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Foxes & Boxes Comics and Blogging by Daniel J. Hogan.
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About Me

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I’m a cartoonist who lives in Lansing, Michigan. Visit my shop to buy original art and more. Follow me on Instagram, @danieljhoganart.

My Books


Check out my fantasy-humor novel, The Magic of Eyri.
magic of eyri book by daniel j hogan
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Local Comic Creator Event at Red Fox Comics This Saturday

by Daniel J. Hogan on December 10, 2014 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Blog, News

[dc]I[/dc]f you still need That Special Gift this holiday season, swing by Red Fox Comics in Lansing this Saturday. I’ll be part of a local comic creator event, 12 PM to 4 PM.

red fox comics event

Buy our stuff. Please.

Buy all kinds of fun stuff from the other artists and myself, as well as the store. It will be a fun time, as there are some super-special Christmas things planned.

I’m selling sketchcards, postcards, mini-comics, prints, and more. I’ll do cartoon commissions too (black and white or watercolor).

Other artist joining me at Red Fox Comics on Saturday include:

Ryan Claytor

Brandon Hankins

Dean Stahl

Jason Strutz

(And maybe more. Last I heard Jay Jacot cancelled.)

You will find Red Fox Comics at 723 Brookside Dr., Lansing MI. For more information, check out redfoxcomics.co.

The fun begins at noon on Saturday, December 13th. Be there!

└ Tags: comic creating, events

Behind the Scenes: Being Topical

by Daniel J. Hogan on December 2, 2014 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Behind the Scenes, Blog, News

[dc]B[/dc]ecause I write and draw a ‘gag a day’ comic, I create topical jokes if I want. Meaning, if I want to whip up a comic referring to something which just happened, or something popular, I can do so.

I’m not locked into a grand story or a world with strict rules which prevents such a thing.¹ This is both a blessing and a curse.

If I didn’t make a ‘gag a day’ comic, what I could write and draw about would be limited, to some extent. I don’t mind limits, usually, when it comes to being creative: most of the hard work is out-of-the-way. The comic (or story or whatever) has to about a certain thing, or can’t be about a certain thing. (“Your comic must include a mermaid.” “OK.”)

This is a fun creative challenge.

Yet, so is the freedom to write about whatever I want.

Case in point, this week’s comic.

star wars comic

From this week’s comic.

I already had a different comic finished and scheduled for yesterday. Then the trailer for the new Star Wars film come out on Friday. After watching the Star Wars: The Force Awakens teaser trailer a half-dozen times, I decided, “Well, shoot. I need to do a comic about this.”

Because I’ve been working on building a buffer², I’m already working on comics for January.

The problem is, I couldn’t run a comic about the new Star Wars trailer in mid-January. The time was now, not a month from now.³

I hesitated, however. Topical comics and jokes are fun, but a year from now, will they still hold up? The comic I originally planned for yesterday would, as it was a self-contained joke—it didn’t reference a current event.

It came down to, I had an idea for a Star Wars comic. It’s hard not to draw a comic once I have an idea. Being lazy is easy: I already had a comic done, I didn’t need to draw a new one at the last-minute.

But, my gut feeling won out, and I set up camp at a coffee shop until I had this week’s comic finished.

The only snag: because the comics I scheduled for after this week all reference Christmas, I couldn’t simply push everything back by a week. This meant my original comic for yesterday wouldn’t run until January 5th.

Oh well, the original comic for this week will be just as funny a month from now.

Trust me.

–

¹ Nothing against these kind of comics in the least. Some of my favorites are this style.

² Which is easy when you only publish once a week like me. I’m toying with publishing two comics a week in 2015.

³ Like that Simpsons joke, “Here’s your hanging chad sketch, Krusty!”

└ Tags: comic creating, geek stuff, sci-fi, star wars, Writing

Thankful For

by Daniel J. Hogan on November 25, 2014 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Blog, Humor

[dc]T[/dc]hanksgiving has a way of making one look around and, as the name suggests, give thanks. Although our annual family dinners would make one think the holiday is actually called Yellsgiving or Restrainingordergiving.

I’m thankful I’m not the turkey in this situation.

What am I thankful for this Thanksgiving? A few things.

[] I’m thankful the government isn’t making us be micro-chipped like pets yet. Rags T. Cat got micro-chipped last week, and the last time I saw a needle that big, it was on top of a building.

Seriously, I think Queequeg‘s harpoon was smaller.

[] I’m thankful for the two people who maybe got the above Moby Dick joke.

[] I’m thankful I was able to work in the phrase ‘dick joke’ without actually making a dick joke.

[] I’m thankful for the readers thinking: “Um, actually, a Moby Dick joke is a dick joke.”

[] I’m thankful for the readers thinking: “Um, actually, a Moby Dick joke is a literary joke.”

[] I’m thankful for the other readers thinking: “Dude, making a joke about Queequeg’s harpoon is totally a dick joke.”

[] I’m thankful for Moby Dick, the novel.

[] Seriously you guys, read Moby Dick.

[] And read the full version, not the abridged. Moby Dick is a tough read at times, but it is well worth your time. You learn so much about cannibals and knots.

[] There are a few wacky chapters in Moby Dick, like the one where it suddenly becomes a play for some reason.

[] I’m thankful spiders have eight legs, because spiders with an odd number of legs would be TOO SCARY. Seven legs! Just think, or worse, THREE. I think I might be sick. Imagine a three-legged spider hobbling its way across your face in the middle of the night.

I need a new emoji for such a level of disgust and horror. Maybe a cat butt.

[] I’m very thankful for noise-canceling technology, specifically the kind my Bose Quiet Comfort headphones use.

My wife, however, is not thankful for such technology.

[] I don’t think my wife ever read Moby Dick. Maybe I’ll get her a copy for Christmas. It’s the gift that keeps on giving, really.

[] As I said in this week’s comic, I’m thankful I can hide what people share on Facebook. Selfies, baby photos, charity bragging, whining, Buzzfeed whatevers: all gone, drifting into the abyss like a deranged sea-captain strapped to a whale. 

└ Tags: books, holidays, humor, steph, thanksgiving

Let’s Talk About the Surface Pro 3 Type Cover

by Daniel J. Hogan on November 19, 2014 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Blog, News, Reviews

[dc]W[/dc]hen I bought a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 back in July, I didn’t hesitate to buy the Surface Type Cover too.

Why? I wanted a physical keyboard, something to protect the screen, and a mouse/touchpad.

While the Type Cover hits all this three marks, it doesn’t exactly hit each on the bull’s-eye. After using the Type Cover every day since I bought my Surface a few months ago, I have a few thoughts to share.

surface type cover 3

Of course I bought the purple cover.

 

Surface Type Cover: The Cost

The Surface 3 Type Cover lists at around $130. After using mine for the past few months, I don’t feel it is worth this price. A price tag around $60-$75 would be a better fit, I think.

Surface Type Cover: The Keyboard

Cramped is how I would describe the Type Cover’s keyboard, and small—but, it has to fit a 12-inch screen, so I cut it some slack there. I can type pretty fast on the keyboard, which is always a plus. But, my speed combined with the cramped keyboard means I hit Caps Lock, and other non-letter buttons, fairly often.

There aren’t any volume controls on the keyboard, other than Mute, which I miss (the volume rocker button on the Surface isn’t the greatest).

Also missing, which would be handy, are screen brightness buttons. You can hot-key this yourself, by using Fn+Backspace and Fn+Del, but dedicated buttons would be nice, as there is only one Fn key on the Type Cover.

Yes, there are keyboard back-light buttons, but I always have mine off, so who cares?

With the keyboard in its angled up position, it can feel kind of flimsy at times—bending and flexing a bit. Laying the keyboard flat helps with this, and in some cases feels much more comfortable.

Surface Type Cover: The Touchpad

The biggest weakness of the Surface Pro 3 Type Cover? The touchpad.

The Type Cover’s touchpad isn’t very consistent, ranging from too sensitive to not sensitive enough depending how and where I click, or swipe, or which way the wind is blowing. Sometimes it feels like a solid click, other times it feels like I’m pounding away on a piece cardboard.

In a pinch, yes, the touchpad works. At this point though, the Type Cover’s touchpad is not my preference.

My Solution: A Wireless Mouse

I ended up buying a Logitech M310 wireless mouse to use instead of the Type Cover’s touchpad.

wireless mouse

Red, because I didn’t want to look for a black mouse in my backpack.

I went with the Logitech M310 because I wanted to try a wireless mouse (and it was on sale). There were options though: either the M310’s USB nano receiver, or a Bluetooth mouse.

I wanted out of the box plug and play, so the nano receiver option won out (I didn’t want to deal with making sure my Surface and the mouse could ‘talk’ to each other via Bluetooth).

The M310 worked right out of the box: I plugged in the USB receiver, turned on the mouse, and everything worked. No software to install, no ‘finding’ a device. Just plug and play.

(Of course, the trick is remembering to turn off my mouse)

Should You Get the Surface Type Cover?

The thing is, there aren’t many options if you want protection, typing, and mousing with one device. Sure, you could buy separate items, but the Type Cover does hit all these areas.

Despite its quirks, I do find my Type Cover very handy–overpriced, sure–but it performs as advertised.

My advice: get a Type Cover on sale, if you can, and buy a wireless mouse (or just rely on the touch features and the Surface pen)

└ Tags: geek stuff, surface pro 3, tablet, technology
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