Fattening Frogs for Snakes

This is the regular dispatch from Bizarro Studios North, where I 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.

Wayno

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Humor is just another defense against the universe.
Mel Brooks

I open today's entry with an expression of gratitude to all Bizarro readers who contacted papers in the Lee Enterprises group who dropped us along with many other comics. Lee's corporate bosses chose to make a standardized and heavily reduced comics page for all of their seventy-seven newspapers across the US. We're hoping someone up there will listen if enough readers express their displeasure. Meanwhile, we're trying to remain hopeful, and are working on more comics for you.

The quote at the top of this post (attributed to Mel Brooks, but who knows) expresses why we sometimes create jokes about things that scare us of make us uncomfortable. When sources of humor start disappearing, that's a danger to everyone's well-being. So, again, we thank all of you who read and support your favorite comics, whichever ones they may be.

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Bizarro reader Dave J of Ventura, California sent us this pipe pic, rendered in autumnal colors.

 

The subject is British philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell (1872-1970).

 

This orange image has appeared in several places online, but I've been unable to find a credit for the illustrator who created it. If anyone reading this knows who's responsible for the art, please let me know, and I'll provide proper attribution.

I confess to being unfamiliar with Russell's works, but a search for quotes from his writings made me want to explore further. Here's one that seems rather timely:

The first step in a fascist movement is the combination under an energetic leader of a number of men who possess more than the average share of leisure, brutality, and stupidity. The next step is to fascinate fools and muzzle the intelligent, by emotional excitement on the one hand and terrorism on the other.

Thanks to Dave J for sharing the image, and prompting me to investigate Russell's works.

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Now, let's see if any of this week's Bizarro comics might have provided any defense against the universe.

On a positive note, the house is completely free of mice.

Princes were a dime a dozen in those days, but a half-human half-frog could make a decent living in a traveling carnival.

 

Wednesday's dark panel references a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche, although I wasn't familiar with it until after I'd drawn the gag. In Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche wrote:

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. 

My favorite aspect of this one was the play on the double meaning of "ruminate."

 

This scene is to be expected when Grandma comes to visit, no matter where you live.

Although I only had to draw half a panel for Friday's gag, the wallpaper pattern eliminated any time I'd hoped to save.

I was particularly pleased with the strip version, with the sheets of wallpaper echoing the look of a multi-panel comic strip. This is as close as I've some to a completely blank image serving as a gag.

Saturday's panel explores an interesting reading of the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution.

 

That's the latest from the Little Shop of Humor at Bizarro Studios North. Thanks for stopping by, and for reading the blog and the comic.

 

Please consider visiting these affiliated virtual locations:

Dan Piraro's Bizarro Blog

Wayno's Bizarro Newsletter

Diego Piraro's Peyote Cowboy Graphic Novel

See you next week.

Bonus Track

Clarence Frogman Henry "Ain't Got No Home"
Argo Records single, 1956

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