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
Civilization cannot last or advance without culture. Ahmad Jamal (1930-2023)
Pianist Ahmad Jamal is one of many great jazz musicians who were born in Pittsburgh. He achieved significant commercial success while being respected and admired by his peers.
Miles Davis himself spoke highly of Jamal:
All my inspiration comes from Ahmad Jamal. He knocked me out with his concept of space, his lightness of touch, his understatement, and the way he phrases notes and chords and passages.
Jamal's example is a valuable study for practitioners of any creative pursuit. With a simple trio of piano, bass, and drums, and a delicate touch, he created a body of work that rewards repeated listening.
I think of Ahmad Jamal when I (attempt to) cook. I limit the ingredients and allow them to do their thing without a lot of distractions. I also try to keep my comic art uncomplicated to serve the gag, which is somewhat paradoxical since Bizarro is sprinkled with our Secret Symbols. The eyeball, flying saucer, pipe, and other symbols should be thought of as seasoning rather than the focus of the visual dish.
Bizarro field correspondent Derek R. brought this week's pipe pic to my attention.
It's a shot of Albert Einstein with Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard, reviewing a letter they sent to Franklin Roosevelt following the 1938 discovery of nuclear fission. The two scientists warned FDR of the potential for the development of extremely powerful and destructive weapons using nuclear chain reactions.
This photo and the accompanying history can be found on the National Park Service's website. This is an excerpt from that page:
The Manhattan Project was a highly significant chapter in America’s history that ushered in the nuclear age, determined how the next war, the Cold War, would be fought, and served as the organizational model behind the remarkable achievements of American "big science" during the second half of the twentieth century.
The Manhattan Project also raised ethical and moral questions among scientists and citizens alike—questions that continue to this day. More than 200,000 people died by the end of 1945 as a direct result of the atomic bombings. The advance of nuclear science has given rise to nuclear energy and medicine as well as radioactive waste and health problems. The Manhattan Project and its legacies are complex as the science that made the project possible.
Thanks to Derek for the photo and history lesson. I recommend checking out the referenced web page before anti-science zealots take it down.
Let's see how the latest Bizarro panels score on understatement and lightness of touch.
Perhaps I should have saved this for Halloween, but I enjoy doing ghostly gags throughout the year.
That "lumberjack" pattern is known as buffalo plaid in the US, but it originated in Scotland as the MacGregor Red and Black tartan.
Tuesday's panel isn't autobiographical. I took Spanish in school.
In response to the cartoon, my good friend Jeff shared this photo of a reference book from his home library.
Merci, mon frère!
A
caption for the eye rather than the ear. It could be considered a "visual pun" since the words "through" and "trough" look very similar without sounding at all alike; a form of misdirection.
I believe this is what's called an unforced error.
Friday's panel resulted from a sketchbook drawing.
The image of a car mechanic doing ventriloquism using a crash test dummy made me smile, but it wasn't until a week later that I came up with dialogue to flesh it out.
I sometimes watch nature documentaries, and although I've seen many examples of the mating and courtship rituals of animals, plant life is rarely covered.
Thanks for viewing our latest batch of quadrilateral quips. We'll be back with more of this foolishness next week.
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