Hey, how's this for a cool Fathers' Day present? My eight year-old daughter, Rosie, decided she'd make me a special comic book! You can probably see some of the influences (that is, besides the bad influence from her daddy, that got her interested in comic books in the first place). The little pepper shaker character on the cover is "Mrs. Pepper" from Nickelodeon's "Blue's Clues," which has long been a big favorite in this house. Mrs. Pepper speaks with a French accent, so when you read her dialogue here and in the following comics, make sure that you "hear" it that way!

You'll also notice that each comic has a little title panel at the beginning. Rosie is a voracious reader of Archie digests, and many of the shorter stories and strips in them have that kind of title panel. I think she's right on target with both the look of the Archie comics and the sense of humor that you find in them. Check it out, and let me know what you think!

This one was based on an actual episode of "Blue's Clues" where the viewers are supposed to "help" identify shapes--represented by fruit--as they get put away by Steve (the guy in green) and Mrs. Pepper. (That's Blue, the puppy, in the first panel of the second tier.) It's a little tough to read some of the word ballons, but in the third from last panel it says. "Blue, want a snack?" after all the fruit has been put away. Blue leaves (and slams the door), disgusted that Steve didn't think of that before putting away all the fruit! And naturally, Steve doesn't get it. (We're all convinced that he's about as dumb as a post.)

What can I say? "Turtle goes to the store. Comes back in 3 weeks." Sounds like me when I go grocery shopping! (The hats are just to show what the well-dressed turtle might be wearing these days.)

I think Rosie has a developing gift for word-play, as well. First Puck is "airborn," then after going over the cliff, he's "chairborn" with a broken leg.

I think this is the equivalent of a house ad--she's making sure that her readers are having fun, right? She ran it at the bottom of the page, beneath the "Puck and Chuck" cartoon.

While Puck is injured (somewhere else), Chuck goes to visit his Veronica Lodge-like girlfriend. He promises to take her away someday, but that's the last thing that she wants! (Those are the bottoms of Chuck's shoes in the last panel.)