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
Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all―the apathy of human beings.
Helen Keller
Tuesday was wall-to-wall blue skies and 78-degree sunshine in my neighborhood. What a contrast to Wednesday's appropriate air of gloomy gray.
I'm writing this post on Wednesday, weary from a sleepless night spent worrying for the safety of us all, so it will be briefer than usual.
Bizarro reader Linda M. suggested today's pipe pic, a 1905 Picasso painting titled Boy With a Pipe.
We could have used this a couple of weeks ago, to accompany a gag referencing Picasso.
Old Pablo did quite a few paintings of pipe smokers. Google at your own risk.
Thanks to Linda for the suggestion, which also reminds me that art connects us and appreciating art is an act of empathy, something in short supply in these times.
Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love.
Claude Monet
We hope that our humble form of art helps provide some respite from unwelcome news.
He was positively glowing in his mug shot.
"What do you want first―the bad news or the inexplicable news?"
No political subtext was intended.
Inheritance tax takes various forms.
A tip of the old Bizarro porkpie to Instagrammer Becky G. for her comment which became the title for this post.
As usual, my favorite gag of the week is in the Friday slot.
The struggle is real.
Kevin has obviously been in a restaurant before.
Jazz Pickle Spotted in Seattle
Our latest t-shirt model is a Jazz Pickle who goes by the nom de pan PlatePilot, because he's an avid cook. He clearly has excellent taste in clothing as well.
PlatePilot tells us that some of his jazz musician friends have asked where they can get BJP shirts. If they do,we hope to see photos.
Would you like to be a Bizarro fashion model? Send your t-shirt picture, along with a comment, to WaynoCartoons(at)gmail(dot)com.
Fine print: By sending your photo, you permit us to share it online. Readers will be identified by first name only. We truly appreciate your purchase of Bizarrowear!
Thank you for reading and supporting the cartoon arts.
See you next week with more of this sort of thing.
Bonus Track
Resistance Revival Chorus w/Rhiannon Giddens
"All You Fascists Bound to Lose"
Righteous Babe Records, 2020
A spirited version of a Woody Guthrie classic.
A Plethora of Bizarro Paraphernalia
If you like what we do and appreciate that it's free of charge, we encourage you to explore the following links.
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
Evil has only the power that we give it.
Ray Bradbury
from Something Wicked This Way Comes
Every Halloween, as we hand out treats to the neighborhood kids (and some parents), we watch the 1983 film based on Ray Bradbury's famous novel. I've written about this household tradition before and was looking for a line from the novel as today's epigraph.
With the crucial presidential election coming up on Tuesday, this quote hit me in a way it hadn't before.
Plenty of people, some in black robes, are more than willing to give evil virtually unlimited power. I'm doing my tiny part to fight against it, and that's all we'll say on the subject here.
Bizarro reader Wally T. writes:
While on a recent trip to Scotland, I came upon this photograph while wondering through Dunvegan Castle, on the Isle of Skye.
Of course, my immediate thought was, a pipe pic!
I love this image, and I learned that a crofter is a term for a tenant farmer that is peculiar to Scotland and its isles.
We tip the Bizarro tam o' shanter to Wally for thinking of us while on vacation and teaching me a new word.
Deagh obair, laddie!
We're happy to share the latest comics as a brief escape from endless campaign ads.
Even a pebble would have an advantage over this last-minute replacement.
I was surprised that not one of my music-nerd friends noticed that the military man on the left is based on James Melvin Babington, whose photo was used by the Beatles to represent their fictional Sergeant Pepper.
Babington appeared in another Bizarro gag three years ago.
In this gag, he's fighting with Charles Alderton, the pharmacist who created the soft drink.
We also celebrated Witchy Wordplay Wednesday this week.
I'll never tire of drawing Frankenstein's monster.
For Dia de los Muertos, I reimagined a scene from Charles Dickens. I already did a non-Christmas Scrooge gag in September, and this is the second one for the year.
Readers of the strip version saw a reversed layout and missed out on Cratchit's extra tall hat.
The dialog references a line from A Christmas Carol.
We wrapped up the week with a theatre-going marine mammal and a small crowd of Secret Symbols.
"Rock on, IBöD!"
Our new t-shirt model, Bruce D., sent this note about his photo:
I had just received my IBöD tee (love it!) when I saw last week's comic about that poor, cute little bear wanting to learn a stringed instrument. It inspired me to take my own pics.
I thought I'd try and channel the hip look of the salesperson while rockin' my Traveler Guitar. Tried to get the tongue and teeth right (though the Irön Bunny's tongue is much more prodigious than mine).
Thanks to Bruce for sharing the photo!
If you’d like to be a Bizarro fashion model, send your picture, along with a comment, to WaynoCartoons(at)gmail(dot)com.
Fine print: By sending your photo, you permit us to share it online. Readers will be identified by first name only. Whether or not you send a picture, we truly appreciate your purchase of Bizarrowear!
Thank you for reading and supporting the cartoon arts.
We'll return with more stuff next Saturday, assuming we still live in a free democratic society.
I'm Wayno and I approved this blog post.
Bonus Track
Oscar "Papa" Celestin: Marie LaVeau
from the 10-inch LP Golden Wedding
Southland Records, 1955
I can't let go of Halloween just yet...
Get Your Bizarro Booty Here!
If you like what we do and appreciate that it's free of charge, we encourage you to explore the following links.
