Category Archives: Planet Joey

Marshmallowpocalypse

Alternate titles included “Cocoa Catastrophe” and “Choc-nado of Marshmallow Mayhem.” Herb looks on as Joey surely commits a hot chocolate crime here… although it begs the question: are there really any rules when it comes to hot chocolate? I think this is a beverage where anything goes. Carry on, Joey.

Art vs Artist 2023

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My #ArtVsArtist2023: It was a turbulent year on the employment front, so I wasn’t able to do as much drawing and comics as I would have liked, but things stabilized as the year went on and I ended up with some momentum, including appearing on my first podcast/interview to discuss my work (the photo of me is just before going live!). A special thanks to Planet Joey Patreon supporters as well!

See ya later 2023, bring on 2024! 🥂

— Dave

Art vs. Artist Is a hashtag challenge which started as a test to see if the artwork reflects the identity of its creator, as many assume. Artists began posting using the hashtag along with a selfie surrounded by eight of their selected art pieces. I look at it as a cool way to take stock of a year’s worth of art.

Santa Snacks

Herb decides that Santa is above the typical Christmas Eve milk and cookies — chocolate nugget bomb cookies to be precise — so he pulls together a bougie spread for ol’ Kris Kringle and his red-nosed companion. Santa is confused by the espresso and Rudolph seems to appreciate the charcuterie board, complete with name cards. I’d love to know where you find Butterkäse cheese on Christmas Eve in Cold Springs, Manitoba but I digress…

The Christmas Spirit

The Planet Joey characters rock out on stage — Peanuts style — to a holiday jingle being played by Joey and Herb. The gang is so full of holiday cheer in fact, that it seems to be seeping into Gaston’s dark soul…

Snow-brainer

TGIF. Thank god it’s fluffy. Joey has the right idea: don’t hold back. It’s time to take on the weekend with reckless abandon.

Villain Hideout

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.

Support Planet Joey

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There are many ways you can support Planet Joey. Whether you are simply sharing Planet Joey content or ‘liking’ it on social media or joining our community on Patreon, your support is appreciated and makes you an official and valued patron of the comic arts. As a collective, you are directly funding the comic strip, allowing for more time to be reserved to make comics.

Buy Herb a coffee!
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Purchase commissioned art!
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Bubble Fox Guest Comic 2022

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A Planet Joey guest comic for Jon Esparza's Bubble Fox.

I was honoured to be asked again to create a Bubble Fox guest strip for San Diego-based cartoonist Jon Esparza, who runs guest comics by selected artists every September while he takes a well-deserved break. This one is more of a Planet Joey comic with a guest appearance by Bubble Fox to be honest, but the important thing to remember is: always make sure you’re in the right state of mind before reading comics, kids!

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Back in the Saddle

After the Le Corbusier chair incident, Herb is indeed back in his old faithful armchair, a little worse for wear after literally being put out to the curb with the trash in favour of the LC2. Everything seems to be back to normal, just with a few extra insects and rodents…

The Law of Furniture Replacement

It’s another instalment of Feline Physics, where Herb has taken his eyes off of his precious piece of furniture at the most inopportune time. As the law states, Penelope ignored the beat up old ottoman in the family room in favour of experiencing the feeling of fine Italian leather under her claws.

Obsessive Love Disorder

Herb warns Joey to tread carefully around his new Le Corbusier chair, while Joey quickly researches a disorder stemming from feelings of extreme jealousy and possessive behaviour (and not necessarily related to fine Italian leather). Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt, Herb.

Hardly Reassuring

We discover the fate of Joey’s Great Auntie Mil’s chair – out at the curb on garbage day. That’s harsh, Herb.

Great Art is Never Understood

Herb fills Joey in on who Le Corbusier (Le Cor-boos-ee-yay) is and how it relates to the piece of furniture he’s sitting in. Joey has other concerns, dampening his enthusiasm for this icon of modern architecture and design.

What’s a Le Corbusier?

Herb is bringing a little style to Cold Springs, one… piece of furniture… at a time. Here, he’s showing off his new Le Corbusier chair, which raises a series of interesting questions. The first of which is: what’s a Le Corbusier?

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.

Soaking Wet

Joey is back home – warm and dry after his disastrous first day as the new Cold Spring Clipper Newspaper Delivery Associate – breaking down the eventful morning with Herb. Elsewhere in town, two customers aren’t thrilled about receiving only a (very wet) portion of the paper.

Suboptimal

We catch up with Joey out delivering newspapers in the early morning, but the sunrise has disappeared in favour of… a torrential downpour. It’s never good news when it’s raining sideways, Joey.

Fire in the Hole

Decorating for Christmas can be dangerous, as Joey and Herb discover. The hard way. Well, at least Herb does. Joey escapes into the house and makes a mental note for next year, while the unsuspecting Herb is going to… need some assistance.

Tree Topper

It’s time to trim up the tree and Joey is having a hard time – like any kid – reaching those top few elusive branches… The family couch turns out to be… not the greatest substitute for a step stool or a ladder. Somehow, it all works out in the end! 

#Believe

Just a Job

There’s nothing like the peace and tranquility of the early morning summer sunrise – and a violent, torrential downpour – to help you take stock of things, Joey.

Bubble Fox Guest Comic

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I was honoured to be asked to create a Bubble Fox guest strip for the amazing San Diego-based cartoonist Jon Esparza.

It’s short and sweet, but the idea started with wanting to do the strip in black and white as an homage to how Bubble Fox appears online. From there, I had to incorporate helium somehow to turn someone or something into a balloon in the surreal world of Bubble Fox. And lattes aren’t on the beverage menu high above the ground… 

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Top Heavy

After getting crushed by the bundles of newspaper, we’ve skipped ahead to a point where Joey seems to have it figured out, although I had to turn the format of the comic strip 90° to capture the “gravity” of the situation…

First Day on the Job

It’s Joey’s first day on the job as the official Newspaper Delivery Associate for the Cold Springs Clipper. He takes a moment to appreciate the serenity and beauty of the early morning sunrise, but the moment is ruined by the Clipper delivery truck and some bad timing.

Contractually Obligated

Joey’s new paper route is becoming closer to reality as he introduces Herb to his custom… newspaper delivery bike. The giant basket isn’t Herb Approved™ and the early morning hours mean Joey’s on his own. Not even a double shot of espresso could get Herb up before 7:00 AM.

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.

Coupon Clippers

Joey and Herb discuss the local newspaper, coming to the realization that the daily print version isn’t going away anytime soon in Cold Springs. Internet speeds in remote Manitoba have dictated the need for locals to consume their community news in print and we all know that hardware store flyers are much more enjoyable printed on newsprint at an 85 lines/inch screen with shoddy registration. The same goes for the comics page, naturally.

The New Paperboy

Look who the new Cold Springs Clipper paperboy is! Wait – do they still call them ‘paperboys?’ Perhaps it should be ‘paper person’ or ‘paper carrier’ or… ‘paper delivery associate.’ At any rate, Joey is now gainfully employed in his new town in the integral position of ensuring the locals get their news – and flyers – in a timely fashion. Printed newspapers are still (barely) a thing these days, but Herb – ever pretentious – isn’t likening the local fish wrap to the periodicals he reads.

Congrats, Lollipop!

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Adventures of Lollipop 20th Anniversary

This special comic is dedicated to Jennifer Cuthbert’s The Adventures of Lollipop, celebrating it’s 20th anniversary this month! Lollipop and her gang have visited almost every corner of the globe, so I took a moment to imagine Lollipop’s gang visiting Cold Springs… with Joey and Herb standing by to deliver the hard truth. Congratulations on twenty years of adventures, Lollipop – here’s to twenty more!

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The Law of Cat Thermodynamics

In the latest edition of Feline Physics, we look at the mysterious phenomenon of why cats get so warm. A quick check of the interwebs provides the following explanation: “A cat’s natural body temperature is 102° F, which is significantly warmer than our body temperature of 98.6° F. Also, cats have a lower sensitivity to heat than humans. The heat sensors they do have are concentrated in their faces, making this area especially receptive to heat.” This sounds pretty science-y, so for now, let’s hope Joey can warm up from being in close proximity to Penelope’s warm, fire-like glow.

Dad, Slow Down!

Does anyone else have dreams like this? I have a recurring dream where I’m in a car, rocketing toward a hairpin turn at ludicrous speed, where I awaken with an intense sensation of careening through the guardrail. Fortunately for me, it’s just the sensation of the car going airborne. In Joey’s case, he physically ends up across the room, saved by Herb’s chair.

An Important Takeaway

Given time to reflect on ‘the punch’, Joey has a change of opinion upon a closer review of the upcoming schedule. Also, another hockey nemesis makes a cameo: the Ball Eating Bush has its eyes on Joey’s wayward tennis ball…

He Had It Coming

New character alert! Joey reveals to Herb that he crossed paths with… the Prime Minister of Canada. In the Planet Joey universe, that person is the eccentric Théodore Thibodeau. This raises a ton of questions of course, but readers should get used to the PM popping up randomly and unexpectedly.

Made in Australia

The weather warms up in Cold Springs, sending Joey and Herb down to the local tennis court. Joey has his struggles with the practice wall and learns a valuable lesson: never toss your racquet in frustration and if you do, always check the manufacturer’s info.

Gotta Find That Kid

Mimi is right – the halfwitted cartoonist (that’s me!) is indeed shutting down this storyline soon – so the pressure is on our sinister searchers to find the kid in the yellow helmet who delivered that dastardly punch, as per the boss’ orders… Joey seems to have successfully evaded everyone thus far – not only Gaston and Mimi, but the kid with the glasses as well, seen here icing is face.

An Unconventional Route

After his punch sets off some post-game chaos, Joey tries to escape unnoticed back to the locker room. His unexpected journey takes him from the Zamboni, to the snack bar to the bowels of the Cold Springs Arena, putting his ninja skills to the test. Alternate title: A Good Skate Sharpening.

Safe Harbour

Joey and Herb continue discussing ‘the punch’, where we learn that glasses guy completely melted down and where exactly Joey slithered off to while chaos ensued…

A Local Recruit?

We catch up with the two sinister spectators – Gaston Malade and Mimi Dangereux – after a bit of a post-game kerfuffle has broken out, thanks to Joey. Gaston is thrilled that there is finally some violence on the ice to capture his attention while Joey seems to have made quite an impression on the mysterious Cyrus Belgrave. As for Mimi, she’s trying to figure out how exactly it is that Belgrave seems to have his own private feed from *checks notes* the Cold Springs Arena…

Slither

Joey reveals to Herb what happened immediately after ‘the punch’ at their regular kitchen table post mortem. It seems as if our protagonist was able to slink away unscathed while chaos ensued…

The Gentlemanly Tradition

The age-old hockey tradition of shaking hands at the end of a hard fought game isn’t about the winning team showboating in front of their opponent. It’s about showing respect for the losing side. Or, in Joey’s case, it’s a chance to take an uncontested cheap shot.

The Mighty Ducts

This one is one of the earliest comics I wrote. It’s been sitting patiently on one of the first pages of my sketchbook for almost two decades prior to being published today on the internets. This concept of listening to the exciting sportsball match through vents and/or ductwork in a home is something that is directly drawn from my childhood. The time I remember clearly was the 1984 Canada Cup hockey semifinal between Canada and the Soviet Union. I had a pretty strict bedtime of 9pm at the time and wasn’t able to watch the conclusion of that crucial game against those evil commies. I discovered I could *just barely* hear the game through the vent in my bedroom floor however, and I lied there for hours until Canada won the game in overtime.

The Final Horn

And there it is, the Golden Turkeys lose to the Bacon Ridge Rhinos. As the teams line up to shake hands, the game isn’t quite over for Joey, who seems to have his focus elsewhere…

My Kind of Scoundrel

We catch up with our resident ne’er-do-wells in the Cold Springs Arena, enjoying the Canadian minor hockey experience: mediocre hockey and sub-par food and beverages. As expected, Gaston has taken a shining to the kid with the glasses…

Guy with the Glasses

As the game wears on, Joey can’t escape the wrath of a certain bespectacled goon, who is absolutely relentless. What we have here is an assault in three parts: a cross check, hip check and a good old fashioned flying elbow for good measure. Now Joey has a few bumps and bruises (and maybe a missing tooth) to go along with that shattered stick.

Hack!

The game continues and Joey has a scoring chance! Unfortunately, the kid with the glasses has other ideas.

Bespectacled Dump Truck

It’s game on for Joey and the Golden Turkeys! It doesn’t take too long for Joey to lose his focus — and he suffers the consequences for it.

A Little Entertainment

We find ourselves catching up with the resident villains of our humble strip – Gaston Malade and Mimi Dangereux – and find out that they have indeed been stationed in northern Manitoba by evil mastermind Cyrus Belgrave to work on some sort of top-secret project… And not just anywhere in northern Manitoba, but good ol’ Cold Springs. In fact, they’re headed toward the arena where a red-headed kid takes to the ice, representing said town for the first time. Cue the foreboding music…