Escape from Clowntown | Comics of E.R. Flynn: Strange Ducks

Teachers Dirty Looks - Strange Ducks #9

E.R. Flynn — Thu, 01 May 2025 15:31:09 GMT

As the close of another school year fast approaches, it would behoove us to think about the Department of Education. This department was signed into law in 1979 by President Carter. Counter to what the Republicans would have you believe, since the DOE’s creation it had transformed education in the country for the better.

Which may explain why the Republi…

The Risk of Resale - Strange Ducks-8

E.R. Flynn — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 16:30:57 GMT

Here’s a story that was recently relayed to me. It’s so goofy and typical of this wacky town I live in, that I had to share it with you.

My next-door neighbor has a daughter, who I’ll call “Penny” for this story.

Penny is a short, unremarkable-looking woman in her 50s. However, what does make her exceptional is her extraordinary love for a good bargain.

P…

What The Cat Saw - Part 2

E.R. Flynn — Sun, 10 Nov 2024 17:31:00 GMT

The following is second half of the story “What The Cat Saw.” Surnames have been left out for that sake of the survivors. There’s a slight bit of conjecture in regards to the murder, but for the most part, this story is true. If you’re easily disturbed by true crime stories, gruesome human dysfunction, or the possibility of ghosts, I would suggest you …

Empathy and Fate

E.R. Flynn — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 00:54:08 GMT

I was going to continue part two of my ghost/crime story “What The Cat Saw,” but given the results of the U.S. Election, I needed to relate a personal note to you all.

Strange Ducks #7 - The Foibles of Beauty

E.R. Flynn — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 14:48:45 GMT

It’s been a hectic couple of weeks here that have distracted me away from cartooning.

First, it was the July 4th getaway. After that, I spent my time renovating our home’s bathroom. If any of you have read or listened about my previous experiences working on my house, you’d know construction on it is a combination of archaeological dig and troublesome ex…

Strange Ducks #5 - The Collector

E.R. Flynn — Sun, 07 Jan 2024 16:30:15 GMT

The following story is 100% true and 1000% relevant to today’s political climate. Just a warning, it’s a long read and brings up very disturbing subjects.

It was the fall of 2009. My beloved, Debra, and I had now been living in Portland, Oregon for a little over a year after relocating from Montclair, New Jersey, a fairly upscale town about 10 miles west of New York City.

As part of making Portland our new home and to get a feel of its vibe, we decided to hit up the various nightclubs around town. This also gave us a way to meet people and possibly make some new friends here in the Rose city.

While attending a “Goth” night held at one of the larger clubs, my ever-convivial partner Debra, struck up a conversation with a woman who was complimenting her for the fabulous latex dress she was wearing.

Apparently Latex clothing was something of a rare commodity here in the Pacific Northwest. and was possibly a sign of refinement and daring personality to the average club attendee.

Deb and this woman, whose name I can’t remember, but I’ll call her “Eva” for this story, chatted for a bit and then they exchange numbers. The woman, a short, rather curvy burlesque dancer in her late twenties, expressed that she’d love to invite us out to other events around town.

Over the next few weeks, the two of them chatted back and forth via text until eventually Eva invited us to a house party at her boyfriend’s house.

When Deb told me about the invite I said, “How quaint, a house party. At least there isn’t a cover charge.”

Deb said I should can my apprehensions and go with the flow. “Who knows” she said, “Maybe we’ll meet some really cool people!”

“You mean cool like that weirdo Viking we met at the Norse Hall last May?” I countered.

Deb laughed. “Oh gosh, I hope not! Come on, what do we have to lose?”

Despite my general distrust of strangers, I eventually acquiesced to her demands that we attend the house party.

Strange Ducks #4 - The Grease Witches

E.R. Flynn — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 22:48:56 GMT

Portland, Oregon 2010

My pal Jay wanted to go like gangbusters with cameras rolling into the restaurant, as if he was Geraldo Rivera charging into Al Capone’s vault.

Or would it have been more like Maury Povich, storming the stage with a paternity test?

It’s hard to tell sometimes with Jay, the loose cannon of hilarity.

Either way, being that I was the one who was trained in documentary film making, I had to remind him of the legal implications of filming at locations without signed permissions or releases.

Jay acquiesced in his request for filmed chaos, and instead we walked through the doors of the Hung Far Low Chinese restaurant on 82nd Ave. like regular customers at dinnertime.

We where there to attend a meet up of Portland Witches and Pagans.

As we entered I asked Jay, “How are we gonna know the group we’re looking for in this joint?”

Jay smiled and responded, “You see how empty the place is? Just look for the pointy hats.”

He was right. The restaurant was empty except for a four people sitting at a round table near the back of the dining room.

As we walked towards the table, I made mental notes about Hung Far Low. The exterior of the building had all the charm of a check cashing business, with a dash of dive bar that screamed “Video Poker Played Here.”

However the interior of the restaurant gave mighty effort to hide its gritty saloon facade under a decor of Chinese ornamentation and very dim lighting.

Some people see such lighting as romantic.

But whenever I see dim lighting in a restaurant, it always make me question the validity of any Department of Health inspections.

The darker the lighting, the bigger the cockroaches under your table.

That’s a rule of dining I learned while living in New York City, a place where there were far too many bad dining experiences in near total darkness.

Jay walked up to the table first.

“Is this the meetup of Portland Witches and Pagans?”

Strange Ducks #3 - The Norseman

E.R. Flynn — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 15:00:19 GMT

My girlfriend (now wife) Deb and I moved from the New York City area to Portland, Oregon around the end of October in 2008.

As part of our move, we spent the next year getting to know our new home by attending various cultural festivals.

We got a chance to see what kind of ethnicities made up this town from these events.

Polish Fest, Greek fest, Scottish Fest all proved to be great fun. We enjoyed the food, tried the specialty drinks and desserts, and watched all the cultural performances.

When we read about the Syttende Mai Celebration at the Norse Hall in Portland, we were excited to see a Nordic ethnic celebration. Such a thing we never encountered back in New York City.

Which explains why, although some of Deb’s ancestors came from Denmark, she really didn’t know much about the traditions or culture.

However she wouldn’t learn much at the Syttende Mai Celebration since it’s actually a celebration of Norway’s Constitution Day.

But we still decided to go and figured it was close enough to some kind of Danish heritage.

Just never say that to anyone who’s Danish or Norwegian if you know what’s good for you!

Strange Ducks #2 - Step Shelton

E.R. Flynn — Tue, 26 Sep 2023 15:30:12 GMT

A person knows they’re officially working in the ad business when they conclude the world would be better off without advertising; also that the agency where they’re employed is possibly controlled by a pack of dangerous escapees from a local mental hospital.

Such was the case at the first real ad agency job that I landed in 1990.

After spending a year hanging out and working in Buffalo, NY after graduating college in 1987, I finally decide to make the move to the “Big City.”

Which in my case was Port Jefferson in Long Island, NY, where I could crash at my sister’s apartment for a few months. From there I had a plan to get a big New York City ad agency gig which could then afford me a swanky Manhattan apartment.

Unfortunately reality had different plans for me.

Much to my dismay, I learned that Port Jefferson was far away from NYC. It was about two plus hours from Manhattan. Being flat broke as I was, affording the commute every day wasn’t feasible. These setbacks made me painfully aware that I was a hopeless rube.

However I did know how to create newspaper ads, so I spent the next two years bouncing around between various local Penny Saver paste-up and layout jobs. Thanks to my pluck, and luck, I eventually transitioned to the up-and-coming world of desktop computer enabled design and layout jobs.

That’s what helped me land a gig at my first “real” ad agency which was called “Step Shelton.”

Their main clients were Tri-State area car dealerships located in the New York City region.

Even though it was a job laying out ads for car sales in an agency of only about twenty people that was located in Farmingdale, it was one whole county and one hour closer to NYC. I considered this a step up into big leagues.

After a month I discovered is was more of a step sideways into the minor leagues.

This was due mostly to witnessing the antics of the guys who ran the joint.

Strange Duck #1 - The Badger Lady of Needles

E.R. Flynn — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 17:38:32 GMT

Howdy, dear friends! Outside of my regular weekly comics, I wanted to share with you one of the other projects I’m working on.

This is the first post for a future book project I’m tentatively calling “Strange Ducks.”

It’s a collection of drawings and short stories about the various interesting people I’ve met along the road of life.

These stories will …