Inspired by a conversation with one of my college roommates.
You can also see her linguistic influence over me in the labeling of the soda cans as “pop.”
Category Archives: Comics
Standing on the Edge of Real Life: I Actually Have to Read?
I’m posting my comics from Standing on the Edge of Real Life in approximately the order they were created, because I think it’s interesting to see the style evolve over the two years spanned by these comics.
Appropriately, then, we will also start off with a “library” comic. The dialogue is (sadly) verbatim.
Early Lab Mice: Ring Before Spring
A different interpretation of the Christian college adage, “Ring before spring.”
Early Lab Mice: Exercise
This comic paid homage to the extremely enlightening health sheets that would be left on the college cafeteria tables every week.
I was also not as careful with checking my spelling at the beginning, and this comic unfortunately shows off my perpetual mental block regarding the spelling of “exercise.”
Early Lab Mice: ROTC
This was the first of many military-inspired comics, either historic or contemporary–in this case, a joke about Shaun’s stint in Army ROTC.
Early Lab Mice: Does Anyone Have a Water Balloon?!?
This was an early Houghton comic, inspired by the happenings in a particular girls’ dorm room which overlooked the quad-side entrance to the building. Amorous couples would say prolonged good-byes in full view of the windows, prompting a variety of responses from the roommates. The quote to the far-right is, as far as I recall, verbatim.
…And yes, I spelled “Gillette” incorrectly!
Early Lab Mice: Canadian-American English Dictionary
This is one of the comics that resulted from living with two Canadian roommates during a semester of college. I’m not sure how “garborator” came up, since we didn’t have one, but it’s a really fun word to say, and it is now my word for “garbage disposal” (see? way more fun).
It’s one of my few color strips, and the one that made me realize that I REALLY needed to put space between panels.
Early Lab Mice: The Return of Mr. Sun
Please stay as along as you like, Mr. Sun.
Early Lab Mice: Please Don’t Leave!
Mr. Sun: quick to leave, slow to return.
Early Lab Mice: New York in Winter
…or New York in “spring.”
Ash & Acorn 