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
Humor is basically a cognitive process, and it's a creative process not only on the part of the cartoonist but on the part of the viewer.
Robert Mankoff
Bob Mankoff is a great cartoonist who was The New Yorker's Cartoon Editor for twenty years. He's a deep thinker who cares about cartoons and is also funny as hell.
Mankoff makes a solid point about the creative aspect of reading cartoons. When we view a cartoon, we often have a microsecond of disorientation, a feeling that something doesn't quite make sense. It's only when we discover a connection to resolve a seeming contradiction that we get the gag. We have to make the same creative leap that the cartoonist did when constructing the gag. That's the type of readers cartoonists treasure and appreciate.
Less appealing are anonymous scoundrels who crop out the artist's name and, worse, try to "improve" a cartoon or twist it to their own purposes by clumsily altering the art and text. It's maddening, and there's generally nothing we can do about it. Digital images are too easy to copy and mess with.
My pre-Bizarro comic panel, WaynoVision, is still in reruns on GoComics. A wordless panel from 2016 recently came up in the rotation, and I happened to read the latest comments on it. As regular readers know, I find it tougher to convey a joke using no words, so this was a gag I was particularly happy with. Not long after it was originally published, I started seeing it on social media with a caption added, which I hated. Whoever did it made the cartoon a dumb reference to a popular movie.
The gag's recent appearance prompted a few comments, including this one:
It’s the same comic from a few months ago, just missing the caption, which was great.
Although I try to avoid responding to online comments, I foolishly posted a reply:
This cartoon is my work, published here on GoComics precisely as I intended—with no dialog or caption. Several years ago, someone copied the image and added a caption. That unauthorized, altered version periodically circulates on the web.
Unfortunately, this sort of thing happens to cartoonists every day.
Of course, another commenter missed my point completely, adding:
Unfortunate, but never the less [sic] it is a good caption.
I dropped the discussion at that point for the sake of my mental health.
The incident at least reminded me that we at Bizarro Studios are fortunate in that the vast majority of our readers are the kind who appreciate and respect cartoonists' creative work.
Instead of pouting about people who don't get it (willfully or otherwise), I'll take the opportunity to thank all of you for being outstanding citizens of the cartoon community.
Bizarro reader Vince C. found this amusing shot of film director Steven Soderbergh.
The photo is credited to "Peter Andrews," which turns out to be a pseudonym Soderbergh uses when he is the cinematographer on films he also directed to circumvent some rule of the Writer's Guild.
Thanks for the terrific find, Vince, and for its interesting backstory.
Here's a review of the latest Bizarro gags in their original, authorized form.
Wouldn't it be nice if such a thing existed?
I enjoyed configuring it for the strip layout, which reinforced the idea of vertical motion.
As a sibling, I would have loved to have this superpower.
Pity the rare Artificial Intelligence worker who has a conscience.
In a case of cartoons imitating life, this is a scene I witnessed in line at a local cafe. All I did was draw it to the best of my ability and a smart-aleck caption.
A lesser-known battle taking place in the DC comics universe.
Saturday's panel features a rare appearance of the Arrow of Vulnerability Secret Symbol.
Thanks for checking out my ramblings and scribblings. I'll have another fresh batch for you in a week.
Eno: "Driving Me Backwards"From Here Come the Warm Jets
Island Records, 1974
Brian Eno's first solo effort was released in February 1974, after he left Roxy Music and before he discovered/invented ambient music. I bought it the day it was released, not knowing what to expect, but sure it would be something out of the ordinary. It's still a favorite and still out of the ordinary.
A Lovely Bunch of Bizarro
Wayno, thanks as always for your thoughtful blog posts. Your 12-3 panel reminded me of my favorite song as a young boy. It was the B-side to the novelty hit "They're Coming To Take Me Away" by Napolen XIV which played the A-side in reverse. I took great pains to memorize the song and can still quote bits to people who think I'm sane otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI remember the “song” They’re coming to take me away”. The song has words that I still haven’t
Deleteforgotten all of these years later. I can literally remember half or more of the words. Maybe I was just nuts at the time.
John Hurlbut
I admire your youthful determination!
DeleteWayno, a song that a friend of mine listened to all the time, many years ago, and it became a favourite of mine also, is Dixie Chicken by Little
DeleteFeat. You probably have it.
John Hurlbut
Your blog has stimulated several different lines of thought and comments for me. I love the extra-meta psuedo-secret-symbol of the license plate 'No Pipe'.
ReplyDeleteDitto, and kudos on the extra-meta pseudo-secret comment.
DeleteThanks so much! That would be a weird and fun vanity license plate, wouldn't it?
Deletedidn't realize that Electric Cars need No Pipe
DeleteI hadn't thought about it before, but it's interesting that the Roman numerals on a grandfather clock are oriented as though the entity reading them were the clockworks pivot in the middle of the clock face, progressively turning toward each number. We humans accept this point of view, which we never personally experience, and learn to read the letters-as-numbers from all angles.
ReplyDeleteThat is odd! Thanks for getting my brain going on a Sunday with that observation.
DeleteI agree with you, that it is sad and disrespectful, when people remove the artist's and comic's names, when posting them. In one group that I follow, I add the comic's credits in the comments, along with a request not to do that.
ReplyDeleteVere, you are an upstanding netizen!
DeleteI agree that adding a caption to a comic created by someone else is a terrible thing to do. But it is inching toward creating a dialogue with the artist and the community that reads the comic. We just need to convince people to place their comments in the comments section, and not in the art, itself.
ReplyDeletePerhaps, but I think there are better ways to open a dialog.
DeleteThis batch of clever is one of your best ever, in my not-at-all humble opinion.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, Michael. I hope to keep improving little by little.
DeleteI recognized the subject of your Sketchbook Scribble right away!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteAlways up for you toons. Tray always make my day. 🙂
ReplyDeleteToo much political garbage. I'm out. And a good cartoon should stand on its' own. Secret symbols are not needed.
ReplyDeleteNow you're just repeating yourself, Bill.
DeleteApologies to all Gaetz lovers.
What? Political? Oof-da!
ReplyDeleteI also recognized MAGA loser Matt Gaetz right away. The only other person I thought of, after I thought of Gaetz, was an older Bevis. Bevis wouldn't wear eye makeup though.
ReplyDeleteNor would Bevis be a Botox user no doubt.
DeleteI have to say that you’ve outdone yourself again, as usual. Too many truths in comic form. If only there was a box with a button on it, saying “Press here to De-Escalate”. Your Grandfather clock has twice as many weights as mine. I wonder what they power? Also your Grandfather clock comic has a secret symbol in it that reminds me of the old say of “not being able to see the forest because of the trees”. Again, great detailed work. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteJohn Hurlbut
John! Thank you kindly for your generous comments. You made my day.
DeleteIn Secret Symbol Land, a shoe in use as an actual shoe (on someone's foot) does not count as a secret symbol. Following that logic the O2 in the digital clock display 9:O2 should not count. ... But who's counting?
ReplyDeleteAs usual, a great set of comics again this week.
Logic and cartoonists?
DeleteSeriously, you're probably right.
I wouldn't argue the point if you didn't count the O2!
The Brian Eno song seems to have a certain Captain Beefheart-ianess to it, imho. Seems like several different tunes playing simultaneously.
ReplyDeleteInteresting comparison! I'd never thought of that, but I can see what you mean.
Delete