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image from See Spot Run

See Spot Run

Had this idea based on the fact that babies are incredibly attracted to high contrast patterns. In particular, my baby is enraptured by the book “Spots and Dots”. Originally the idea was for the baby to be pulling away from one parent towards the other whose skin is covered in high-contrast pattern, with a caption to the effect of “I have no idea why he prefers me”, but I saw an opportunity to use/abuse the Distracted Boyfriend meme and jumped on it.
image from Tabula Rasa

Tabula Rasa

I have been getting back into Star Trek: The Next Generation recently and watched the episode “The Nth Degree”. Its plot is essentially captured in the first three panels. It struck me that there are often improvements to the ship or new capabilities that pop up in one episode, never to be seen again. I imagine this was done on purpose, in case viewers don’t see every episode, but I still thought it was worthy of a little light ribbing.
image from Bar Baby

Bar Baby

Not sure where I got the idea for this one. Eagle-eyed viewers might spot a Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul Easter egg. (Hint: look in upper right corner)
image from My Baby's Brain Activity

My Baby's Brain Activity

Got the idea for this comic after watching a Netflix documentary on babies, and seeing how they’ve used MRI to scan baby brains.
image from Reasons To Keep Your Distance

Reasons To Keep Your Distance

Original sketch: .
image from Easy Come Easy Go

Easy Come Easy Go

I had this idea when I saw the sign from panel 3, exhorting people not to leave any items in a car. I collected pictures of such parking warning signs for a few weeks, then turned the stupidity up to 11 for the final panel.
image from Mute Point

Mute Point

This was inspired by a New York Times article about how even after years of remote work, there’s still the inevitable “You’re on mute.” I admit it still happens to me too. Marcel M. is a reference to Marcel Marceau, a famous mime. (Oh, and in case it’s not clear - I know the actual phrase is ‘moot point’.)
image from Going to the Dogs

Going to the Dogs

These are all drawn from real life. Growing up we had a neighbor who had scrawled “NO DOG MESS” in giant letters on their own fence, which we all thought was uglier than any dog poop that might have been left in front of his house.
image from A Call to Arms

A Call to Arms

I had the idea of ‘pre cell phone pocket trumpeted’. Wasn’t sure exactly what that meant; played around with bugles, etc. But I thought the Lord of the Rings type horn worked. As far as the visual style, I was inspired by the book “Mid-Century Modern Graphic Design” by Theo Inglish, and particularly the works of Tom Eckersley and Harry Stevens. I tried to make a deliberately flat look.
image from CSI: RISD

CSI: RISD

At some point I learned about ligatures in typography, where adjacent letters change to avoid crowding (e.g. an “f” next to an “i” will often change so the dot of the i isn’t uncomfortably close to the right hand loop of the f). Coupled with extensive old Law & Order / crime shows and their use of ligature, plus the use of chalk outlines for dead bodies, led to this unfortunate mashup.
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© Nicholas Dunn 2025