The Red Hood and Red Riding Hood's Wolf

This particular image of the Red Hood was a specific request from my son and is closely based on a drawing he found on Instagram. 

Normally, I would credit the artist, and post a link to the source, but my ten year old son can't remember where he got his screen shot from, and I haven't had any success finding it myself.  Perhaps we can turn it up eventually after camp is over and I am not trying to come up with two napkins every 24 hours....

I added the wolf, because wolves are always cool, and you know....the Red Hood thing. 

Artorias and Sif from Dark Souls 3

Hungry Like the Wolf for Dark Souls:

Our older son continues to obsess about playing Dark Souls. And he continues to need to tell the rest of the family chapter and verse about the game. Trying to redirect the conversation to what might have happened IRL (In Real Life) is rarely fruitful. With characteristic massive understatement, he said at dinner last night, "I'm starting to get the impression that the rest of the family is not as fascinated with Dark Souls as I am."

(Our younger son likes the Duran Duran song, but is not all that interested in the game.)

This faceless guy on the napkin is a boss in the game, and apparently one of our son's favorites. And he hangs out with a wolf.  That is all I can report. I do try to listen to my son's monologues on the various bosses of the game, and I did take a brief look at the game's Wiki... but I can't really relate any meaningful information.  For instance, a selection from Artorias's page on the Wiki:

"Sir Artorias the Abysswalker was one of the Four Knights of Lord Gwyn. He only makes an appearance in the past, as he is deceased by the time the Chosen Undead escapes the Undead Asylum."

So there.

I was not able to get a good look at this guy's armor, or his wolf, so this is not particularly accurate. My apologies to all who are invested enough in the game to be able to glean some useful information from the above paragraph.

Robot Wolf

I had to work to meet a deadline yesterday afternoon, so the boys got to watch a pay-per-view movie instead of doing their homework and cleaning up the huge mess they had made in the living room.

The movie in question was a recent release, "Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts." As I fortuitously missed most of it, I will quote the imdb synopsis: "When Gotham is plagued by crime committed by an animal-themed villain squad composed of The Penguin, Silverback, Cheetah, Killer Croc and Man-Bat, Batman and other heroes band together to stop them." The movie also featured Nigthwing, Red Robin, the Flash and Green Arrow.

Besides the amazing laundry list of super heroes and villains all rendered in boxy hypermuscular forms, the movie also featured a weird series of robotic animals. I did see the last scene during which Batman was hanging out with the wolf/dog robot which he was calling Ace.  My younger son was very pleased by this canine robot even before it transformed into a motorcycle.

We had experienced a couple years worth of obsession with "Ace the Bat Hound" back in 2011 and 2012.  You can see our long history of Ace napkins at this link. (this is mostly good for appreciating how much my napkin drawing skill- and my phone camera- have improved over the years)

I was not able to get more than a very brief glance at this Ace robot in the movie last night, so I resorted to just making up a wolf robot. He has the same glowing red eyes at least.

Malthus from "Jinx's Fire"

"You can't have a school without werewolves...
Werewolves can be very helpful in dealing with problem students."
         ---Malthus, werewolf

We've been finishing the third book in Sage Blackwood's "Jinx" series.  The basic story is  familiar: a downtrodden orphan boy learns magic while adventuring in a universe populated by human armies, elves, trolls, witches, wizards, werewolves and sentient trees.  The narrative voice has an ease and contemporary simplicity that makes it accessible and appropriate for my kids... ie, it is not "The Lord of the Rings," or "Game of Thrones."  But Ms. Blackwood's series does have an unusual amount of moral complexity for a book written for younger readers.  Even the very sympathetic main protagonist has to take actions that make him quite uncomfortable and he struggles with the fact that his motivations aren't always noble.

And then there are the werewolves... They do generally fight on the side of the good guys. And Malthus is a multilingual, astute reader of ancient texts.  But in a pinch, the werewolves see the eating of humans pretty much as an entitlement.

My sons, of course, are mostly interested in the character of Jinx, the orphan who ends the series with powerful magic abilities.  My eight year old told me that he thinks Jinx's life is better than his own. As usual, I felt compelled to point out that Jinx starts the story abandoned by his step parents to a certain death in the forest. He shrugged. I persisted, "that means he doesn't have a mother and has to look after himself."  My son shrugged again, and remarked that by the end of the series, Jinx is 15 and can take care of himself anyway.

I am definitely looking forward to being the mother of an entirely self sufficient 15 year old.

Apathea Ravenchilde and Selke from "Americus"

Characters from the story within a story in MK Reed's graphic novel "Americus," illustrated by Jonathan David Hill.

Ansel loved this book, insisting that there "HAS to be a sequel!"
But he was not so impressed with my  dippy rendition of the characters.

"Americus" is both about the power of reading fiction, and about becoming an adolescent nonconformist in a conservative American small town.

The main protagonist is a 13 year old named Neil who is an avid reader of a Dungeons and Dragons like fantasy series called, "The Chronicles of Apathea Ravenchilde, the Huntress Witch." When conservative Christians move to ban the series from the town library, he is driven to take action. Along the way, he discovers the joys of punk music, wearing black clothes and hanging out with other non conforming kids. Neil's story alternates with selections from the Apathea books.

My sons are growing up in the trendy wilds of Williamsburg Brooklyn, wearing too much black and subsisting on a diet of science fiction and fantasy graphic novels.  Conservative Christian middle America is a totally foreign concept for them. They were fascinated by the idea that someone would want to ban a book because of religious beliefs.

Unfortunately, the topics of intolerance and censorship are particularly relevant after yesterday's events in Paris.

Werewolf from "Jinx's Magic"

"I am expending considerable effort on not eating you."

This line spoken by Malthus the werewolf is one of my favorites so far in Sage Blackwood's "Jinx's Magic."

We've been working our way through this sequel to "Jinx" at bedtime, on train rides, and during times when the electronic device privileges have been suspended due to crappy behavior.

The Jinx series is one of the few occasions when I feel like I am reading a book to my sons that I would have really enjoyed reading myself at their age.  My sons almost always prefer graphic novels and comic books, and mostly those featuring high tech weaponry.  While I have been happy to be immersed in graphic storytelling (and violence!) over the last few years, it was not something that I saw much of during my own childhood.  The graphic novel category didn't exist, and I don't think regularly reading comics even occurred to me as a possibility.

I was an extremely enthusiastic reader as a kid, and I'll admit to a little nagging disappointment that I have not been able to successfully share any of my early, admittedly girly, favorites with my sons.  Obviously the Laura Ingalls Wilder series was a non-starter destined for hysterical derision. The same goes for the likes of "The Secret Garden" and "A Little Princess."  And I couldn't even get traction with the Narnia Series, or "The Last of the Very Great Whangdoodles" (written by Julie Andrews herself, although no one has the slightest interest in Mary Poppins around here)

At any rate, I am enjoying Ms. Blackwood's books even now in my present geriatric condition, and have had to restrain myself on a couple occasions from reading ahead on my own.  It's not so much that I think that I am too mature to be reading a book theoretically written for  children....(for more insightful thoughts on this topic, see Sarah Burnes' thoughtful essay on adults and YA literature in the Paris Review here)

I just don't have much time to be reading for pleasure when my sons aren't around... because, you know, I have to draw on these napkins..... 

Silas and Miss Lupescu from "The Graveyard Book" Offer Lunch

The graphic novel version of Neil Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book," adapted by P. Craig Russell, was obviously appealing for my macabre minded sons.

They were, however,  immediately annoyed that I had not procured Book 2 yet.  (It will be released in a few days)

The story centers on Nobody Owens, a toddler whose entire family has been murdered and is then protected and raised by the inhabitants of an old graveyard. Since ghosts aren't ably to shop for groceries, he has the additional guardians Silas the vampire, and Miss Lupescu, a werewolf. 

Ansel really like the characters- and the idea of being raised by a vampire- but was not impressed with my drawing.

Bedtime Monsters: Predator and Devil Wolf

And one last poorly executed iteration of the napkins replacing faces concept before we return to our regularly scheduled schoolday napkin programming.

The kids are each sporting the face of their favorite monster: Archer has a specific Predator named Dark from the "Alien vs. Predator" game, while Ansel has a non-trademarked red eyed "Devil Wolf" of his own design.

They are holding monster faces in bed, because...well...more often than not...they are monsters at bedtime.

Axe Cop's Shield Wolf and Robot Satan

The non sequitur violence of Axe Cop continues to be compelling for the boys.  We finished rereading "Bad Guy Earth" and moved on to the updates on the web comic.

Archer points out that I totally blew it on Robot Satan's hands, or arm appendages, as the case may be. He is supposed to have some sort of gun apparatus on at least one arm.  Ansel seemed satisfied enough with the napkin despite my grievous  mistake.

Tap Pet Hotel Werewolf and Chupacabra for Ansel

Ansel is not as far along in Tap Pet Hotel as his older brother, so he will have to experience the werewolf and chupacabra vicariously.  I usually try to avoid drawing the same thing for both napkins, but gave in this time due to fatigue and the intensity of the requests.

Bulk and Puppy for Ansel

Bulk from Lego Hero Factory holds an unnamed, and probably not pleased, puppy.  It was late, so I could not decide whether the intersection of Hero Factory fangs and puppy skull was fortuitous or merely unfortunate.  Ansel was quite peeved that Bulk's entire head is not included.

Bulk for Ansel

Yet another Bulk from Lego Hero Factory.  Ansel originally rejected this image as "looking too much like a monkey."  A week later (and after some threats that perhaps his brother would take it to school instead) he decided it was not all bad.

Ansel and Wolf for Ansel

As they are a more scary and powerful version of the dogs that he loves so much, wolves are pretty compelling for Ansel.  Unsurprisingly, her was dissatisfied with the napkin when he got up this morning: he had changed his mind and did not want to be in the picture.... or perhaps he did not appreciate my drawing of him, which I can understand. 

Bulk on Furno's Bike for Ansel

Bulk from Hero Factory riding Furno's bike.  This is the latest, most coveted, excruciatingly expensive LEGO item about which I am being nagged incessantly.  It appears that we might be able to acquire the disassembled used parts on ebay for a not totally ridiculous price....but the threat of missing pieces is daunting.  

Bulk With Cubed Carrot and Weapons for Ansel

Ansel wailed for much of the ride to school, "MOM! Why did you have to draw a CUBED CARROT?? I want a STRAWBERRY!!"  Here I was thinking that there were too many strawberries and pieces of broccoli impaled on various weapons on these napkins.

Bulk for Ansel

Ansel was devastated to discover that I had not included Bulk's "plasma shield."
I asked him what that would look like and he replied, exasperated, "You have to imagine it!"

Wind-up Knight and Wolf for Archer

The Wind-up Knight wearing a week's worth of allowance in new armor.  Do some kids still buy candy with their money?

Bulk for Ansel

Bulk is the wolf-like character from LEGO Hero Factory, and therefore my younger son's fixation.  

He was very critical and concerned as I was painting the shirt, but decided it was ok in the end.