I'm Not a Cat

Greetings, appreciators of amusing words and pictures. If you celebrate Halloween, I hope yours was enjoyable and safe. Although Day of the Dead (November 1) isn't part of my ancestral heritage, I like to observe it in my own way. Remembering family and friends who are gone, while celebrating and appreciating those who are still with us is the best reason for a holiday I can imagine.

Our pipe pic presented itself as I was selecting music for my workday earlier this week. After popping this Lalo Schifrin disc into the player, I noticed the cover photo, and wondered why I hadn't remembered that it was right here in my music collection, waiting to be shared on the blog.

This music was the perfect antidote to a cold, rainy autumn day. I'll mention more about Schifrin later in this post.

 

Before any additional musical discussion, though, it's time to review this week's Bizarro cartoons. 

 

Our offering for Day of the Dead was a twist on Take Your Child to Work Day. 

I always think a ghost gag will be something I can draw more quickly than usual, but I end up spending more time fussing over little details and coloring than any other comic of the week. I suppose that when the art is sparser, each line counts for more.

 

The scene pictured above is fairer and more consistent than the reality as practiced here in the good old USA, where clowns with deeper pockets can hire someone to swing a heavier mallet on their behalf.

 

The strip version called for a vertical layout, allowing me to extend the height of the "ring the bell" game, and make a lighter sentence even less likely. If you read a newspaper that runs Bizarro as a strip, you had to turn the paper by ninety degrees. Here on the blog, we rotate the image for you.

 

Although I'm not tattooed, I appreciate the art form when it's done well, and I once served as a judge at a "Meeting of the Marked" event in my hometown.

Intentional UV exposure is probably less safe than the ink and needle method.

 

The procedure in question would address this patient's browstache as well as his stachebrow. Medical science marches on.

 

By the way, this panel generated our Ridiculous Comment of the Week:

If you have to know math to get a joke, it isn’t funny. 

This reader must have focused on the word "reciprocal" in the mathematical sense, though it of course has other meanings. Maybe we should add a disclaimer stating that you have to know words to get some of the jokes.

 

At least he remembered to jiggle the handle.

Over the past twenty months, I've avoided referring to our altered existence due to the pandemic in my comics, although I've talked about it in the blog. I think it's safe to assume that after it's okay to get back to normal (or near-normal) activities, the way people work will be changed forever. Also, once I had the idea for this gag, I really wanted to draw a Zoom screen full of wildebeests, including one based on the "I'm not a cat" guy.

Thanks for reading the comics, following the blog, and subscribing to my newsletter. Don't forget to visit Dan Piraro's blog to check out his musings on art and life, as well as his latest gorgeous Bizarro Sunday page.

Peyote Cowboy, Dan's surreal graphic novel, is really getting wild with its latest episode. If you haven't read it yet, skedaddle over to the PeyCow site and catch up with this hallucinogenic western.

See you next week with more of this comical stuff.

Bonus Track

Louis Jordan: Bullitt
Pzazz Records 45 (1968)

Lalo Schifrin is best known for his film and TV scores, perhaps most famously for the Mission: Impossible theme. My favorite of his movie work is the Bullitt soundtrack.

This version of the Bullitt theme was recorded by Louis Jordan, of "Five Guys Named Moe" fame. It's quite different from Jordan's great Tympani Five recordings of earlier decades, but it certainly has its own appeal.

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