Smell You Later

Happy Devil's Night from all of us at Bizarro Studios North. In addition to the usual recap of our most recent gags, today's post includes a fancy animated GIF, and a link to a comic art auction for a worthy cause.

This week's pipe pic is also an unapologetic plug for Bizarro merch.

The Pipe of Ambiguity, which became our newest Secret Symbol this year, is now available as a die-cut vinyl sticker. It can be purchased singly, or as part of a set of twelve different stickers. These can only be found at the official Bizarro shop.

I'm proud of this little doodad. The PoA was my baby, and Dan used my art for the sticker. I'll be slapping one one my ukulele case soon.

Please note, the smoking burro is not included in the sticker set.

As we look over this week's comics, let's see how many times the pipe shows up.

Souls who roam the earth are believed to retain their sense of smell, along with a sense of indignation.

 

If only he'd sprung for the additional rider.

 

You know you're officially a parent when you give up the GTO and buy an SUB.

 

Call me old fashioned, but if I'm drawing a James Bond gag, Bond will probably be modeled on Sean Connery. Also, I thought it was appropriate since I was referencing Dr. No, the first Bond film.

 

Besides, Connery is the Bond I remember from my childhood bubble gum cards.

 

A familiar complaint at the local monkey bar: Never trust a weasel.

 

 

We wrapped up the week with a romantic (and wordless) date night scene. 

 

Just for fun, I built this animated GIF showing the panel's progress from sloppy digital sketch to penciled art, inked art, and completed monochrome panel, cleaned up and finished off in Photoshop.

On the Auction Block

As noted in the opening paragraph, the National Cartoonists Society and the NCS Foundation are currently holding an auction of original comic art to benefit St. Jude Children's Hospital. Most of the works were created specifically for this auction to commemorate milestone anniversaries of various comics and comic characters. The sale is being run by Heritage Auctions.

I donated a drawing celebrating fifty years of Zippy the Pinhead. I've been reading Bill Griffith's comics since almost the beginning, and it was a joy to draw Zippy for this project.

That covers it for this week. Thanks for following the blog and for reading Bizarro. If you'd like to be notified when a new blog entry is posted, or if I have any exciting news to share, you can subscribe to my newsletter for free. Each newsletter also includes an advance peek at a comic I'm currently working on.

I recommend popping by Dan Piraro's blog to find out what's occupying his active mind this week, and to gaze in wonder and admiration at his latest Bizarro Sunday page. And don't forget to order some stickers!

Oh, and don't get involved in too much mischief tonight. See you next Saturday.

Your Seasonal Bonus Track

The Shaggs: It's Halloween
from Philosophy of the World, 1969

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The story of the Shaggs is one of the oddest in music history. The Wiggins sisters (Helen, Betty, and Dot) from Fremont, New Hampshire, were "managed" by their father, who was convinced that they'd be a huge commercial success. The album is an aural cousin of what's commonly called "outsider art," and it's something curious listeners ought to experience at least once.

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