Flavor Crystals

Today's insectivorous Bizarro cartoon looks suspiciously similar to one of my previous gags. Here, we offer another twist on the cliché of a customer complaining about a fly in the soup.

This time around, Dan Piraro's finished art is very similar to my submission, so I must have done a better than usual job on the sketch. Or, maybe he was facing an extra-tight deadline.

My favorite aspect of this cartoon is the unsettling image of a giant Venus fly-trap sitting at a table wearing a bib, with the human waiter acting as if it's perfectly normal. I also love the way Dan gave the plant vestigial "shoulders" to hold up the napkin. 

This cartoon might work well as a short animated sequence. The plant would be perfectly still, maw agape, giving no indication of human-like behavior. There would be no soundtrack music, just the crackly hum present in very old films, or the work of David Lynch.

I've played with this motif before. Here's an unpublished cartoon from 2007:

Oh, those waggish dealers in notions!

If you enjoy these collaborations, please feel free to browse this blog's Bizarro archive.

Thank you for following these posts. This blog's been sputtering along since early 2006, and I look forward to sharing more art and miscellaneous musings as we move into the last year on the Mayan calendar.

I'll be in training for the next two weeks, preparing for another run as Bizarro's  guest cartoonist (December 26 - January 1). While you're watching the preserved head of Dick Clark count down the final seconds of the year, think about your friend the cartoonist, who spent the night slaving away to get the Sunday comic written, drawn, colored and uploaded for your New Year's Day amusement. We're here for you, dear reader.