#292 – look at these photos
Posted on May 22, 2009 by meredith
Perhaps some of you can guess who these ladies are! Also, check out this new sped-up video I made while inking a recent strip. It's of a higher quality than my last cam-vid, I hope you enjoy it:

octopus pie #290 from Meredith Gran on Vimeo.

58 thoughts on “#292 – look at these photos”

  1. Wood

    I don't get the "actual raccoon" thing. I blame the language barrier.

    1. TR

      Raccoons in pictures are cute and adorable. They're fuzzy and they have tiny hands! Actual raccoons are terrifying — they have claws, sharp teeth, they're smart, and they not infrequently have rabies.

      1. Wood

        Oh, so that wasn't a pun or anything ?

        We don't have raccoons in France.

        1. DougTheHead

          Nope, no pun- just an actual raccoon in a New York apartment.

        2. the doug head

          Indeed — though it is a new fad to point out that obvious thing there, the "actual" — no one would have used that adjective 20 years ago

      2. ceramicatheist

        As someone who has actually had a pet raccoon many years ago, I must protest that they are cute and fuzzy and have tiny hands in person, too.

        (disclaimer: having any wild species as a pet is almost always a bad idea. Ours did not, however, eat anybody's face.)

      3. lew basnight

        And thumbs! The little villains have thumbs! They are next in line to rule the earth, for real.

      4. hotsauce

        Racoons are awesome. You know how many people in all recorded history have died of rabies received from a racoon bite? One. The risk is just a touch overblown.

      5. ket

        Not to mention they make the MOST terrifying noise ever. Picture a very upset poodle-demon-wolverine-monkey-cat hooked up to an amplifier. I've only heard it once and never, ever want to again.

      6. Skepticaemia

        Pray that they never acquire guns..
        The only answer to too many raccoons would have to be more raccoons. Your raccoons.

  2. kaiki

    I don't know who the ladies are, but I do see Manual in the 2nd to last panel =D

  3. Dishliquid

    The movie you're referencing made me so uncomfortable I had to stop watching.

    I used to live in a similar house after my parents kicked me out. My friend's mom had been in a car accident that damaged her brain making her, I shit you not, evil. So evil. Her husband had committed suicide in an old car on blocks in the woods behind their house.

    The house was a disaster. The pool had trees growing out of the sides, and stacks of cat-piss-soaked-magazines from the 70's onward covered every surface.

  4. Emily

    It's the Edies! That's so perfect.

  5. BG

    Ahhh pop culture references… how I never tire of them.

  6. Chi-Yun

    Thank you! This particular strip made my day! I love 'that movie' and I think it's one of the best documentaries about eccentric people that I've ever seen (and I'm and Errol Morris fan, so that's saying something)!

  7. danihana

    I have no idea what movie this is supposed to be, but I totally want to know. (I am part cat, and I'm often destroyed by my curiosity.)

  8. Scott Bieser

    This is what I get for spending my whole life sitting at my computer making my comics. I don't get to see many movies.

  9. Krae

    "Actual raccoon" may refer to the fact that raccoons are not actually supposed to be indoors, EVER. And by God that is why I love that panel.

  10. Sarah

    Are you a leftie too!?

  11. Alex S.

    Hey Meredith, what's the music you put the inking video to? Cool stuff.

    Gah, curse my shaky hands. I can never get smooth, continuous lines that way. Love the comic, thanks!

  12. Patricia

    It's the ladies from Grey Gardens. Littlle Edie is so sad!

  13. Black Dracula

    yes, yes. oh hello, actual factual raccoon. hi there, real skunk who's not a cat what got paint dripped all over it. howdy, opossum who appears in the daytime and isn't playing but gets the vapors FOR REAL.

  14. Unrikk

    A family near my town (Redneck Hell) had a "pet" raccoon which gnawed off half of their newborn baby's face one night. Raccoons may act tame, but they are always wild.

  15. wishcandy

    Lovin' the Grey Gardens reference. Great job capturing the personalities. And I love Will's expression in the last panel. 😉

  16. Scott

    haha a fistful of joints solves all

  17. aleta

    Hahaha, I was wondering how you were going to tie the plot line in with Little Edie's plight. Big Edie's eyes are just perfect. Well done!

  18. Ron

    I'm thinking Will could carry a strip of his own …

  19. Art_Usagi

    Whats the paper you use? I love how smooth it looks when you fill the areas with black!

    Nice video btw, lots of fun to watch.

  20. Artiste

    Man, I could never get through this whole movie. Also, Kudos for using Tristan Perich's 1-bit music in the drawing video!

  21. dan dunlap

    So in the second to last panel, did you draw the 'straight to your door' part with a fineliner because you wanted more detail in a smaller space?

  22. Cass

    Brownie points for Grey Gardens reference!

  23. Ashley

    that video was amazing! your inking skills never cease to amaze me! just wondering, what size of brush do you use?

  24. MerchManDan

    I was all "ARRRGH I should know what the reference is!!" and finally it clicked – "AHA!! Grey Gardens!!" – just before I got to the comments. Nice one.

  25. Randall Drew

    I relate to this strip as I was semi-caretaker for some elderly relatives for a year before I decided to start doing comics. Thanks for doing this one Mer!

    1. Randall Drew

      Also, 3 hours of work shown in less than 15 minutes set to a hoppin' chip-tune is epic shit. Rock on!

  26. so

    i could never get into that movie, but i still love jackie o

  27. BG

    I just love her frantic desperate eyes in the last panel. I can just imagine her whispering "Thank you" clutching the joints as if they were the only thing to help her ward off the madness.

  28. Nick

    Wow you draw depressingly well with a brush.

  29. BigSexyJerk

    This one's pretty depressing.

  30. eek-thud

    thato the racoon was a ref to http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2009/05/14/0059-walki…

  31. Katezila

    OMG Grey Gardens reference. You just won so many points.

    Did you see the fancy shmancy movie remake? (how one remakes a documentary into a hollywood film i still don't get)

    1. Laura

      they retold the story i suppose. they did it so it featured flashbacks and whatnot

  32. Cynthia

    Yay! That documentary is really beautiful, and you got their personalities down so well.

  33. alec

    Fun fact: raccoons are pretty strictly native to non-taigal North America, with the exception of a scattered few from three (3) seed populations of no more than a few dozen: (a) an American serviceman with raccoon pets in Japan; (b) an American serviceman with raccoon pets in West Germany; and (c) an East German zoo with raccoons allowed to escape during World War II.

    As a consequence you can find raccoons almost anywhere in Germany or Japan, and various other odd pockets throughout the world.

    1. Rich

      Some of the German ones have made it up to Denmark, where they've got a cute name: vaskebjørn, or washing bear.

      1. KH

        They're called the same in German.

  34. Gihyou

    I have never commented before but I just wanted to say that "Oh! Yes, hello, actual raccoon" absolutely slayed me in a way I have not been slain often. Words cannot express how much I enjoyed that line.

  35. Mat

    I'm so proud I figured out the reference on my own, though really late. I've never seen the documentary/movie, but they had an article about it not too long ago in Newsweek, of all things.

  36. Mike Leung

    If you live long enough, the flea-bites don't itch so much.

  37. Elaine

    Haha great Grey Gardens reference.

  38. Lewis

    bahahahahaa. Its sooo perfect! I only saw a bit of the film a few weeks ago, it horrified me and I fell asleep to their endless babble. BUT BRILLIANT STUFF.

  39. kitkat111

    raccoon 1, edies 0

  40. Inara

    Loved the Grey Gardens ref – also, thanks for the vid. You made me feel like I'm not a loser for not using a tablet for everything.

  41. Kayla

    Your face is so ugly! Look at that woman! That woman is supposed to be pretty! Thank God for Jerry!

  42. Alice

    The Marlboro Faun. Epic.

  43. Sela

    First time around, I did NOT see that it was a Grey Gardens ref! Hooray, Edie!

  44. scruffy

    i'm a lefty too, i smear my handwriting everywhere!

  45. Newbia

    I thought it was a reference to Little Red Riding Hood. Shows how much I know.

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