Short Back & Sides

Today's Bizarro is a bit of a breakthrough: the first completely wordless gag I've  published.

The overall composition of my sketch made it to the final version, with several small but very effective changes by Bizarro's creator, Dan Piraro.

Notably, Dan corrected my inversion of the classic crop circle look, where the design is made of flattened vegetation (or in our case, shorn locks). He also simplified the pattern so it's recognizable as a crop circle at tiny scale of today's newspaper comics. 

Electric shears make more sense than scissors, though perhaps I had old world (other-world?) craftsmanship in mind. Finally, Dan does a much more expressive job of showing the awkward angle required for our man to view his new 'do, and adds a look of consternation to his face.

Since this gag depends solely on the picture, with no supporting text, I spent more time than usual tuning up the sketch in order to sell it. I scrapped my first attempt at drawing the customer's head, and digitally pasted in the one shown above. I still like my barber's neckwear. In fact I have a habit of drawing bow ties on characters whenever possible.

If you enjoyed today's collaboration with Mister Piraro, please feel free to scan through our previous joint appearances, which are archived for your reading pleasure.

Today's bonus essay question: Does a wordless gag have a "writer?"