On the Spectrum #99: He gets that from you!

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Welcome back!  I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday.  This is a bit of a "breaking the fourth wall" strip.  There were rather a few people who left comments, sent me messages or upon reading #98, looked at me and said, "Huh?"  So this was just a (paraphrased) converstaion that DW and I had about it. 

One thing about Michael and Jacob (Jacob to a much greater extent): If they're not paying attention, or don't feel like talking to you, they'll answer, "Yes," or "Yeah," to pretty much any question.  So before we make that snack he said he wanted, or whatever, I usually ask a really absurd question like, "Do you want me to put eels in your underpants?" of "Do you want to be fed to a wild honey badger?" And if they say, "Yes," then I know they probably haven't been listening for at least a few questions now.

Also while we do occasionally play the "He gets that from you" game (always playfully, mind you) usually it's a lot more specific than this.  In all honesty, I'll admit that this comes off as a wee bit mean-spirited. But hey, what can I say? She was frustrating me! (And I LIKE #98! LOL)  But there are plenty of traits, both typical and autistic, in both of our boys, where we know which one of us they got them from!  (I'm a collector myself, and earlier today Michael was showing me a set of toys from a catalog and said, "I want to get the whole set!" And I was like... *sniff* You ARE my son!) LOL

On the Spectrum #98: A Subtle Difference

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Sorry it's just a 2-panel one this week.  I didn't update last week as I'd originally planned and we had a family outing planned today as well, so I was still short on time.  In any case I didn't want to miss yet another week, especialy with Christamas coming up (which will also mean a missed update or two) so here you go!

To make up for it, here's something that I haven't shared before: Pictures of the kids!  These are from out trip to DC over the Thanksgiving holiday - the reason that two of the last three updates were missed. (Last week I was just being lazy!)

Here's Michael in front of the Capitol Building:

Here's one of Jacob, in the Air and Space Museam, in front of the plane he tried to touch last year, as depicted in #88:

Just around the corner from where we were standing is the opening in the fence that he went into the exhibit though.  (Which is how we were able to be sure that this was in fact the correct plane! LOL)

And yeah, fair enough, I didn't draw the plane quite right, or the fence.  But hey: I was going from memory!  One thing to add, in addition to the fact that the opening is still there...

It's a CANVAS plane.  Fairly delicate, I'd wager, as least as compared to pretty much any of their other exhibits, which are typically constructed from either Aluminum or Steel.

Anyway, I hope this make up for just getting a 2-panel after three weeks without an update. 

See you next week!





On the Spectrum #94: Issue #1 / #1 Issue Redux

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This is a updated version of issue #1 of "On the Spectrum" because the final push is on, in Michigan anyway, to address one of "On the Spectrum's" #1 issues:  Autism Insruance Reform!

As readers in Michigan may already know, autism insurance reform legislation passed the Michigan House last year and for the past several months, the legislation has had seveal hearings before the Michigan State Senate. Compelling testimony has been provided by those who attended, describing the incredible burden placed on families trying to provide treatment for their loved ones on the specturm. In addition, a strong case has been made that the state of Michigan’s economic health and recovery depends on this much needed reform.

What all of my readers in Michigan need to do now is contact Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop's office at (517) 373-2417, ask him to move the Insurance Reform Legislation forward now, and ask at least ten of your friends to do the same! Remember to be courteous when you call, and ask for his leadership on this issue. Let him know that autism insurance coverage means a great deal to your family and is the fiscally responsible thing to do for Michigan. 

There are 23 States down, and 17 to go.  To anyone reading this in one of those 17 States:  If you send me the info on the appropriate State Legislators, I will gladly run this again for your state once the time comes to step up the effort. And,m as always you are more than welcome to download the image above and use it in your own campaigns of mailings, if you wish to.

It's been a long road to get this far in Michigan, but progress is finally being made, both here in my home state and all over the country.  Let's keep up the presure!

For more infomration, go to AustimVotes.org

On the Spectrum #93: Who's Your Alpha, con't

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You know how I mention last week that Michael had learned not to leave his food unattended where the dog could get it?

This was how he learned. LOL.  (And yes, that's exactly what he said afterwards.)

Tried a little mock-impressionism with the emotional panels.  Might do that some more, might not, we'll see.  Let me know what you think.  (Be gentle though - first time! LOL)

On the Spectrum #92: Who's Your Alpha?

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I assume we're not the only ones with a wanderer at meal time?

Jacob has a habit of getting up about fifty-seven times a meal.  So he's always the last one finished.  He's also the ONLY one who ever leaves food unattended (Michael's learned) so Haley pretty much knows who to camp out near at dinner time.

You'd be surprised how often this still happens. LOL

Oh, and... first appearance of Haley, our dog.  We've had her since Michael was about one and a half, before we knew he was autistic, and just after Jacob was born.  She's a Border Collie - Australian Cattle Dog mix.  She's a good dog (apart from her table manners) but she hasn't really figured into any of the stories so far, so I've never drawn her in.  (Also because she's kind of hard to draw! LOL)

On the Spectrum #91: A Woman's Work...

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No, I'm sure he didn't understand the irony in what he'd said.  He is pretty good at making vacuums though!

As for me, I'vs still got a lot way to go before I'm used to this new software.  For one thing, I don't know how Michael ended up so much darkwer in the right hand panels.  I'm pretty sure I was using teh same colors.  Oh well.  I'll keep practicing! LOL

On the Spectrum #89: Jurassic Lark

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Poor Jacob! 

This is the last of our trip to D.C. (Natural History Museam, if you couldn't tell!)

On the Spectrum #88: National Treasures

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A word of advice to the curators at the Smithsonian: If you’re going to secure a National Treasure with a fence that has an opening in it large enough for a small child to fit through, at some point a small child is going to cram himself through that opening!

“It is possible, however unlikely, that they might find a weakness… and exploit it.”
~ General Taage

Now how my wife got through that same ‘small, thermal exhaust shaft’ I’ll never know.

One more thing... To better understand the little joke in the first panel, please see #71.

On the Spectrum #87 - The Washington Rocketship

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Well, I'm back.  This is probably the longest it's been between updates. (Sorry!) I don't have any plans to stop anytime soon, it's just been an incredibly busy summer, so it'sbeen hard ot find the time (and energy) to do these.

This is the first of at least three strips from our trip to Washington D.C.  D.C.'s a great city for the kids, because there's a lot to see, pretty much everything's free (except parking) and, after all the walking around, by the end of the day they're pretty well worn out.

Oh yeah... and I did a little experiment, trying out doing it in color. Im not sure if I like it, or if I'll stick with it, but we'll see how it goes.

On the Spectrum #86: Neologism

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On the Spectrum #85: Following Directions... EXACTLY

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Well... I didn't say to PUT IT ON upstairs!  It's about a month early for a 'Michael's Birthday' one. In any case, this is from his Birthday Party LAST year. (Boy how time flies!)

BTW... If anyone didn't get what was gonig to happen here, check out #29.  Basically, Michael HATES being wet.  One drop of water on his the cuff of his sleeve and he'll take off ALL his clothes, down to his socks and underwear.  He'd take off his HAT if he'd been wearing one!  And he doens't really care where he is either.  No inhibitions, that one.

Also, that being the case, I'm curious to see if PhotoBucket censors this one like they did the last one that had Moonie's naked back-side in it.  If they do, I'll re-post it ASAP from another host.  (I just realized... We seem to have a LOT of naked butts in this strip!  Yeah... there's a lot of naked in our life. LOL)

And I'm sorry it was so long in between udpates.
One more thing... In case their Mom's or Dad's see this, this marks the first appearance of Michael's friends Caleb and Dylan as well as Caleb's Dad, Mike.  (Hopefully they can figure out which one's are thier kids! LOL)  (And Sorry Ty, Trent, Caden, Nicholas and eveyone else. There's only so much room in one panel and so many people I'm willing to draw in one night!  Maybe next time! LOL)

On the Spectrum #84: Fun with Pronoun Reversal

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Ok, so... file this one in the "I'm going to hell for it" folder. :)

BTW, sorry about missing the udpate last week.  And also sorry to say that there will not be a comic next week either as we will be out of town.

Hope everyone has a happy and safe 4th of July! See you again on the 11th!

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How do you get dirty even when you don't GO anywhere?!

On the Spectrum #82: Careful...

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Yeah... Of course that's not what she meant... LOL. 

Most of the time the kids write this stuff, but occasionally we do as well. ;)

BTW: THANK YOU to the folks over at Autisable for pickling up the strip and agreeing to syndicate it.  Anyone who hasn't checked them out should do so, they run a lot of different blogs and get posts from a wide range of people within the autism communtiy. There's always something new and interesting being put up from somewhere.  So take a look!

On the Spectrum #81: Two Brothers, family-friendly version

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I got a response back from photobucket, but it was just thier standard form letter - the type of generic replay that would be vaguely appropriate for just about any question. 

I did take a look at their 'terms of use,' however, and as far as I can tell this particular comic must have set off someone's 'kiddie-porn' alert or something. Which is funny, sicne the first and third panels were recycled from earlier strips that didn't have any problems! :)

So I've modified the strip, using Photobucket's own red-sticker to censor out the offending image.

I don't know... somehow it almost looks worse now! LOL

On the Spectrum #81: Two Brothers (re-posted)

For some reaosn the wise folks over at photobucket decided there was something offensive about my last comic, and the blocked it out.  I'm going to wait for their official explanation as to why - or for the image to be reinstated - before speculating about it here, but I think I've got a pretty shrewd idea what the problem is.

Moonie's naked butt, perhaps?

Funny thing though - even as I was writing this reply, it seems that the image was reinstated in my blog, below, even though it's still red-lined over on their site.

Well whatever, we'll see.  Despite any "terms of use" my edgy, controversial artwork might have violated, they do not have the authority to censor my blog.  So just in case the offending image ends up going in and out intemittently, or if anyone still can't see it, I linked it in again, this time from a different source.  Hopefully this will all work itself out, and I'll just take this second post down.  Shouldn't really be necessary - you know, FREE SPEECH and all.  Hilariously, this is actually the SECOND time I've run afoul of some organization's censoprhip.  Can you believe it?  THIS STUFF?! Seriously?

(The other time involved issue one, which a Michigan-sponsored Mental Health community newsletter had agreed to run, sans the tag at the bottom, only to have their editor axe it at the last minute saying it was 'too controversial.'  Ah, politics.)

Well, whatever. I'll send them an email.  Depending on how amusing their reply is I may post it here.  LOL. We'll see.

On the Spectrum #81: Two Brothers

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Sorry, no snappy punchline with this one.  I just felt like contrasting Michael and Jacob and drawing (and recycling) some cute stuff.  This IS sort of a part 1 of 2, as it kind of leads into next week's.  It's not the same joke or theme, just that the last panel of this one is the first panel of the next one.  (But can you see the posts on the trampoline this time?  Yeah, still not sure what happened to them last time! LOL)

I'd like to say something about last week's... As with everything here, it's autobiograophical, and based on things as they happen in our lives.  But I decided to run THAT ONE, as it was, as kind of a nod to another strip I'd read YEARS ago, from what I consider to be the greatest comic strip of all time. (Hopefully Mr. Watterston won't mind me sharing it with you here):

And while I was searching for a copy of that...

...I came accross THIS, which I just thought was really cool. (They really nailed the style, no?) And yeah, it goes without saying, but this is TOTALLY not mine! LOL  I think it evokes up a pretty wide range of emotions though.  And while Watterson was famous for not merchandising or liscensing Clavin and Hobbes, and he never wanted to let anyone else get involved with it or use his work, for fear that they would alter the spirit and innocence of it, somehow... I think he'd approve of this one. :)

On the Spectrum #80 - Excuse you!

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Sorry, this one's a bit... indulgent.  Couldn't resist though. LOL

BTW - in the last one, at one point in the drawing process there were two posts holding up the safety net of the trampoline.  I'm not sure where they went, or at what point they disappeared, but somehow they didn't make it into the final version, and I didn't notice tehy were missing until about Friday when someone mentioned that, from a distance, it looked like he was up against a fence.  I'll have to fix that at some point. LOL

On the Spectrum #78 - Look before you leap...

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He knows "spilled" now. :)

On the Spectrum #77 - On-a-man-a-pee-ya

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This was not the comic I was planning to do this week, but we've finally had a few successes with Jacob actually USING the potty the past couple days, so it kind of jumped ahead in line.

On another note, this is the second strip I've done with the new Microsoft Paint and I HATE it. HATE HATE HATE it with a passion that only language unsuitable for a family-friendly blog can express.  I seriously have no idea what these programmers at Microsoft were thinking!  Let's make it really horrible?  Let's make it so NO ONE will enjoy using it?  Let's take everything that could be done simply in the OLD verision of Paint (and let's face it: simplicity was about all it had going for it, as it was) and make it complicated instead?!  It's intolerable.  So if I miss a post at some point in the next couple of weeks, it's possibly because I'm trying out new drawing software.  This version is bloody AWFUL.