Epic Comic Things

April 15 marked the one-year anniversary I started blogging here at Franzenmuth - the night of Game One when that high stick on Lidstrom wasn't called). While I don't blog here as often as I used to (or as consistently), I'm still writing for the Red Wings over at NHLHotStove.com (and loving it) and tweeting like crazy. I still think it's absolutely nuts that I started my twitter a year ago without really caring and now I'm addicted...and have 350 followers. You guys are the best, seriously.

So to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Franzenmuth, I'm giving you two things, both of which are pretty epic (the second one more than the first).

Franzenmuth is expanding!! I don't mean this site - I mean the fictional land in Sweden with mule-drawn carriages (and you guys probably don't know how much of Franzenmuth I have planned/mapped out). Here's how...

My boyfriend was coming up with nicknames for hockey players that would annoy me (he's a pest like that), and somehow he came up with the nickname "Helmalot" for Helm. I told this to Twitter, and someone said it sounded like a medieval land.

Lo and behold, I had to sketch it during one of my classes.
Now, this second thing has been going on for quite some time. And this is a video I made back in December and never posted (you can tell by the Christmas tree behind me, hah). But I think I need to show you guys just because of how amazing it is and I don't know how I've kept it a secret for this long. It could be bigger than "Pavel Datsyuk in: A Case of Dangleitis."



I promise to continue working on it with all my might. It's going to be awesome. (More of it's done than you think, too!)

Babcock's Facial Expressions

In case you missed my tweet on Twitter, I drew a quick little chart of Mike Babcock's facial expressions. I think it's pretty accurate.

Red Wings Doodles!

Finally, I have a lazy Friday night where I can sit and draw Red Wings comics.

This semester of classes has been ridiculous. Let me tell you, if you take two online classes at the same time, and one of them is a Public Relations class that has ten-thousand projects in one semester, drop your social life. Seriously.

Anyway. I found myself ready and willing to draw comics on a Friday night where I had nothing else to do. Yeah, I spent a Friday night drawing comics - that's how cool I am (and when you have to get up at 5.30am for work the next morning, you don't really want to go out and do stuff).

All of the comic ideas I had are too intricate. So I asked Twitter what quick doodles they wanted to see. Here's what they came up with.

You guys know the drill - click on it to make them larger.

Homer brought Hudler some food while he was sick...


Party Pavel is not made of Party.

And there was a video on Red Wings TV at the start of Lent asking players what they would never be able to give up. Kronwall said oatmeal and Zetterberg cut in with how he eats it like...six times a day.

Red Wings Valentines!

Last year, I was extremely disappointed with the lack of hockey Valentines cards put out by the NHL. Hell, I was just disappointed with the fact that the Red Wings didn't put any out. What better way to express your true feelings for random strangers who come into your coffee shop than to give them this:


That's right. I made Red Wings Valentines. Now, I've been super swamped with school this semester, so I didn't get a chance to update any of them. AKA - All of these were made last year. So you'll spot Lilja. And Hossa [even though he wasn't even on the team last year].

So if you can't find that perfect winged wheel-themed Valentine for that special someone in your life, head on over to DRW_Comic at Livejournal and check 'em out.

VALENTINES ARE THIS WAY.

Math Class With Dr. Kronwall

In honor of Niklas Kronwall's 30th birthday, I'm posting this comic I drew about Kronwall. I drew it in response to meeting him in person while he was wearing his glasses and how they made him look like a math teacher.

Without further ado, here is "Math Class With Dr. Kronwall."

Larry Murphy At Home

You may have missed me posting this during the Winter Classic on Twitpic, so I can post it again.

On Saturday night during the Winter Classic, the NBC commentators made some remark about hot dogs, and I tweeted something about why they didn't ask Larry Murphy for his opinion (because we all know how much he loves $1 hot dog night at The Joe). Someone replied to my tweet and said he was probably at home eating hot dogs.

And this was the mental image that was produced from that comment.

I still don't think there are enough hot dogs.

Sportscenter Commercial

If you haven't seen the latest Sportscenter commercial featuring Ovechkin and Varlomov as Russian spies, please do so right now.


Now then, @jediemma told me her life would be complete if there was a part two to this commercial. What she wanted is exactly what is in this latest comic...

Helm's Nicknames

If you guys will recall the Festivus article written on the Red Wings' Airing of Grievances, Darren Helm made it known that he dislikes Ozzie for always having a different nickname for him every day.

Well, it was excruciatingly slow at work this morning, so I grabbed some paper from the back and went to work at a comic, both to be productive and to keep myself awake. So there's no color to this, save for the highlighters I could scour in the back office.

I was having fun thinking of names this morning...credit to @JennHo for the "Fluffy" nickname.

Pond Hockey

The Winter Classic is here! Well, it's been delayed by seven hours, but that's what rain will do.

And to get you in the mood for televised pond hockey, I can link you guys to an article I wrote!

You see, my neighbors set up an ice rink every single winter for as long as I can remember/as long as they've lived next door [maybe minus that first winter or two since their kids were tiny]. And since I now have a sort of legit writing job as a Red Wings article writer/blogger/whatever you'd like to call it, I have set my heart on writing an article about the ice rink.

I love the ice rink. So much. It's a way to bond with family and friends and neighbors, and that's not even going into the whole better-appreciation-for-the-sport-and-its-players.

So since the Winter Classic is delayed, I thought I would give you guys some pond hockey coverage to tide you over until the Capitals slaughter the Pens [hey, here's hoping]. And yes, there are pictures and there's even a video with a full-out hockey brawl.

If you like it, I suggest that you RT it or link others to it or something. I want to spread the love of the sport/recreational activity, and let people who have never played pond hockey see just how amazing it is.

Enjoy!

Pond Hockey In Michigan