Two For the Price of One

This is the weekly 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 created Bizarro in the late twentieth century and continues to do the Sunday comic from Rancho Bizarro in Mexico.

Wayno

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The freelancer lives in suspense, dangling like a puppet from the edge of a cliff.

Virgil Franklin Partch (aka ViP)

Having survived as a freelance artist for years, the words of my cartoon hero Virgil Partch always rang true. Since becoming Bizarro's daily cartoonist, I no longer consider myself a true freelancer, but I'm not exactly an employee, either. I suppose I'm something of an independent contractor.

I seldom take on freelance work or commissions, but I decided to accept a recent opportunity for a special project. As soon as I signed the agreement, a familiar feeling of unease and uncertainty descended, like a mooching distant relative.

As I type this entry, I think I have a clear picture of what I'll do for the first of two designs to be executed, so the anxiety is manageable. No doubt it's creatively beneficial to occasionally stray from one's daily routine, but it usually involves more than a little angst.

Wish me luck, and in a few weeks, I'll share the results of this extracurricular activity.

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Our pipe pic this time around is a digital representation of an early animation device known as a phenakistiscope.

This example is a fair representation of the life of a daily cartoonist. We must continually produce for a hungry audience. Perhaps we need an idiomatic expression to describe our occupational pursuit. 

Sorry, I can't make it to the party tonight. Gotta feed the frog.

A tip of the old Bizarro porkpie to Jazz Pickle Alaric N. for bringing this fascinating image to my attention.

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Earlier this week, I took a break from the drawing table to catch up with two old friends, both of whom I first connected with over a mutual love of music.

Mike, the gent in the middle, is a terrific drummer and a knowledgeable student of many types of music. On the right, in the white tee is my friend Dan, who I have not seen in many years. When I was a wee college student, Dan opened Pittsburgh's first used record store, the Doo-Dah Shop, where I spent many hours browsing the racks and avoiding the classroom. Mike and I met while shopping at Dan's place.

It was a pleasure to reconnect with old pals, and I returned to the studio refreshed and ready to feed that frog.

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Let's see what that old amphibian feasted upon this week.

That's a diligent call center employee.

If only painting the walls of the house were as fast and easy as Photoshop's paint bucket tool.

A French cousin was rumored to have reincarnated as a soufflé.

As an astute Facebook commenter said, there's no joy in bullying a laptop.

Friday's gag depicts a reading by Woolen Ginsberg.

I had to shuffle the art and reverse the layout for the strip configuration, and I think it resulted in a superior composition. This feels more like a subterranean poetry club than the vertical panel version, wouldn't you say, Daddy-o?

 

Occasionally, a caption will appear at the top of a panel, as in today's gag.

In another deviation from practice, the strip has its word balloon in the center. I must have been feeling wild and crazy that day.

Thank you for lending your eyeballs to this stuff. Come by next week for more words and pictures.

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Bonus Viewing

The Al & Arnie Show
From The Paragon of Comedy
Showtime, 1983

Between HBO's The Pee-Wee Herman Show (1981) and the network debut of Pee-Wee's Playhouse (1986), Showtime ran The Paragon of Comedy, a special starring John Paragon. Paragon played Jambi on the Pee-Wee shows, and Paul Reubens appeared in this sketch on the Paragon special.

The death of Paul Reubens saddened us here at the studio. I looked forward to every appearance he made on Late Night with David Letterman, and Pee-Wee's Big Adventure was the first DVD I ever purchased. 

I still have my fan club membership card.

Thanks for the laughs, Mister Herman.

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More Bizarro Stuff for You

 Wayno's Weekly Bizarro Newsletter

 Dan Piraro's Weekly Bizarro Blog

Dan "Diego" Piraro's Peyote Cowboy Graphic Novel

 

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