There’s a story behind this one.

A fan of PartiallyClips, the Jeff who is pictured here, emailed me that he wanted to surprise his girlfriend Steph (also pictured) with a custom fake PartiallyClips he was constructing.  He was writing to ask me about fonts and speech balloons and other nuts-and-bolts stuff.  He sent me the art he was using, which was the clip-ified photo you see.  In the process of looking at some of the ideas he was preparing, I wrote this strip for him.  Then I decided the gag was universal enough to run, and got his permission to make the strip into a “real” PClips.

Now, I do not want to start a trend with this.  My response when approached with ideas about the strip is usually a polite-but-firm “This is my comic.  Perhaps you could start your own.”  Some of them even have.  But there was something about this situation that made me want to write a joke for it, and I am glad I did.  I don’t know Steph or Jeff except through a couple of emails, but there are some indications that I hit the mark.

So, happy birthday Steph.  And Jeff?  Good luck to you, sir.