Before I explain the background behind this episode of the finest cartoon extant, I’ll have you know I re-pinched my nerve in my neck and shoulder for about the 20th time. So, despite massive, shooting pain and an uncharacteristic abstinence from the codeine-centric pills that litter our medicine cabinet, I cartooned away valiantly over the past 2 days. To my beloved wife’s chagrin. Now to the story.

The Animals Are In the House. Ok, so when I wrote the script for this one, many ideas went through my head, and then when exhaustion and desperation set in in equal measures, we got the cool, laid back bear, who will pay his share of cable and the phone bill.  Sharing space with our woodland friends brings us closer to nature. Perhaps too close. Especially if this bear sheds and clogs the drain after he showers. A real possibility.

Now, the inspiration for the bear came from my brother-in-law Sparky (his suggestion, not mine), who if you know him personally, is only slightly less hairy than the character in the comic. My sister can attest to this, especially when she applies sun tan lotion to his barrel-chested upper tree-trunk sized chest. But I digress.

So now we have a new character and for how many episodes no one knows. Least of all me. I am sleep deprived and feeling a cold coming on, so it’s entirely likely, nay, dare I say probable that I will dream about how the story goes further. But I will still work in the iPad or iPhone joke I have had rattling around my memory for a while now.