And here’s a close-up of the tie:

She may have been rocking the cradle, but we didn’t care. You could say that my mom even orchestrated our afternoon, snack time get-togethers. Let me share with you, loyal blog readers, what I haven’t even indulged to my wife of my six months: my first beloved was the Sun-Maid Raisins Lady.

Look at that wholesome face. Those bouncy, chocolate locks. That large, luscious bonnet. On top of all that, there’s the unspoken dedication and willingness to provide me with a lifetime of fresh, hand-picked grapes and plump, delicious raisins. What’s there not to love? She wasn’t just the whole package–she was ON the package.

A few weeks back, whilst clipping coupons from my Sunday paper, I froze in mid-page turn, terrified as a cold chill shivered down my spine. I saw:

NO! I should have seen the writing on the wall. A similar fail occurred years ago, when Mr. Clean was given the CG treatment. But my beloved? As a plastic, direct-to-DVD CG Barbie-faced monster? Please Sun-Maid, say it isn’t so!

Here’s my official FAIL diagram:

What a heartbreak.

I was humbled to find out, a while back, a Mr. Aaron Hale sent out a tweet with a link to the Creatures site.

After sending Aaron (follow Aaron!) a tweet of thanks, he went the extra mile and totally one-upped his fannage by posting about Customary Creatures on his blog.

I haven’t updated the comic for a while, due to what I thought was a lack of interest/undertaking other creative endeavors. But now, thanks to the creation of the facebook fan club, the awesomeness of Aaron Hale, and some other online posts praising the comic,  I’ll soon be dusting off the Wacom to make new Creatures.

Thanks for the support and check out Let’s Get Crispy, Morton! - the blog of Aaron Hale.

Feel free to send your fan submission my way (click “About, Contact Greg Sorvig” above).  If you can, please size your image to 600 x 600 pixels. Not able to draw? Feel free to send your comic idea, too! If used, you’ll get glorious name credit on the post.

Fan comic by Ann Shuff!

A special shout goes out to Dan Bishop, fan extraordinaire, who has created the “Customary Creatures Fan Club” on facebook! That’s Dan–the shirtless, sunglasses-wearing uber-fan–pictured above.

This is the special kind of kick in the shorts I’ve needed to update the comic again regularly.

For the fan club faithful: I’m up for guest artists and strip ideas (you’ll get credit for whatever you provide, if used). Message me, email me, or send a tweet my way @gsorvig. Word on the street is that there’ll be some fan club only comics down the road…

Keep your eyes peeled and thanks. Keep spreading the word!

Winning Indiana was an amazing cherry on top!

Our five-month old wiener dog puppy, Tootsie, celebrated her first Halloween this weekend. She was a spooky witch! She kept biting her cape, so the costume was short lived.

Rach and I took Tootsie to Holliday Park today (Sunday, November 2). Tootsie enjoyed smelling other dogs, and apparently turned on her kiddy tractor beam before hitting the trails. No matter the distance, children would spot Tootsie and come barreling over in glee. It was a good time!