I’ve been completely swamped with projects (some fun, some not-so-fun) for the past several weeks, and was under a self-imposed ban on taking any new jobs until I made headway on the ones I’ve already committed to. But, when fellow cartoonist Tony Piro asked me to do a guest strip for his hilarious comic strip, Calamities of Nature, there was no way I could pass it up. Add in the fact that Tony just welcomed a new, baby boy into his family and needed a bit of a break, and I had all the excuses I needed to put some of my other projects on the back burner, and start brainstorming ideas about what to do with Tony’s zany cast of characters.

This is what I came up with: Assembly Required. Fans of Calamities will recognize the events Ferd is talking about from a previous strip: The Big Little Problem Part 3. I suggest you familiarize yourself with it before reading mine. There’s also a bit of an homage to Voltron, if you dig that kind of thing.

So check it out! If you’re not already a fan of Tony’s strip, head over to calamitiesofnature.com and go through the archive. The strip tackles subjects as varied as politics, Mensa, religion and toxic kitchen sink monsters with hilarious results. And while you’re there, congratulate Tony and his wife on their new bundle of joy!

Peeps on the JEFbot Mailing List got this early, but now that it’s out for mass consumption, what better way to celebrate the last few weeks of summer than with a summer-y JEFbot wallpaper adorning your desktop? Okay, yes, hanging out poolside in the actual sun with a drink in hand would be a better way, but can you capture that and put it on your computer? Again, okay, technically, if a friend takes a picture, that would capture it for your computer, but I digress. This way’s quicker and easier and won’t cost you the amount of a Dr. Pepper or Corona. So there.

Enjoy!

All the standard sizes are below, but if you need something special, just let me know. Speaking of special, if you’re rockin’ a PSP, notice that there’s a PSP version of the wallpaper below, which makes complete sense since jefbot is actually playing one in the image, and is something that I should’ve instinctively thought about while I was drawing it up. Didn’t happen, though. Thanks to reader CheddarMan for the idea. And thanks to all the other readers who either commented or emailed me requesting this strip be turned into a wallpaper!

JEFBOT.Oasis

Instructions

For computer monitors, select your monitor resolution by left-clicking on the corresponding link above, then right-click on the wallpaper that pops up and save it to a folder. After that, right click on the wallpaper image in the folder and select “Set as Background” if you have a PC, or right click on your desktop and select “Change Desktop Background,” then navigate to the image and select it, if you’re running a Mac.