Once again, jury duty continued to be tedious and draining all week. I wanted to get this comic done when I got home from jury duty on Friday, but it was just nice to get some relaxation in being freed from the courtroom for the weekend. So I’m getting it done now on Sunday… before I have to go back on Monday.

I wish court proceedings went this quickly, not even bothering to have the attorneys speak and with solid evidence. What’s interesting too is that the defendant, who is most likely accused of some horrible or violent crime, totally knows your full name, and probably even personal stuff about you since he/she is also present for your jury selection “interrogation”… and everyone leaves the courthouse through the same front door. Makes you feel all safe.

I also have a guest comic running over at PVP Online today. So happy day to you if you are around the internet and looking for some comics to read on this very Sunday, a traditional comic day anyway.

So there is jury duty orientation, which basically consists of getting a number. There is no real orientation, you are not prepared, you have no idea what you are going to be doing.

What you end up doing is being escorted around from this room to that room to the the courtroom. You or told to rise, to sit, to go potty. There’s all this protocol and respect going on that you are not entirely informed of. It’s, dare I say… silly? I guess I’m just not used to so much “system” in place.

Yes, my jury duty continues, and I’ll continue with these little jury duty comics for you throughout this week. As I said before, I come home pretty drained from it, but Wally & Osborne provide me with a little moment of fun and happiness.

The jury selection process I was in was a whole day, a lot of waiting, and waiting, and then getting called in for hours and hours of intrusive questioning. Not really my idea of a good time.

The court does have a cafe, I went in but haven’t eaten there yet. The jury conference room or “lounge” as I like to call it actually has all the complimentary bottled water, soda or coffee I can drink. I joked to my wife that I would bring home a case of the bottled water. Heh, not really, but I will probably end up drinking that much… I drink me some water, it am good.

Serving as a juror is quite a task and I’m coming home pretty drained. But I’m going to keep getting comics up this week (seems I’ll be getting them done in the evening rather than having them here first thing in the morning, so Friday’s you’ll have to check that night or on Saturday morning)…

If you’re not familiar with the juvie penguins’ strong-arm, Thomas, then catch up here. Or if you’re new to the strip, you might want to read more of the juvies’ opportunistic schemes.

Getting out of jury duty seems to be the initial plan of anyone getting a jury summons. It says right on the summons, failure to show up may result in being “punished for contempt of court”. They can excuse or reschedule you if you have a major event or vacation planned or if it is going to cause and extreme hardship for you. Of course it’s going to be a pretty major inconvenience for anyone, but that’s just how life is sometimes. Hopefully not, but one day you may need a jury yourself.

So, I got a summons for jury duty in the mail. As a resident of a state in the US you are obligated to serve jury duty when your name is pulled from the magic hat of some giant database machine in the back of some state department. Starting today, for the next two weeks I will be serving my jury time. Today I went in and sat with a group of about 60 people, after several hours of sitting around, and then several hours of questioning and probing us, a jury was selected (12 people with 2 alternates for a totaly of 14). And I was one of them, I made the team! Heh, not a team it seems most people want to make, many people do their best to get out of jury duty as it can be a pretty big inconvenience. So I’ll be sitting in on a court case I’m sworn in not to talk about at all. Sure, I’d rather be busy creating comics and stuff… but I’m just going to make the best of it and do my part as a citizen.

And I figure it only fair to make poor old Osborne have to go through it too, so it’s jury duty comics all week!

Four one one, it’s funny how a telephone number can become such a commonly used modern word for “information” (it’s the phone number for information… related to… telephone stuff). In this information age it’s not surprising that the penguin juvies would capitalize on charging for it. And in this comic it’s not surprising we see Osborne making a disgruntled face in the last panel. I think I need to set aside a week where just fantastic things happen to Osborne.

In case you hadn’t noticed, on handy feature here at the site is the comic categories archives, you can find a link to all the previous penguin juvies stand comics in the sidebar as well as some of the other recurring themes and gags.

I wonder if you even get a couple rocks or a carrot with that kit. Those crazy kids. I think I’ll market that idea, a build-it-yourself snowman kit. It would be a plastic bag of water with a few rocks in it. The instructions would start off by putting the water in your freezer…

After all the snow we got here, and the talk of snowmen the other day, I added a snowman category and went through the archives tagging all the comics featuring snowmen (mostly Wally’s little homemade friends). So I thought I’d do a snowman strip today. As I was going through the archives I was noticing the little penguin juvie salesmen, so I created a Penguin Juvie Stand category too. That gave me the idea to make today’s comic, which covers both categories (in the archives, sort by Category to view comics in those categories).

And on that note, let’s enjoy a classic piece of animation called The Snow Man. Possibly the creepiest snowman cartoon ever. You’ll notice the penguins in it, because you know, in cartoons and commercials all the arctic creatures live at BOTH poles.

[ link ]

Gotta love bargain bins. Just the marketing power of them alone can get you to buy junk you’d have nothing to do with otherwise.

New Wallpaper

Thought it was time for some new wallpaper. This time it’s Wally feeding “dolphins”.

Thank You!

I just wanted to take a minute to thank all the nice things said this week about the comic and getting back to the daily updates. Knowing that you enjoy seeing Wally and Osborne every weekday like this week is much encouragement and motivation to keep me doing it. So thanks!

T-Shirt Sale!

If you have been wanting to get a Wally, Osborne or Penguins Is Serious shirt, this week is a good time as there is a 15% OFF SALE going on for orders of $15 or more. Use this coupon code: SUMMERSALE06

Sorry, but there isn’t currently a sale going on at the European shop.

I know many of you saw this coming. Our favorite juvie penguins wouldn’t miss out on an opportunity to capitalize on the rock shortage.

Questions & Answers

I’ve seen several questions pop up in the comment lately and haven’t had a chance to answer them, so I thought I’d take a moment to now.

When will the book collection be coming out?
I have just finished up some projects that have kept me busy so I am just now getting around to putting the book together, laying out the pages and creating an additional story. This is the first one I’ve put together so I don’t really have an idea of when it will be available but I’ll keep you posted here on any progress.

Why don’t you do a storyline on how Wally ended up in Antarctica from the Arctic?
This is something I planned on telling from the beginning. Most likely it will not appear in the comic strip but as a seperate comic with full page layouts like a comic book. It will either be included as a bonus in a future book collection or appear as it’s own book. It is a ways off as it is something I want to take time to do and make it special.

How long does it take you to make one comic strip? From thinking up the idea, to drawing it, to completing it and then finally the upload?
Ideas really vary, sometimes one pops in my head that apparently was conjured up in the back of my mind, so I can’t say how long it took, but it seems instantaneous. When I’m writing little storylines I will write several strips at a time, maybe five in a half hour sitting or so. Other times I just sit there, trying to come up with a single gag and just going through all my brainstorms and distracting myself for hours. Creating the actual comic seems to average maybe two hours each. Even the simple ones that seem like they are just copy and paste can take up to an hour getting the text right and cleaning up the frames and word balloons. The longest ones are three to four hours, when I add lots of extra details and hand drawn stuff into the mix.

Where’d he get the paint?
Like most bears, Wally is curious and loves digging through trash and storage places. So yeah, he gets most stuff from the science outposts. They must wonder why they have to keep restocking, especially their chocolate supplies.

Why isn’t there any Wally merchandise?
There are some some shirts but just with his face. I’ll be working on new merchandise real soon.

Was their anyone at the costume party you went to dressed up like Dr. Osbourne or Super Wally?
Aha, I can’t believe I didn’t think of doing that. Would have been awkward showing up in underwear though, I suppose we could have done their imagined outfits.

T-Shirt Sale!

If you have been wanting to get a Wally, Osborne or Penguins Is Serious shirt, this week is a good time as there is a 15% OFF SALE going on for orders of $15 or more. Use this coupon code: SUMMERSALE06

Sorry, but there isn’t currently a sale going on at the european shop.

The little emperor juvies hadn’t been in the comic for a while. I hope everyone, including the tourists, enjoyed their return. Getting a new digital camera shouldn’t set them back too much more than what they’ve already invested in their trip. Getting home and realizing you have no photos would be a bummer.

I always hate when I take cool trips and don’t bring a camera or take photos to be able to enjoy the memories more vividly later on. The problem with me, is when I have a camera in hand, still or video, the artist in me takes over and it becomes a serious project and I forget to enjoy everything first-hand and live it through the lens like a director instead.

Update Schedule

You’ll notice I’ve had a hard time maintaining the Mon-Fri update schedule the last month or two. It’s kind of unfair for readers not to know when to expect updates and get their dose, so I’m switching to Mon-Wed-Fri for the time being, maybe a few weeks, while I finish up some other projects, one being the first book collection. I will get back to the 5 days a week schedule as soon as I am able. Thanks for reading and sticking around!

Polar Bears Resort to Cannibalism

You may have already heard about it, I’ve had it come in on a few news feeds as well as readers messaging and e-mailing me. It’s a recent study with some discouraging news. With less and less ice each year due to global warming, the polar bears hunting grounds are dimminishing, so they are starving to death, drowning, being hunted and now even killing themselves for food. It’s not new for polar bears to kill each other, they are solitary animals that will sometimes fight when their paths cross and will occasionally kill cubs to ensure the strength of their own bloodline. But this report is different, this is about polar bears hunting each other, stalking each other, then killing and eating each other.

You can read more about the report from the Associated Press at CNN. Hopefully zoos are able to keep them around because they might not be long for this world.