Doc Rat Caption Contest Winner

Back around June, I was introduced by Aaron Neathery to the Doc Rat webcomic drawn a by real-life Australian doctor who goes by the pen-name "Jenner". At the time, I was visiting the comic's web page and I noticed the link "Prizes". Turns out that Jenner draws a stand-alone joke panel every 2 months and then challenges his readers to come up with a caption for it. Best caption gets used in the final artwork, and the winner gets the signed original in the mail. With nothing better to do, I submitted a caption for the July-August entry, and admittedly I felt that the joke was really weak. A day or two later I got an email from the artist telling me that I'd been the first to in send an entry. Then, time went by.


(Caption Contest drawing #49, from Doc Rat, by Jenner, with the winning caption. All rights to these images belong to Jenner. Image posted here with permission from the artist.)

The Sept.-Oct. entry got posted and time continued to go by without a July-Aug. winner being announced. So, I sent an email in asking if he'd gotten busy and fallen behind schedule (it usually takes about a week or 2 for him to tabulate all the entries, pick a winner, sign the art and mail it out, so it's not something that happens right away), and yes, things had gotten hectic, but he promised to catch up on the backlog. About a week later, I got another email announcing that I'd WON the July-Aug. prize. Cool. I still think that my joke is weak, but now my name is up on the Past Prizes page, and I'm not going to complain about that. (Although I'm afraid it may hurt my chances for winning a second time, and I think the Sept.-Oct. picture is much funnier.) However, he'd gotten busy again and didn't actually get around to mailing the drawing out until Dec. 5th. It's taken almost 6 months since I first learned about the contest to get the artwork in my hands, but better late than never.


("Doc Rat" sketch that was included on the outside of the package next to the mailing address. All rights belong to Jenner. Image posted here with permission from the artist.)