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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.
image from Fruit of the Womb

Fruit of the Womb

Drawing based on a painting by unknown artist that hangs in my childhood living room. For those who don’t know Christian prayers, this is a reference to Hail Mary - “Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb”. I tried to incorporate the Fruit of the Loom typography and some of the colors (the green of the tunic, the yellow and red of the halo).
image from Evil Never Sleeps

Evil Never Sleeps

Dumb comic spurred by noticing how absurd my nightly sleep routine has gotten, and how the various things I use (mostly) map to the “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” motif. For those wondering about the mouth tape, it’s an actual thing; I heard about it from the book “Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art” by James Nestor. The idea is, by taping your mouth shut, you force yourself to breathe through your nose, which leads to less dry mouth and other issues.
image from Baptism by Fire

Baptism by Fire

Based on the news article “Thousands of baptisms invalidated by priest’s use of one wrong word”. I hope I’m not going to hell for this.
image from The Elements of Style

The Elements of Style

Photo references: MMA image MLM image Thanks to Jon for the idea for the title.
image from Writer's Block

Writer's Block

I made this for a Reddit tournament, the theme of which was “Writer’s Block”. Unfortunately I didn’t win.
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© Nicholas Dunn 2025