Wonder if they’ll use a bone saw?

Does anyone else think House has started treading water this season?

Oh if only this weren’t true!  Lulu sent in this great reveal of how I really create the strip.  Cheers Lulu!

Here’s a rather involved piece of cartooning I did for the children’s magazine Chickadee.  Took me back to my Where’s Waldo days.  Actually I was a full grown man in the Where’s Waldo days, so I don’t have nostalgia for the Waldo hunt, just a sympathy for the creator’s eyes and fingers.  The spaces in the art have been left for the instructions on how to play the games contained within, such as “match the two identical elephant shrubs” and “how many people have cameras?”

(Well, only 3 years old).

Ryan Ogilvie sent me in this picture of Poncho enjoying his holiday wish – “to be with Plankie by the fire and the tree with a bowl of kibble!”

Here’s hoping everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Norm Feuti already has a comic strip.  It’s called Retail.  It’s about life in retail.  This well-named strip is funny, well-drawn, and certainly seems like a full-time job.  But wait!  Utilizing a work ethic he can only have learned actually working in retail, Norm is putting out a new strip!

It’s called Gil. I read it online years ago and it generated the first correspondence I had with Norm, when I wrote to tell him I thought it was great.  Years later the folks at King Syndicate agreed, and now Norm is about to kiss his family goodbye and embark on a second full-time syndicated strip.  And dang it all if it doesn’t look beee-utiful:

Norm and Brendan Burford, another good bud who is the development editor at King, are blogging about the process of getting Gil ready for the funny pages. Check it out here, and if you like it be sure to give it your support if it shows up in your local fish wrappers.

Best of luck on this, Norm!

Here’s a daily from three years back.  Merry merry, one and all.  Smooch!

Lulu sent in this shot of Poncho hanging outside with some very festive Lions at Chicago’s Art Institute on Michigan Ave.  The Art Institute has some great pieces and, having visited myself earlier this year, I can attest that one day is simply not enough time to see it all.

Thanks for sending this in Lulu.

A fan who reads Pooch in the Norfolk Daily News alerted me to the fact that in Poncho’s regular spot they’ve recently been finding Pickles.  The editor writes thoughtfully about his decision here.

While he admits that “there’s at least one Daily News staff member who considers it her top favorite” and that he got complaints about the change from a “goodly number of readers”, it seems at the moment that Pooch remains in peril.  What a strange, fickle business.

If you enjoy Pooch Café and read it in the Norfolk Daily News, Kert Warneke would like to hear from you.  Please only write or email him if you are a reader of the Daily News. (Address).

Much appreciation!

Nearing year end, I wanted to post a note of thanks to all of you great fans who have purchased the new Poncho: Year One.  It really was a labor of love and you close fans of the strip are the ones who I appreciate sharing it with the most.  Thanks a million for coming with me on this journey.

For any who have enjoyed the book, if you have a spare minute please drop by the Amazon page and give it a nice rating, I’ve been told that the more high star ratings a book has the more it comes up on promo pages and such.

Thanks again, all, hope you’re enjoying Poncho’s return to the present, (having learned nothing). 

Maybe it’s just those upsidedown exclamation points, but I always find it freaky to see Poncho spouting Española.  It’s also neat to see how other languages handle various alliterations, in this case “woof” becomes “guof”, “wump” becomes “bump” and “stamp” becomes “pamp”.

I also took a stab at predicting the weather with this strip.  I assume most of my Spanish-speaking fans along with various others in sunnier climes have no impending snow nightmares to keep them awake, but the rest of us are shuddering awaiting a scene such as the one depicted above.  As much as I’m a snow-loather (if snow were a person, I would not hold the door open for it or say “bless you” when it sneezed), this Sunday would have hit the mark a little better if we’d got dumped on the weekend that it ran.  I heard that Montreal got blitzed… perhaps that bumped this one notch higher on the chuckle-meter?

Oh, Mr. Corey Pandolph, this is not the way to get me to cowrite that movie idea you had about dancing beavers called “Happy Tails”.  But I do like your surreal rendering of Mr. Glynn’s eyebrows.

Michael and Rachel Lukens recently got married and sent me a couple of images from their special day.  I see Poncho’s already checking out the menu at his table and is putting his paw of approval on the music score.  I hope he wasn’t too much of a mooch!

Congratulations Michael and Rachel – wishing you many years of happiness ahead.

Do you cartoon? You could win a $5,000 scholarship and a trip to Las Vegas to meet the top names in cartooning. Don’t delay – the deadline is December 15.

Applicants must be students at a 4-year college in the United States, Canada or Mexico who will be a Junior or Senior during the 2012-2013 academic year. Applicants do not have to be art majors to be eligible for this scholarship.

For more information and an application, click here.

The annual Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship, in memory of the late King Features editor, was funded by an initial $100,000 grant from the Hearst Foundation/King Features Syndicate and additional generous donations from Jerry Scott, Jim Borgman, Patrick McDonnell and many
other prominent cartoonists. Submissions are adjudicated by a panel of top cartoonists and an award is given to the best college cartoonist.  The recipient is feted at the annual NCS Reuben Awards Convention attended by many of the world’s leading cartoonists.

My good friend Robin sent me this funny synergistic little happening from the the pages of the Toronto Globe & Mail a few weeks ago.  Fortunately Poncho (with an “o”) is immune to issues of the body.  Everyone else, get out there and walk dogs. (That’s a hilarious “popcorn date” from pal Dave Coverly’s “Speed Bump” stickin’ out the left there).

Clark Venderlyke sent in this shot of his Bichon:

“My Bichon is embarrassed and depressed. We got him a car seat and now he can’t ride with his head out the window like normal dogs reviewing his dog world. We make him ride in a sissy seat. No cat would be seen in one. He wears sunglasses to hide his shame.”

PooPoo sends his condolences.

Did I post this already?  I don’t think so.  It’s the morning radio show interview I did with all those other talented cats named above while I was at the Kenosha Festival of Cartooning last month.  Much is made about my not being a morning person, and rightly so, I almost miss my first cue, and seem (to me) a little under-coffee-ed compared to the others.  At any rate, here it is, recorded for those who, like me, don’t normally get up early.

Poncho!  20% off!

All Plush is offering the Poncho plushie at 20% off.   Regular price is $16.95,  that makes Poncho now about $13.50, and only $6.50 delivery anywhere in North America (Canadian customers simply click “domestic”).  Get your own pal for only 20 buckeroos! And of course even less for multiple orders. Who wouldn’t love to see this guy under the tree?

When ordering, simply enter the promo code “Poncho” to get the discount price.

Happy Holidays!  (Is it too early to say that?)

I recently re-did the characters for Universal’s Pooch Cafe mail-out (yes, there are still some editors who haven’t decided to carry Pooch Cafe yet… can you believe it?  Injustices!)  The only other injustice is that is that the mail-outs are presumably sent by mail, which is delivered by (gasp) Mailmen!  Hey, maybe that’s why editor’s aren’t all responding without delay!  It’s another Mailman conspiracy!

Steve Clark from Ottawa sent me some images of this pumpkin he carved for Halloween.  Outrageously good job.  Next year he plans to do a four panel strip on four separate pumpkins!  I can’t wait to see how that turns out.

Great job Steve – thanks for the tribute!

Doug Newman sent me these to post for Halloween, Carmen as Catwoman and some dog dressed as the Pooch Knight (can’t reveal any secret identities).   Thanks, Doug!

Here’s me as the Soup Nazi, kindly Photoshopped by Doug “baddawg”.

Lulu had asked if Fish would be making an appearance in the Year One strips and I jokingly replied “Lulu, no hints for you”, which prompted Doug’s rendering you see here.

I’ve been a fan for a while now of Mark Buford’s deliciously hilarious strip Scary Gary.  It features a vampire named Gary who has retired to the suburbs with his deranged henchman, a ghost with glasses, and a head in a jar (who could teach us all a lesson about staying positive).  And if that’s not enough, a couple of gay Frankensteins that live next door.  I think it’s one of the funniest strips launched in recent years.

In the latest Pooch Sunday I needed a bizarre place for Poncho to unexpectedly find himself the morning after a bender (or the canine equivalent), and ol’ Gary’s place seemed like just the ticket.  I did the comic and then ran it by Mark, hoping I’d done his characters justice and that’d he’d give me the all clear.

He kindly did.

And a few weeks later, he did one better by sending me this:

This is why when drinking my morning coffee I always keep my face turned jauntily to one side, you never know when you’ll suddenly need to spray coffee out of your mouth.  Thanks for this, Mark!

I recently met a budding artist at the Kenosha Cartoon Festival.  This is Adam‘s Tiki version of Poncho, and possibly the most fearsome I’ve ever seen him rendered!

Great meeting you Adam and best of luck with your interest in art.

Awesome color guy Brian Whitmer helps me out with the coloring on the Pooch dailies.  He’s one talented and top notch guy, (who judging from his Facebook posts has an addiction to audio books).  Here’s a strip that I like that he colored up nice, really captured the mood.  Hugs and kisses, B!

The inspiration for the Werecar on Futurama?  Found this baby at a car show in Minden Ontario last summer.  Scared the motor oil outta me.

Sony has officially announced the signing on of Oscar-nominated writer-director Kelly Asbury to the Pooch Cafe movie.  Kelly will be writing the next draft of the script.  He most recently directed and co-wrote Gnomeo and Juliet and directed DreamWorks’ Shrek 2 and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.

From Sony:  ”Kelly’s wit and cinematic sensibility pairs wonderfully with the irreverent characters and wry comedy in the “Pooch Café” comic strip,” says Michelle Raimo-Kouyate, president of production for Sony Pictures Animations. “We’ve been looking for something to do with Kelly, and this was a perfect match.”

Very exciting step forward on the Pooch Café road to the big screen!

Okay, so I’m new to this whole publishing game, and even Amazon itself doesn’t seem to know how Amazon works (when asked in advance about the custom of all Amazon books to appear with prices crossed out and with a lower sale price trumpeted beside it in red, they seemed outright confused), but something major in the pricing of Poncho: Year One seems to have taken place.

Namely: the price has been slashed!

Now let me start off by making an apology to all you awesome fans who have already purchased copies by saying: I knew not this was afoot.  Yet nonetheless, here it is: a 28% discount offered by Amazon, and it was all their idea.  This brings the price down way lower than I ever imagined, a mere $10.79. (!!) By weight, that’s cheaper than toilet paper! (I’m just guessing).

And as before, shipping in the U.S. is free if you order more than $25 worth of stuff, and Canada is pretty cheap if you chose the economical delivery option.

Thanks Amazon for the miraculously wielding of your digital red pen.  I hope you all enjoy the Poncho magnum opus.

Here’s a video of me signing a book in Kenosha and doing a little Poncho drawing.  The video was taken by Lulu-Archie and kindly sent to me.  I’ve never seen myself drawing before.  This must be what it’s like to have a cartoonist twin brother.  Great footage for my E! True Hollywood Story.  Next time I’ll have to remember to throw my cell phone at the chamber maid and date Rene Zellweger.

Have a look here.

Crow sent in my Berta Ross.