HBIC Comics - Volume 5

As we near the start of September, there are a lot of trainers and teams sending players out for specific training camp exercises in order to make them better as a player. Since I missed last week's Funnies as I was out in the great wilderness of Canada, that means I'm moving to a two-a-day schedule for today to get myself up to speed for this team. Absences be damned as a I need to get myself back on schedule! So without further adieu, here are your HBIC Funnies, two-by-two, for today!

Benchies is a comic strip produced by Rick Pearson. Mick and Mike find themselves in all sorts of humorous situations, and hockey is just one of those situations where crazy things happen to the guys! You can find more of Mr. Pearson's Benchies every weekend on Uni Watch Blog where Mick and Mike get up to all sorts of hijinks!

Here is your Benchies for August 21, and it's a two-part equation. Mick and Mike are looking for better training techniques, and they have found the answer... and a new innovation for hockey!


Small Market Sports is a comic strip produced by Bill Charbonneau where his cast of characters are always up to something. There's Carter (the baseball), Doug (the football), Dave (the sports radio), Nash (the basketball), and Wayne (the hockey puck). Named after the Great One, Wayne Gretzky, Wayne the puck is "a hot-tempered and slightly egotistical 'super-star' (in his own mind, anyway). As the ambassador to his sport, he is quick to defend the unrelenting jabs about the excessive violence that permeates his hockey. Even if he has to drop his gloves and knock some teeth in to do it." Mr. Charbonneau produces a new comic every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday about these characters, and you can find them on Small Market Sports!

Here are Small Market Sports comic strips for August 21. Wayne complains to Doug about how poorly hockey is covered in the US, and then Carter discovers that hockey and religion are related!


I also want to help out the author and illustrator of Small Market Sports. I can't thank Bill Charbonneau enough for allowing me to post some of my favorite Small Market Sports comic strips, so I want to post a recent note from his blog to help him out.

"First let me just say thank you to everyone for your kind words of encouragement. I am happy to report my wife is back to her normal self (well, normal pregnant self) and the baby is fine too. I probably should've updated the site with that information a little sooner, eh?

"Anyway, let's get back to the fun stuff, shall we?

"Fun stuff like the new t-shirt design available in the Small Market Sports shop, Hockey+Beer=ME!

"It's the perfect gift for both the hockey fan AND Small Market Sports comic strip fan in your life (or beer fan even!). I intend to be wearing one to the Toronto Maple Leafs / Philadelphia Flyers pre-season game being held at the John Labatt Centre here in London, Ontario in September. Provided, of course, that my wife isn't in the middle of giving birth at the time. :)

"All proceeds from the shirt sale will go directly into paying for anything my son might need the first few months of his life (you know, like food, clothing, shelter, booze, whores, an atomic arsenal, etc...)

"Okay, enough with the sales pitch... get back to enjoying the comics."

Help Bill out if you can! It's a great looking t-shirt!

Thanks to Rick Pearson and Bill Charbonneau as always! I'm off as I have a ball tournament to continue in on Sunday, and need some sleep!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!