That sound you hear is the fourth wall shattering as we get a peek at Gaston and Mimi’s secret hideout, presumably in Cold Springs, Manitoba. It’s also a reminder to comic book characters everywhere to always be kind to your cartoonist.
Category Archives: Joey Weekends
An Exhilarating Trip
It’s Joey’s first Easter in Cold Springs and while it’s good to know he’s still on the Easter Bunny’s list, a special delivery takes the spirit out of the day.
An Ode to Ben Johnson
A long hallway of lockers at school whisks Joey off to the Olympic Games and imagining himself in the 100-meter dash. Instead of Canadian sprinting heroes Donovan Bailey or Andre DeGrasse, Joey’s experience ends up being reminiscent of Ben Johnson. Johnson set a world record in the 1988 games – besting American Carl Lewis – until being stripped of his gold medal in disgrace after testing positive for steroids. Fortunately for Joey, instead of a nation’s ire focused on him, he simply has to endure a trip to the office.
Home Opener
Fresh off of finding out he made the team and the receipt of his fresh new uniform (including bright yellow helmet), Joey suits up officially for the Cold Springs Golden Turkeys in front of family and friends in a jam-packed arena! What could possibly go wrong?
Grapefruit League Dreaming
Somewhere — specifically Florida and Arizona — it’s warm enough to play baseball and Joey wants to be there. For those of us residing in the northern United States and Canada, the phrase “pitchers and catchers reporting” is synonymous with the agonizing two months before the weather is remotely warm enough to get out and play a little baseball. The good news however, is that spring is indeed on the way. Nice play at shortstop, Joey — unfortunately you’ll have to keep playing with your snowman infield for a few more weeks. And yeah, I could go for a ballpark hot dog too…
Thin Ice
With hockey tryouts looming and the ball-eating bush cramping Joey’s ability to practice in his driveway, he and Herb are headed over to a nearby pond to get in some practice…
Escher Dreamscape
Joey finds himself enthralled by the surreal and physics-bending artwork of M.C. Escher in this edition of the Weekender. Escher’s artwork is fascinating to be sure, but for Joey, maybe not right before falling asleep…
Snow for Joey
Go figure, now that Joey has moved to northern Manitoba, it’s Christmas and he’s still waiting on some snow to make the festive season feel just right… Things aren’t looking good until Earl arrives on his zamboni and donates just the right amount of the white stuff to make a snow angel, a snowman or have a good ol’ fashioned snowball fight! Fun fact: This is actually a true story! The Arena Manager in my hometown of Thamesford, Ontario (also Earl!) did in fact drive the zamboni around the corner to my house to stave off a green Christmas by dropping off some arena snow on our front lawn – complete with a sign affixed to a broken hockey stick! I’ve been waiting many years to turn this into a comic – God bless you, Earl Carter.
Moon Hockey
The inspiration for this strip was an actual announcement from NASA on October 26th, 2020 that there is a large amount of ice located in the polar regions of the moon. Naturally, the first thing Joey thought of was not the scientific implications of this discovery, but yes: moon hockey. That does in fact seem like an awesome thing, but it only takes Joey a moment to realize there are more than a few complications with playing hockey in 1/6th of the gravity. Also, hat-tip to the first Tintin book I owned and cherished: Explorers on the Moon. The nifty orange spacesuits with the Iron Man-like light in the middle of the chest are my homage to the great Hergé’s art from that book.
Starry Night
As Joey settles into his new home, he discovers something amazing: the utter majesty that is the night sky once you’re free of the city. Maybe Cold Springs won’t be so bad after all… Herb’s impressed as well and it inspires him to bring out all of the constellation puns – groan!
Joey’s Top Three
Sorry Herb, but it turns out that 11-year olds have… simpler priorities. Although, to fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs, winning a Stanley Cup likely seems as improbable as solving world hunger. Fun fact: this strip was originally written in the summer of 2019, shortly after Joey’s Toronto Raptors were crowned NBA Champions. That’s why Herb thought he might be able to wiggle out of this…
Smooth Sailing
We’re very excited to release the first ever Planet Joey “Sunday format” comic strip, a regular feature we’re calling Joey Weekends. This week, we’re catching up with Joey and his family en route to his new home: the remote northern outpost of Cold Springs, Manitoba. If you recognize Joey’s hockey uniform, you’ll know what city he’s moving from and yes, he’s sporting the classic Gretzky Jofa 235 helmet.