Basic Summary
A La Mode is, in simplest terms, about two witches running a bakery. Lamode, the owner, runs the business at a loss (currently) and specializes in cream puffs, gingerbread men, and pretzel people.
Schulz, the other witch, has recently become Lamode's apprentice after running into the bakery to escape from his mother. When not helping her, he plays with his friend Krishna-Zheng Song (Kei-Shen for short), tends his mother's backyard, and plays computer games.
To see the storylines so far, click here
Inspiration
Robin McKinley partly inspired this comic with her book Sunshine, about a baker who has to fight vampires in a fantasy dystopia, but the real origin came from a fanfiction. I'm a big Sailor Moon fan, and while I was writing a story, the summary of A La Mode came out as a manga within the novella. I decided that the idea was too good to be left within a story that would never see daylight, so I took the idea and converted it to comic strip form.
Fantasy sitcoms also inspired this strip as a retort to the whole "magic has to be used responsibly" and "everything-will work out in the end". Magic can be fun, and not all witches will use it responsibly. (Schulz certainly doesn't.)