This was my favorite one. Depending on where my eyes land when I see it, I snort out loud for one of several reasons:

a) That the giraffe feels the need for accessories at all.

2) That he came up with a table full of critters with no neck, voting on a proposal to standardize on drop earrings.

III) That he captured the grim reality that in almost every business meeting on the planet, there is predictably one squawking spokesbird willing to speak for everyone, one automatic naysayer who sits, back turned to the productive end of things with thumbs permanently in the “down” position, and one dozer who has made an art form of snoozing through meetings without drooling or snoring.

This is the skill of a great cartoonist: to tease out into plain view the resonating ridiculousness of what passes for serious human business.

Rick has been doing that from about the second grade on.

And in a world that measures quality and relevance in terms of commercial acceptance and monetary success, we’re genuinely chuffed that 28 of his cartoons are finally in a printed, bound, and published book.

Available on Amazon.com. And kindle. And other places, even.

Of course, this doesn’t “make” him a real cartoonist, any more than being represented in a gallery “makes” you a real painter or being downloadable from iTunes for 99 cents “makes” you a real musician.

We can tell you this, though: having had the chance to illustrate The Ten Commandments for Effective Standards by Karen Bartleson does make him pretty dang jazzed.