Saturday, November 16, 2024

Tangled Up in Blues

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

Seems to me it ain't the world that's so bad, but what we're doing to it, and all I'm saying is: see what a wonderful world it would be if only we'd give it a chance. Love, baby, love. That's the secret.
Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong is America's most influential musician. I love his music, but I admit to going out of my way to avoid hearing "What a Wonderful World." The song makes many people happy, and there's nothing wrong with that, but it's not for me.

I steered away from the record for so long that I only recently learned that the words quoted above are taken from a spoken introduction added to the 1967 recording in 1970.

Armstrong's role as a civil rights leader and advocate was underrecognized in his lifetime and is often forgotten today. He was well aware of injustices in the world, including those he suffered personally, and he used his art, fame, and popularity to work for change.

Music is one of my daily requirements, and it inspires me as an artist. Armstrong's music is high on my list. The words of his spoken intro resonate today as we process the realization that fifty percent of people who voted did so in support of an ideology based on hate. 

Maybe he was ahead of his time on the concept of manifestation through visualization, and he described what he "saw" as possibilities.  

Louis's speech continues:

If we loved each other, we'd solve many more problems. And then this world would be gasser.

Thanks, Pops. We need to remember that. 

Although I'm still not crazy about that song, I now understand its intent differently and can appreciate it in a fresh context.



Today's pipe pic was captured in the wild by Bizarro reader David S.



Here's a zoomed-in view:



David writes:

I have been a fan of Bizarro for years and just wanted to say how much I enjoy your work, blogs and emails. I just came back from a vacation in Sicily and, while wandering around the dock in Palermo, I noticed this boat and thought it might count as a pipe picture even if it is somewhat non-traditional

The boat's name is somewhat mysterious. My Italian is limited, but the word for a tobacco pipe is pipa, and Pippo is a person's first name.


Whatever is behind the name, I tip my hat to David for the calming and colorful photo.



Now, let's review our latest cartoons because (to paraphrase Bob Dylan) the only thing I know how to do is to keep on keepin' on.



Merlin missed the meeting, but he sent an automatic out-of-castle reply.


Bruce Wayne is a wealthy philanthropist, industrialist, and literalist.


The little guy is going places at Reaper, Inc.


There's still spice in their relationship.


A helium tank is also handy when telemarketers call. 


"We carry the carcass, so you don't have to!"

Shameless Promotions Department



Following on last year's Cowboys & Clowns wall calendar, we're pleased to present the 2025 Bizarro Animal Instincts calendar.

Every month, we highlight an animal-themed cartoon from the Bizarro archives (Bizzarchives?), featuring the work of Dan Piraro and yours truly.

They're available at the Comics Kingdom shop.

Here endeth the commercial.



Thank you for reading and supporting the cartoon arts.


I apologize for the political content this week. I know you don't come here for that, and I generally try to stay away from it, but it's part of our daily lives, and sometimes, it creeps in, particularly when processing unpleasant realizations. People I admire and care about are already being affected negatively, and it makes me sad and angry.


See you next week with more cartoons and a fresh pipe pic.


Bonus Track

Lou Donaldson: "Alligator Boogaloo"
Blue Note Records, 1967


Lou Donaldson died last week at age 98. "Alligator Boogaloo" featured a young George Benson and the great organist Dr. Lonnie Smith.

Bunches of Bizarro Booty


  

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Saturday, November 09, 2024

Been There, Dumped That

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


  

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Saturday, November 02, 2024

What the Dickens?

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!


  

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