Saturday, June 08, 2024

Illogical Logic

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


Comedy is a way to bring logic to an illogical situation, of which there are many in everyday life.
Bob Newhart

I shared this observation in a talk I gave twelve years ago about my career up to that point, using it to illustrate an aspect of cartooning. It appeared on Bob Newhart's Twitter account, which allowed me to remark on how amusing it was that Mr. Newhart had a Twitter account.

While working on a new batch of Bizarro panels this week I realized that I'd already done one of them in 2018. The drawing was different but the dialogue was identical. I played around with it until I had written a new joke that worked with the image.

A lot of cartoon fans do this sort of puzzle-solving in cartoon caption contests. Readers are presented with a drawing that usually includes some unexpected element, and they look for a clever way to resolve the incongruity.

I don't always write that way, but it worked in this case, and I was reminded of the Newhart quote.


Last month, I featured a photo of philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre smoking a pipe. A blog reader spotted the image accompanying an article written by author Ursula K. LeGuin.

Our model this time around is LeGuin herself.

I don't know the photo's backstory. I found it on the web a while back, and it's been sitting in a digital file folder waiting to be shared with you.



Let's see how many illogical situations cropped up in Bizarro this week.


Her cookies are out of this world.


A couple of my favorite characters returned to Bizarro on Tuesday. They truly were made for each other.


The place is well-insulated and remarkably quiet.


It could also have read Clothes Captioned for the Fashion Impaired, but that wouldn't fit on one line.


Carny folk disparage this employee as a "Rent-a-Clown."


I sometimes leaf through my old sketchbooks to trigger ideas for gags. The Funland Security panel was in part inspired by this page from 1991. 

While applying Zip-A-Tone shading film to an illustration, I absent-mindedly stuck the scraps onto a blank sketchbook page. Later, I drew over the patterns. The shapes suggested a dispatcher's microphone and this image emerged. Thirty-three years later, it turned into something useful.

Inspiration can lurk anywhere.


We wrapped up with a silly snowy Saturday. The character on the right was modeled after the "grimacing face" emoji.


That concludes another week of illogical cartoon logic from your faithful ink monkey.

See you next week with more anomalous juxtapositions.



Bonus Track

Steve Young: "Broken Heart Insurance"
from the Broken Heart Insurance EP


My pal Steve Young just released his first EP of all original material, recorded in Nashville with the backing of some of the city's finest musicians. It contains the future hits "Fitted Sheets," "Breakfast," and more. 

Check it out!



Bizarro by the Bunch








   

6 comments:

  1. I remember reading years ago that Ursula K. LeGuin was a pipe smoker, but this is the first photo I ever saw of her with a pipe.

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    1. I didn't know that until I stumbled across the photo.

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  2. Loved "Broken Heart Insurance" -- thanks!

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    1. Very cool. Steve is involved in quite a few great comedic projects.

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  3. Love the LeGuin pic. Really miss her, as she was one of my favorite authors.

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    1. Yes, she was ahead of her time!

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