"The Narwhal's Tusk"

What with all the recent hoopla about documented narwhal behavior that might just solve the mystery, it got me thinking about the real reason why. Also included a bonus hat-tipping homage to the immortal Don Martin for those in the know...

(hat-tip Hanna Rafferty!)

On a related, ah, note, earlier in the season a coworker shared with me some pictures from a visit to the Musk Ox Farm down in Palmer: there were interpretive sign displays that illustrated various postures by the animals and accompanying descriptions of the behavior. This romping baby was for me the best picture of the whole freakin' YEAR.

As seen in the excerpted panels in the pencil + ink stages, the initial blowhole was too much like a "dook" face expression (as it's called by another cartoonist acquaintance of mine), so it got deleted in the digital phase (excepting the last panel which made much more sense after changing the orientation of the whale). Also shifted the position of the eyeball so as to help place the head better.

The Significant Otter weighed in about how there needed to be actual notes too, as opposed to the mystical warbling that I thought was what narwhal singing would look like it sounds.

"They like you very much, but they are not the hell "your" whales."

So I went with big ol' cartoony style notes (cribbed from the Valkyrie Salmon) at first,, until adding more formal (real) notes instead. That turned into a second homage for those who are up on their obscure trivia.