Boxcar Astronaut #72 & New Site Coming Soon!

Hello again, faithful Boxcar readers! Before I delve into the discussion of this week’s strip, I want to mention a few things that are on the horizon for the comic. First up, our brand spankin’ new ComicPress website is nearing completion. I’ve had a lot of fun playing around with the awesome ComicPress tool, designed and developed by Wally & Osborne creator Tyler Martin. The site needs a few more tweaks here and there, but if all goes well it should be up and running by the end of the summer, just in time for the start of the new Fall TV season! Secondly, I want to remind all of you that we have a super-cool Cafepress store chock full of great gifts like T-shirts, mousepads, and magnets for the Boxcar fan in your life. Order something for your space cadet today!

This week we bring you the second part of our “Happy Birthday, Cavie” storyarc, which features what is probably the single greatest facial expression in the history of the strip. Although you only see the reflection of the birthday candles’ flames and no pupil or iris, this marks the first time in Boxcar Astronaut history that we see Caveman’s eyes fully opened, and it’s pure gold! When I was batting around ideas for this birthday storyarc,  came up with several birthday cake gags where the boys would try to teach Caveman how to blow out his birthday candles and he would have either spit all over the cake or grabbed it and swallowed it whole, candles and all.

While we were kicking around ideas, Marc thought that it would be really funny if Caveman reacted to the lighted candles just like any prehistoric human who had never seen fire naturally would, with total awe. Caveman has an “illumninating” experience, to say the least! As he drops to his knees and worships the fire as a gift from the heavens above, I just love Devin’s “Umm…” reaction; it’s just so well-placed and really, what else could he say at that point? Hilarious stuff! I also really dig the messy, lopsided birthday cake Ben and Devin make for Caveman. It’s exactly the kind of cake that two kids would create, and the mis-matched candles are an especially nice touch. See you next week for more birthday misadventures!