The Right to Bear Pastries

Here's tomorrow's* buttery, flaky Bizarro cartoon, written by Yours Truly:

And, for comparison, the sketchbook version I submitted:

Mister Piraro used my text verbatim, but he really went wild with his gorgeous art for this Sunday panel. He took advantage of the extra real estate to add a lot of little "business," including the shop name on the window, which also appears in the shadow behind the proprietor.

I'm especially pleased with this one because of the dual meanings of the phrase "cooling-off period." It's a neat little play that provides an extra (flaky) layer to a fairly simple gag.

Clown figures have turned up before in my many collaborations with Dan:

clown

clown

clown

There will be more to come. Clowns also appear in a lot of my paintings:

Good Clown/Bad Clown, 24" x 12" Acrylic on Masonite
Private Collection, Irwin, Pennsylvania

Coulrophobia (fear of clowns) is a fairly common condition, and people have asked me if I'm afraid of them, since they appear in much of my work. My answer is that I'm not afraid of them, I just don't like them. At least not the Western type usually seen in cartoons.

I do, however, like the clown characters in my paintings, which are modeled after Pulcinella, the masked jester of Italy's Commedia dell'Arte. I began painting this character in commissioned works for a client, and found him to be an appealing and accommodating subject, able to step into various roles. But rainbow-haired creeps with giant shoes and an underlying air of desperation are simply annoying.

*Since Sunday newspapers, particularly the supplements, are generally available on Saturday, we're considering the Sunday cartoons to be public the day before "official" publication.