Into the Woods

A few days ago, I uploaded the Bizarro files for the week of Monday, December 30. That closes out my second full year as Bizarro's daily cartoonist, and kicks off Year Three.

Preview of the New Year's Day 2020 panel

I can scarcely believe it's already been two years since Dan Piraro left the basement door unlocked, allowing me to sneak in and start displaying my work in the gallery he built nearly 35 years ago.

Writing and drawing a daily comic is the best job I've ever had, as well as the most challenging. I appreciate every reader, especially those who also follow the blog, or take time to send a note when they see a gag they particularly like (or dislike).

I hope to keep doing it for many years to come, in batches of six, one after the other.

Speaking of which, let's look over the latest six-pack.

We started off with a suggestive scene in the bar at Whole Foods. One waggish reader on Facebook commented that they'd now refer to their favorite sandwich as a "B.L. Threesome," which I must admit is rather catchy.

Joe intentionally created this signage as bait for self-styled grammarians.

Some readers outside the United States weren't familiar with the sloppy joe sandwich, an American invention consisting of ground meat mixed with various sauces and seasonings, and served on a hamburger bun.

According to Wikipedia, it's a descendant of the loose meat sandwich, created in Sioux City, Iowa in the 1930s. For more info from a true connoisseur of all types of "sangwidges," I refer you to my paisano Mark Zingarelli, and his comic gourmand, Eddie Longo.

It's not widely known that piñatas shaped like Saint Bernards leave behind airplane bottles of brandy.

Our favorite detail in the Halloween Day panel is the weapon in the evidence bag. 

Friday's wordless panel confirms the answer to an age-old question.

The strip version required some additional vegetation and shuffling of elements, but this layout flows pretty well.

We at Bizarro Studios assure our readers that no pumpkins were harmed in the making of these comics.

That wraps up the Halloween Week edition of Bizarro. Come visit us again any time.

Be sure to check out Dan Piraro's blog, which usually posts on Sunday or Monday, for more pithy commentary and other tasty treats.

Bonus Track

Our bonus track is Leon Russell's "Out in the Woods," from his 1972 LP Carney. In addition to its obvious arboreal theme, it has a perfectly spooky vibe for Halloween/Day of the Dead.



Although I've owned a copy of this record since my teens, I hadn't listened to it in many years, until I pulled it off the shelf in 2015 to make a "record head" photo (a time-consuming hobby I indulged in for a while). As I experimented with the staging and rejected multiple shots, I played the album, and it felt like a reunion with an old friend. In fact, I think I'll revisit it again today, as I start working on my next batch of cartoons.

"Carney" record head
Photographed at Bizarro Studios North 10/22/15