May I Have Another?

Greetings once again from Hollywood Gardens, PA, the home of Bizarro Studios North. 

We're about halfway through the summer season, and the cautious optimism of Independence Day is already giving way to a possible resumption of existential dread. We'd like to offer a brief, harmless escape from the raging lunacy of the world by presenting our latest cartoon output for your enjoyment.

But first, here's this week's pipe pic. It's a portrait of novelist and screenwriter Raymond Chandler, and was brought to our attention by a regular Bizarro reader named Andréa.

Chandler created hardboiled Detective Philip Marlowe, who appeared in a series of novels, including The Big Sleep; Farewell, My Lovely; and The Long Goodbye. Many photos show Chandler with a pipe, and this one is a particularly striking composition. Thanks to Andréa for the alert.

Chandler became a writer at age thirty-four, after losing his job as an oil company executive in the Great Depression, which should serve as an inspiration to all of us late-blooming escapees from the corporate world.

Some gems of wisdom apply across the universe.

I enjoyed drawing a pair of Klein bottles in this panel. According to Wikipedia, a Klein bottle is "a non-orientable surface: it is a two-dimensional manifold against which a system for determining a normal vector cannot be consistently defined." Who am I to argue with that? 

I first heard the term mentioned on the Firesign Theatre's 1972 album, Dear Friends.

The album includes a parody of sci-fi adventure serials, titled Mark Time! In the segment, an excitable character voiced by Philip Proctor proclaims:

Prince Arcturus has us by the thrusters! With you as bait, half the Federation Navy's gonna come blastin' in, and the Prince’ll have 'em trapped like Mars flies in a Klein Bottle! 

I've mentioned here before that the Firesign Theatre had a profound effect on my sense of the absurd, when as a misfit high schooler, I listened to their seminal Columbia LPs countless times on my cheapo Lloyd's brand stereo console.

Tuesday's panel showed a highly motivated consumer from the olden days, when people worked together in offices.

Newspapers that publish Bizarro in its strip format received one of our infrequent sideways strips, which we've rotated here for easier reading.

The fun-loving monastics of Alpha-Omega House love to initiate new members. Many of our readers noted that the third brother from the left was modeled after John Belushi. In fact, all four characters were loosely based on actors who appeared in Animal House. Left to right, the inspirations are Bruce McGill ("D-Day"), Stephen Furst ("Flounder"), Belushi ("Bluto"), and James Widdoes ("Hoover").

A word of advice: Don't argue semantics with a beast who can lock its jaws on your forearm.

Our second cinematic homage of the week references one of Gene Wilder's most beloved roles, and reveals the origin of his surname.

To be fair, the cleric was using the Penance app to keep things fair for all parishioners.

That's the recap for this week, dear friends. Stop by Dan Piraro's blog for more comics commentary and other edification. While you're there, pause to admire his latest magnificent Sunday page.

Take care of yourselves, and each other.

Bonus Trailer

Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
Starring Robert Mitchum as Philip Marlowe

Note: Many YouTube videos are unavailable outside the USA. On some mobile devices, you must select View Web Version on this blog to see the video link.

Bonus Painting

Robert Mitchum (2007)
Acrylic on Masonite, 12" x 12"