Mess Making

 

Yeah, that's life currently. The mouseover is good on this one :) Also, Robin has learned to say "nope" (really popping the "p") and "yeah yeah yeah" so that's something. She likes to say the latter when one of us are on a call and trying to have a conversation - it's not the best. However, Robin is pretty good with picking up after herself so that does calm down the house a bit - I do not like having things strewn all about.

Text:
M: What are we making?
L: A mess.
R: Yeah yeah yeah

Missing Phone

I got this idea after setting down my phone at my in-laws and thinking, "hey it would be annoying if I left this here." On a related note, I saw something about the Star Wars prequels and thought, this comic totally could have been a conversation between Obi-Wan and Anakin in their early days. 

Text:
S: Oh, Lauren left her phone here. I'll text her to let her know.
*Elsewhere*
L: WHERE - IS - MY - PHONE???

Change Hater

I feel like this every time a site I use changes. Does that make me old? Probably. But now I'm on Instagram and Facebook so hopefully this change is good? It's more of an addition than a change - I still have my site here but now I have new avenues for people to find me?

Fun fact: this is my second comic named "Change Hater" - here is the first.

Explanation: in order for things to improve, there has to be change. You can't stay the same and get better. 

Text:
A: I hate when *the site* changes!
B: You didn't like how it worked, so this is good?
A: I want improvements without change!

Instagram Announcement

 

Special Announcement! I've started an Instagram page, and to make scheduling easier there is also a Facebook page! Follow/like/subscribe if you'd like to get my updates that way.

https://www.facebook.com/Comical.True.Story

https://www.instagram.com/comical.true.story

I will continue to post here on my site, which will send out emails if you have subscribed to that. But now you should see me in your feeds if you add me there! 

Checking Boxes

 

I was going to save this one up for election time, but this is the last of my pre-Instagram comics! That's right, all my future comics will be in Instagram dimensions so I had to either update this one, which would have been annoying, or just post it now and hope people remember it as they go into their election seasons. 

Explanation: You should not check both the Yes and No options in a yes/no question.
"Are you for *this* decision?" ☑Yes ☑No
"Are you coming to the wedding?" ☑Yes ☑No

Text:
A: Why don't you like this candidate? He checked all the boxes!
B: But they were Yes/No questions?!?

Fun Gus

I drew this thinking of Shawn and Gus from Psych. I like the mouseover I wrote on this one - you should check it out. 

Explanation: Mushrooms are a type of fungus, and "fun, Gus" sounds like "fungus." 

Text:
G: Why did you give me all these mushrooms, Shawn?!
S: You need to be more fun, Gus. 

Spirit of the Game

 

Catch the spirit? I feel like this would be a great Halloween costume. Would make you think a little bit to understand it. Could also be a fun addition to your local sports stadium. Some have the running of the presidents, another could have this. 

Explanation: A ghost is also called a spirit. 

Text:
A: This stadium is haunted!!!
B: Oh, that's just the Spirit of the Game.
SotG: *waving pennant and wearing a ball cap*

Cashew or Not

WHAT it's my 11/12 birthday? Just putting that out there.
I thought this up when I was putting mixed nuts into the food processor to make "peanut butter" but since it's mixed nuts that's not quite the right name but it sounds better that way. I like making my own because it's surprising what all is in commercially available peanut butter when it really should just be peanuts and maybe salt. 

Explanation: So "catch you" and "cashew" sound similar, and that's the word play here. Because the first speaker is a peanut, not a cashew, and wants to catch the second speaker, who claims to be faster and therefore uncatchable. 

Text:
Peanut: Imma cashew!
Almond: No, you're a peanut and I'm faster.

Expert

Word dissection can be fun - if a word seems to have a prefix, what are the other forms that can be made of the word? The only definition I'm finding for "pert" is "small or attractive" and that's unfortunate if you're an expert then. 

Explanation: "Ex" is often a prefix, like an "ex-girlfriend" or "ex-marine" and denotes a former role a person had. However, English is made up of many words from many languages and in this case, the word comes from the Latin expertus, But then again, "ex" meaning "former" is from both Greek and Latin meaning "out/out of" like "exodus" so maybe there is a mysterious pert that we need to define!

Text:
A: I'm not expert -
B: So you're currently a pert?
A: ...
B: When do you think you'll resign? Or get kicked out?

Slow Fast

 

So "Pokee" sounds like "poky" as in "The Poky Little Puppy" which is an excellent Little Golden Book, and "Xpress" is a stylized form of "express" which means "faster than usual" like express shipping which can cost orders of magnitude more than the item you're buying. So I thought the restaurant name was humorous. Maybe they meant it as a pun - there are a number of restaurants around me that have, if not puns, plays on words in their names.

Text:
M: There's a Pokee Xpress - want to get lunch?
L: Haha, slow fast. 

Upside Down Smile

 

So my little one is a fairly happy baby so this comic is depicting him smiling, just (Star Wars music) from a different point of view. To have an upside-down smile would be a frown, but if the person is upside-down then the upside-downs cancel out? If you are upside-down and frowning, would that be a smile? So many angles to take with this.

Text:
S2: He's smiling upside down!
S1: That's called frowning.
O: coo

Swallow

 

Both of my kiddos are droolers but for the baby that's normal - the toddler needs reminders to close her mouth and swallow. 

Explanation: "Swallow" is a type of bird and also an action where you keep the spit from falling out of your mouth and dripping on people, places, and things.

Text:
A: Do you still call your daughter Robin?
L: Well, nowadays we usually call her Swallow.

Illegal Minute

 

I forget which station plays this ad, but I hear it wrong every time and think of this instead. How much can be done in one illegal minute? I think of it as 60 seconds to break a law, rather than a minute that exceeds 60 seconds (breaking the laws of time, but time is a construct so everything is arbitrary, so hmmm).

Text:
Radio: It's time fore A Legal Minute with Yale Specter.
L: Illegal minute?!

Testing Patients

 

So I heard the phrase "testing my patience" and thought this up. If you are in the medical field, please find a way to use this at work. I saw some funny medical stickers that made me think of an EMT friend of mine, but I don't remember exactly what they said, just that they were funny in a medical way. One of them was something like "natural selection intervention squad."

Explanation: "patients" and "patience" sound the same but are different things (one is a virtue, the other is a category of people). To "test my patience" means you're being irritating, but "testing my patience" means you're checking the education of the people here to see the doctor. 

Text:
Dr: Are you testing my patients?!?
N: Yes, and they are flunking - this is basic pathophysiology!

Lovely Moose

 

Happy Anniversary 💕

Explanation: "Dear" is a term of endeerment :) and sounds the same as "deer" which is an animal slightly similar to a moose. 

Text:
M: I love you, my dear!💕
L: And I love you, my... moose? 💓