Buni

Here is an Easter Bunny comic I considered running. I like the idea of the Easter Bunny adopting some of the themes of Santa Claus. They're both holiday mascots, but the Easter Bunny doesn't get nearly as much play as Santa.

Here is another Easter comic I considered running. I like making the Easter Bunny a deeply sinister and disturbing individual. Never trust anyone in a pastel vest and bow tie.

This is just a thinly veiled poop joke, so I didn't use it. But I like the idea of going on an Easter egg hunt and finding something else the bunny left behind.

This one may be hard to see, but it involves teddy bear children and Buni on an Easter egg hunt. Then suddenly the eggs crack open and there a gremlin-like creatures inside which then devour the children while the Easter Bunny looks on through a telescope, probably from a balcony or mountain top lair somewhere. A gremlin with an eye patch is perched on his shoulder. It should be noted that when I made all these Easter comics I was breathing a lot of fumes from sanding, staining and sealing steps to my basement in a small enclosed area.

I made this comic to commemorate the so-called "end of the world" according to the Mayan calendar. I didn't make it into a final comic because it's something that's only funny today. A year from now, it won't make much sense. Bonus points if you find Buni hidden among the throngs of people.

I was going to run this comic for Halloween, but someone mentioned that in the third frame readers might confuse a sheet over Buni's costume as Buni being a member of a hooded organization in America's past. Buni is supposed to look like a ghost in the third panel because BuniDad didn't want to walk around with his son dressed as a pink unicorn. A ghost would be easy to convey if Buni had a round head, but because he's dressed as a unicorn his head would be pointy. So I ended up not drawing it, even though in color (if the sheet was colored a light blue or green) I probably could have made it work without anybody thinking of the hooded organization. But I didn't want to risk it.----- I had another rejected Halloween costume where BuniDad accidentally shoots a trick-or-treater dressed as a zombie in the face thinking that the kid was a real zombie. Then he realizes it was just a costume when he sees the kid's spilled candy. In the final panel other trick-or-treaters come to the door and there's a freshly dug grave next to the front door which BuniDad is trying to ignore. (BuniDad would also be passing out the dead kid's candy.) Naturally I decided to pass on the comic about a kid getting shot in the face too.

This alternate ending gives a totally different feel to the comic. This has a more "cute" feel to it. Buni is secretly saved again by BuniDog rather than falling off the ledge in the original comic. This is an example of the "cute" funny vs. dark funny I'm always torn between making.

This is the original comic I made introducing BuniDog. I made it in 2010 and never published it. I wanted the dog to become a recurring character but didn't know what to do with him. I wasn't sure what his personality was going to be. Plus, it wasn't my best drawing (it's hard to draw a wire cage) and I didn't like Buni choosing him over a puppy for money reasons. The dog is actually based on a real dog I saw in Rome, Italy. It was 2 a.m. late one night when I was walking on a cobblestone street. No one else was around. I heard a squeaking sound. I thought it was a biker and saw a shadow growing bigger coming around the corner. It turned out to be a tiny street dog in a makeshift wheelchair made out of bent wire. He seemed like a dog with a story to tell.

Although this comic is meant to show the aftermath of Buni innocently eating a gingerbread cookie, it makes Buni look evil, especially because some people mistake the gingerbread cookie that he is eating as a baby gingerbread cookie. It is actually an adult gingerbread cookie if you must know.

A stork dropping a baby bundle doesn't sit well with some people. I've reworked it a couple times to make the reader think that the bundle is carrying a baby, but then have a last panel showing that it's just the stork's garbage or lunch, but that just waters it down. Go big or go home.

I've done a couple versions of Buni volunteering for a magic trick only to have it end horribly wrong, but I haven't been able to nail it yet. Something is there, but it's just not quite there yet. Sometimes I may come up with an idea, pass on it, then a year later I'll think of the same premise, but with a slightly different twist that finally makes it good enough to publish.

This is an example of a comic that is just random. I like the teddy bear casually sipping his coffee, ignoring Buni's tragedy of being on fire. But there's not enough information about why Buni is on fire. It's amusing, but are we any closer to understanding humanity or our place in the universe? I think not.

This is just an old-fashioned poop joke.

This is essentially a fart joke and probably doesn't make much sense to anybody else. But I like it. I'm not sure if it's because Buni is trying to explain to his doctor that spiders do indeed fart, or that the spider fart caused such ocular damage that he has to wear an eye patch. On the razor thin edge of what's funny or not to the outside world, I fear this may fall on the confusing unfunny side.

New Year's Alternative 1: Although Buni generally has bad luck, I try not to inflict gratuitous pain on him. Besides, I'm pretty sure the New Year's ball drop joke has been done before.

New Year's Alternative 2: I think this is how most people experience New Year's.

New Year's Alternative 3: Although 2011 was a difficult year, it doesn't necessarily deserve a shiv in the back. However, I do like the idea of stumbling across a dead body, only to find a cherub baby walking away.

New Year's Alternative 4: This one is perhaps too violent of an ending for 2011. But I like the idea of a panicked and hunted Old Man Time coming to your door knowing that his time is coming to an end.