#food

2015-11-25

Feast of the Dead p.1


Transcript

It is night. In a cemetery, a black-robed sorcerer declares: “I will have my revenge on this town…I will bring upon them THE FEAST OF THE DEAD!”

Standing in a pentagram with candles, he chants:

Arise, O corpses long at rest!
Aid me in my vengeful quest!
Shamble forth from gravebound gloom
to bring the wretched townfolk doom!

Hands reach out from beneath the ground, and the zombified dead pull themselves from their graves and stand moaning before the sorcerer.

“We have slept so long…”

“Our hunger…is terrible…”

“You shall eat well!” cries the sorcerer. “Go into the town…and feast!” The zombies turn and shamble away as the sorcerer laughs maniacally.


2015-03-11

If you love breakfast

Groo exclaims to his dog that breakfast kissed him.

If you love breakfast, it’ll love you back. (from Groo #88 by Sergio Aragonés)

Transcript

Nose to nose with his dog, Groo the Wanderer happily exclaims, “That was breakfast, Rufferto! Did you see that? I just got kissed by breakfast!“

Grinning back, Rufferto thinks, “So what are you waiting for?”


2014-09-22

Visit Me at Winchester Pickle Festival this Saturday

Celebrate with me as I finally return* to the most convenient event I’ve ever tabled at — the Winchester Pickle Festival, right here in Winchester, NH this Saturday, September 27 from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM!

You get not only me and the fabulous Trees & Hills comics booth, but all this:

The event kicks off at 10:00 am with a parade! […] Nelson town band, Winchester town band, northern ridge rythm band, weathered roads country band, junction 1-3-5 quartet, mavericks line dancers. Free pickles, homemade pickle judging, pickle eating contests!

A panel from "Pickle Fest Faux Pas"

(c) 2006 Mark Martin (inspired by his visit to the Winchester Pickle Festival)

Mr. Pickle actually exists! He doesn’t look like that drawing above, though; he is our State Representative Henry Parkhurst in an eye-popping green suit and bowler.

* Last time was in 2008, the year before MICE started; luckily MICE (where I’m also tabling) changed its date this year. ^

2012-06-18

Midnight Snack p.1

Midnight Snack page 1

Transcript

[Scene: moonlit night]

[Voice from inside house] “So how did your trick-or-treating go?”

[Two girls are sorting their Halloween candy – a blonde girl in a grim reaper costume and a black-haired girl in a skeleton costume.]

Blonde girl: “Good – but look what that creepy house gave me.”

Black-haired girl: “A pickle?! That’s weird.”

Blonde girl: “Yeah. I guess I’ll put it in the fridge for now…”

Later…at midnight…[sleepy blonde girl, in her pajamas, opens the fridge – then looks wide-eyed in amazement. A pickle with arms, legs, and a face has been using its fangs to drain the ketchup bottle.]

Blond girl: “WHA-?! V- V- V- V-“

Get copies of “Midnight Snack” formatted as a minicomic to give to trick-or-treaters, Halloween party-goers, goblins, etc.!

Assembling the comic is pretty easy! Print the PDF double-sided at 100% (no scaling; don’t let the program “adjust to printer margins” or anything like that). Each copy of the file produces 4 copies of the comic; when you cut them apart, the pages will be in the right order for you to staple & fold. If using scissors instead of a papercutter, you may want to cut after folding. Staple in the center & fold. If you’re using a standard stapler, you may want to fold the comic before stapling or use a ruler to help find the center (at 2 3/4″). If using a long stapler, the measurement marks probably don’t go down to 2 3/4″, so line up a ruler with the one on the stapler to get the added measurement.

2012-06-04

Winchester School Garden p.2

Winchester School Garden page 2

Transcript

The preschool always plants peas, early enough so they can give them to the families at preschool graduation.

The first grade plants potatoes in the spring, then harvests them as second-graders in the fall.

Third grade has grown some big cabbages!

Fourth grade does a big unit on Native Americans; they planted the Three Sisters garden (corn, beans, squash).

Fifth grade planted “really funky gourds” and did a whole math lesson on measuring them and their growth.

The life skills prgram for cognitively delayed students cooks once a week, using graden produce with great results. Special educator Jane Cardinale chairs the Garden Committee, so the 30% of the school in Special Ed uses the garden a lot. “And that’s been really successful,” she says.

Pat Dorcas uses the garden for seventh-grade science, and does hyrdoponic gardening in his classes and the greenhouse. He teaches about food miles, asking students where their food comes from and how much energy it takes.

Page 2 of 4 of my piece from Sprouts, the new food-themed anthology from Trees & Hills. I’ve been wanting to do more nonfiction comics in general and especially some journalism-type comics, and for this one I finally left my cave to go interview someone – hooray! I’m already busy on another bit of graphic journalism that I hope to share soon.

2011-11-28

Noodle Wrestling Mayhem

Noodle Wrestling Mayhem

Transcript

Announcer: “Sunday! Sunday!! Sunday!!! Pasta Grappling Association presents NOODLE WRESTLING MAYHEM”

“Elbow Drop!” A macaroni elbow does an elbow drop on a prone ziti.
“Shellshock!” A pasta shell does a Swinging Reverse STO on a fettuccine.
“Butterfly Suplex!” A bowtie – aka butterfly – pasta does a butterfly suplex on a spiral pasta.

“Be there – for gnocchi-down drag out action!” A ravioli wearing a wrestling belt yells into a microphone while behind him two spaghetti drag an unconscious gnocchi from the ring.

This strip took more research than you might expect! Selected sources:

This comic is part of the Comics Rehab Ripoff, in which I and some cohorts post at least 4 panels every 4 days to encourage our comics groove. Follow along to possibly see some of my comics before they appear here, or better still to see the good things my companions are posting. Want to join in? Drop us a line with your email address or email me at colin@colintedford.com!

2011-05-26

Continental breakfast while you wait

New comics are still a little ways off, as there are a couple anthologies I want to submit to with June 1 deadlines – hopefully I’ll make one of them (two seems very unlikely). In the meantime, I’ve brought in a band to entertain you:

MC Toasty Toast & DJ Cherry Muffin

Stand back when they bust out the jams!

2011-03-24

Wizard

Wizard

Transcript

1. A wizard performing a magic ritual at an altar: “AZNHORUM BINCLEITH IOR VANRID ECSORETH”
2. “ECTHOR!” Wizard raises arms and sparkly fire erupts on the altar.
3. A sandwich has appeared on the altar. Wizard smiles & licks lips.

I bet he’d think splitting atoms to boil water is a great idea.

2009-02-05

Monadnock Community Gardening Talk

Oh dear, I’m giving a talk this Saturday to “officially” kick off the Monadnock Community Gardening & Seed Saving Initiative with which I am involved. Wish me luck! Fortunately for everyone there will be plenty of other fun things to do at the Celebration.

seed.jpg

2008-11-10

Purchase SEEDS online!

I am making a slight change to the way I update this site. For a while now, I have been posting comics and/or news on Mondays, and installments of 99 Doodles on Thursdays. This worked pretty nicely, but I now hope to take the slightly harder path of posting comics every Monday, and news or Doodles on Thursdays, to give the comics the priority they deserve – starting next week. Today we have news!

At long last, Seeds is in stock at Trees & Hills Comics Distro! Themed around FOOD with an emphasis on its social aspects, the latest Trees & Hills anthology comes with a booklet of cartoonists’ favorite recipes and a packet of organic lettuce seeds from High Mowing Farm in Vermont, all wrapped in an earthy brown cover with a red apple print (an organic heirloom apple from a local farmer’s market, of course). I co-edited, contributed a 4-page comic (sample here), and wrote the afterword. We’re especially proud of this one, and it has been selling like hotcakes (appropriately enough). We are pretty sure the initial printing will be sold out by year’s end (!), so get your copy while the getting is good! Makes an excellent gift.

2008-05-19

Cupcake Fate

Cupcake Fate excerpt

Here is a sample of “Cupcake Fate”, the 1-page, 48-panel multi-path comic I submitted for Secrets & Lies. Where will it all lead?

Secrets & Lies debuts at MoCCA June 7 & 8, but you can (and should) get a copy early by attending the release party 8pm May 31 at the Main Street Museum, 58 Bridge Street in White River Junction, VT. The same party celebrates the release of Colleen Frakes‘ Tragic Relief book, which should quell any doubts you may have about going. I plan to go, and so should you!

Earlier that day, I will be tabling at Broke: The Affordable Art Fair in Peterborough, NH’s Town Hall (1 Grove St.) from 10am to 4pm. The fair intends to promote innovative, affordable art outside of the traditional gallery system. It is part of the “Thing In The Spring” 3-day arts event, which will also feature concerts, movies, and more.

The weekend after that, I’ll be tabling at MoCCA in NYC, where Trees & Hills will debut its Swingin’ Hits music-themed anthology (I have a comic in it and a piece of music on the bonus CD). I should have a new minicomic out in time for either Broke or MoCCA. Whew! After that, things should quiet down for a while.

2008-02-15

The Eternal Soup p.8 (the end!)

The Eternal Soup page 8

THE END.

This is Comic Rehab Ripoff Round #6. For anyone to whom this wasn’t already apparent, I didn’t use any pencils on The Eternal Soup, just felt-tip on business cards – not necessarily the best approach for something that was originally intended to be a calling card, but whatever. Four days hence: the final round of the Comic Rehab Ripoff! What will it bring?

(This comic appears in Candy Or Medicine #3.)

2008-02-10

The Eternal Soup p.7

The Eternal Soup page 7

Join me four days hence for the “thrilling” conclusion! This is Round #5 of the Comic Rehab Ripoff, which has so far done a better-than-expected job of motivating me. And now that I think about it, there are diary cartoonists out there who draw four panels every darn day – so that is a goal I plan to aim for. I think after Rehab maybe I will try to do at least two and work my way up.

Another nice thing about Rehab is that it’s forcing me to scan on a regular basis.

(This comic appears in Candy Or Medicine #3.)

2008-01-30

The Eternal Soup (p. 1-5)

The Eternal Soup page 1
The Eternal Soup page 2
The Eternal Soup page 3
The Eternal Soup page 4
The Eternal Soup page 5

6/1/10 – Sorry, I know this format doesn’t work great with the new navigation. Click here for next page >

I started drawing this business-card-sized comic some time ago, then let it languish…until now. Thanks, Comic Rehab Ripoff! There are 3 pages left to draw (though at this point I don’t know if I feel like going to the trouble of making the tiny minicomic – I may just print as 4 pages of a quarter-size mini with some other stuff). The first new panel is the last one on page 4 (with the hypnotic yeti); page 5 is all new. It’s all drawn on the back of outdated business cards (4 cards of art to shrink to 1 card-size page).

(This comic appears in Candy Or Medicine #3.)