Tag Archives: Mehitabel

A Salute to the Masters of the Medium

Every once in a while I mention how I’ve learned from artists of the past, whether we are talking about fine art ,or illustration, or comics. One of my major inspirations in drawing comics is Bill Watterson, creator of the brilliantly unsurpassable Calvin and Hobbes.

So imagine my delight and envy when I read the post by Stephan Pastis (of Pearls Before Swine fame) where he relates the story of a project he recently did with Bill Watterson, which was brought to my attention on Twitter from Liam F. Walsh, cartoonist for The New Yorker. (And yes, I realize I am name-dropping like hell. Get over it.)

Of course, I had to let the pandas have their way with this story.

Excuse me, Mr. Watterson, but….

I’m sure that the panda kindergarten will..um…take very good care of Hobbes.

Be the Bear!
Bob T. Panda

Literature of the Panda: From Fabulous Furry Friday

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Pandas have long had a presence in literature. The prestigious BamBooker Prize in panda literature is one of the coveted awards by the panda literary establishment. (I bet you didn’t know there was a panda literary establishment, did you?)

While panda literature has often been overlooked by the world at large (read: overbearing cats), it is, in fact, one of the most loved genres in many parts of the globe. From autobiographical works, to novels, and poetry, pandas are on the forefront of creative writing. Or was that “creative accounting”? Well, no matter, today, Fabulous Furry Friday celebrates,

The Literature of the Panda!

Bob’s well received autobiography

It all started here…..

What do you mean by “was?”

The Life of PIE….get it? *chortle chortle*

The cake abides….

Editors note: And of course, since this month is Pandamorphosis launch month (the real one, not Bob’s version of it) I had to stick in another plug for Pandamorphosis. You can find it on Amazon, or if you happen to live on Whidbey Island, Moonraker Books has copies in stock! (yay! Independent Book Stores!)

Huzzah!

Well, that’s all from Fabulous Furry Friday! Keep Being the Bear, Panda On, and Pass the Cuppycakes!

Bob T. Panda

Where in the World…

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…are Princess Pinky and the Mei-hem Twins? Thats what enquiring minds keep asking me. I’m afraid I have been just the teensiest bit irresponsible (do ya think???) to let the girls go off across the country in the Cublanta Twins’ little yellow cubvertible without any supervision.

What was I thinking?

But we have addressed the manner in the most responsible and expedient way possible by devoting the latest edition of ZooNooZ to an in depth look at this crisis.

Uh oh…mad mom alert….

So where in the world are they?…um…your guess is as good as mine! (See helpful map!)

A heads up for Wednesday: I have a special guest blogger who will be virtually visiting me here at The Panda Chronicles! Writer C. Hope Clark, author of The Carolina Slade mystery series and grand poobah of the extremely popular and useful Funds for Writers website. She offered to share a guest post here as I celebrate the launch of Pandamorphosis into the world. I’m thrilled to have her here, as she talks about finding and following our childhood wishes and dreams.

Till then,
Be the Bear!
Bob T. Panda

Fabulous Furry Friday Salutes Pandamorphosis

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It’s finally here, launch weeks for my wordless picture book, Pandamorphosis! From a germ of an idea in one of my early cartoons, Pandamorphosis grew into a wordless picture book that took more than four years to complete. I’m so pleased to say that Pandamorphosis is now ready for panda (and cat) fans everywhere to enjoy.

Here’s the cartoon that started it all:

It all started here…..

…and ended up here….

I’ll be doing some guest posting around the interwebs in the next couple of weeks, and I’ll let you know where all those places are as they are posted. I am also scheduled to talk about Kickstarter and Pandamorphosis on Whidbey Air Radio’s Isle of Arts show this coming Monday. Stay tuned for more details on that!

Huzzah!

Till next week,
Be the Bear!
Bob T. Panda

From the Fabulous Furry Friday Archives….

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Spring has come and gone in the Pacific Northwest, as we slosh toward the month here known as “June-uary” and the (brief) visitation of balmy days in the 60’s and low 70’s become just a distant memory, just in time for Memorial Day weekend here in the US of A.

We need funny, we need pandas, and we need it now!

I’m ready for my close-up…um..I am, aren’t I?

Are we laughing yet?

Mei xiang and bao bao try to cover up highway-gate

Inspector Panda is on the job!

As we prepare for an Inspector Panda Mystery, let’s reacquaint ourselves with this superior sleuth….

“Hello, Bai Yun? this is Lun Lun…about that detective you suggested…”

…of course Boo-mints are pretty good too.

Will the twins get a merit badge for their road trip? Will Lun Lun fess up to where the girls are? Will Inspector Panda get a clue, or at least more twitter followers? Stay tuned!

That’s it for Fabulous Furry Friday’s visit to The Institute of Contemporary Panda Satire archives!

By the way, Pandamorphosis is now available from Amazon. Check it out on our The Panda Chronicles: The Books page today!

Keep Being the Bear!
Bob T. Panda

What Kind of Cuppycake are You?

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Alert reader Marie Lamb sent me this quiz via fezbook, because as a loyal reader of The Panda Chronicles, she knows that cuppycakes are near and dear to all the pandas here. Of course it inspired a cartoon. How could it not?

I have extra frosting!

(By the way, when I took the quiz, it turns out that I am a lemon cuppycake)

Sigh….

Be the Bear
Bob T. Panda

Do Vampire Pandas Exist?

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We don’t know for sure, but there have been rumors of a community of vampire pandas circulating around the internet. Where are these vile rumors coming from? Hmmm… I have no idea.

Evidence of a vampire panda infestation primarily consists of a number of tubes of frosting with fang marks in them, with all the frosting being slurped out.

Seems pretty conclusive to me.

This is very scary, don’t you think?

This cartoon is posted by request of Vicky V., who knows something about frosting as well as vampires.

Be the Bear

Bob T. Panda

Fabulous Furry Friday returns!

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Today is the day when we revisit cartoons that have relevance to items in the news. Since this is the “Panda Season of Love” and we have been focusing on our Scottish pandas, I thought a glimpse of the early days of pandas in Scotland would be in order.

Enjoy!

What could be more scottish than Pandas?

Save some pie for me!

Pand-Air…it’s the only way to travel

Be the bear!

Bob T. Panda

Even More from the Panda Season of Love

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Last week one of my esteemed readers commented on this post of the day of “Z” with a delightful scenario based on ACTUAL PANDA COMMUNICATION from our panda neighbors to the North, Er Shun and Da Mao, currently residing in Toronto as part of the “putting pandas to work” program.

News item: Gao Gao, the San Diego zoo stud muffin and father of five, is recovering from surgery of *ahem* a delicate nature. For more information, read the San Diego Zoo blog.

Of course, this inspired me to write a cartoon, which would make even more fun of pandas (well, boy pandas anyway). Sometimes they just make it too easy for me.

I smell frosting!

If YOU have read a real news story that you think that pandas would enjoy having their way with, just send it on in a comment. don’t worry about trying to figure out what the pandas will have to say about it. We might not even comment on the story directly, but you never know what is going to trigger some panda satirical thought in my fuzzy little head. Operators are standing by to take your call.

Ha ha! George Clooney… where do those little pandas get these ideas?

Politicians misbehaving? strange cuppycake vending machines showing up on your block? Interesting trends in fashion? Pandas may be interested.

Be the Bear
and
Panda On

Bob T. panda

More from the Panda Season of Lo-o-o-o-ove

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Over the river, through the woods and across the Atlantic we go, to visit some of our favorite pandas, those titans of the tartan, the Scottish Pandas, Lord and Lady MacBear. I just can’t get enough of these guys. And lest you be concerned that Mehitabel has been beset by bratty panda kindergarteners during the running of the pandas, she gets her own back today, as she pokes fun at the technique (or lack thereof) of boy pandas everywhere.

I just love the cub reporter.

Hope that you are having a happy Sunday, sitting around reading the sunday funnies with your panda, perhaps enjoying a cuppycake or two. (Or three)

Keep being the bear and Pandaing on! There are pandas around the web this week as I pay a return visit to Cordelia’s Mom, Still on Thursday, May 8th with a post about continuing onward despite all the adversity that life throughs at us, and TOMORROW I appear on The Isle of the Arts show on Whidbey Air radio at 1PM PDST to talk about Kickstarter. (This is a return engagement, due to my recent bout of spring cold last week.) News flash: Apologies, but this is being postponed once again. (not my fault this time.) I will alert you when it is REALLY happening.

Huzzah!

Panda On!
Bob T. Panda