Creepy Crawly

Last week, I found my name on the Wikipedia page for underground cartoonist Willy Murphy (1936-1976). 

Murphy certainly influenced much of my early-1990s work, and still I enjoy and admire his comix. Also, it was nice to be mentioned alongside Paul Mavrides and Gilbert Shelton.

Willy Murphy combined a wacky drawing style with hilarious and smart writing. He was a sharp observer and critic (as well as a member) of the 70's counterculture. His best material was collected in the two issues of Flamed-Out Funnies. They're available online at reasonable prices, and are well worth reading. 

I'm not sure that Murphy's influence is evident in this week's Bizarro gags, but here they are anyway.

Are nursery rhymes designed to brainwash children to be happy conformists? This disgruntled dad thinks so. Maybe he's right, but maybe he just shouldn't read to his kid on Mondays.

Fun fact #1: We never pass up a chance to use a word like "blowholes."

Fun fact #2: If this were a group of crows, it would be called a murdercast.

The Bluebird of Happiness may be more popular, but the Grackle of Melancholia is the more common feathered emoji.

By lucky coincidence, I wrote this gag for the week that includes Take Your Child To Work Day, a subject I've poked fun at in the past. 

Like many fellow cartoonists, my feline offspring accompany me to work every day.

Eventually, he'll realize that the Tail Fairy is just a fairy tale.

The poor guy's still got so much more to take.

Don't forget to read Dan Piraro's blog for his take on this week's gags and to admire his latest Bizarro Sunday page.


Bonus Track

"Boris the Spider," written by the Who's bass player, John Entwistle. 

Pete Townshend noted that this was Jimi Hendrix's favorite Who song.