cousin Lee at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where Lee is an assistant coach for the women's basketball team and a fitness instructor. As they settle in, Ricki and Tony find and buy a home near the university large enough for all of them and quickly learn to ride the wave of aloha in their new home state.

Among the changes to the characters:

Ricki Lee Smith returns to full-time teaching as an English instructor at Calvary High School, home of the Ali'is. CHS is a small private Christian school that is so small its basketball team is co-ed. She's learned to speak Hawaii Pidgin fluently, and she considers it a true language; doing so has earned her the trust of the students and their parents. Ricki amazes the locals, and even herself, with her ability to go "rapid fire" from one language to another (English, Spanish, Japanese and Pidgin) instantaneously when addressing a multi-lingual crowd.

Tony Smith is now a defenseman for the Honolulu Devil Dogs, a struggling Triple-A minor league hockey team affiliated with the big-league Anaheim Ducks. The running gag of the Devil Dogs is "Ho, those buggahs haven't had a winning season in years!" and Tony responds "So I've heard."

A few new characters are added for the move to Hawaii:

Lisa "Lee" Rogers: Ricki's biracial cousin, the daughter of a white father and black mother (Ricki's Uncle Pete and Auntie Della). The two grew up together in as close as sisters and call each other "Cuz". Having already lived in Hawaii for three years, Lee becomes like a guardian angel to her cousin's family in helping them adjust to and thrive in the Hawaiian culture. Raised in a Lutheran church, Lee is strong and mature in her faith in Christ and it shows in her daily life. She is also very proud of her dual ethnic heritage, which was instilled in her by her parents. Single and not dating, Lee adopted a disadvantaged child she originally planned to foster only for a few years. An accomplished athlete just like her cousin Ricki, her Achilles' heel is golf; she plays it as physically aggressive as basketball, resulting in deep divots, three-digit handicaps, explosive tempers and embarrassing her mother when they play together.

Keisha Kealoha Rogers, Lee's six-year-old adopted daughter. Originally born as Keisha Souljah Harland to mother Rhonda Harland and her boyfriend Brett, she was taken away from her drug-addicted parents by the state of Hawaii for her own protection. Lee volunteered to foster-parent her through her church's child outreach program, but they bonded so well that Lee decided to adopt her outright to give her a safe, loving Christian home. Lee loves to call her Kealoha (sweetheart) and changed her name upon adoption to give her a fresh start. Keisha's vocabulary is peppered with Hawaiian words like huhu (angry), kokua (care) and lolo (fool).

Peter Paul (Pete) and Della Rogers, Lee's parents, who live in rural Olivebridge, New York. Pete is white and Della is black. They met in church and caused quite a stir with their courtship and eventual marriage. He is a store manager, she is a teacher. Because of the prejudice Lee encountered in grade school over being biracial, they consciously decided not to have more children, but Lee has never held it against them because she grew up in close proximity to cousin Ricki Lee and her family. Keisha loves to call Della Tutu (grandmother in Hawaiian) because it's the first time she ever had a grandma, and one that looks like her, too.

Moses "Moe" Yamashita, owner of Da Drive Inn, a Hawaiian "plate lunch" restaurant that is the favorite hangout of the Smith-Rogers clan. Hawaii Pidgin is his native tongue, followed by Japanese and proper English. In reference to Pidgin, Moe likes to say "Peopo talk about comfort food, well, I have comfort language!" A trusted friend of the family.

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.