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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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