Autumn arrived this week, and 2020 continued to deliver horrible news. We lost Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an inspiring and exemplary human being, and Ron Cobb, a great editorial cartoonist who went on to other careers as a film designer and director before retiring to Australia. We don't need any more reminders of the fragility of human life, not to mention democracy.
There's work to do, and important responsibilities to meet (please remember to vote, my friends!), but don't forget to allow yourself time for small pleasures. This week, I encountered a delightful notice posted near our home.
I think I've found a new rule to live by: No favorite houses to be favored.
Here's a look at our most recent comics. It's
our sincere hope that these daily cartoon offerings provide a moment of relief
or distraction from the avalanche of stressful events.
Note that these travelers are watched over by their chosen figure of worship, represented by a dashboard effigy. This explains why peanuts are part of their rites of communion.
My first sketch was based on a photo of a squirrel stuffing its face. My partner/editor, Dan Piraro, suggested that the cheeks should be twice as big, crowding the driver’s space. That helped deliver the gag, although it involved more brushwork on my part.
Also, who remembers buffets?
Postscript: The squirrel gag inspired a wonderful response. The 5-year-old daughter of aBizarro reader drew her own version of the characters, and added a second panel to the story. I'm pleased to share these works, with parental permission.
We now know that when squirrels are overstuffed, the sound they make is "BORP."
Tuesday's gag illustrates how a delicate surgical procedure can go wrong.
Creating the strip version was a little tricky, since the panel relies on vertical space, but we managed to reconfigure the image, albeit with a less dramatic spurt.
The text was inspired by a hilariously illiterate quote from a bigoted imbecile. His malapropism was reported in multiple publications, including one online rag sympathetic to his retrograde opinion, so I'm confident that it's exactly what he said.
Speaking of unique pronunciation, here's Wednesday's offering.
The final drawing is simply a cleaned-up version of the sketch. The hyphen in the caption is a subtle but crucial addition.
Horror comes in many flavors.
This should have run on Monday, which I just learned was King's birthday.
I enjoyed researching photos for the panel, and discovered some adorable pictures of the future novelist.
I combined elements of these two images for our Bizarro portrayal of little Stephen.
In a parallel dimension, King could have been cast in a 1960s sitcom.
As the saying goes, "Hyenas gonna hyena."
Sheltering in place has taught me that I can get by without a haircut for several months, but eyebrows are another matter.
Thanks for reading Bizarro, and for your thoughtful comments and emails. Be sure to visit Dan Piraro's blog for more discussion of recent cartoons and current events. While you're there, you can check out his newest Sunday Bizarro page, and read every episode of his surreal western graphic novel, Peyote Cowboy.
Bonus Track
Note: Some videos are not available outside the US
It's still 2020, for better or for worse, but we're celebrating a milestone here at the studio, as your humble scribbler has started producing comics for the New Year.
I recently uploaded a folder that includes the first gags of 2021. I paused for a moment to remind myself that it's the beginning of my fourth year as Bizarro's daily cartoonist. It continues to be the best gig I've ever had, and I plan to keep at it for the long haul, or until my last inking brush loses its bristles.
We have a surprise or two in store for next year, especially for readers who enjoy looking for the Secret Symbols each day. We'll have more to say about that in the coming months. Meanwhile, let's review the most recent output from Bizarro Studios North.
Storage can be an issue, and you can forget about the concept of personal space.
This meta gag was one of my favorites of the week, with the grumpy clerk apparently able to see the customer's talk bubble and read his mistakes.
Coincidentally, a few days before this cartoon was published, a tweet circulated, alleging that the Associated Press Stylebook had decided that "less" and "fewer" were now considered to be interchangeable.
This bogus claim was refuted by Mignon Fogarty, popularly known as Grammar Girl, a highly reliable source, and the host of one of my favorite podcasts.
It's not easy to apply eyeliner when those Arctic winds are howling
This is the Saharan Chihuahua Snake. Like its namesake canine, it perceives itself to be larger than it actually is.
On Friday we indulged in some absurd extrapolation, imagining a few pieces of animal-themed clothing.
My first draft attempted to show a person wearing these items, but I found it ti be unnecessarily wordy, and not very funny. I think the final version is more direct and more effective.
The familiar phrase "art imitates life" inspired this literal depiction. That's it for this batch. Be sure to visit Dan Piraro's blog to see what's in his thought balloon this week, and to view his latest Bizarro Sunday page. And don't forget to read the latest chapter in Dan's serial graphic novel Peyote Cowboy. Bonus Track
Note: Some YouTube videos are not available outside the US.
We had a minor heat wave in scenic Hollywood Gardens, PA, but on the drawing board at Bizarro Studios North, it was late December.
We've been drawing Santa Claus, snowmen, fir trees, and reindeer, which distracted us from the high temperatures. By the time this post is online, we'll be working on our first gags for 2021.
Returning to the recent past, here's a review of the week in Bizarro.
Cartoonists' brains are abnormally wired, but fortunately we have jobs that allow us to use our strange ideas. This one makes perfect sense, as long as you don't ask how a snake operates the steering wheel, pedals, and gear shift knob.
Everything came together when investigators realized that the kid who stole that pig wasn't the son of just any piper.
This gag generated tons of comments and sharing on social media. That response was gratifying, because while drawing it, I was cursing myself for doing a comic that had to show the underside of lobsters. As a good friend mentioned in a message, a lobster's mouth is "a mess of horrible appendages and flaps." My favorite detail in this one is the roving umlaut in the band's name. By the way, the song in question appeared on their second album, Tyranny and Crustacean.
Thursday's panel refers to the supposedly funny "I'm with stupid" t-shirt, which I've never seen on an actual person.
The animation industry has exploited this sailor's health issues for decades. At least today's gag reminds us to remember the composer Franz von Suppé.
When you work for a micromanager, sometimes it's fun to throw them a tiny bone.
That's the review for this week. Drop by again next Saturday for more behind-the-scenes stuff. And don't forget to visit Dan Piraro's blog, to see what's been on his mind, and to marvel at his latest widescreen Bizarro Sunday page.
Also, do not miss Dan's serialized web comic, Peyote Cowboy. It's a magical, surreal, dreamlike story, and the art and writing are stunning. Best of all, you can read it every week for free (although it'd be nice to send him some support via Patreon if you're enjoying the tale and want to help it to continue). Life Imitates Comics Recently, Bizarro-like imagery has been popping up during my non-working hours.
One of our favorite farm market vendors was offering beautiful tiny blueberries last weekend, and my extremely talented spouse used them in a rustic blueberry galette. As I was poised to slice it, I stopped, realizing that it reminded me of Bizarro's Pie of Opportunity.
That evening, we opened a bottle of wine to enjoy with our dinner, and its name looked as if it could have sprung from our comic universe. It was a tasty Spanish rosé, and I'll keep an eyeball peeled for more in the future. You can trust the K-Pi label. The Reuben Awards and NCS Fest go Virtual
Today, starting at 10 AM, the National Cartoonists Society will present the second annual NCS Fest and the 74th annual Reuben Awards. This virtual event is free and open to the public.
The Reuben Awards have always been presented at a private, members-only dinner, but this year, it's open for anyone to stream. The festival includes a full day of panel discussions, creator spotlights, and interviews.
The awards will be presented in five groups of categories throughout the day, wrapping up with the Cartoonist of the Year Award in the evening.
This year's nominees for Cartoonist of the Year are:
Although autumn officially begins on September 22, most people I know think of Labor Day weekend as the last gasp of summer. This year, who knows? Every day, week, and month since early March has to some extent passed as an indistinguishable blur. I'm not complaining. I realize how fortunate I am to have a gig where I'd be working from home anyway, and that nothing about my job as your cartoonist requires me to be in physical proximity to anyone outside of my household. The Labor Day holiday has, this year, added significance as we think about and try to honor honest working people. If you have groceries delivered, pick up a takeout dinner, or unpack a box of supplies that were brought to you by the postal service or another service, I encourage pausing to acknowledge the people who make these conveniences possible. I know I will. We're lucky to have a non-contact delivery system for our cartoons. Here's my weekly care package for all of you valued readers.
We began with our latest variation on a cartoon warhorse: a fly in a bowl of soup.
By the way, do you remember eating in a restaurant? Me neither.
A few friends and readers asked whether I based this comic on someone named Bobby Knight. I was barely aware of the name, and figured this was simply a normal part of American sports entertainment.
This type of swimwear is sometimes referred to as a tetrakini.
A scene from the PBS series, Law & Order: Camden Town.
This work in crayon and newsprint was recently discovered in the attic of a house in Pittsburgh's east end. As I've mentioned in the past, I enjoy doing photo research for the comic, although I apparently missed the boat by not drawing Bobby Knight on Tuesday.
Thanks to Google, I was able to find a decent image of an ancient baby food jar to use as a model for my drawing.
Maybe I should have made it a jar of banana purée.
I'm not judging anyone's individual dietary choices, simply using a currently popular method as a springboard for a joke about parent-child communication, or lack thereof. That's the output from Bizarro Studios North this week. We hope you chuckled once or twice, and that you'll come back next Saturday for more of these funny pictures with words.
Be sure to visit Dan Piraro's blog for his thoughts on these gags (and other, weightier topics), and to view his latest Sunday Bizarro. Recommended Reading
Dan "Diego" Piraro's amazing graphic novel, Peyote Cowboy, is being serialized online.
The first four episodes are up, and he'll add a new one every week. While you're there, you can sign up for a free email newsletter, and, if you choose, you can support Peyote Cowboy via Patreon. It's already a wild ride, and the story is just beginning. Bonus Track
