As y’all know, my taste is a teensy bit bizarre eccentric, and I’m an utter snob extremely picky about art, but I have this fondness for art that expresses emotion well, even if it does so in ways that are technically unsophisticated, because I am strange like that.

Yes, yes, I’m aware that I made terrible fun of a harmless comic about pants not that long ago, to the horror of many and to accusations of intellectual dishonesty, but what can I say?

I am helpless in the face of this comic, because it makes me laugh like a hyena on nitrous oxide.

It all started with the Better Pain Scale.  I suffer from chronic pain and I’m all too familiar with the totally inadequate and dopey pain scale that lives in doctor’s offices, smirking and smiling and frowning at people, and a friend sent me a link to Allie’s Boyfriend Does Not Have Ebola, Probably post which contains the Better Pain Scale and a helpful guide to reading it.

I laughed so hard I made unattractive snorting noises and startled the dog, who looked around for invading postmen or other villains.

Now when I have to rate the pain, I admit fully and upfront that I often ask myself, “Am I being mauled by a bear?”

It never fails to make things a little better.

Hyperbole and a Half is written by Allie, who writes comics about herself, her childhood, her various adventures, and her dog.  I love the posts about her dog almost as much as I love the post about the pain scale.

She draws the dog with clumsy lines and big, worried eyes.  Yes, the technique is a bit pixelated and the colors are limited, but that is a worried looking little stressed out dawg if ever I have seen one:

Look at that trembling tail and tell me you are not moved!

In the post Dog, she tells the tragic but heartwarming tale of trying to give her dog an intelligence test.  Her dog, alas, the flunks the test.

But in the telling of it, we get this hilarious drawing of dog trying to solve a cookie under a plastic cup:

Oh, little dog, trying so hard.  *laughs helplessly*

The most recent strip is an updated tale of her not very bright dog and their other dog, a poor Shepherd mix, and the adventure that is moving.

But it is not all dogs and pain scales, oh no.  For she frequently tells the stories of her childhood, including my current favorite, God of Cake, in which her childhood self falls in love with a cake made for her grandfather’s birthday.  It is a cake with marshmallow toothpick animals and I wanted it too as soon as I set eyes on it.  Caaaaaaaaaaaake!

Here we see her childhood self trying to get the caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake:

Like I said, these aren’t sophisticated drawings, but I think they are very effective ones.  The kindergartener is utterly focused.  Her little T-rex arms stretch out to grasp the cake in vain.  The mom is monumental, faceless and tall, and cranky that the kid won’t just let it go.

Of course, being a very stubborn child, little Allie tries various ways to get a hold of the cake.  Does she triumph?  Can she eat the marshmallow giraffe of awesome?  I leave it to you to find out here.

I have quite a few favorite favorites.  There’s the Alot.  The Sneaky Hate Spiral.  And, since I was a very strange and overly emotive child myself, How a Fish Nearly Destroyed My Childhood.