Rainy Days and Mondays

The A-MAZE-ing Book of Mormon Now Available to Pre-order

It should be in stores within a week but, you can now pre-order The A-MAZE-ing Book of Mormon at deseretbook.com. (I've posted a link off to the right of this page below links to my other two books.)

And what's even cooler, deseretbook.com finally got around to spelling my name right on only my third book!

I believe it wasn't until The Work and the Glory: Volume 5 before they spelled Gerald Lund's name right.

Missionaries and Dogs

One of the oldest and oft-used cliches for cartoonists is the deserted island gag. No doubt, you can immediately picture in your mind what the image looks like. And chances are you've come up with a half dozen corresponding captions.

The missionaries and dogs gag is the LDS cartoonist equivalent. Seriously, look through any LDS book of cartoons and you'll find at least one (I included one in Mormon Life) and I dare say that the New Era publishes a variation of this theme at least once a year on their "Extra Smile" page.

Anyway, here's one of mine. (I'm actually proud that I was able to go 42 posts before I settled for it.)

Inside The A-MAZE-ing Book of Mormon

I thought I'd wet your appetite for the forthcoming A-MAZE-ing Book of Mormon by giving you a peek of what you'll find inside. (You might want to click on the picture for a larger view.)

In this maze you're charged with getting Mormon and the gold plates to Moroni during the battle on Hill Cumorah. I can safely say that I've never drawn so many people in one picture before. If I ever had any aspirations of creating a Where's Waldo type book prior to now, this page certainly cooled me on those ideas. Still, I love how the page turned out and together with the other mazes in The A-MAZE-ing Book of Mormon it represent the most beautiful work I've ever done.

Dinner Appointments: Part Two

Here's the conclusion to last week's Missionary Monday strip. And you didn't even know it was a cliffhanger...

Girls Camp Horror Stories

This week is Girls Camp in my ward. So I thought I'd honor the occasion.

Girls Camp is one of those phrases in the Church that could really use some clarification. Is the correct spelling Girls' Camp or Girls Camp? It surely isn't Girl's Camp because it belongs to more than one girl. It's one of those phrases, like Elders Quorum, where I struggle wondering where or if it needs an apostrophe. The Church really should have a style guide for stuff like this.

(By the way, I usually opt for no apostrophe because that's one less character and I'm lazy like that.)

Coming Soon: The A-MAZE-ing Book of Mormon

Today I picked up my advanced copy of The A-MAZE-ing Book of Mormon from my publisher. The book includes 12 giant-sized mazes that spread over into two pages that takes the reader through the Book of Mormon. Here's the description of the book found on the back cover.

Race around the Book of Mormon with these mind-bending mazes!

Sail across stormy seas; speed through city streets; escape from lofty rooftops; maneuver through mists of darkness; scurry up and down ladders; dash past dangerous debris; climb through deep, dark jungles; sprint around battling soldiers; search for the king's lost sheep

How long will it take you to finish this incredible journey?

In my opinion, this is the best book of Book of Mormon mazes I've ever seen (it is also, coincidentally, the only book of Book of Mormon mazes I've ever seen). I'm giving you heads up now so you can start planning your next trip to Deseret Book.

And while I'm shamelessly self-promoting, I should note that Walmart recently began stockingThe Puzzle Book for LDS Kids in their LDS book section of their Intermountain West stores. And Seagull Book has recently picked up Mormon Life.

Dinner Appointments

As any missionary who served in a foreign country can tell you (and probably many who didn't serve foreign), dinner appointments can be scary things. I was fortunate in that I usually liked the kind of fare served in Slovenija, but there were times where I wished D&C 89 had been a bit more explicit in defining what wasn't meant for the body.

Scout Camps and Real Estate

Within the New Era's "Extra Smile" page there is definitely a pecking order. Val Chadwick Bagley--he of the numerous lift-the-flap books--usually gets the prime real estate on the page while the rest of the cartoonists' work fills in around his.

(I don't begrudge him for it. Bagley is really quite good. So good, in fact, that should he ask, I'd probably have to forfeit my domain name to him.)

Anyway, I'm proud of this gag because for one month it vaulted me to the location on the "Extra Smile" page usually reserved for Bagley.

Counterculture Shock

Mormon missionaries + hippies = comic gold.

Truth in Advertising

True story: when I was in Senior Primary I went about two years without singing once during sharing time. One Sunday, though, I decided to sing again. And I did...until the Primary Chorister whispered in my ear that I was a couple of notes off key. That pretty much shut me up through the rest of my years in Primary.

And that is why I'm one of those members who feigns participation during the singing of the hymns. It's also why I'm a cartoonist and not a contestant on American Idol. Well, that and I sing off key.

Stripling Warriors

As I get older and older, the missionaries seem younger and younger. There's something to be said for a program that puts that much trust in a group that young with results that are, by and large, that successful.