Just in time for The Hobbit… here’s a comic strip that mentions a character from that novel. HA!

We’re getting close to the end of the year (and maybe the end of the world), and what better way to wrap thing up than with a wedding that’s never going to happen!

Remember the time (read: the 80s) when phones (the kinds with cords) were made to look like things? Like, you could buy a phone shaped like a shoe or a football, and everyone would marvel at how quirky or eccentric or whimsical you were. Our cell phones haven’t quite reached that phase yet. We can get fancy covers for them, but I don’t think anyone’s designing mass-market cell phones that look like things other than phones. I want a cell phone shaped like a frog or a slice of pizza or… well, a rock.

The dialogue in today’s strip is absolutely real. I heard it at a local Burger King several months ago (which just goes to show how long I’ve waited before uploading this).

Basically, the manager of this particular Burger King is a fast-food stereotype: short, overweight, balding, pasty, and greasier than the hamburgers. The poor guy was probably in his mid-thirties but looked like he was ten years older. His staff consisted entirely of teenagers, and it was easy to see that they didn’t take this guy seriously.

Today’s strip is all about fire! I wanted to create a strip with Ben and Winslow having a seemingly normal (or what passes for normal in their world) conversation, oblivious to the flames that had suddenly burst to life on their heads. And then at the end, I would hit you all with a profound message or something. See what I did there? I’m educating you through laughter and flammability. And that’s not an easy thing to do. I’m sure my Nobel is already in the mail.

All of the characters in Ben & Winslow exhibit some sort of exaggerated aspect of my own personality. All of them except Laura, who is the strip’s embodiment of my wife.

The conversation in this strip may have actually happened a few weeks ago. At least that’s what my wife will tell you, but she’s a liar.