Based on a true story!

Our friend Kevin

Real world Not Jeff and his father (our brother from another mother Kevin) went down to Brunson, South Carolina with us to put up trail cams. I am not a hunter, but I have placed three trail cams as a Father’s Day gift for my dad, so we can watch wildlife together. Kevin was standing on tailgate, struggling to get a trail cam up. It was 90 degrees, and the bugs were everywhere. Not Jeff sat in the front of the pickup, on his ipad. He would slowly roll the window up and down, and repeatedly ask “What’s the code again? What’s the first two numbers? What’s the last two? What’s the first two again? Dad? Dad? Dad?”

We could have helped our friend. At some point, maybe after the tenth or so time, everyone had the code memorized. Well, everyone except for Not Jeff. Instead of helping, we laughed at his expense. Our wonderful child is now 18, but we remember the times parenting feels like being pecked to death by ducks.

So truthfully, we owe an apology to Kevin, probably, The problem is that we have no regrets!

The OG

This is the sketch that led to this cartoon. I drew this sometime around Halloween 2022, but I could not verify that I posted it to ComicsOnline. I probably just posted this sketch on my social media accounts, since my friend Kevin was the target audience.

I like this version because it gets straight to the pestering! Something about Jeb’s expression in this version looks more fitting to the experience as well.

Critter Sighting!

Not Jeff: The character, the inspiration!

The real-life inspiration for Not Jeff! We played our traditional game of Dots and Boxes, and then he read a month’s worth of comic strips featuring Not Jeff. He was quick to notice that there is often a Dot and Boxes game drawn into many of the Not Jeff and Friends comic strips. Real Life Not Jeff gave creative feedback and three storyline ideas for the future. (Spoiler: We finally have Not Jeff’s superpower nailed down!) For your own Not Jeff swag, go to Redbubble and look for the JoeIconic store. All proceeds go to buying more stickers, temporary tattoos, and other sharable promotional swag, and make coloring pages for the children who come through our local crisis charity! Critter fans send Critter Sightings from Amsterdam to Charleston to Oklahoma to my back porch!  Critter Sightings are usually posted on social media on the weekends.

This “Director’s Cut” of the cartoons is exclusively on ComicsOnline.com! Come back to ComicsOnline for Critters, Comic Book Reviews, and Everything Geek Pop Culture!