Look familiar?

Let's hope it does. Welcome to the site! I hope you're loving the redesign, carefully crafted with you, the user, ultimately in mind. Notice the loading times? (or lack therof?) The display? The animations? That's the power of HTML5, my friend. No clunky, hulking Wordpress here. Just a fluid, dynamic, Javascript-assisted experience. Cool toys and trinkets aside, I actually have something to say this time.


I've enjoyed drawing this comic, and learning more about art along the way. This comic (a one-man production, in the sense that I draw every line and write every word myself) has been a way to express what's up with me - and make someone laugh at the same time. That's my goal, aim, and job as a cartoonist.


As I finish out my high school "tour", I'm faced with a lot of decisions. Like, seriously. A lot. So more and more of my time is beginning to be handed over to other things - rightly so. Not all of these things are bad, some completely necessary. For instance, I'm discovering that painting isn't as hard some make it out to be. Over the last year or so, you may have seen some comic-painting hybrids around the site. I've become kind of exhausted with the three-panel gags. There, I have to keep what I'm saying to a minimum, generalizing a lot of things. There's no room for the little things; the quirks, the details, the relationships. So I stopped putting them out as much.


I've decided to bring The Alder Groove's three-panel journey to an end. In its place, comic-painting hybrids will be released, albeit monthly or so. This way, you'll get more of the comic, and I can take my time and expound upon things like plots, dialogue, and storytelling. I'll be able to paint (quite literally) a picture of what high school really meant, and is to me; maybe even go further, beyond that. (One game-changing decision at a time, people.)


But that's not all. I've also decided to go free - that's right. No money. (For now, I'll see about donations in the future.) That means every comic, painting, and collection on this site is free to view. I want to get as much of my work out there as possible, and to do that, some restrictions had to dropped...so yeah. It's free. If you want some of my work offline, contact me and I'll see what I can do; but for now, it's all up here for you guys to look at. Enjoy!


So, a brief recap:

Am I quitting? No.
Will the work I put out be better? Yes.
Can you now view everything on the site for free? Yes.


It's been a lot of fun (coming up on five years here). I hope you guys understand, and look forward to seeing what I put out next. Stay safe out there!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hi! I'm Chandler Mrotzek, a multi-media cartoonist/entrepeneurial type who's always up to something. You've stumbled upon some of the most socially-awkward, intriguingly dull, and sophisticatedly pun-filled comics on the web. This comic, The Alder Groove , has been described as a "satire of high school students struggling to meet the rising standards that school gives them, some of which are algebra, exams, and even the dreaded syllabus." Normally, I would try and describe my comic to you myself, but that's the clearest fan explanation I've ever heard, so if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Humor is tough, and I'm willing to claim it's slightly more challenging than say, surfing. Or successfully trespassing. What I mean to say here, is that with the community's support, interest, and inspiration, I'll keep giving you all "a refreshing and hilarious insight into the world of the modern teen." So take a look around, feel free to contact me (submissions, ideas, and fan art is always accepted), but most importantly, have fun!

My Raspberry Pi

I'm a huge fan of the Raspberry Pi (I currently have a RetroPie/Kodi build on my Pi Zero W). I tinker around with it from time to time, and if I come up with something cool, I'll let you preview it here.

Nothing to preview yet!

My Github

View new and upcoming additions to the site here. Keep in mind some things may not work (it's a beta); but feel free to contribute to the repository, hosted at chanman805.github.io/TAG.

View the repository