Saturday, January 18, 2025

Variations on a Theme

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


A cartoonist is someone who draws the same thing day after day without repeating himself.
Charles M. Schulz

When creating this week's Bizarro cartoons, I lived what Schulz meant. I'd scribbled a punning caption in my sketchbook and started riffing on the idea, eventually coming up with sixteen candidates for gags featuring a famous cinematic vampire.

I thought it might be an interesting experiment to attempt an entire week of structurally similar gags without being repetitious. If every panel were simply a drawing illustrating the caption, it would have quickly become tiresome. After discussing the idea with Dan Piraro, we decided each installment would need an additional layer of humor. That caused me to look at the ideas differently and helped me eliminate some and choose those with the potential for something besides the captions.

I hadn't planned to do a "theme week," but once I began working on these, I couldn't think about anything else and decided to go for it. After getting the Nosferatu jokes out of my system, I could write unrelated gags in subsequent weeks.

Your thoughts on this weird detour are welcome.



My colleague Jonathan Lemon (a cartoonist and former UK pop star) sent me this absurdist drawing by Albert Hurter, a "sketch artist" who worked for Walt Disney Productions from 1931 until he died in 1942.




Hurter wasn't an animator but was hired to spend his days drawing whatever he felt like. His sketches served to inspire Disney animators. He also worked as a designer on many Disney films, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Pinocchio.

Thanks to Jonathan for the pipe pic and the education. Although I wasn't familiar with Hurter's name or his work, I enjoyed learning about him.



If you can stand it, here are the Vampyre Week Bizarro panels.



I chose to run this one first because the caption sounds nearly identical to the name Nosferatu, and it sets the tone for the remaining gags.


This was the first one I wrote, triggering the avalanche of wordplay in my head.


I was hesitant to do "Nosferatoon." I cringe when I hear cartoons referred to as "toons," and I dislike the prefix or suffix "toon." It grates on me as trivializing and infantilizing the art form. However, I found it appropriate here, as the character is meant to be ridiculous. And he was fun to draw.



Clearly, this skull was simply an orthodontic oddity since vampires can't be photographed (unless X-rays are an exception). Also, when they're killed—excuse me, slain—I believe they either go up in smoke or crumble into dust.


In the past, my attempts at representing X-rays were unsatisfactory, but I'm happy with the latest one. The broken lines throughout the image would have been difficult to do with ink, requiring precise application of white-out. The effect was easier to achieve using digital drawing tools and switching between black and white "ink."

[Here endeth the nerd talk.]

See previous X-ray gags here, here, and here.


I must thank my ever-patient editor, JB, for advising me that we can indeed use "bleedin' prat" in a newspaper comic.

I didn't try to submit "wanker," but almost tried "tosser."


I held "Nosferatoque" for last because some readers (especially fellow Yanks) might not be familiar with the pronunciation of the word "toque," but after the previous five gags, they'd fall right into it.

That's nearly the end of my vampiric experiment. I have one more up my sleeve, but I postponed it until March.

This week's Substack newsletter includes the complete list of ideas I pulled from and a couple of rejected sketches. It's free to read or subscribe.
 


Bonus Track

Jesus Couldn't Drum: 
"Caught in a Dream"
Live in Florence, Italy, 1986


I'm reasonably sure that's Jonathan Lemon behind the keyboard.


A Bounty of Bizarro Booty

If you like what we do and appreciate that it's free of charge, we encourage you to explore the following links.

17 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:49 AM

    Nosfunratu!

    ReplyDelete
  2. David Oyster11:38 AM

    Toque? Huh? Not a clue….rest? Hilarious!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, David! The video link in the comment on that one will offer an explanation.

      Delete
  3. Wayno -
    I think I can "read you" pretty well. My thought stream started flowing as well. And upon further review - I'm thinking that there's a tutu in our future.
    Have you tried the Nosferatofu?
    It's delicious!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous3:49 PM

      I love every single one! Funny as heck. 😂😂

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    2. Thank you, Anonymous!

      Delete
  4. Anonymous2:58 PM

    Thanks for the video explaining “toque”. I have seen the word in context with the “chef’s toque” as my husband is avid cook who reads lots of books and magazines about cooking. I also read these, too.

    I thought it was pronounced “toke” so now I know the correct pronounciation.

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    Replies
    1. Michael Johnson6:43 PM

      I cannot manage the online dictionaries, but as far as I know, the chef's hat is pronounced "toke." A knit or stocking cap is pronounced sort of like "tuke." The French always throw in lots of extra letters at the ends of words, just to fake us out. You don't pronounce them.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous8:17 PM

    Whether you spell it Toque, Tuque or Touque, as a Canuck I appreciate your use of the word. Its so much better than beanie, watch cap, ‘wool cap’ or worse yet ‘stocking cap’ and it was a stellar gag. Loved the theme week. The A B O tattoo was the chef’s kiss.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you kindly, neighbor to the north!

      Delete
  6. Love all this weeks gags, esp. the Johnny Rotten reference. I personally wish you would have done the Nosferatfink one. I built many model cars in the 60's and I'm quite familiar with Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and Rat Fink. The bonus track caught me by surprise, I was expecting the Alice Cooper song!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks so much. I had to do the Johnny Rotten gag. I built model hot rods too, and read all of the magazines like CARtoons, etc. Oh yeah, and collected Weird-Ohs cards!

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    2. Also, I listened to the Alice Cooper "Caught in a Dream" a LOT in my teenage years!

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  7. Anonymous3:29 AM

    I thought for sure one of the aliens would be fanged, but great idea to have a themed week nonetheless! Maybe we'll see others in the future... and yes, my age is showing as i well remember Ratfink.

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    Replies
    1. I considered adapting the saucer, but we usually don't draw the alien as having a mouth at all!

      Yes, Rat Fink has a place in my heart, too.

      Delete