This is the weekly dispatch from Bizarro Studios North, where I have been writing and drawing the Monday through Saturday Bizarro comics since 2018. My partner and friend Dan Piraro created Bizarro in the late twentieth century and continues to do the Sunday comic from Rancho Bizarro in Mexico.
Wayno
Ninety-eight percent of the people who get the magazine say they read the cartoons first and the other two percent are lying.
David Remnick, Editor of The New Yorker
David Remnick, Editor of The New Yorker
If you're reading today's blog post, congratulations on making it safely through another Friday the 13th. Whether or not David Remnick of The New Yorker actually made the statement quoted above, there's an element of truth in it. I can't imagine picking up a copy of the magazine and not reading all of the cartoons first.
Readers love cartoons, and cartoonists love making them. Sectors of the publishing world have a more complicated relationship with the art form, seeming to believe that all cartoons are interchangeable and that they're worth having, but not necessarily worth paying for. That's become the case with all writing, music, art, etc., which is now lumped together as "content."
Editorial cartoonists have to contend with more in the way of suppression (and worse) than those of us who deal in non-political gags. I found the Remnick quote on the Instagram account of the nonprofit Cartoonists Rights Network. They define their mission as follows:
Cartoonists Rights is dedicated to fostering a global community of cartoonists, advocating for the protection of their human rights, and providing support for the defense of those facing threats as a result of their work.
With the rise in our country of legislated censorship, whitewashing of history, organized disinformation, and embrace of totalitarianism, we need our editorial cartoonists more than ever, and an organization like Cartoonists Rights is doing valuable work.
Coincidentally, today's pipe pic is an illustration from a recent issue of The New Yorker.
This striking image was created by the Lithuanian illustrator Karolis Strautniekas to accompany a review of George Orwell's Animal Farm, which originally ran in 1946.
I reread Animal Farm a couple of years ago, and its closing lines still resonate:
The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
The latest Bizarro cartoons have no overtly political content, but we hope they serve as moments of relief from the horrible news here and around the world.
Market research is not without its pitfalls.
We carefully weighed whether we should run a cartoon about children being eaten, and decided that if it was good enough for the Brothers Grimm, it was good enough for us.
I've done quite a few gags about ghosts, and this isn't my first pizza-related ghost cartoon. I did that back in July:
I'm not sure why I sometimes draw "sheet ghosts" with arms and sometimes without them. I guess I draw arms when the spirit moves me.
This inanimate object joke triggered my after-the-fact self-editor. Seeing it today, I wonder if I should have edited the text, for length and comedic effect, like so:
This might have worked better. Verbal economy is usually desirable, and this has the added benefit of implying that something happened just before the scene we see. The published version explains what happened, perhaps unnecessarily.
Second-guessing oneself is an occupational hazard.
While doing research for this panel, I learned that the arcade game is spelled Whac-a-Mole, with no letter k.
I also cheated in the drawing, since the arcade game doesn't actually include anything resembling the primitive wooden mallet in the comic. The actual implement is sort of a plush bludgeon. A pludgeon, perhaps?
That comprises your Minimum Weekly Requirement of Bizarro. I hope it went down well, and has the intended effect.
Thanks for joining us.
Bonus Track
R. Dean Taylor
"There's a Ghost in My House"
V.I.P. Records, 1967
"There's a Ghost in My House"
V.I.P. Records, 1967
Early last year, Bizarro reader David J. shared a pipe pic of Canadian singer/songwriter/music producer R. Dean Taylor, which we featured in the blog.
David sent me a link to this R. Dean Taylor song a few days ago. As with many of his other compositions, he co-wrote it with Motown's star songwriting team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland.
The record didn't get much attention in the U.S., but in the mid-70s it became a Northern Soul dance floor hit in the UK. In the 1980s, cover versions were recorded by The Yachts, B.E.F., The Very Things, and even The Fall.
The record didn't get much attention in the U.S., but in the mid-70s it became a Northern Soul dance floor hit in the UK. In the 1980s, cover versions were recorded by The Yachts, B.E.F., The Very Things, and even The Fall.
It's not exactly a Halloween song, referring instead to a metaphorical ghost conjured from memories of a lost romantic partner. Sonically, it's a catchy, driving record with that distinctive late 1960s Motown sound.
Thanks again to David J, our resident RDT expert.
Even sheet ghosts should be allowed a little 'armless fun
ReplyDeleteBlimey!
DeleteWhenever I see a mallet I think of smashing watermelons. Thanks to comedian Gallagher!
ReplyDeleteMy apologies for making you think of Gallagher.
DeleteGreat set. The spoiled children one reminded me of this cartoon, the 2nd in the set from 2010. I cut it out and fridged it till it wilted irrevocably.
ReplyDeletehttps://bizarrocomic.blogspot.com/2010/11/sexy-children-dogs.html?m=1
Best wishes with Charlie H's rights.
Thanks! Oh yes, I'd forgotten about that one of Dan's!
DeleteThanks for the RD Taylor info re: previous compositions by this talented Canuck(Canadian): “Indiana wants me” and “Love Child”… they were/are really good songs.
ReplyDeleteAnd the older “trick or treater” postcard from 2012 is priceless.
Hope we don’t drop to single digits anytime soon, per your previous RD Taylor blog…
Thanks for your always enjoyable blog, Wayno!
Thank YOU for the kind words.
DeleteYes, RDT was a significant figure in pop music history.
We're having a pleasant Autumn day here in Hollywood Gardens, and went on a nice long walk through the neighborhood.
I live in Arizona and I can say with 100% certainty that there are indeed Cardinals here. We see them in the back yard all the time. (The avian variety, not the grown men playing a child's game or the Mitre wearing sort)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the data from the field. All of the old animal habitat and growing region maps have probably been rendered obsolete by humanity's tamperings, and I appreciate the update.
DeleteGlad you get to see those lovely birds!