Saturday, September 28, 2024

Almost Sort of Super

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 want to be a force for real good. In other words, I know that there are bad forces, forces that bring suffering to others and misery to the world, but I want to be the opposite force. I want to be the force which is truly for good.
John Coltrane

Monday, September 23 was the 98th anniversary of the birth of John William Coltrane. He left this plane at the age of forty, and he recorded his best-known work over a short period of twelve years.

Fortunately for us, he was recorded extensively in those twelve years, and his large body of work is endlessly inspiring.

Do yourself a favor and check out some of Coltrane's many recordings. He was a musical explorer and innovator, and his vast catalog is a treasure.

He made the world a better place.


Today's pipe pic is quite special, and I'm grateful to our friend Becky B. for sending us this family photo.



Becky shared this story:

When a teenage girl in a romantic phase, I once asked my mother if she recalled any specific moment in which, of my father, she thought, "I’d like to marry this guy." Alas, she could not recall ever having had such a moment. But she added that if ever she did think that, it probably would have been sometime when they were sailing.

 

Fast forward thirty years. When going through some of her personal effects, I found this circa 1940 photo. My sentimental self has decided that someone did, indeed, capture the moment that I had described. And, how extra special: While my memories of my father have his smoking limited to cigarettes, he’s sporting a pipe!

 

I hope that you enjoy its story.

 

Please pardon the partial coffee cup ring on the pic. My 1950s-1960s youth included a household of adults non-stop smoking & drinking coffee. But it was a home filled with music, literature (especially cartoons), lively conversations, and love. I was phenomenally blessed.


Notes like Becky's remind me again that Bizarro has a wonderful community of readers. By the way, I think the coffee ring adds to the photo's charm.


After remembering Coltrane, and reading that lovely memory from our friend, here are some of my silly drawings and words.


They aren't the flashiest, but their powers are impressive.



And before Artificial Intelligence, we copied people's art using tracing paper.


Shortly after I uploaded my "finished" week of gags, I noticed that I had undercounted the Secret Symbols in this panel and placed a "4" next to the signature. Once again I was saved by my hardworking editors.


The manbaby in Thursday's panel is dressed like Oswald "Stinky" Davis, a character from The Abbott and Costello Show, portrayed by comedic actor Joe Besser. He was known for whiny catchphrases like, "Not so harrrrrd!" and, "You crazy, you!"

After Shemp Howard died in 1955, Besser spent a couple years as the "Third Stooge," playing a variation of Stinky in adult clothing.

Besser had a clause in his Three Stooges contract that prohibited "being hit excessively." Because he was already a featured film performer when he joined the Stooges, he was paid more than Moe Howard and Larry Fine.

Besser is one of the less popular Stooges, but in fairness, the mighty Shemp was a hard act to follow.


I do a lot of caveman gags and enjoy drawing them. This one was a bonus, because I found an unusual angle on the "evolving fish" cartoon trope, and could do it without actually drawing a fish making the move to dry land.

I usually place the strongest gag of the week in the Friday slot, and this one was my favorite by far.


Apologies to people named Stu. I'm sure you've heard jokes made about your name before. I meant no disrespect by creating this panel.


In fact, I only did it because it was an easy one to convert to the strip layout.

Self-Promotion


We haven't received any photos of readers wearing Bizarro t-shirts this week, so I'm forced to use a hotel room selfie.




I was a little excited here because I was wearing one of the first Irön Bunnies shirts to make it out into the world.


Get Yours! All three Bizarro tees, available in various colors, can be ordered from the Comics Kingdom Shop. 


If you’d like to be a Bizarro spokesmodel, send your picture (and a testimonial if you like) to WaynoCartoons(at)gmail(dot)com.


By sending your photo, you permit us to share it online. Readers will be identified by first name only. Whether you send a picture or not, we truly appreciate your purchase of Bizarrowear.


Please don't make me take another one of myself.



That wraps up yet another week of cartoon shenanigans.


Thank you for reading Bizarro and supporting the art of cartooning.


See you next week.



Bonus Track

Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
"In a Sentimental Mood"
From the LP, Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
Impulse Records, 1963



The first thing I noticed upon hearing this collaboration many years ago was the interplay between Coltrane's saxophone and Ellington's piano. After the fourth or fifth time I listened, I was floored by the complex, shifting rhythm patterns of drummer Elvin Jones. 

The quality of this YouTube video may not be up to snuff, and I recommend listening in the highest fidelity format available to you.

Since we opened with a nod to Coltrane's birthday and the lovely sentiments of our friend's photo of her parents, this recording seemed fitting.


A Bounteous Bunch of Bizarro Baubles 


  

8 comments:

Saturday, September 21, 2024

The Wind Chirps Mary

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

For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise.
Benjamin Franklin

Ben uttered these wise words at age 81 when he spoke at the 1787 Constitutional Convention.

The ability (or willingness) to consider new information is apparently not present in a significant portion of our population. 

A few weeks ago, at the annual meeting of the National Cartoonists Society, I was reminded how fortunate I am to be part of a diverse, accepting arts community. However, more than half of that community is already seeing their basic human rights being stripped away by a power-mad minority without empathy or compassion. And it could get a lot worse.

As a gag cartoonist dealing with jokes, absurdity, and quirks of human behavior, I generally leave political commentary to my much more informed and able colleagues in the editorial cartooning field. I know our readers don't come here for political opinions. 

But I'm also a human being and am appalled by the hate, bigotry, misogyny, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and dishonesty we see in the political arena every day. 

It's not a case of "they all lie." Not by a long shot.

To keep this intro as brief as possible, I'll simply mention that some of my favorite political cartoonists are Dave Whamond, Ann Telnaes, Mike Luckovich, Mike Peters, Rob Rogers, Peter Kuper, and Jen Sorensen, in case it's not clear where my sympathies lie.

Oh, and a request: Please try to be like Ben.

Now, I'll get back to trying to provide an entertaining break from the horrors of the twenty-four-hour news cycle.


Today's upstanding pipe pic was submitted by Michael K., who snapped it at Victory General Store in Stamford, NY. It's actually a bud vase.



Michael describes the shop as "fun and funky," and adds:
Like a lot of these villages and hamlets in the Catskills, the stores come and go. Victory has no telephone listed online and no e-mail address. But it's a cute little place filled with things like pipes that are not pipes.
You're right, Michael! This is indeed a pipe that's not a pipe. Thanks for taking a picture and sharing it.


On to the funny stuff.



This cartoon is a work of fiction, created to set up a punning caption. We like the friendly people in our cool little neighborhood.




Union members are known to meet in underground headquarters. This panel is the first of two entomological gags this week.


Surprisingly, the largest Secret Symbol in this panel proved to be the last one most people spotted. We received many nice comments from readers who fondly recall spending hours assembling cassette compilations.


Side note: Today's newsletter will include a digital "mixtape" consisting entirely of items from my personal record collection.




We followed an insect joke and a musical gag with a musical insect gag. This one got plenty of love from readers, too.


I vaguely recall reading an article about converting the age of various animals to human years a couple of months ago but I've been unable to locate it. It made enough of an impression for me to write a gag, so I'm grateful to have seen it, wherever it appeared.


The strip version shows some additional beers, including a little shout-out to my good pal Jim Horwitz, and his online comic, Watson, which I heartily recommend.


That's Watson's title character on the package of Arf Ale.


A word from the real victim?

The children are our future, if we don't wreck everything for them.

As Fit As a Pickle


Bizarro reader Marbel C. strikes a heroic pose in his official Jazz Pickle tee, and says "Great shirt! Thanks!"



Thank YOU, Marbel! We appreciate you ordering a shirt and sharing your photo.


Shameless Plug: All three Bizarro tees, available in various colors, can be ordered from the Comics Kingdom Shop. 


If you’d like to be a Bizarro spokesmodel, send your picture and a comment to WaynoCartoons(at)gmail(dot)com.


By sending your photo, you permit us to share it online. Readers will be identified by first name only. Whether or not you send a picture, we truly appreciate your purchase of Bizarrowear!



That's the blog for this week. Pardon my opening sermon, but this election is important for the future of all of us.


Thank you for reading Bizarro and supporting the art of cartooning.


See you next week.



Bonus Track

Cliff Edwards: "I'll See You in My Dreams"
Columbia Records, 1930


Cliff Edwards, also known as Ukulele Ike, provided the voice of Jiminy Cricket in the Disney cartoons. I'd enjoy hearing an impressionist perform a Hendrix song in Edwards's voice, with ukulele accompaniment.


Your Many Bizarro Options


  

20 comments:

Saturday, September 14, 2024

I Shot the Serif

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


Greetings, friends. 

Today's post kicks off with an ursine pipe pic courtesy of Bizarro reader Kurt B., who took the photo while vacationing in the Great Smoky (Smoking?) Mountains.


Nineteen painted fiberglass bear statues are placed around Cherokee, North Carolina. This one is titled Sequoyah Syllabeary and was painted by Charles Saunooke.


A big Bizarro thank you to Kurt for the photos and for taking time during his vacation to send them to us.



No bears, wildlife, or domestic animals were harmed in the making of this week's Bizarro cartoons.



Not to be confused with the later pharaoh, King Tsk-Tsk.



A person appointed by the government to advise on and coordinate policy in the area of airline security might be referred to as the country's TSA Tsar.


Wednesday's gag was a bit of an inside joke, but I think the concept is clear, even for those who aren't in the biz.



The trickiest aspect of this panel and strip was positioning the woman's eye to be looking at the guy's word balloon.


L-R: Panel, Strip


A counterclockwise rotation of eleven degrees did the trick. Sometimes, we do use math in our adult lives!



What's particularly galling is that the bird learned to say, "I'll probably outlive you by decades."


Don't you just hate music that's been processed through AutoTwang?


The Forest Service dress code was the subject of intense contract negotiations.


Order Up!


Our friend Chef Sam says the Bizarro Jazz Pickle tee is "my new favorite shirt!"



Looking swell, Sam! Thanks for grabbing a shirt and for the longtime friendship and support (I see three of my poster designs on the wall there.)


All three Bizarro tees, available in various colors, can be ordered from the Comics Kingdom Shop. 


If you’d like to show off your good taste in clothing, send your picture to WaynoCartoons(at)gmail(dot)com.


By sending your photo, you permit us to share it online. Readers will be identified by first name only. Whether or not you send a picture, we truly appreciate your purchase of Bizarrowear!



With that, we close out another edition of this ol' blog.


Thank you for reading Bizarro and supporting the art of cartooning.


See you next week.


PS: Make sure you're registered to vote!



Bonus Track

The Bonzo Dog Band: "Mister Slater's Parrot"
from the LP, Keynsham
Liberty Records, 1969


I'll take any opportunity to share music by the Bonzo Dog Band, and since I featured a parrot this week, I had to include this oddball number. The Bonzos have been on my mind lately because Madfish Music will soon release a definitive box set collection. I'm going to ask for one when I write to Santa.


A Hunka Hunka Burnin' Bizarro


  

12 comments: