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
Detail and texture have a reason for existing beyond just my taste; they flatter wear and erosion. A flat block of concrete looks worse every day it exists. A carved form looks better because the patterns of erosion it undergoes outline the carving.
Brian Eno
I recently began reading A Year With Swollen Appendices: Brian Eno's Diary (1995), and finding it even more enjoyable than I'd anticipated. Eno is one of the smartest and most interesting people in the arts. He's an original thinker adept at writing about his art in an entertaining voice.
The quote above comes from one of the book's many appendices. In a letter to a friend, Eno expresses his disdain for modern buildings with solid glass exteriors. The erosion analogy resonated with me because I felt a similar antipathy toward digital art around that same time.
By the mid-1990s, I knew I'd have to start using Photoshop for my illustration and comics work, if not to draw and color the art, at least to deliver it electronically. I resisted because I hated the slick digital images I saw everywhere. That first wave of digitally created art was too sterile and "perfect" for my taste—it reminded me of certain over-rendered airbrush illustrations of the 1970s and 80s.
Eventually, I realized that an artist can use Photoshop as a tool without being controlled by it. I could draw traditionally and after scanning the art, I could resize, rearrange, clean up, and color it without eliminating evidence of the human hand.
I love seeing the natural imperfections (Eno's "detail and texture") in an enlarged scan of a drawing.
I employ a tiny fraction of Photoshop's capabilities in my comics and artwork. If the program is a giant warehouse of tools, I'm getting by with a screwdriver, a ruler, and a utility knife, and I'm usually (relatively) happy with the results. Either way, I know it's my own and not the result of soulless bots scraping and stealing the work of others.
A few weeks back, my middle brother sent me a Fred MacMurray pipe pic, and this week, the youngest of us three sent me a photo he took at an art museum.
He even included this handy information.
Today, I tip my hat to baby brother for spotting this cubist work and sending it my way.
We now present the most recent Bizarro comics, with all imperfections intact.
We kicked off the week with my latest salute to surrealist René Magritte, who inspired the Pipe of Ambiguity.
Tuesday's gag has that "ewe factor."
This was not intentionally timed to coincide with any real-life high-profile criminal proceedings, although a certain case in the news is proving to be a hell of a journey.
Here we segue from self-incrimination to an interesting sort of self-awareness.
The familiar depiction of Aladdin's lamp has always reminded me of a fancy little teapot, and I used that resemblance for a bit of visual misdirection in Friday's gag.
I dig the beat writers and the music they inspired, while also enjoying mass culture's warped reflection of the beat generation, as evidenced by this gag.
The "low ceiling" of the strip layout has an appropriately claustrophobic vibe.
Bonus Track
Tom Waits: "Underground" From the album Swordfishtrombones Island Records, 1983
Swordfishtrombones was a turning point for Waits, one of several in his long ongoing career. He began to move beyond the boozy beatnik hipster persona and more conventional style of his earlier records.
Although the albums that preceded it were rather weird in their own right, the songwriting and arranging became more experimental and idiosyncratic with this release.
More Bizarro for Your Hungry Eyes
If you like what we do and appreciate that it comes to you free of charge, we encourage you to explore any or all of the following links.
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
I plan to be away from the studio and computer this weekend, enjoying spring weather and the company of fellow humans, so this post will stick to the basics. Which, of course, includes a pipe pic.
Last month I shared a photo from an eBay listing titled "German Toy Head with Pipe." I then searched the web for "German toy pipe," and was shocked by the number of hits it returned.
This character is described as a hedgehog from the 1970s.
Apparently pipe-smoking toys were a thing in Germany.
A Pleasant Surprise
I was notified on Sunday that I'm one of three finalists for a 2023 National Cartoonists Society Reuben Award in the Newspaper Panels Division.
My fellow nominees are Dave Blazek and Nick Galifianakis, and I’m honored to be named alongside these two excellent cartoonists.
NCS members voted this week, and the awards will be presented in San Diego in August. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and my expectations low.
I shared this news with subscribers to my weekly newsletter on Monday. If you'd like to read more behind-the-scenes stuff, you might consider checking it out. It's free and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Let's see if any of the week's Bizarro panels are award-worthy.
The Hemogoblin is a little-known beast from medical mythology. And yes, they usually wear Crocs.
"But do you know anyone who sells privacy screens?"
More than a few readers asked whether the Fish of Humility symbol appears in this panel. I didn't draw one, and it took me a while to see what they might be referring to. I'm guessing it was the flame on Liberty's torch. I can see why that could be mistaken for a fish tail. If you saw it as one, award yourself a point for finding an unintentional symbol.
We never deliberately put an incorrect number by the signature (except perhaps on April Fools' Day.) When that happens, it's an honest mistake by one of your mathematically challenged cartoonists.
I'm always grateful for readers who pay close attention to the details, even when they point out an error on my part.
I like this gag because the payoff is out of frame, and only appears in the reader's mind, and it happened in the past, so it's twice-removed from the scene we see.
In the strip layout, the character who speaks is also partly off-camera.
Fantasy football's got nothing on these make-believe musicians. If nothing else, they're dedicated to their craft.
Her alternate job title is Fair and Balanced Godmother.
That wraps up another batch of words and pictures from my Little Shop of Humor. Thanks for dropping by. Please come back next week for more of this kind of thing.
Bonus Track
Television: "Venus" From the album Marquee Moon Elektra Records, 1977
I was fortunate enough to see Television perform in my hometown twice. The first time, in 1977, they were the opening act for Peter Gabriel, and my recollection is that the audience gave them a poor reception. When they returned in 2015, they were properly welcomed.
Television's signature sound was highlighted by the intertwining guitars of Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd.
Even More Bizarro Stuff for You
If you like what we do and appreciate that it comes to you free of charge, we encourage you to explore any or all of the following links.
