Jet Lag

I'm still recovering from an overwhelming weekend among colleagues at the National Cartoonists Society's 73rd annual Reuben Awards, which were held in Huntington Beach, California. The Pittsburgh NCS Chapter was well-represented at the awards this year.

For the third consecutive year, I had the honor of designing the t-shirt for the attendees' goodie bags.

Red carpet photos by Molly Stromoski

Pittsburgh cartoonist, writer and standup comedian Teresa Roberts Logan did a bang-up job as the first woman to emcee the Reuben Awards. Here's TRL (left) on the red carpet with Rhymes With Orange cartoonist Hilary Price.
 


Pittsburgh cartoonist, illustrator, and drummer extraordinaire Dave Klug won the Reuben Divisional Award in the new Variety Entertainment category. Dave couldn't be there, but he gave a short and sweet acceptance via video.

My friend Rob Rogers (another Pittsburgher) took home the award for Editorial Cartoons. Here he is on the red carpet being photobombed by yours truly.

My longtime pal Mary Fleener attended for the first time. Mary appeared on the NCS's first panel on underground comix, and was at the NCS Fest signing copies of her new graphic novel Billie the Bee. Everyone reading this blog should get a copy of the book. It's Mary's best work ever.

Previous Reuben winner Vince Dorse was nominated again for his online comic Untold Tales of Bigfoot. Vince is part of my hometown's varied and active cartoonist tribe.

Last weekend was also the kickoff of the first NCS Fest, which brought a ton of cartoonists to the streets of Huntington Beach. I snapped a photo with two MAD artists, Dan McConnell (left) and Sergio Aragonés (center), two of the friendliest fellows you could hope to meet.

I didn't get any awards, but a colleague who attended gave me a jar of Bizarro-esque candies. I think I'll hang onto these and decorate cupcakes for my birthday.

The week's cartoons pale in comparison to the excitement of the Reuben Awards, but we hope this batch as at least worthy of a Golden Chuckle Prize.

It can't smell worse than actual canned cat food. 

When I uploaded the image for this one, Dan Piraro told me I should have put a numeral two next to the signature, because I only had two Bizarro Secret Symbols in the panel (dynamite and pie). I was proud to have placed the K2 symbol where Dan missed it.

When the customer paid this gardener, he asked, "Do you have anything smaller?"

Sharp-eyed readers may have noticed the unique Piraro money changing hands. Actually, my Bizarro royalties are issued in this currency/

The Millennial Godfather refers to this as an emoji you can't refuse.

Courtship dances of some birds have evolved over the centuries.

Shakespeare slayeth the crowd. His upcoming special is called Tee-hee or Not Tee-hee.

Hans Christian Andersen was still working the bugs out of the tale at this stage.

View Dan Piraro's blog for more commentary and his latest Sunday page. Dan always takes advantage of the extra acreage in the Sunday section, creating beautifully rendered and highly detailed pages.

There's no bonus track this week. After the sleepless weekend at the Reuben Awards, I'm keeping things quiet around Bizarro Studios North.

See you next week!