A lot has happened and unfortunately, not much comics being completed at Bears Ink HQ. Laura has been busy with completing her Bachelor’s thesis and I’ve been helper bear and started playing MTG (yeah I know … addiction is wrong). This was a funny convo this past week that I think made for a funny comic. “Inconclusive” & “Beyond the scope of this study” are staples for ay dissertation!
Oh it’s comic time again. After the big holiday episode I decided to focus more on the next (long overdue) Bears of Lore Chapter 3 and then other things happened. But I’m pleased to get this one out. Hope you enjoy and if you’re in the UK, have a relaxing soak for the long weekend.
Took me longer to draw this episode than the actual holidays! It’s been a hot second since our last comic. I love doing a holiday episode. I love the style, the montage, the memories, the fun and most of all sharing a piece of our weird lives with you. So please enjoy this slice of holiday fun,
So I was ill at the start of the year (as usual) and I had this terrible cough. I usually don’t like cough syrup, after a horrible one I had when I was younger. After a nudge from Laura, I gave it a go and man was it delicious! I think I was 3 or 4 table spoons in by the time Laura stopped me. I am sure I would have chugged the bottle! Now a new addiction has been discovered! *sigh*
Since our first pub quiz, back in 2023 (see Pub Quiz), Laura and I have been pub quiz junkies. We love a good pub quiz with our mates. The last one we did was before Christmas and we did absolutely horrendous, our worst performance yet. It was all about music, mainly music followed by a certain British generation. I can’t recall if we had this conversation right after that quiz, but it was close to that night. Imagine, cheating at a pub quiz! The sacrilege!
When I was young (teen to mid twenties) I used to eat a ton of food, and thanks to a high metabolism I would stay skinny. Now well that don’t happen anymore. Laura would always comment about those days, saying that “You used to eat like a blackhole back then”. Now, I look at food an I put on weight! So, she recently bought me a pair of shorts (yes I know that Bears don’t wear clothes, but humour us!) and this conversation happened.
On a side note: Does blackhole feeding decrease with accretion disk growth? Probably, I remember something along those lines while I used to be academia, but I haven’t looked at the literature in over 8 years, but it was a nonetheless a hilarious conversation [citation not needed].
Hi all, another comic this week and it’s a true story. We take turns to cook and the other cleans, especially if the other has a busy schedule. During a recent discussion about who turn it is too cook, Laura coined the phrase “Ironfist of fairness” and I loved it a lot!
Hey everyone, we’re back in 2026 after a longer break than planned!
For this week’s comic, I wanted to share the story behind one of my favourite things to bake: Japanese melon bread (or melon pan). It’s become a Christmas tradition in our house and one of Laura’s birthday requests.
Back in 2019, we were watching an anime (I cannot recall the title), and there was a girl that was obsessed with eating melon bread. She’d grab one from a convenience store in each episode and I was hooked (yeah I’m very impressionable). Problem was, living in the UK, I couldn’t find them anywhere. So, I decided to bake them myself.
It was the first proper dessert/bread I ever learned to bake from scratch, and it’s a project. Two different parts to make, a sweet bread and a cookie topping, more steps than my daily average, and perfect separation into 8 equal portions. It results in a soft, sweet, round bread with a crunchy cookie topping, that gives it that signature crunchy “melon rind” look (no actual melon flavour, by the way!). It is just divine! The original recipe that got me started is from The Little Epicurean (https://www.thelittleepicurean.com/2015/05/japanese-melon-pan.html#wprm-recipe-container-13121) and I still use it today.
Over the years, I’ve added my own little twist: tucking a block of chocolate inside each dough ball before topping with the cookie crust and baking. The melted gooey chocolate just makes them even more indulgent. Next time, I’ll be adding two blocks of chocolate!
To keep them extra special, I only bake them for Christmas, or if Laura specifically asks them for her birthday.
If you are feeling adventurous, and give it a go, please let me know how it turns out. I’d genuinely love to hear your experience.
This comic marks our 300th comic. Over the last seven years and four months since we first started Being Bears we have published 300 stories. Both Being Bears and our other series, Bears of Lore are a collaborative effort between my wife Laura and I (we call ourselves Bears Ink) and we absolutely love what we do.
While at times it can be challenging, these comics have become a part of us. Every story is motivated by our real lives, with some embellishment of course, while some (like the Bread Wars) are told exactly as it happened. We get nothing but pure joy from sharing our comics and our lives with all you lovey readers.
Despite a tough year, we kept the momentum going with Being Bears and managed to complete the second chapter of Bears of Lore with the third chapter already in the works for next year. Both comics, will continue for as long as I can draw and we hope that you will continue to enjoy our adorable bears.
Whether you’ve been following us from since the beginning, or just discovered us today, we humbly say Thank You.
Merry Christmas and have a wonderful and joyous holidays, however you and your loved ones celebrate.
With lots of love,
Hayden & Laura
The Conclusion of the Bread-Wars
Well here’s the thrilling and utterly ridiculous ending to our bread-supermarket showdown.
If you think Part 1 was insane, Part 2 takes it to a whole new level of relationship-grocery drama. Both of us had good lines, some real zingers, and I’m shocked that we didn’t draw crowd.
The Best Part? After all that defending of Samuel L. Jackson’s honour and Laura’s fierce brand loyalty… we didn’t even buy either brand. We walked out with a completely different loaf of bread.
Enjoy the insanity!
