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The Childhood Drum Thursday, July 19, 2007 • read strip Viewing 141 comments:

A comment left by plozza was marked lame too many times and excluded. (marked lame by Overmedicated, decanter, shoethings)

I remember Christmastime at my childhood home, tippy-toeing in my fresh flannels, peeking through my parent's cracked door as they slumbered, dreaming soundly as the fluffy snow fell about the pines around our cabin, then I, in my innocence would remove my Childhood Drum from its box in the attic, paper crisped and yellowed with age, and I would open my St. Nicholas's stocking of fresh oranges and walnuts, tapping happily as a tiny soldier, holiday memories setting in my young mind as a new-thrown pot.

The next morning, I would get a nerf gun.

A comment left by spinynorman was marked lame too many times and excluded. (marked lame by lamboyster, Pan-Optic, Feste, chivalress, slickshoes3234, Vreeeee, Zem, Boyd)

OH GOD!!!!!!!

Your avatar caused me to read this as Tyra screaming "OH GOD!!!!!!" while puking lasers. That earns a chubby.

Figuratively in what sense?

Big, fat chubby for you, good sir. It is rare that something actually makes me "lol".

Oh My God
What The Fuck
British Broadcasting Corporation
Open White Beers
Mount The Bridge
Get Fucking Crunk

Bravo, sir.
I'm just confused why anyone would lame that, it's so... so beautiful .

[IMGS OFF]

Yes, this girl is obviously very pleased with her childhood drum.

She sneaks upstairs and plays it at Christmastime, when everyone else is asleep

etc

A comment left by belgand was marked lame too many times and excluded. (marked lame by Vondicus, Lucid, Gumfish, whymog, thegoblins)

I strongly dislike that you said this.

I would very much enjoy seeing a Childhood Drum baseball card

All "Observed Occupation: being hit with sticks to create rhythm and bring pleasure to childhood Cornelius"

All "Pet Peevea: being stepped through by inconsiderate cartoon cat; bringing displeasure to adult Cornelius"

My childhood drum was some sort of a bongo drum from Ghana. Not sure what happened to it though. Was hella fancy though.

Could this Thing be serious enough so as to require a twelve hundo?

Naw man. The childhood drum is beyond value. Cornelius really puts the guilt on Ray.

The thing is, sure Cornelius would certainly like Six Hundred Dollars, and he'd love Six Hundred Dollars as much as he could, but it just wouldn't be the same as Childhood Drum.

If only Childhood Drum hadn't not dashed out into the middle of the room that fateful day, because it can't move, not chasing anything, only to be run over by a careening Ray.

I fear this will scar Cornelius. There's little we can do.

I feel like the dude's been through worse in his time. Like, say, watching his wife die.

Cornelius didn't watch his wife die. He missed it. Not his fault, of course, he'd just turned a way for a few minutes and... SNAP. Oh, Iris Gambol. You couldn't take her anywhere.

There's little we can do.

Apart from just getting the damn childhood drum fixed.

Reskinning the drum isn't the same thing. It's not a matter of function, it's a matter of how the childhood innocence of it has been forever ruined. It's like buying the toy you never got on eBay. It doesn't satisfy because you know it is a fraud.

Right. That's it. *siezes childhood drum and thrusts it in nearest rubbish bin*

neg dude, it's two six hundo's

that's what i said. people apparently disagree.

A comment left by dhinson was marked lame too many times and excluded. (marked lame by wharfrat, shenred, gothfae, Marcus_Brody, shinsengumi14)

Either that, or he is exploring the hole in a kind of disbelieving anguish.

Lyle's diligent adherence to the New School has not dimmed the brilliance of Cornelius' career as an Old School Hole Man.

Or Onstad wanted to re-use the art.

(That's not a complaint, mind)

Like when I got that molar pulled last August. I'm still doing it.

Badum-tish.

A comment left by skiddyfisk was marked lame too many times and excluded. (marked lame by dri-ft, Triactry03, jrizzle)

A comment left by aaa was marked lame too many times and excluded. (marked lame by Gompo, Magb, ubersplat, J-Man)

MLA Conference 2008
Symposium: "Sexual/Textual Anxieties: WebComix in the Post-Comedy Millennium"

2 PM, Ponderosa Ballroom

Panelist 1 (aaa, CSU Chico): Cat Macros, Cock Micros: Broken Instru((Men)tality) and Meta-Phallic Subversion In Onstad's Achewood .

is ray attempting to "neuter" his "father" (an older male) for not protecting him from his mother's neutering tendencies?

RAY. IS NOT. NEUTERED.

Hells yes he can still sport wood.

Yes he is.

No he isn't. A few strips later: https://achewood.com/index.php?date=01242002

Sorry man.
Little Nephew knows the score.

I'm sorry man but I'm just gonna have to keep on trusting Ray. (The last entry on the page, in the question part.)

Did you go to my college?

Harold Bloom has declared rogergs' comment to be in the Canon.

Chico ?!1? ow .

Hey, Coach! We think we should just give rogergs the ball and let him run with it on every play. He/She/That Wookie-Bigfoot thing always puts up big numbers. Whaddaya say, Coach?

Goddamn, I better chubby this before someone thinks I get it on with trombones.

I think my Dad cracked first, and hid my childhood drum in the attic.

A comment left by lacrimus was marked lame too many times and excluded. (marked lame by patkun, euphemisms, equinn2006)

he just keeps a few stacks of hundos, stapled together in groups of six, in the Escalade for just such situations.

'anymore' == 'these days' is just the weirdest damn usage ever.

he could get that skin replaced but it would be meaningless skin

No, it would mean something, alright. It would only remind him more of that skin which was lost.

It is a skin which holds a sign, bold and cleaving deep.
"This is where Ray stepped." Stepped on his drum...and on his heart. The heart beats, yet. The drum, less so.

Can you seek counseling for leaving instruments on the floor? Is there a name for this syndrome?

A comment left by steerpike66 was marked lame too many times and excluded. (marked lame by DukieShane, equinn2006, SPECTRE)

ah yes. i love it when someone steals the COMMENT RIGHT THE FUCK OUT OF MY BRAIN.

chubby.

Clearly the boys at 62 Achewood Court figured out a long time ago that Ray will drop a six hundo on them if he breaks their stuff. Too long 'til payday? Just leave an instrument from the pawn shop on the floor right by the doorway.

Oh those sly bastards. They already know of Ray's clumsiness, and his weakness with six-hundos. Fie!

Mr. Bear came on too strong. Ray might save his life one day, now that this has happened, but Mr. Bear's life won't buy reality-altering substances for Lyle and Todd.

A comment left by padijun was marked lame too many times and excluded. (marked lame by katal, Marcus_Brody, equinn2006, deathpiano)

pfoooo

This is the sound that six hundred dollars leaving Ray's wallet makes.

pouf!

I should be in that Poof.

You would be if you'd baked yourself into a sandwich like Tony Wonder.

Ray is godzilla to the Tokyo that is childhood dreams

Ray isn't pissed off at childhood dreams, though.

Yes, but we don't know that Godzilla was pissed at Tokyo, though. Godzilla may have just been claiming territory.

If you can claim to know the mind of an atomic 70 story lightning-spewing lizard then you are a far greater man than I.

I have to agree with the theories that the doggs are purposefully leaving instruments out with a crisp six hundo in mind. We know that Cornelius is a hustler, and it's really bad form to leave one's childhood drum unattended. I'm not buying it quite yet.

Funny thing is you can Ray wanting to quickly step out and spend yet another six hundo!

This sentence no verb!

This woman, Carroll Hach, doesn't use verbs - she defines them.

Ray (r%u04D9) :
To want to quickly step out and spend yet another six hundo.

I seen that shirt.

We already know Cornelius has a good idea of when it's not ok to leave an instrument lying around.

Really though, Ray should try working on his peripheral vision a bit.

Perhaps it's time to rid him of those small shades; I think the rims are getting in the way of his view of the floor. Whatever did he do with his tortoise-shell Vuarnets?

On the toplink tip, Sidney Yamahata has got to be ghostwriting David Greenwald's material.

"Watch out folks! Achewood is kind of potty-mouthed! 'NSFW' if you know what I mean!"

I'm just waiting for him to accidentally step through someone's grand piano.

I love the "pfoooo"; it's like Ray wants to yell at someone for his clumsiness, but there's no one to blame but himself, so he's got to suppress his frustration. I can really identify with that.

I never had a childhood drum... :(

i never had a childhood

Jeffrey Rowland raped my childhood

I wonder if Connie got a picture of Ray busting through the drum whilst photographing it in the evening light. Mayhap, the 'SNAP' is both the skin breaking and the snapping of the photo. Either way, genius.

We'll talk. Soon. In time. Don't answer.

Oh man, I know that feeling. You just want to get out of there before they can open their mouth and stab you in the heart with their words.

I would be happy if Cornelius snapped and went off on Ray for the best fuck you Friday ever

Amen.

Alright, it's a run on damaged floor instruments! Tomorrow's gonna be a tuba, I can tell.

Oh nay nay. He already crushed a french horn; why do a brass section repeat? The only untouched branch of instruments remaining: woodwinds. Onstad's bassoon just felt Ray walk over its grave.

:(

The Blue Badger! It undulates in my nightmares.

That is correct.

You know, their shit wouldn't keep getting broken if they would _stop leaving their shit on the floor._

or if ray lost some weight.. it takes a seriously fat cat to dent a damn french horn or crush a guitar

Well, he is the kind of cat who eats a wedge of brie in the manner of pie.

Thanks mom.

Six hundred dollars?

I mean... continuity is one thing, but that's just insane .

A comment left by neonfreon was marked lame too many times and excluded. (marked lame by featurelessvoid, gormster, equinn2006)

Elzilcho's avatar is currently a blue and yellow duck, lending a lot of hilarity to this comment.

What's funnier is it was the same avatar back then.

I've never really known how to feel about that.

Ha! neonfreon is a little kinky. But he's wonderful, and he's alive, and he deserves every little bit of happiness that the universe has to offer anyone, no matter who or what he likes.

my childhood drum was a fake indian type childhood drum. i think my mom gave it to goodwill eventually :(

So, you've lost your Indian drum?

the thing is cornelius is getting up there in age and he always thought the drum would be the one childhood friend of his that would never die

HOW DID YOU MAKE THIS STRIP EVEN SADDER

NOOOOOOOOO!

Always step into a room from a doorway carefully, so that you do not step into someone's childhood drum.

A comment left by neonfreon was marked lame too many times and excluded. (marked lame by randombeing, qleblat, equinn2006, Mastronaut)

All I know is that if you are not careful you will be stepping into two things and not one.

Uh oh, will Six Hundo get there in time to save Ray from this sticky situation?

i cant say i have a childhood drum....

that's what pots and pans are for.

i have a childhood...bassoon
is that lame?

no, because bassoons are so out of left field that they're AWESOME. i had a childhood flute. every girl my age had a flute. it was sad :[

I'm gonna have to say that that really was connie's childhood drum by the way he knows about ray, and how he still plays it. The childhood drum is sacred, but, like a sand mandala, is a reminder of the impermanence of all things. I, for instance, threw away my childhood drum recently.

A comment left by molesticide was marked lame too many times and excluded. (marked lame by editrix, fivepercent, Chachibenji, Crimson_King)

In fact you can clearly see in panel 3 that he hasn't put his foot through both sides.

It's possible the drum doesn't have a skin across the bottom. Not ideal for a drum of that type, but not unheard of.

There are lugs on both sides, suggesting it had two heads. Or skins.

Potayto Potahto.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the first continuity error in the history of achewood.

A comment left by henrythecad was marked lame too many times and excluded. (marked lame by stopeatingmyeyes, odei, mortshire)

Ray most likely feels that it would be inappropriate to immediately comment on the monetary value of Connie's childhood memories.

I think I put a drumstick through my own drum when I was a child. What the hell does that mean?

Given the proximity, the familial relationship, and the previous agreements between you, and the victim: yourself...

I would estimate that you owed, and have fully reimbursed yourself for, six hundred dollars.

One time I was at my friend's house and we had been playing guitar. We were chilling a little while after, and he took his CD and artwork of OK Computer out of the jewel case and put it inside of his CD wallet. ...And then he spontaneously threw the jewel case as hard as he could across the room; direct hit on my guitar. Half-centimeter deep dents and paint chips in both cutaways.

I did not receive a six hundo.

bitterness in such a situation is understandable

Half-centimeter deep dents and paint chips in both cutaways.

Thom Yorke was so moved by the plight of your guitar that he omitted guitars altogether on the following two albums. I hope your friend realizes the severity of his offense.

No. There are literally millions of guitars on Kid A

more like >OH SNAP!<

because it could look as though like ray were shouting it

Oh, how the people will march!

One thing is for certain.

Mr. Bear will no longer be drumming hell of ditties.

Maybe it's part of Ray's deal with the Devil for his magic piano. He is cursed to destroy all other musical instruments that come into his path.

Ray likes Todd Rundgren's "Bang on the Drum All Day."

What a pair of diddles!

5 5's for this strip!

Ray is standing on it.

Childhood Drum would be a decent band name.

This is what happens when people don't knock.

I keep my childhood drum in my room. Basically behind a bunch of mess. But I like to know it's there, and it still looks good, even though I cracked my jaw open with it when I was about 5. Got a little dent that time. So did I.

Oh god......I HAD A CHILDHOOD DRUM!
But my stupid childhood destroyed it!

everyone has their own childhood drum, except for teodor

This. This is the saddest thing.

Man did i miss out on my childhood because i didnt have a drum that I play at christmastime?

I love Cornelius for that final line of his. Hell I just love Cornelius for being the kinda guy he is.