I’ve been slowly adding to Annie’s strange family dynamic ever since I blessed her with insanity way back when. Dinners like this can only happen in the winter, when Annie’s parents are around. She throws open all the windows, piles snow along the walls, and cooks a nice spaghetti dinner. Luckily, the cold also helps Robot Ben operate at maximum efficiency, and his conversations are a lot better than his usual repertoire of quotations from John C. Reilly movies and early episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

We’ve had some bitter cold days here in the DC area (not as many as I would like, and certainly not enough snow, but whatever). What boggles my mind is all the professional women around here that wait for buses and subways in skirts. Short skirts. And not skirts with stockings or boots or anything else that would come between their skin and the weather. I don’t know how they do it. I don’t know why they do it. But it just seems like madness.

I didn’t feel like writing a strip with actual dialogue for today. So instead of dialogue, I’ve inserted the basic idea of what the characters are saying. Feel free to imagine them talking about whatever the hell you want. It’s my Friday gift to you, gentle viewers.

Happy Friday the 13th, everyone! Not only that, but I believe today is the first of several Friday the 13ths happening this year. I for one am glad that 2012 is the Year of the Dragon, because we’ll need that good luck to counteract all the bad luck. Or something. I’m not really sure how luck is supposed to work, exactly.

So here we are: the first Ben & Winslow comic of the new year. I’ve stuck to familiar themes of eating and monsters, which will hopefully lull you all into a false sense of security. Because strange stuff is afoot. Strange stuff is always afoot in the Ben & Winslow universe, but still. Don’t want you getting scared away early on.