Bearman wrote about recently gaining his 1,000th Twitter follower. To commemorate that triumphant event, he rewarded his esteemed follower with an exclusive, personal, caricature sketch. I was undoubtedly impressed (as I am regarding most of Bearman’s astounding creations), and I cried and whined spoke heartily about how I wished I had a Bearman original.

Well, the angels must have decided to smile upon me because, a few days ago, I received an email from the Duke of Doodling himself! After scrutinizing the email for viruses and proceeding to smear it in Blue Star Ointment for further testing, I discovered that what was attached was an awesome black-and-white drawing of me that was rendered by Bearman using ArtStudio for iPad. He was just messing around with the feature (or so he says), but I really like it!

I decided to take it one step further and play around with coloring it myself and throwing in a lil’ background. So, lady and gentleman, here is the final result. I think it looks like me mostly! Thank you, Bearman! I’ll be looking for my iPad 2 in the mail as well.

Some of my younger readers may not entirely get the joke in today’s guest strip, but Bearman and I felt that we needed to give you a lil’ background so you can appreciate it (don’t you just love that?).

Waaaaaay back in the early, early 1980′s, there was a miraculous diet aid that was invented that tasted remarkably just like milk chocolate. What? You can lose weight and still eat chocolate? Well, according to this company, their chocolate appetite-depressant would do exactly that. One important side effect, however, was the irresistible and insatiable need to go potty, thus shedding a pound or two along the way.

This product flew off the shelves. The customers came in droves, including my mom and Bearman’s mom as well, I believe. Stores couldn’t keep this diet aid stocked at all.

Well, the product sold briskly, making its inventors multi-millionaires. It sold extremely well until….it was outshone by another lil’ something called AIDS. With the prevalence of AIDS and the negative connotations that were revealed with a thunderous roar all throughout the ’80′s, the AYDS Diet Candy suffered big-time. No one wanted to go to the store and ask for AYDS. No one wanted to brag that the reason they were losing so much weight was due to AYDS. The company’s stock tumbled and they eventually changed the name, but the damage was already done.

So, my good friend Bearman decided to shake the dust off of AYDS and bring it back for the 21st Century. If you need more information regarding this past fast-selling product, or just wanna slight giggle, check out the YouTube video below.

I’d like to thank Bearman for contributing this guest strip. He’s an awesome guy, a great cartoonist, and he possesses a sarcasm that you can only respect and enjoy. I’d advise you to go check his cartoon site out, but I have a strong feeling that you already do. If not, tell him his hack friend, George, sent ya!

Y'know Hank's gonna need a presidential pardon one day.

Hank’s really getting around these days. I’ve been enjoying viewing all of his various appearance throughout the internet. Here are just a few places you can catch a cameo or glimpse of Hank:

~ Hank made a surprise guest-appearance here in Matt Stout’s Big Sandy Gilmore comic.

~ Hank also got a chance to be in Phil Oliveira’s Canned Ham comic in this strip.

~ You can even see Hank in this Bearman’s Beartoons comic.

~ Michelle Billingsley’s JOE comic had a couple of guest-spots by Hank here and here.

There were also some cool write-ups and articles about Hank and ADDANAC CITY on a few blogs. If you get a chance, check out Hmm, Sweet Splendid Wisdom and Joe’s Heebie Jeebies Blog.

So, please, visit these fine folks and show them some good ol’ Addanac City love. I know they’ll be glad you came by!

Bearman was one of the first cartoonists to befriend me when I started doing ADDANAC CITY as a webcomic. He left me a few comments and we just hit it off. We’re always challenging each other as well his picking at our own foibles. Regardless of how self-deprecating he appears to be, Bearman is a more-than-talented cartoonist. This guy draws some of the funniest political and social commentary cartoons on the web.

Check out his website at Bearman Cartoons.

He did a guest strip for me a few months ago, but I really wanted him to stop back by for an encore presentation. I think he did a bang-up job with Hank. So go show Bearman some love on his site. You’ll get a kick out of it.

And don’t forget about Bearman’s great charity drive in which he donates money to a worthy cause based on what YOU do.

TOMORROW’S GUEST STRIP by: Michelle Billingsley of “Joe!”

Anyway, my friend Bearman, besides being an all-around great guy, he’s also a philanthropist (a bit different than a philanderer, I’m told). He’s sponsoring the Bearman Charity Challenge.

Now, before you get all into a huff, check this out: this charity drive costs you nothing, True Believer. Bearman’s the one footing the bill.

For every time you post a blog, tweet on Twitter, link to his Drive, or anything related, he’ll donate money. Now what could be better than spending someone else’s moola? I don’t know, either.

So, go check out the Bearman Charity Drive and see what you can do to help others in crisis situations and send Mr. Bearman to the poorhouse (I live on the second floor and I could use the company).

Tell ‘im Big George from ADDANAC CITY sent ya!