Oh man. This is awesome.

The legendary MAD magazine illustrator and caricaturist Tom Richmond created the National Cartoonist Society program for this year’s Reuben Awards, and look who’s on the cover!

(…me! In the upper right)

Isn’t that cool? And there’s a little Arthur (with an awesome tie) and a little Sheldon there, too! And I’m right behind Jim Davis (Garfield) and his inkwell martini! I could not be more honored: Tom, you are awesome. Thank you.

PS: You can check out Tom’s work in MAD magazine, of course — but he also maintains a great blog on art process and illustrating, here.

Everyone’s favorite war-time bear now has his own poster! I’ve printed up a few dozen of ’em for you lovers of the Prime Minister — so get ’em while you can in the store.

Friends, if you’re like me, and you frequently wear clothing, then allow me to direct you to these fine Sheldon shirts exclusively available at Topatoco. You’re but a mere image-click away from wearing them. On your body.

“Mind of a Ninja, Body of a Manatee”

“The English Language: Carefully Cobbled Together By Three Blind Dudes With a German Dictionary”
<img src="https://www.sheldoncomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/blog_091027a.jpg"

“Knitting: It’s Sitting, For Creative People”
“Anatomy of a Pug”

“Lucky Duck”

“Coffee: It’s What’s For Dinner”

“Fantasy Football: It’s Just Dungeons & Dragons For Dudes Who Won’t Play D&D”

Two quick thoughts, today:

1.) This new tall format for strips has been a really fun stretch. There’s a lot more room to play with. Today’s toy packaging, for example, just wouldn’t be possible in a standard horizontal strip.

2.) It was an embarrassment of riches as to which S.O.B. Churchill quote to use, today. Might I just direct you to this strip, for example?

Just wanted to share this fantastic fan-art from Robin Dempsey, of Skitter and Nosh. I find it fantasatic.

I’m sure most folks will want to talk about The Vinn’s encyclopedia entry, but I also wanted to throw this out there: I’ve been updating my personal timeline for the Drive universe, and thought it might be fun to share it with you. There might be a few things, below, that haven’t come up in the strip yet! I can’t recall.

Speaking of which: If you spot anything you think I have *wrong* on this timeline, or any key dates I’ve missed, do let me know!

1870 First Veetan ships begin venturing into space
1980 Renegade pre-Maker’s ship has catastrophic accident
2081 Veetan ship comes into contact with a Continuum ship
2258 Conrado finds the Continuum ship
2273 First human contact with Veetans
2291 First human contact with Tesskans/Fillipods. There are skirmishes in and around Tesskil, but it mostly ends there for the Empire… as it will take Tesskans 80 years to get to Earth.
2331 First human contact with The Vinn
2332-2334 Human-Vinn War
2350 “The Rebellion” begins in the Outer Colonies
2365 The Tres Primos begin the campaign against the Empire
2379 The first Tesskan near-light-drive ships begin entering human space
2380-2383 Human-Tesskan War
2384 First Imperial contact with the Continuum
2384 Machito re-christened as a military scout ship
2386 Taneel takes command of the battle cruiser Sevillana
2392-2398 Nosh stuck in Moscow for six years
2398 Nosh joins Captain Taneel’s crew
2400 Fernando joins Captain Taneel’s crew
2401 Emperor Manuel Jose Cruz murdered. Nosh taken into custody. Captain Taneel relieved of command of Sevillana. Skitter wakes up in prison.

Two seconds of soap-boxin’:

1.) Perhaps take a few moments to learn about how SOPA and PIPA work. Here is a good start.

2.) Print and mail letters to your state’s senators and representatives, urging them not to support this. Physical mail is harder to ignore than email. It piles up. It has to be put into those 1930’s-looking satchels labelled “MAIL”. You can find representatives’ addresses here and senators’ addresses here.

3.) Call your senators and representatives on the phone and urge them not to support the bills. See above links for phone numbers or click here to get a quick list of representatives based on where you live.

And with the introduction of The Vinn, the final piece of the story appears. More on them next week! Same Bat Time! Same Bat Channel!

Heads up for Sheldon art lovers! I’m putting a nifty piece of Sheldon Original Art up for grabs, called “Readin’ the Funnies.” It’s Sheldon, Flaco, and Arthur reading comics in the paper, on their phone, and on their laptop.

It’s drawn in lightfast, archival inks on acid-free, vellum Bristol stock. The cardstock measures 14″ x 5.5″ inches, while the drawn image is roughly 13″ x 3″ inches. I’m starting the bidding at one penny, as I’d rather leave it up to you to decide what it’s worth. And shipping is free within the US! So if you’re interested, head over and throw your hat into the ring!

Howard Tayler of Schlock Mercenary informs me that the Hugo Award nominations are now open, and that Drive is eligible.

Specifically, Drive’s 2011 story-arc “The Tesskan Revolt” is eligible in the Best Graphic Story category. It starts here and ends ends here.

(You’re eligible to nominate things if you were a member at the 2011 WorldCon in Reno, or if you pre-purchase a membership for 2012 WorldCon in Chicago before January 31st. And you have until March 11th to do so.)