Just Call Me "Agave the Blest"

It's finals week, with all that entails. I just finished a paper on Euripides' Bacchae, and was inspired to create short comic version of the climactic scene at the end, when Agave, still in the throes of Dionysiac madness, presents the severed head of her son Pentheus to her Cadmus, her father:

Agave: Now, father,
ours can be the proudest boast of living men.
For you are now the father of the bravest daughters
in the word. All of your daughters are brave,
but I above the rest. I have left my shuttle
at the loom; I raised my sight to higher things--
to hunting animals with my bare hands.
You see?
Here in my hands I hold the quarry of my chase,
a trophy for our house. Take it, Father, take it.
Glory in my kill and invite your friends to share
the feast of triumph. For you are blest, Father,
by this great deed I have done.

Cadmus: This is a grief
so great it knows no size. I cannot look.
This is the awful murder your hands have done.
This, this is the noble victim you have slaughtered
to the gods. And to share a feast like this
you now invite all Thebes and me?
O gods,
how terribly I pity you and then myself.
Justly--too, too justly--has lord Bromius,
this god of our own blood, destroyed us all,
every one.
(Bacchae of Euripides, Arrowsmith trans. 1960)

Here is my take on the scene:



Moral of the story: do not fuck with Dionysus.

Q: What do you get

when you cross Anthony Ainley and a root vegetable?

A: This.

Seriously, you guys! "Radish" really does come from the Latin "radix", so CLEARLY a pun on "the root of all evil" needed to be made! I'm just doing my duty as an English/Classics major!

...I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

The Burdens of Adulthood

It was a depressing realization indeed, but I made up for it by getting a bunch of comics from the library.

Cartooning for the Lazy

Um. So I drew a comic, but I was too lazy to ink it, so I just went over the pencil quickly in MS Paint. Consequently, it looks crappy. Also, it makes no sense. Even *I* don't get it. All you need to know is that (a) it's a conversation between my 19-year-old self and my 9-year old self and (b) that Meeps and Z-boy were cats, and that the former died of cancer when I was in third grade, and the latter of old age five years later. Make of it what you will.

Cartoony Faces (Catching Up, Part the Second)

I filled ten pages of my sketchbook with cartoon heads. I present a small sampling for your amusement.

I'm not sure, but I think this is the gentleman with the thistledown hair from Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

Boyfriend! I've been trying to come up with a cartoony version of Nathan, but it never comes out quite right. This one is sort of OK, although I'm still not satisfied.Another attempt, with a cartoon Kylie to the lower right.

I was practicing drawing expressions on myself, and this one is my favorite.

No head-doodling session would be complete without the Random Dude-guy!

Skinny Jeans

Old Cat Story

This happened about ten years ago, when Mercatroid was still a kitten. I felt like doodling this afternoon, so I grabbed a pen and for some reason this scene sprang to mind.

It's Kind of Sad, Really

I picked up some X-Men comics at the library today, and spent the afternoon squeeing over them. Xena-kitty wanted to sit in my lap, so I figured I might as well introduce her to the marvels of the x-universe.
...yes, I talk to my cats. They don't generally answer back. The next is a kitty-comic of sorts, in which Michiko (aka Michi aka Horrible Kitten aka Bad Bad OWW!...)

I should mention that Xena is a Jedi cat as well as a Gumbie cat*. There's no particular reason; she just is. Fortunately for the world, she mostly uses her powers for convincing people to give her food.

Oh, and check out Lackadaisy! It is a comic set in Prohibition-era St. Louis, by a lady who draws cats much better than I do.

* "She sits and sits and sits and sits/ and that's what makes a Gumbie cat." --T.S. Eliot, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats

Cat Wars!

The Kitties are most often seen cavorting on the dry-erase board of Annex 201 these days, but they've existed in their current incarnation since I was in 7th grade. Here's a comic drawn when I was 14 or so, starring Xena, Jedi Master:

...and in belated honor of No Pants Day:

Fear Not the Dorkness...

Here's another silly self-portrait cartoon, sketched up last night instead of doing my Latin homework. Fortunately, today's class was taken up making insulting posters for the upcoming soccer match against the Russian department. Carpamus campum!

Moving In

I finally got fed up with Xanga and decided to move somewhere with a more sensible comments policy. So here I am. The old stuff can still be found yonder.

This should be familiar to anyone who has ever played Super Smash Brothers with me. I still live by the conviction that raising the controller above my head will keep my character from falling.