True conversations with my father
June 23, 2014
2:53 am
I realized I didn’t put up a very Fathers day-y comic last week because I was too excited about fantasy bull man James Vega, so here’s a comic about the yearly fathers day conversation I have with my dad about smiley face rocks.
I was actually slightly disappointed in the commander in the first two panels. Then he managed to turn it around and make things awesome.
Sometimes you’ve got to duck down in order to lift things higher.
Well put! Also, you are allowed to be ironic to your children. It’s in the guidebook or something.
If you’re not ironic with your children, someone else will be and they won’t get it.
True story!…of my young life and it being hard to connect with other children *sniffle*
Yeah.
The thought that counts.
Well, what was the thought, exactly? “Here, I remember you exist”?
Too many people use that phrase as an excuse to not put any thought into gifts. <.<
If that’s any consolation, Coela, it IS Father’s Day today (23 June) in Poland.
Kind of looks like he is going to back hand them in the second panel. I know that would not be in keeping with him and how he would treat his kids.
It’s a pretty relaxed arms-crossed-palm-up gesturing pose.
I dunno . . . my father was always pretty relaxed relaxed right before back-handing me.
It was something about the hand, the face, and being in black and white. Now that it is in color it seem like an incoming backhand. Now sure what it is about the color that changes, but it is something.
It DOESN’T seem like and incoming back hand… I need to proofread more.
It’s just the cutoff really. If it was even a inch lower to where you could see the desk he’s resting on, it’d be unmistakeable how he’s just cross armed.
He isn’t at a desk though, he is in his comfy chair in his lounge at home
He’s bent forward to be closer to the eye level of someone much shorter, resting his elbows on his knees with arms crossed, and talking with his hands (which proves there’s some Sicilian in his engineered genetics). ;)
It looks like he’s showing them the back of his hand. It looks like a backhand because, similarly, when you backhand someone, they see the back of the hand. Holy shit, mind blown.
Really? Even when you mentioned it I can’t really see it.
This is the Commander. Not only would he not backhand his kids under any circumstances, he doesn’t seem the “casual from-the-elbow” backhand type. If the Commander’s gonna backhand someone, he’s going to do it in a “full-on from-the-ear” manner.
It’s not Father’s Day until like, September in Australia. Gives me plenty of time to find a really great rock.
Yeah, go big or go home.
Isn’t it bad juju to take even pieces of Ayer’s Rock?
His curse. His problem. Not yours :P
Nie moj cyrk, nie moje malpy.
not ‘bad juju’ exactly, but it is disrespectful of a holy site in the Australian Aboriginal religion.
It’s a bit like chiseling off part of St. Peter’s Basilica just as a souviner to take home.
Wait, you mean that’s a bad thing?
Now I know why I’m banned from Australia.
Now I know why I’m banned from St. Peter’s Basilica
The Commander…………..is……………AWESOME!!!!!! :D
Nothing like a discarded lizard tail to tell your father that you love him.
Ahhh, quality-time family bonding.
Animal parts always make great gifts.
Especially lizard tails, when you’re liable to find yourself fighting collosi who have to be climbed to reach their weak points.
When she gets older, she’ll give her Daddy the carcasses of Titanosaurses she’s slain with her bare hands.
Yeah, I agree…Rocks can be found pretty much anywhere, but sloughed-off lizard tails are far more rare, and thus, more valuable.
Yes, sir. Commander knows the dad score, y’ don’t go patronizing kids, they’re too smart for that junk. And provided the extra 4% won’t hurt ’em, ya don’t let ’em placate you at 96 either. Lobster just galvanized their pride thus ensuring their titanium kick-ass-ability is reinforced for all eternity… like only he could do.
The question is: did they find the tail still attached to the rest of the lizard?
Good question. It does look pretty fresh, and some lizards will sacrifice their tails in self-defense… Looks like that was a decent-sized lizard, too. What kind of fauna do they have running around that park? :)
From the size of it, water monitor lizard looks adequate.
And i got dozens of them in my backyard, due to my house’ wall is right next to the small river.
I’m trying to figure out what lizard you’re talking about. Merten’s Water Monitor (V. Mertensi) would be about that size if you’re in Australia (real Water Monitors, V. Salvator, get 2m/6’+ in size) but no Monitor species can slough of their tails. That’s mostly a skink thing and I don’t know of any skinks that large that live on or near water… Confused :(
I’m in Indonesia ^_^ The size of the monitor lizard i’m talking about is 100 centimeter to 150.
No idea what they have running around there, but lizards tend to be bad stuff to just go touching out where I live. Then again, I live in the middle of a desert known for its poisonous flora and fauna (and it’s agave, but you can only eat so much of that stuff before it starts to get gross).
There’s a joke to be made about lizard tails and SOTC here but I can’t figure it out. Either way the kids are proficient at using a bow.
His kids are so adorable; I can’t even handle it.
Considering all the things that goes on around that place I shouldn’t be surprised but still they have lizards that size in the parks? All we have are geckos the size of your middle finger.
Oh, dang, I was really worried at the start there. ):
But then I was okay with how it turned out. (: Like that rock there.
i heard a cute story related by tim olyphant about how his daughter came running out of her bedroom with the pet geko attached to her lip – she tried to kiss it!
also little ids that paint smiley faces on rocks end up doing much greater things with the rocks, like painting them into cool animals, so there dad!
Smiley face rocks are like the little kid impersonal gift equivalent of a gift card. Like “hey I didn’t put much thought or effort into this but you have to cherish it because I’m your kid and I made it for you.”
Well, I got my dad a Father’s Day card once, but it WAS special…It stood 3′ tall.
Do you have any pic of it? Dayum… 3’…
Sorry, no. This was in the days before convenient digital cameras, so I had no reason to go to the extra trouble of getting a photo. But i found it at a Spencer’s Gift shop somewhere. Good luck finding any more of those around.
Would Commander like it better if it the rock had a lobster drawn on?
Oho!
ROCK lobster. I C wut U did thar!
Hmmm…Perhaps a drawing of a smiling lobster? Maybe not in their age group…Probably would have needed to commission out the artwork just so their Dad could tell what it was.
But yeah, I agree that it would be VERY appropriate for THIS particular Dad.
Anyone can make a smiley rock. Getting a lizard’s tail takes effort.
I just get my dad a box of chocolate covered cherries.
No wait, that’s Christmas.
That was my dad’s favorite Christmas gift. It’s my favorite too. They never last long, but they’re certainly “cherished.”
Is the cherry on the top? :P
Wouldn’t that make it a cherry-covered chocolate, instead of a chocolate-covered cherry?
Oh yeah, you’re right XDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
They’re more formally called “cordial cherries,” as a point of information…
It looks like Lumpy Space Princess’ father.
Lizard tails are really cool though. I’ve got one but if I didn’t, I’d love to get one as a gift.
kelly, kelly, kelly….. that’s like saying little tots that are looking at books are not really reading, but they are – opening a book and “pretending” to read is one of the first stages of reading, just like visualizing, or painting smiley faces on rocks is a beginning expression of art. perhaps that is how the lascaux caves started….. as pig pen said to those teasing him about the dirt flating around him, after linus said it could be dirt once trod on by great people “kinda makes you want to treat me with more respect”!!
Hey, all Pig Pen did was understand that the Earth IS dirty, you can’t live on it without GETTING dirty & all he did was strengthen the common human bond with the planet on which we’re all born & live out our lives.
greatest Father’s Day comic I’ve seen yet
Spoilers: Commander ends up having to travel to the stone age and finds himself forced to part with his daughter’s gift to end a conflict that would nip humankind in the bud. It is presently known as the Makapansgat pebble.
The lizard tail’s whereabouts are unknown.
Coelasquid!
I have two things I wish to say to thee.
a- How in Brando’s name does one pronounce ‘Coelasquid’?
b- Your comics has brought me to buy Dragon Age Origins
Koala-squid
Or maybe “Cool-as-quid” (but mostly “Koala-squid”)
By the way Tempy, say ‘hi’ to the Court for me, haven’t been able to comment over there since God-Emperor Krow changed to Disquis without the option for guests (still reading though, and canonly even read the comments on FireFox :()
‘Colea’ is stoken from ‘coelacanth’, a type of rare prehistoric fish, which is pronounced ‘see-la-canth’. ‘squid’ is ‘squid’. So, I’d say, ‘see-la-squid’.
Thanks yall ^.^
So, does the rock talk to boy who believes?
Is… Is that boy holding a fish to his face? Was that the backup-backup plan if the lizard tail failed?
He always holds his plush shark in front of his face.
He even does it in the banner of the site lol
I got my dad a portable charger that you can charge the battery to charge on the go and a coffee cup.
Guess which one he liked better.
I never got my father anything on father’s day. Then again, we were estranged for pretty much all of my life and he lived in a different state. To me, father’s day is just another day.
…Does the kid grow up to be the guy from Platinum Black?
@The Temporal Detective: Professor Templeton- I think it’s like Seal-A-Squid, and it always sounds like a brand name for cephalopod glue or something, and that makes me happy.
This reminds me so much of the awful Father’s Day gifts my dad had to accept from me (like a hiddeous Pepsi can, popsicle stick and duct tape helicopter). I always felt like I had to step it up compared to mom’s gifts.
I was sitting in a coffeeshop today and saw a well-dressed, middle aged man reading and writing notes in a pink spiral bound notebook with a yorkshire terrier on it. My theory is a Father’s Day gift gone wrong (or, seeing as he’s getting good use out of it, gift gone right?)
Maybe he likes Yorkies (annoying yappie beasts), and who says that grown businessmen can’t like pink things? o_O
Thanks Doc.
You know, 23rd June is Father Day in Poland ;) So still count ^^
That shy little kid keeps hiding behind his shark. Adorable.
This one is just wonderfull.
I love the way his son always hides behind the shark!!