We'll Meat Again

It's the last Saturday of summer, so I hope you all get a chance to enjoy some fresh air and sunshine today. Right after we review the week's cartoons, of course.

Monday presented a typical morning meeting at a local ad agency, where the new hire is being introduced to the team.

As we've often said, we try to limit our use of puns to those we think are surprising. Here, we play on the use of the word "creative" as a name for someone who works in a creative field. I liked the fact that the reader might not notice the substitution, and at first would read it as "creature."

Some of us are lulled to sleep by the hum of white noise, while others prefer a series of random bangs and thumps, or this. 

Here's what happens when you become involved with someone from the wrong side of the staff.

This gag is an example of our preference for drawing inanimate objects realistically. I believe that a gag like this is more effective when the objects aren't wacky, anthropomorphic cartoon characters.

Yet another musical genre is featured in Thursday's panel. Although my modest but odd recollection encompasses a wide range of styles, I don't think there are any barbershop quartet albums on the shelves.

UPDATE: This cartoon confused quite a few readers. The idea was that the classified ad  said "butchershop" instead of "barbershop." The disappointed applicant with the paper hat, apron, and meat cleaver was intended to suggest the word "butcher," and explain the source of his misunderstanding. As I said, that was the idea, but for a lot of readers, it simply didn’t work. 

I'm thinking that the word "mistake" might have been a better choice than "typo."

I won't include this one in any comics award submissions for 2019. 

This one wasn't inspired by something naughty, honest. One evening while I was reading a book, one of our cats sat beside me and began bumping my hand with his head, in effect using me as a petting device. It happens regularly, but this particular time I wondered if there might be a market for simulated human hands to provide comfort to domestic animals.

I imagined an establishment where a dog or cat might buy such a toy, and this gag is the result.

After it left the drawing board, I tweaked the art a bit.

This intermediate file shows the inked original superimposed on the panel layout, before I added the UFO in the upper left. There's also a subtle change to a product displayed in the lower right corner. As a private joke between Dan Piraro and myself (and now, readers of this blog) the original drawing showed a packaged tube of "K2 Jelly," which I later changed to a nondescript box marked "O2."

Incidentally, the "535" below the signature isn't the secret symbol count, but a sequence number for the art. This gag is the 535th I've drawn since starting as the daily Bizarro cartoonist in January 2018. I'm looking forward to producing many more in the coming years.

The courtroom is a dependable source of comic material. Today we illustrate that old criminal rule never to leave behind your fingerprint, an accomplice, or especially your marotte.

If you haven't had enough commentary on these cartoons, wander on over to Dan Piraro's blog, and while you're there, check out his latest widescreen Sunday Bizarro page.

Bonus Track

I had planned to showcase "Creature From the Black Lagoon," as recorded by Dave Edmunds, but while searching for it, I found this killer demo version by Billy Bremner. Mr. Bremner wrote the song and played guitar on the Edmunds record.