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
I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge—even wisdom. Like art.
~Toni Morrison, 2004
I share this quote for creative colleagues who despair that their work is trivial in a world often filled with hatred, cruelty, and injustice. My Bizarro partner, Dan Piraro, sent it to me in late 2024, at a time when I was feeling particularly overwhelmed and pessimistic about current events.
Going through some of my vintage paperbacks and found this. Dell did a great job on these mapback paperbacks in the 1940s.
Paul sent me down a research rabbit hole. I was already somewhat familiar with the Dell books commonly known as "mapbacks," whose back covers featured maps of where the book takes place.
My research turned up a collection of hundreds of Dell paperbacks with gorgeous airbrushed cover art by American illustrator Gerald Gregg (1907-1985). The page also has a biography of Mr. Gregg.
To my surprise, the biographical info came from a book about paperbacks written by Piet Schreuders, a photographer, designer, and writer I've worked with in the past.
This creepy clown was one of my favorite images from the collection of Gerald Gregg's covers.
So, big thanks to Paul for discovering the featured book cover, and for leading me to many more terrific images, not to mention a name from my past.
Be sure to check out the New Yorker Caption Contest Podcastfor some in-depth cartoon talk with hosts who are passionate about cartoons, fun, funny, and opinionated (in the best possible ways).
I hope at least a few of this week's Bizarro gags bring you some well-deserved laughs.
Maybe I should've held this for March, when we do the "spring ahead" thing.
Based on the amount of Orwellian Doublespeak coming our way in recent times, this one almost wrote itself.
The panel received an online comment which seems to have missed the joke, or maybe to have proved it true, but I can't say for sure.
I was genuinely curious about this person's point, which seemed ambiguous or confused. I may have misinterpreted his words, but detected an air of indignant aggression, and decided not to ask for clarification.
I may have run out of Nosferatu puns, but that didn't stop me from making another vampire joke.
I believe this defense has actually been attempted.
"I call that last one The Royal Wheeeee!"
Unless there's a color that's more urgent than red, yes.
Thanks for checking our these risible rectangles. Drop by next week to read another new batch, unless your field of vision is filled with floating hearts.
Bonus Track
The Who: "Tattoo"
from The Who Sell Out Track Records UK LP, 1967
A Large Load of Bizarro Lunacy
If you like what we do and appreciate that it's still free, 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
Friendship is not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything.
Muhammad Ali
My spouse often reminds me that I don't get out into the world often enough, and spend too much time at the drawing board or computer, and she's absolutely right. I do drag myself away from time to time, and early this week I had a long lunch with a friend I haven't seen in months (and that was at the funeral of a mutual friend).
My pal Marcel and I have been trying to coordinate our schedules since the spring, and we finally picked a day and put it on our calendars. We met up at a barbecue place with outdoor seating and sweated in the sun for more than two hours. It was the best break I've had in a long time. We talked about everything and nothing; milestones in our lives, complaints about jobs we've had, and why it took so long to get together.
After returning to my workspace, I felt so energized that I accomplished as much as I would have if I hadn't taken some time out for social interaction.
On Sunday, my spouse and I took a long hike through a nature preserve, and I wondered why we didn't do that more often.
These respites from self-imposed workaholism not only renewed me as a human, but they also improved the quality of my work over the following days, which I hope will benefit all of you later in the year.
It's a lesson I intend to remember.
Bizarro correspondent Andrèa D. sent me today's nautical/feline pipe pic, which is a bit of a mystery.
The image appears frequently on the web, but I haven't found a definitive source or reliable information on it. Every occurrence is from the same scan with that red smear on the photo. Sometimes it's captioned as "Dutch sailor with kitten, 1912," but who can say for sure.
A band or performer called Elysian Shelter used the photo for their 2024 digital single, "The Sailor's Life," which is just an extended instrumental version of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home."
Whatever its origin, it's a pleasant diversion to look at this photo, so I'll simply tip my hat to Andrèa for sharing it with us. We can all use a sweet picture of a cat now and then.
Now, for you friends of Bizarro, here's the latest batch of pictorial humor from Hollywood Gardens, PA.
One of my all-time favorite artists and cartoonists, the prolific yet mysterious Bruce Carleton, snapped back at this gag with the name Parental Guidance Wodehouse, which would make a great band name.
I should do more of these "laundry list" panels, as they are relatively easy to convert to strips.
This therapist/matryoshka mashup was probably inevitable.
A certain cartoonist in the Pittsburgh area once said something very much like the above after a visit with a new PCP. No names, of course.
The character is known to exclaim, "Hulk dote!"
Seems like a sound business model.
I refuse to apologize for this caption.
Thanks for visiting the blog. Feel free to add your comments. I love hearing from you.
I have some extra-studio activities scheduled for the coming week, so I plan to compose and schedule next Saturday's blog entry early. It might be shorter than usual, which could come as a relief to some readers, but all six of the week's gags will be included.
Bonus Track
Michael Hurley: "The Abominable Snowman"
from Broken Homes and Gardens No Quarter Records, 2025
Michael Hurley was a unique American musician and cartoonist who often did the cover art for his "outsider folk" records. He died at age 83 on April Fools' Day, 2025, but had completed his final album, Broken Homes and Gardens, in March.
Hurley sometimes reworked and rerecorded his songs, such as "The Abominable Snowman," which also appeared on his 1995 album, Parsnip Snips. It's similar in style and content to his classic "Werewolf Song," which he also recorded more than once. Both are sympathetic musings about feared mythical creatures. "The Werewolf Song" was originally recorded for his 1964 LP First Songs, and in a bit of satisfying symmetry, the Werewolf and the Snowman are featured on the LPs that bookend his life and career.
RIP, Doc Snock.
Much More Bizarro Mayhem
If you like what we do and appreciate that it's free, 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
Whatever you now find weird, ugly, uncomfortable, and nasty about a new
medium will surely become its signature. CD distortion, the jitteriness
of digital video, the crap sound of 8-bit—all of these will be
cherished and emulated as soon as they can be avoided. It’s the sound of
failure: so much modern art is the sound of things going out of
control, of a medium pushing to its limits and breaking apart. The
distorted guitar sound is the sound of something too loud for the medium
supposed to carry it. The blues singer with the cracked voice is the
sound of an emotional cry too powerful for the throat that releases it.
The excitement of grainy film, of bleached-out black and white, is the
excitement of witnessing events too momentous for the medium assigned to
record them. Brian Eno
That lengthy passage comes from Brian Eno's fascinating book A Year of Swollen Appendices: Brian Eno's Diary, 1995. It's been popping up on my social feeds lately, with some people erroneously applying it to artificial intelligence.
I don't consider AI a medium any more than larceny, fraud, or plagiarism, but there's certainly plenty that's weird, ugly, uncomfortable, and nasty about it. The effortless thievery and gluttonous energy consumption come immediately to mind.
Recently, some anonymous accounts on YouTube and TikTok have been scooping up editorial cartoons made by humans, feeding them through AI to redraw them, and then uploading video compilations to generate ad revenue. The cartoonists are fighting back and have made some headway, but it looks like the makings of an endless battle.
I ask you to avoid using AI to try to make art of any kind, even as a fun diversion, because every time someone does that, it's one more lesson to train the virtual vacuum to suck up and imitate more of humankind's creative works.
Instead, please support and enjoy the artistic gifts offered by actual human beings. You could do worse than checking out Eno's Diary. Many of the diary entries refer the reader to one of the book's (swollen) appendices, which consist of more formal essays, letters, articles, or other items related to the events in the author's daily life.
Another book made from a diary I thoroughly enjoyed was Michael Palin's Diaries 1969–1979: The Python Years. Palin is a dedicated diarist (at least four volumes of his diaries are available) and has also written a dozen travel books.
As a snotty adolescent, Monty Python's Flying Circus landed in the US at the perfect time. I had learned about them slightly earlier thanks to the excellent stock of imported LPs at the Heads Together record shop in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood and was primed when our local PBS station picked up the show.
My first thought when I read Eno's observation was the beautifully grubby textures of old-fashioned letterpress beer coasters.
This item is from the Bizarro Studios North archive. To fully appreciate the spectacular imperfections of the letterpress medium, take a closer look.
The off-register halftone dots! The blue jacket overprinted on Bert's sweater! The yellowed pulp! I may burst into tears here.
While I pull myself together, here's this week's pipe pic, a Macanudo comic strip by my colleague and friend Liniers.
Thanks to Dan M., a good friend of Bizarro for sharing the delightful comic by the equally delightful Liniers.
All the gags you are about to read were created without artificial intelligence.
Monday's panel takes place just prior to the invention of optional rustproofing.
Alternative Roman history.
If nothing else, it's a creative explanation for neglecting to refresh the moth crystals.
Real-life examples for sale, and some of the models in the listings look even more pretentious than my comic character.
Fortunately Canada Five-1 never got off the ground.
Everybody loves to hear a halftime dirge played by a funereal marching band. Ask not for whom the cymbals clash...
Other badges are awarded for Vegetable Avoidance and Snot Rocketry.
That's it for the latest batch of handmade digital cartoons from Bizarro Studios North. See you next week with more of the same.
Bonus Track
Sammy Davis, Jr.: "You Can Count on Me"
Twentieth Century Records, 1976
I can add nothing in the way of commentary. You simply have to hear it.
Copious Quantities of Bizarro Curiosities
If you like what we do and appreciate that it's free, 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
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
Oscar Wilde
This quote popped up as a fun reminder that Halloween is coming soon, but it can also be read as a prediction about virtual communications. People can be guarded in face-to-face conversation, with their words being more performative than informative.
Behind the mask of online anonymity, many people are more likely to reveal themselves, which I believe is Wilde's truth—showing their true nature instead of speaking the truth.
Masks can be literal physical disguises, but they're usually less obvious, if more intentional facades. The phrase "putting up a front" comes to mind.
A "front" can be as simple as a business suit and a lapel pin. When encountering this type of mask, it's wise to pay attention to the person who's behind it.
Today's mysterious pipe pic comes from Bizarro reader Stuart V.
The only information we have about it is that Stuart spotted it "on the backside of a garage, looking out over the countryside in Redmond, Oregon."
I can't decide whether it's whimsical, menacing, or both. Perhaps it was meant to protect the garage it's attached to.
Whatever its origin or purpose, I thank Stuart for the photo, and for not taking offense when I recently did a comic about someone named Stu.
Now, let's look at the cartoons I've been hiding behind for the past week.
Isn't their matching climbing gear adorable?
When I turned in this batch of comics, I spelled the chimp's name as "Cheetah." JB, my tireless editor asked me if it should be spelled without the final "h," and we both spent a fair amount of time researching the correct spelling.
The character never appeared in the Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan books, so that was a dead end.
Credits for the 1932 film Tarzan the Ape Man used Cheeta, who was played by a chimp named Jiggs. Articles in The Washington Post and People Magazine referred to the animal character as Cheetah, as did The New York Times, in the animal's 2012 obituary.
A photo from the funeral only muddied the waters.
The box of ashes is marked Cheetah, and the memorial card says Cheeta.
We decided to go with Cheeta, as credited in the 1932 film. I think that variant looks more like a name anyway.
The poor fellow's only half-awake.
I shuffled more than two dozen titles while working out this gag.
The seersucker jumpsuits are for the summer months, of course. You can tell it's summertime by the sheriff's mint julep.
These two are known associates of the Roget Gang.
The strip layout is aesthetically satisfying in its own way.
I wrote this gag in August after a certain despicable political figure tried to downplay outrageous undemocratic comments he made as mere "thought experiments." It sounded like something a lazy high schooler might try to pull.
Since then, that same character has spouted countless repugnant ideas and proposals.
Sometimes a "mask" is just a beard and eyeliner.
This Week's Spokesmodel
Daria S., who received a Bizarro tee as a birthday gift from her husband Richard says, "On a gorgeous autumn day, my jazz pickle and I take in the sights of Saint John, New Brunswick on the shores of the Bay of Fundy."
Bizarro Jazz Pickle, Pipe of Ambiguity, and Irön Bunnies öf Dööm shirts are available in assorted colors from the Comics Kingdom Bizarro Collection.
Thanks to Daria and Richard for sharing this delightful photo. If you’d like to be a Bizarro fashion model, send your picture and a comment to WaynoCartoons(at)gmail(dot)com.
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 Bizarro and supporting the art of cartooning.
See you next week.
Bonus Track
The Ran-Dells: "Martian Hop"
Chairman Records, 1963
A Halloween hit from the archives of Bizarro Studios North. I don't think I've ever played the the B-side, but apparently it reveals the Martian hop story as a fabrication.
Lots of Bizarro Links
If you like what we do and appreciate that it comes to you free of charge, we encourage you to explore the following links.
