I’m a pretty busy mom – I work full-time, run a baking business on the side, transport my kids around to their extracurriculars, fail at drinking the daily recommended amount of water and, when I have time, I draw webcomics about my family.
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More info: McNaughties.com
James and I have three boys between us: Logan, Ben, and Mason. None of them have the same two sets of parents (Logan and Ben are my sons with two different fathers whom I never married, and Mason is James’ son with someone he never married). And when you’re the parents of a teenager, a child on the autism spectrum, a toddler, and a moronic dog, the fun never stops. None of us have the same last name but together, we’re The McNaughties.
The McNaughties made their debut in a book that I made as an anniversary present to James. While browsing gift ideas, I came across those customized books with the stick figures, but decided it wasn't our thing. So, being an overachiever and lifelong artist and cartoonist, I took the customization and humor further by making my own book featuring cartoon likenesses of us.
Having always wanted to publish a book but being prone to never finishing anything I started, I realized the book was decent and was something I finally finished, so I self-published it. Also, having not made a webcomic since I unintentionally stopped creating them for my other comic, Company Lunch, I decided that it would make an awesome semi-autobiographical webcomic...and, as was the case with Company Lunch, real-life insanity like this writes itself.
The McNaughties is largely-based on my family’s real-life conversations and incidents, usually taking them word-for-word and giving you an inside view of marriage and parenting in our life as a wacky blended family. Currently in a joke-a-day format, it will eventually incorporate both real and fictional storylines.
Families in comics, cartoons, and other media – whether portrayed as dysfunctional or not – typically center around a traditional nuclear family structure consisting of a husband, wife, and their children, with maybe a dog thrown in there somewhere. In modern times, the definition and structures of “family” have grown, and now you see more single parents, same-sex parents, and step-families on TV and in movies. Now add the McNaughties to the mix to redefine the definition of “family”.
Visit McNaughties.com for more and follow them on Instagram @the_mcnaughties. (You can also find the book, I Love You Anyway: A Belated Anniversary Present Being Given on Valentine’s Day on Amazon.com)