Saturday, January 26, 2019

Cowboy Science

Happy Saturday, Jazz Pickles. I have no witty introduction prepared, so let's jump right in with a look back at this week's shenanigans.

We eased into the week with a bit of silliness utilizing a pun that I had not seen before. There's no deep meaning in this one, although one reader mentioned an odd coincidence, writing, "Phillip Sharp and Richard Roberts actually won a Nobel prize for discovering a lariat, the structure that forms in splicing!"

I located many references to this scientific research, without finding any that specifically used the word "lariat," but the comment still makes me happy.


This enterprising gent is engaged in old school crowd funding, via a clever precursor to "I know where you got your shoes" scam. 

As I drew this gag, I realized that an animal wearing a human mask can be quite disturbing.

Our protagonist was later kicked out of the health club for continuing to run headfirst into the climbing wall.

As always, we put our favorite gag of the week in the Friday slot. We enjoy making fun of superhero characters, and portraying the Hulk as philosophical (and articulate) was particularly enjoyable. 

Animation historian Jerry Beck asked if my Hulk drawing was really a caricature of political dirtbag Steve Bannon. I decide to do a little re-coloring experiment to see if there was any resemblance.
The Hulk is much more attractive than Bannon, wouldn't you say?

Saturday's gag fits squarely into one of our recurring themes: human miscommunication, and the ways we manage to delude ourselves. When I do a cartoon like this one, I'm pointing a finger at myself as much as at anyone else.

For even more insight, analysis, and navel-gazing, direct your browsing apparatus to Dan Piraro's blog, where you can also check out his latest widescreen Sunday page.

(Brief) Bonus Track



Nobody expects high art from a cartoon theme song, but this title music from Marvel's 1966 Hulk TV series contains some of the most dubious rhymes ever recorded:
Doc Bruce Banner
Belted by gamma rays
Turned into the Hulk
Ain’t he unglamor-ace?
Wreckin’ the town
With the power of a bull
Ain’t no monster clown
Who is as lovable
As ever-lovin’ Hulk! HULK! HULK!

 

4 comments:

  1. Am I the only one who thinks that your spelling of weird is weird?

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  2. Woof. I remember watching the Hulk cartoons as a kid. I never realized just how back they were. We've come so little since then.

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  3. Raymond, thanks for pointing that out. I've edited this post to include the corrected version.

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  4. Wayno, thanks for printing the lyrics to the Hulk theme. It makes the theme to Wonder Woman seem like classical music.

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