Meet the Geeks

Sometimes the strips featured on Meet the Geeks are based on reality. And often I find myself in these moments quoting Clay "aannnd... That's a strip"  Take last night for example.  Spring and I have a love/hate relationship. I love spring for the resurrection of life, fewer bugs and cooler pre-summer temperatures. I hate spring because of my allergies, and they have been acting up with a vengeance.  Last night I was sent to bed by my wife around 7:30. I was exhausted and in need of a good, solid nights sleep.  After crawling into bed and dozing for a bit I started feeling the first tickles of an itch forming. I tried to ignore it. But sometimes it just feels so damned satisfying to scratch. And scratch I did.  For the next several hours.  It got to the point that I was trying to draw blood because pain is better than those itches. The ones at your joints. The ones that scurry around under your skin as your scratching fin...

On Friday, July 27th, 2018, I filmed my second (third?) live feed via the Meet the Geeks Facebook  page while I was working on a comic. The comic is a re-do of one that had been previously published back in 2007. I was originally going to re-scan and re-colour the original one but since I was already working on new strips I figured I would draw it again in the updated style. Re-drawing the comic also gave me a chance to address some continuity errors regarding the clothing that the characters were wearing and keeping everything in line. So here you can see a scan of the original comic. The comic also features what will be the first of a look between Corey and Clayton that will mean that trouble lies ahead. The Script Panel 1 Corey: Hey Clay! Check it out! We have a flagpole! Clayton: Huh! Too bad we don't have anything to hoist up it. Panel 2 No Dialogue Panel 3 Matt:(off panel) What? Hey! Wait! What are you... AHHHHHHHHHHH! S...

I don't really remember how this strip came to fruition other than it's one of those strange ideas that come to you from time to time. The idea of Patrick Stewart being haunted by Star Trek loving ghosts sounds like an actors nightmare. The original comic was done in pen and ink and then coloured with copic markers. I'm actually quite proud of how this one turned out. I had thought about doing this as a triptych painting but that never came about. ~Brother K'Bob

I knew the Syphilitic puppy gag would catch on! I just knew it! Hah!  This was a comic done by Clay and, strangely enough, was a gag by Sean.  See, Sean is the straight man, he's not the gag guy. So one day while in the car we were discussing the syphilitic puppy when Sean, out of no where, quipped "It hurts when I pee.... woof..." Clay and I were left aghast at the fact that Sean had made a funny. It just doesn't happen.  I suppose it wouldn't be hard to find a chinese manufacturer to produce a set of puppy plushies with a voice box that says "it hurts when I pee... woof". It could be done. It could be real merch some day.  Perhaps the Syphilitic puppy will be making a re-appearance.  What do you think geeks? Is there a market for it? Is the time right? Shall I spend my hard earned money, money that could be spent on feeding my children, on a gamble based on a joke in bad taste? That certainly sounds like something I wou...

For those of you not in the know, there's a section of Winnipeg viewed with disdain known as Transcona. This is where I grew up and this is where I became the neurotic mess that led me to becoming a cartoonist. Transcona is often mocked by others for being stuck in the past. Whether it's dudes in mullets driving Camaro's to the maligned bar The Oak, Transcona is a suburb unto itself. Transcona was a separate city until 1972, two years before I was born. It was incorporated into the city of Winnipeg Hi Neighbor Sam The Hi Neighbor Sam statue used to sit at the border of Transcona welcoming people into the Town. It's been move a couple of times and repainted and rebranded (it was an advertisement for Canadian Tire for a time). It again sits on Regent welcoming people into the suburb. Now, as for the comic above, why would I be looking at a flamingo and saying "Just like being back in Transcona"? Well, for a time the majority of Transcona homes h...

As I've said before, Clay and I were the kings of self deprecating humor. If it was inappropriate and aimed at ourselves, we were all over it.  The Juniors restaurant close to Clay's old place would regularly have their "Fat Boy" burgers on for cheap, often a two-for-one deal. Of course everytime Clay and I would drive past we would comment that we should take our picture in front of the sign. Finally, one day, we were out with Sean and we decided to make this a reality.  Two fat boys for a mere six dollars! That's probably close to six hundred pounds of meat there dear readers. Cheap at twice that price! Sadly those days are gone. I think it's closer to ten dollars now if you want two fat boys. That's right. Tell me we're not in a recession.  The Creative Process above was made by Clay.  ~Brother K'Bob

"That's a strip" was a common saying among Clay and I whenever we would say or do something stupid.  Trip over a lawn gnome? "That's a strip." Stick our foot in our mouth? "That's a strip." Embarrass ourselves in front of a crowd? "That's a strip." We always joked that we were walking, talking cartoon characters. It was only fitting that we should use our lives as inspiration. Meet the Geeks was always meant to be semi-autobiographical, incorporating fact with fiction in the tradition of the great Gonzo writers. If it's stupid or embarrassing I'm sure it will find it's way into the comic. ~Brother K'Bob

I always felt bad for my cat Thunder, all twenty pounds of him, during the times I was working on the comic. He would be circling around my chair meowing, purring, whining and doing whatever he could to get my attention. Of course he never fully understood other than knowing that I was doing something that did not involve him. Of course this applied to most things that I did without him. Showering, going to the washroom, cooking, etc, etc... Of course cats are a big draw. Lar Desouza, comic artist and caricaturist extraordinaire, has three cats. Launchpad, Dante and Pixel, who have become minor celebrities via Lar's "Kittycam". Another of my friends regularly films her morning workouts. Likewise her cats, Misty and Brindy have also become favorites on her page. After all, everyone likes cats. I guess as I work on the new strip I'll have to figure out a way to work our cat Mercy into the creative process. ~Brother K'Bob

Today's throwback Thursday is the companion piece to Tuesday's offering. Ahh that trip out had some great lines.  Clay and I had no illusions of our weight. It was a bonding point for us both. Go large or go home. So when ordering and the barista asked if he wanted the regular or the "skinny", well, there was only one way he could respond.  That quick wit is why he wound up doing stand-up comedy. I really miss those days. ~Brother K'Bob

Welcome Geeks to the first of the Throwback Thursdays where I (finally) jump on this bandwagon to bring you some history from the far flung past from Generation one of the Geeks. Aside from Meet the Geeks there was also a single panel comic called The Creative Process. The idea behind it was to show some of the jokes that would'n't make it into the comic but that amused us none-the-less.  This one, well... it amused me.  It came from a conversation related to me by a person I'll call Big Gay Rick and his response to an excited question. Other person: "Guess what I got?"  BG Rick: "Syphilis?"   Other person "No." BG Rick "A puppy!?!" Of course I had to continue this conversation in my head which ended with "A puppy with syphilis?" It was funny to me at the time. And to this end I kept trying to find a way to incorporate it into the comic. Unfortunately the other Geek's did'n'...