Beans (Garbanzo & Jelly)

This is the weekly communiqué from Bizarro Studios North, where I (Wayno®) have been writing and drawing the Monday through Saturday Bizarro comics since 2018. My partner and friend, Dan Piraro, who created Bizarro in the late twentieth century, continues to do the Sunday comic from Rancho Bizarro in Mexico.

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We managed to survive an internet outage the other day. Internet service is an odd sort of utility, where the consumer must do most of the troubleshooting and repairs, and the product may or may not be delivered in the "quantity" being paid for. Anyway, we're back in business here, and grateful for our modern conveniences.

One of this week's comics involves a lighthouse, so our pipe pic is a portrait of Ontario, Canada's last lighthouse keeper, Pete Coletti (1935-2020).

According to an obituary in The Hamilton Spectator, Coletti was a colorful pirate-like character, who had not one, but two parrots. They were named Foghorn and Gasbag.

Pete's assistant, Chris Mills, said, "He decorated life. That’s what Pete did. He was one of a kind."

That's a rather fine way to be remembered. Based on this second photo, I imagine I'd agree with Mr. Mills.

 

Now, let's look over our recent comics, including the aforementioned lighthouse gag, and see how we decorated the funny pages.

Self-medication for superheroes.

I've done a few gags with this familiar character. Each time, comic book fans let me know that his suit is actually made of a gold-titanium alloy, and not iron. 

That's his story, anyway. If he didn't want to be the subject of magnet jokes, he should have chosen a different name.

 

My image reference search for this panel led me to the photos of Pete Coletti shared above. 

The night light photos I used are less interesting—or, so I thought.

At times, I learn  something from the online comments.

 

This one is a Middle Eastern version of an old Italian fable, "La Principessa e il Cece."

 

Thursday's panel imagines fusion cuisine for the holiday, with a caption in the form of a streptonym. At this restaurant, the pot stickers are filled with marshmallow chicks.

My friend and fellow cartoonist Marjorie Rishel offered a prediction:

In five years or less, jellybeans deep-fried in a crispy wrapper will become the newest fad in food, and people will wait outside donut shops for three hours to buy one.

I predict that Bizarro will run another Easter gag, the day after the holiday, so be sure to check in on Monday.

 

We scored a daily double on Good Friday, with a clown gag that's also wordless. Well, mostly wordless, since the changing table items are labeled.

I believe this is the first time I've included Olive Oyl rather than the easier-to-draw O2 SecretSymbol in one of my panels.

 

He's known for writing brief biographies.

 

That's the latest batch of drollery from Bizarro Studios North. Thank you for visiting. If you crave more of my commentary, I invite you to subscribe to my weekly newsletter. I send one whenever the blog is updated. Each installment includes a sneak preview of a future gag fresh off the drawing board, along with a comic, drawing, or design from our archives.

 

You should also check out Dan Piraro's blog, where he always has something interesting to say, and shares his latest Sunday Bizarro page.

 

BONUS TRACK

 

They Might Be Giants

"Birdhouse in Your Soul"
with Doc Severinsen and the Tonight Show Band

April 30, 1990

 

 

A great song from the TMBG album, Flood. The lyrics mention both night lights and lighthouses. I remember awaiting this performance on The Tonight Show and videotaping it from the TV.

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