Happy Surrealism Day

Today, November 21, is the 122nd birthday of the Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte, celebrated in some circles as National Surrealism Day. Bizarro CEO Dan Piraro sent me a reminder of the rule of the day: If you see something strange, say something strange.

Earlier this week, we brought a bag of donuts to the lunchroom to celebrate a milestone at Bizarro Studios North.

This is a peek at the thousandth cartoon to roll off our production line. We're pleased to say that we accomplished this without a single lost time accident, and no employee grievances filed.

I find it hard to believe that I'm about to finish my third year of creating the Bizarro dailies. It continues to be the best job I've ever had, and I'm going to keep at it as long as I can grip an inking brush.

For trivia fans, the finished version of this gag will run on March 10, 2021. Who knows what the state of the world will be by then? Let's hope for the best.

And, yes, I number every original and stamp it with the date it was completed. The left side of my brain won't be denied.

Meanwhile, here's a look at our most recent published work.

 

We started the week with an incendiary performance by a revolutionary dancer.

He may take frequent breaks to surreptitiously eat flies, but he's still more credible than Giuliani.

We brought a bit of art history to the funny pages on Wednesday, with a nod to the aforementioned René Magritte. The gag references his famous 1929 painting, The Treachery of Images, popularly known as This is Not a Pipe. The dialog is of course a direct adaptation of the painting's text, and a pipe appears on the teacher's desk. Or does it?

The Inverted Bird, one of Bizarro's secret symbols, parodies another Magritte work, The Son of Man.

Paul, Raymond, and René Magritte, 1905

 

I based the drawing of the future artist on a photo of him with his brothers. I mixed features and clothing from all three of them, and it ended up looking more like Paul than René. Paul was known as the relatively cute Magritte Brother.

Like most of us, Old Man 2020 has had enough. Some readers didn't recognize the character as the outgoing year without showing him wearing the traditional sash. I may have missed an opportunity by not drawing a singed, threadbare 2020 ribbon as a hatband. However, with the universally-acknowledged suckiness of this year, the vast majority of people did get it.

Hey, it could be worse.

 

Another art history gag, featuring Auguste Rodin doing some unintended editing.

Photo research confirms that Rodin was an artist who actually wore a beret. I couldn't find any information regarding his height, but I believe he was taller than I've drawn him.

Thanks for reading the comics for yet another week. Your comments and social media posts are appreciated. If you'd like to read more about how the cartoon sausage is made, pop on over to Dan Piraro's blog, where you can also admire his newest panoramic Bizarro Sunday page.

Bonus Track

This is Not a Disco Song
Snakefinger, 1986

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