Issue 2 of Falling Rock Is Here!

Friends, today our genial postman had a treat in his daily delivery to McBone Outpost #1211.  Among the clutter of envelopes labeled 'Past Due' and 'Final Notice' was Issue 2 of Falling Rock National Park.  Yes, though our artist in residence and partner blogger Kid Shay has suspended his daily Falling Rock strip indefinitely, he has continued the adventures of Ernesto, Carver, Pam, Melissa and Ranger Dee in comic book form.  Let me tell you, the Kid has elevated his game to match the larger format, and as great as Issue 1 was, the second installment, filled with ghosts, confused shoe store managers and a jaw-dropping montage of a prairie dog habitat, will be an even tougher act to follow.

Official McBone Rating: 5.0 McBones

Now, don't think that just because I've read it once I'm going to hand over my copy.  The good news is that it's not too late to buy a subscription of your own!  And while you're shopping, you might want to pick up a collection or two of the Falling Rock daily.  No need to ask me which is the best; as something of a Falling Rock connoisseur, I recommend them all.

nwb

Season Six!

As a slave to ritual, I tend to spend my summers in the grip of a prolonged malaise.  While others are running and playing and finding ways to soak up vitamin D, I shutter myself in with a steady diet of Donettes, strawberry milk and internet Scrabble.  With the pallor and gait of the walking dead, I shuffle back and forth between computer and fridge.  Weight is added.  Kidneys deteriorate.  My sometimes-pregnant wife rebuffs any amorous advance in unqualified disgust.

Whence come these deep depressions?  The source of my funk is easy to explain.

A typical day at Casa McGraw begins with me brewing fresh coffee and bolting straight to my MacBook.  Most any time of the year I am at this glorious moment treated to a house flooded by the new rising sun and the latest few panels of our official comic strip, Welcome to Falling Rock National Park.  Packed with wholesome goodness, four anthropomorphic animals and one fetching park ranger, Falling Rock, not unlike chocolate cereal, has everything a body needs.

But in the forsaken months of summer, Falling Rock goes on hiatus.  I, slumming for humor elsewhere, anywhere, plunge into melancholia.  I'm sure my coworkers are aware that something is off during that forlorn stretch between May and August, when a typical morning exchange goes something like this:

Coworker: G'morning!

Me: Fuck your mother.

This summer was no different, except that, at one point, my paucity of morning humor was coupled with a solid month of crippling heat.  Just imagine the renewal I felt when Falling Rock opened its sixth season last week.

Exhibit #356 - Kid Shay wants a piece of Lincoln

Boy did it feel good to dust myself off.  By Wednesday, I was feeling lean and mean--quite like my old self.

And the comics?  Artist and partner blogger Kid Shay continues to innovate, as those of you familiar with the strip are sure to notice.  Never one to sit on his laurels, the Kid is pushing his skills to the very brink by using a brush as his new inking tool.  The early returns are in, and let me tell you, the fictional southwest has never looked better.  Neither has my comic crush, Ranger Dee.

And for you McBoners who are late to the party, if you haven't yet made a visit to the desert park, now's the time for your first ramble!  A warning to you, though: this is the stuff of addiction.  Beware the long, lonely summer when Kid Shay packs up his pens, gasses up and hits the road.

nwb

Welcome to Falling Rock National Park, Season 5!

At least 100 times a day I receive a nice compliment for the banner that adorns this very blog.  Those just passing through the McBoniverse like to congratulate me for its professional quality, its unique artistry and expert lettering.  Though I thrive on fawning attention, I don't hesitate to deflect that praise, preferring to give credit where credit is due.  Of course card-carrying McBoners know already that the Cleveland/Cat Power-themed header was fashioned by the one and only Kid Shay.

Well, friends, I've got good news for you.  After a summerlong hiatus from his cartooning duties,  McBone's partner blogger is back with the highly anticipated 5th season of Welcome to Falling Rock National Park.

All your favorite characters, Ernesto, Carver, Melissa, Pam, Ranger Dee and a host of others, will be there; join them for a daily romp through desert landscapes. We promise the journey will be edifying at the very least, and you just might laugh your ass off too.

And when you've got a second, check out some of the collections for sale.  Printed on recycled paper with soy based ink, these handsome chipboard volumes not only look great, they pass the rigorous environmental standards upheld at McBone.  Yes, friends, in an age when every decision has moral, spiritual and political consequences, Welcome to Falling Rock National Park comes to you virtually guilt free!

Serving suggestion

Welcome to Falling Rock National Park pairs wonderfully with Scotch.

nwb

For the Discriminating McBoner, Welcome to Falling Rock National Park

Friends, a few years back in a dimly lit alley, my buddy Josh and I swore a Blogger's Oath, an unbreakable vow to blog in partnership until, as the parchment reads, the dead rise up to feast on the living, and the bloggers of darkness triumph.

We'll deal with that day when it comes.  In the meantime, we blog united.  As such, I'd like to take a moment to tell you about an incredible offer we heard about just moments ago.  As you are already aware, we endorse awesomeness in all its forms. That's why Welcome to Falling Rock National Park is the official comic strip of McBone.  Many of you already read Josh's daily strip at his website, but did you know that you can now subscribe to Falling Rock absolutely free of charge?  Sound too good to be true?  Well then there's no way you'll believe this: starting today, Josh is offering a FREE FALLING ROCK BOOK COLLECTION to the first 25 subscribers!  Now that's what I'd call a pretty decent offer.  How decent?  Almost Rita Hayworth decent.  How decent is that?  Pretty goddam decent:



So act now, McBoners.  About 37 seconds is all it takes to get Falling Rock delivered FREE, every single day, to the feed reader of your choice.

nwb

Welcome to Falling Rock National Park, Year Four

Friends, I've been singing the praises of Welcome to Falling Rock National Park for years now. Clearly the influence of McBone isn't such that you are able to open your local newspaper each morning and read my friend Josh's daily comic, nestled snugly between the biting political commentary of Doonesbury and the no-nonsense wisdom of Mary Worth. That's because, while McBone has the police, a network of judges and several prominent congressmen in its pocket, we have yet to gain control of the major syndicates responsible for the distribution of comic strips. I've tried all the usual tactics: threats, intimidation. I'm pretty sure there are a few people that ended up on the bottom of the river. Nothing seems to work.

That's where you come in. I'm asking you to pledge your support for the official comic strip of McBone. Season four is here. Read a month's worth of comics, get to know the park and the creatures who live there. I know you'll love Falling Rock. In fact, I'm so sure you'll be hooked, I'm offering something I don't hand out lightly: the McBone Guarantee. When you're ready, send a quick email to the editors of your daily rag and ask them in the kindest possible words to put Falling Rock in their goddam worthless paper.

nwb